I can't has cheezburger

If you’ve known me for long enough you know how much I love a great keyboard, and in the last few years my keyboard game has evolved significantly.

I’ve been using Plancks for awhile, but I bought a Moonlander earlier this summer on a whim. Since then, it’s become my daily driver.

I have written entire posts on the subject of my love of clicky keyboards and the advantages of open-source, fully programmable firmware for those keyboards, so I’ll spare you the spiel here. But these keyboards are an absolute delight to the senses, and I feel incredibly productive on them. The Moonlander is quite comfortable and I have outfitted the farther-reaching keys with artisan key caps. They’re silly and whimsical, but they serve a very practical purpose: it’s easy to distinguish them from the keys that are within one finger movement of home row.

I started using the keyboard as a very bare bones setup: I actually took out the top row of keys so it felt more like the Planck, and I used the keyboard flat and without the wrist rests. After getting adjusted to the keyboard’s extra keys, I finally put the top row of keys back on. I also finally started using the tenting mechanism and the wrist rests, and the keyboard feels very comfortable and natural to use.

It’s a mechanical keyboard that uses Cherry MX-compatible keyswitches. The switches aren’t soldered to the board; instead the circuit board has hot-swappable sockets, so you can pop out the keyswitches it comes with and put in any others that you like. It’s an easy and non-permanent way to change the character and overall feel of the keyboard.

I’m currently using this keyboard with Kailh Box White switches. I made one slight modification to the switches: I put in heavier springs (with 70g of actuation force). It’s a delight to type on. And lest you feel intimidated by the idea of taking apart dozens of tiny key switches to swap out the even tinier spring: these Box switches are actually really easy to disassemble and the spring is dead simple to swap out; it took me maybe 25 minutes total to swap them all.

Let me be clear: The Moonlander requires some commitment. If you currently use a fairly conventional keyboard, you may be discouraged by the Moonlander’s considerable learning curve. Of course, this can be mitigated by the fact that you can reprogram the keys to mean whatever your brain wants them to mean, but you’re still going to be looking at a couple of weeks of frustration as you get up to full speed typing. If you like the fact that it’s a split ergonomic keyboard, you might be better served by the Matias Ergo Pro, which will be familiar to your fingers and have maybe an afternoon’s worth of a learning curve. And the Ergo Pro is now programmable as well, and although you can’t hot-swap the switches, the switches it comes with are quiet and delightful to use.

But if you are ready to step into something new and interesting that is an absolute delight to the senses, the Moonlander is incredible. And don’t be intimidated by the learning curve; just be prepared for it and you’ll be just fine.

The Moonlander comes in white and black, can be had for $365, and you can buy at ZSA’s store.

ZSA also sells their own version of the Planck, which I also own and it has similar features to the Moonlander, including a really easy web-based way to configure the keyboard layout.