ZSA Voyager review

Keyboards - why do I care

I have used a lot of keyboards in the last thirty-odd years and since they are the main interface to interact with our devices I’ve got increasingly interested, or dare I say, obsessed with them lately. I tend to find delving into other people’s madness interesting (if they are harmless, of course), so let me share my particular obsession with you.

A little history of my experiences

I began my journey to the world of computers with a borrowed C64 in the 80s. I had it for a few weeks at the time and I remember being fascinated with it. I loaded up some games of course from the tapes that came with it, but after a few days I found out that the keys on the breadbox were much capable to many other things than typing in LOAD "*",8 to play some Commandos. Turned out, you can type in other things as well, like actual commands or even full programs from the borrowed magazines I was reading at the time. Only a few of those worked, of course, as I’ve been clueless about debugging a typo I made or correct mistakes in the programs themselves, but that was beside the point. I enjoyed typing and seeing something - anything - happening on the screen. Black magic, I tell you!

Sadly, we had to return the machine after a few weeks and I turned to other things until I could get my hands on an XT at my mother’s workplace. It had the same feeling - in my memory, of course - as the C64, and it is not surprising, since the computer was equipped with the famous IBM Model M.

Skipping a few years ahead, I got my first own computer, with a Matsushita keyboard, and it was fine. Not as fine as the clicky breadbox keys, but it was mine.

In the following years, my keyboards’ quality took a turn for the worst. I used lot of rubber domed keyboards at my workplaces, and at home as well. They were fine, and I guess, the memory of my early days using fantastic keyboards must have been dulled by the ravages of time. Until a few years ago…

My renaissance

My keyboard at the time (I guess a cheap Genius one) was acting up and it was time to buy a new one. Disposing over a relatively modest income, I began to look for alternatives in the higher end market. Was I in for a ride! Turns out there is a whole market for mechanical keyboards, and they apparently have become quite good while I was not looking.

Keychron C1

After searching for a while, I decided on a Keychron keyboard with a tactile switch (brown, to be specific). I looked for something clicky, but not aggressively so. After it arrived, I immediately fell in love with it, so much so that I ordered one more for the workplace. I was happily using them until a few months ago. And here comes a but… But, I have developed some shoulder pain, which got annoying really fast so I began to search for a root cause. In the end I came to blame my beloved TKL keyboards - and my bad posture, of course, but that’s another story -, so I needed to find something to solve the problem.

The rabbit hole goes deeper

Turns out, I’m not the only one blaming technology for poor life choices. And I’m not alone in solving those issues with more technology.

Never in my life had the thought crossed my mind that I will be a part of some subculture so niche, that I was not even aware of it beforehand. And I consider myself to be a part of some really obscure subcultures.

I’m talking about of course the subculture of the Ergonomic Mechanical Keyboards.

Finding the right one

After my fate has been sealed, I started looking for the perfect new keyboard. And there came the first (of many) shocks. These keyboard are not available through some store, you have to put them together yourself. Soldering parts and all. Or commission somebody to do it for you. Which was adding to the already ridiculous price. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really interested in learning how to solder, but spending at least 200 bucks to end up with a charred heap of electronics is not an option. Of course, I could learn to solder properly, it could not be that hard, but I’m trying to buy a keyboard here, not completing a tech tree in Civilization.

Somewhat disappointed I kept looking, until I found ZSA.

They just released a new type of keyboard, called the Voyager. It looked beautiful, it was mechanical, it was ergonomic, it was split, it came with warranty. And a 365 USD price tag. Uhhh.

I debated myself for weeks about spending a fortune on a keyboard, read and watched reviews, printed out the layout, trying to convince myself that it’s just not for me. Finally I bit the bullet and ordered it in last December as a Christmas present for myself.

Voyager review

The keyboard arrived after two and half weeks, but running up to the actual delivery I received emails from ZSA, preparing me for the world of ergo split keyboards. I’d like to mention here that the support and attention they provide is unheard of. I got a personalized e-mail from the founder and when I replied (out of curiosity), I got a response, addressing my concerns. I wish every business would take itself this seriously.

Packaging

The box in itself is a synthwave work of art and the inner packaging is also well thought out, placing for example the spare keycaps in their on magnetically locked holder. Oh, yes, you get a whole bunch of spare keycaps. And spare key switches too. And three USB-C cables, varying in length. And a keycap/keyswitch puller. And a USB-C to USB-A adapter. And a carrying case for your keyboard. And a Steam key for a typing-based game. So much SWAG.

OK, OK, start using it already!

After getting the keyboard out and plugging it in, you can start the gruelling process of learning to type all over again. It is a curious experience, after using keyboards this long. I thought I could touch type. Turns out I could, but not in the way the people coming up with the home row thought to type. On a regular keyboard, I implemented my own touch typing style, as I guess most of us do, but this just doesn’t cut it on split keyboard. The first few days were really irritating, questioning my sanity as to buying a well engineered work of art, I could only admire from distance.

Learning

ZSA provides a whole suit of tools to program your keyboard and to learn its alien ways. They are absolutely helpful. So my evenings went away, typing in excerpts from Alice in Wonderland over and over again. And again. And again. But with each day passing, my muscle memory slowly started to build up and I was up to the typing speeds of my legacy keyboards after around two weeks.

Learning more

Of course it was time to break things, since everything was going in the right direction. You see, the Voyager has only 52 keys, and the default layout tries to mimic a standard layout with the help of two additional layers, which can be reached by holding down one of the four thumb keys. I was not happy with the default layout. I kept falling back to my old muscle memory, even so because I used the trusty Keychron C1 TLK back at work (I was afraid to try the Voyager in an environment, where I have to be productive).

And learning some more

I started looking at other people’s layouts. They were insane. I guess do what works for you but for example, switching to a Colemak or a Workman layout (yes, those are real things, look them up, if you heard only about Dvorak up until now) on top of dealing with a keyboard from some alien world, where apparently a species evolved with perfect muscle memory and with the capability of typing 200 words per minute would be too much for me.

I looked for a different kind of alien. An alien who thinks the same way I do. I came across a layout called Miryoku.

It uses 36 keys. It has six layers. It’s insane. Of course I put it to use. After the first few hours I came to the conclusion that I must be insane too, because the layout made perfect sense. Almost everything was at the right place. After changing a few things around, I begun to practice the layout and I’m using it ever since. The beauty of the Voyager is that you are able to change the keys physically to match the layout of the firmware, so I now don’t have a number row and my pinkies have to travel only one key to the side. Heck, all of my fingers have to travel only one key in any direction. It sounds constraining, but in practice, I feel contorted when I’m using my old keyboard.

And my shoulder pain is gone.

Further modifications

One last(?) modification I made: I replaced the key switches from the Kailh Choc browns to Red Pros. It seems there is merit in knowing how much actuation force it takes to push a button if you are mashing them all day long. Huh…

Final words

I think I’ll stick with split keyboards. I’m regularly taking them to work nowadays. I’ve been contemplating about soldering lately. I would like to have a keyboard at my workplace permanently. Listen to me kids. Don’t do (hard) drugs. And don’t go down some rabbit hole, you will not be able to climb out later without a soldering iron.