I really like the look and feel of 60, the way it’s compact. I even barely use the top row of my 60, remapped F1-F12 keys to a layer below (qwerty etc), I have all the keys I need mapped in just a few layers and a lot of free space on each layer, lots of room. The current UHK IMO has more than enough keys. It’s compact, it’s beautiful, and it serves its purpose.
What I dislike about 80 is the extra keys. First of all I love having wide shift on the right because I use both shift keys and it’s more difficult to press on it when it’s a small key. Second - if I’m barely using my top row on 60, I’m definitely not gonna be using the row above it, at least not in regular usage.
And all the extra keys, pgup, pgdown etc.. well I don’t even have them mapped currently on my 60 anywhere cause I never use them.
Sure I understand the appeal of more keys on the keyboard, it’s just not for me. Not after I tried the UHK anyway and even wireless cannot convince me to get it.
However.. if there would be a 60 version with wireless on it - I’d be already placing an order
So I guess what I’m saying is: if you guys decide in some distant (or not) future to release a 60 version with wireless option on it - you’ve got one customer
Yes, I’ve been tainted with the ergo bug (columnar stagger).
These days, I often end up typing on an ErgoTravel and a Corne keyboard. They are both wireless, ergo (columnar stagger), and 40% keyboards. 42 to 49 keys, that’s all I need. They run ZMK firmware, which is definitely harder to configure than UHK & Agent.
Give me something like that with the addition of trackpad/-ball/-point (incl. scrolling functionality), and the macro programmability of UHK together with the ease of Agent.
I didn’t think I would say something like this in this post but dammit I don’t want less than 60 lol although probably 40 looks way cooler/hacker-ish but I’m afraid it will impend my productivity/speed somewhat. whereas I don’t think 80 will bring anything much to my productivity over what I have now with 60
I actually quite enjoy having the numbers right in the home row (hold right space for numbers on the home row, and shifted numbers on the row above). That removes pretty much the need for the number row on the keyboard.
I am a happy owner of UHK-60v1 and UHK-60v2, both equipped with the wooden palm rest and the thumb-cluster & trackball combo. The UHK-60v2 was already perfect, if they had resolved the issue with the fragile cable holder that tends to break spontaneously within 2+ years. My brother was patiently waiting for the UHK-60v3, which never came. He ordered the UHK-80 only to receive something that feels like a regression in comparison to the UHK-60. The extra keys are mostly useless, and the whole keyboard just takes too much space on his desk. Unlike the UHK-60, halves of the UHK-80 are asymmetrical, that is particularly disturbing in tenting configuration. The compulsory rubber palm rest may look modern at first, but the rubber surface has severely deteriorated within several months, and now looks dated and ugly. There is no option to buy a wooden palm rest for UHK-80.
I am still waiting for the UHK-60v3 with a wooden palm rest, which would become a solid replacement for my good old UHK-60v1.
I actually quite enjoy having the numbers right in the home row…
You know… I do enjoy having numbers right in the home row, but I also enjoy having an extra macro pad (~123456) and mouse keys (789) within the reach of my fingers right on the base layer .
My keymap is designed to be 40 compatible, but 60 layout has the exactly right number of extra keys for special purposes.
The UHK80 is growing on me, but I do still like the 60 better.
Having a bunch of extra keys is actually pretty nice, but not really necessary. I do like having the F-row when playing games that use WASD for movement though. Sometimes you need to hit an F-row key while holding a movement key. That interrupts your flow on the UHK60, since you need to switch layers to do so.
I’d like to see a UHK60v3 with the upgraded features of the UHK80 (wired/wireless, OLED, new thumb clusters), and although I’ve never used a columnar staggered board, I think I’d like that as well.
…And while I’m thinking about it…
I’d REALLY like it if the display could be moved toward the center of the board (7890 keys), so I don’t have to move my hand, or lean over to see it. I guess you’d probably need to use a different connector on the bridge cable though; something that was available in a 90° angle, I suppose.
Same here. UHK80 really looks and feels like 50/50 regression/upgrade. If something happens to my UHK60v2, I’ll buy one more, if available, not UHK80. Wireless connection is all UHK60 needs.
Endgame = v2 + wireless + ortholinear + enough memory to fit DOOM. Who’s with me??? I own 5 UHKs but just couldn’t justify the 80, though I think it needs to exist for newbies… But we all own thousand’s of dollars in UHK equipment because it’s peak world-class keeb for the most advanced of us, plain and simple, so minor iterations on v2’s best-of-Earth is, I think, the best humanity could do.
I’ve only seen them lined up directly on ortholinear boards (no leftward shifting). However, columnar staggered boards have some vertical shifting to match the natural differences in finger lengths.
So I shouldn’t really relearn to press C key with my index finger.. if I want to have my muscle memory ortolinear-compatible. was considering doing that for both hands to be symetrical
If you are planning to move to ortholinear or columnar stagger, no. Keep typing C with your middle finger for “compatible” muscle memory. It will still be a little bit of adjustment, but less re-learning.
Even if I have the problem with bubbling up wrist rests, you’d have to pry the UHK80 from my dead hands. I have an UHK60v2 that I love for when I am away from my office but as an embedded and being from the Nordics I needed to have arrow keys. It was messing with my productivity that I had to hold down so many different keys and layers was not cutting it because I was just switching back and forth all the time which I find takes me out of programming flow. But as an old dude I loathe remembering to charge things so I never use wireless keyboards and mice. In fact I would never buy one again (besides li-ion batteries wear out faster than switches so I was always worrying about that I had to replace them which I feel most split ergo keyboards are too expensive for, but at least the UHK guys are so smart that they offer spare parts).
All the other alternatives have either not been Nordic friendly, felt like they were flimsy and 3d printed or not worked for me ergonomically.
But to each their own right. That is why we buy non-standard keyboards.
here we go about wishes, therefore, as a gamer by heart, MMOs, most of the time, I would love a UHK 60 with additional f-row. I prefer dedicated f-keys in games a lot.
It’s kind of a unicorn, so far there had been only two mks doing this, one EOL for many years and one quite new.
Interesting. The bottom row (ZXCVB…) on the Topre Realforce RC1 seems to be shifted to the left by 0.25u. That’s how they fitted the 3x2 shift/cursor/fn cluster.
Do you feel the difference of the shifted row when typing on it?
I’ve given columnar layouts a serious try—spending at least a year with them on two separate occasions. While I genuinely enjoy the experience and believe columnar to be superior to staggered in many ways, I always find myself returning to staggered layouts. The primary reason is that adapting to columnar significantly disrupts my ability to switch back and forth between layouts, which I need to do unless I can rely on always having access to an external keyboard—something that inevitably becomes impractical over time.
For that reason, if the UHK 60 v3 is staggered, I’ll be eager to preorder. However, if it’s only offered in a columnar or ortholinear configuration, I’ll will have to regrettably pass.
and even wireless cannot convince me to get it.
