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Hi friends, I have been using the KA360 Pro (with ZMK and bluetooth) for a week and I wanted to share some thoughts on it. My brief overall review is that I love this board and it is very nearly endgame for me. It is outrageously expensive but it fulfills every need I have in a board. My only gripe is with the Gateron Brown switches. Eventually I will probably de-solder and replace these. The overall board is also kind of loud but that's also personal preference.
vs KA2
- very similar to the KA2 but a significant upgrade in build quality.
- fully split (KA360) vs unibody construction (KA2). My poor posture greatly prefers fully split.
- KA2 does not support ZMK but has great on the fly remapping
- KA2 is slightly angled towards you like a conventional keyboard, so your wrists cannot be in negative tilt and relaxed.
vs Ergodox EZ
- curved keywells (KA360) vs flat (Ergodox). As someone with small hands curved keywells work better for me
- Ergodox build quality is ok. The plastic molding reminds me of low quality children's toys. But it is remarkably sturdy and has survived many a cross country move with me, and is the only ergo board in my current collection that I know I can reliably plug in to a computer and start using, which is the primary reason I've continued to keep it.
- it has cherry mx brown switches, which I hate. It can be ordered in hot swap, which I would recommend for anyone that is considering this board or the Moonlander (I did not get that option though!)
- Best configuration, customization, and flashing software I've ever tried
- Tenting kit is poor quality. I need to use books and towels to get it to stay somewhere. It also doesn't go very high.
- The Moonlander did not exist when I got this. I think the Moonlander is better, but I have never used it personally.
vs Dactyl Manuform
- Customizability is the biggest differentiator here. The Dactyl is a completely customizable open source clone of the KA curved boards. You are really able to configure this to almost exactly how you want it.
- It's completely hand built, which comes with major downsides. The 3D print quality leaves much to be desired. If your Dactyl stops working (like mine did), you will need to figure out how to solve this problem yourself. Mine only lasted 4 months before one hand stopped working entirely.
- Unless you completely source and build it yourself, the price tag of this product will closely approach the 300-500s.
- Is the effort worth it? One of the best and most comfortable typing experiences I've had when it's all said and done, but the lack of proper support for it makes it hard for me, as someone inexperienced with building, to go back to using it as my regular daily driver. At the very least I need to have a backup plan for when it inevitably goes dark.
- IMO, the KA360 is what I wished the Dactyl Manuform was going to be. Even though the KA360 is less customizable, its build quality is significantly better and I can rest easy knowing that if/when the board has issues, Kinesis is just an email away.
vs Gergoplex
- A hand built low profile ergo keyboard with an exposed PCB.
- The build quality of this product is very poor, especially without a case. Mine is a bit older and predates the recent explosion of low profile offerings, and I find the LP switch/keycap experience leaves much to be desired.
- I have no idea how to flash this thing. It seemed to only do it by random chance. It comes with very little/no support at all. It eventually stopped working and faces the same maintainability problem that the Dactyl does.
- Despite this, it is by far the comfiest flat board I have used with its ergodox inspired layout, compacted choc spacing, and 12 g choc switches. I experienced 0 pain in the months I used this board. If you have an active injury I very much recommend this board, or considering other low weight low profiles.
vs Corne-ish Zen
- I consider the Corne-ish Zen to be the pinnacle of this hobby. A true enthusiast's board with high quality manufacturing and parts. Darryl, the builder behind this, provides active support on Discord and is constantly innovating new ideas in the low profile world.
- It has an aluminum body that is just chef's kiss. It also comes with its own travel case. IMO, the body is better than the KA360.
- All in this board is close to 450 with switches and keycaps. If you want the ability to tent this board it will add on another 100 at least.
- The quality of the case is let down by the overall lower quality that low profile switches and keycaps tend to be. But there are some really interesting offerings that Darryl is working on that keeps me interested. Unfortunately you cannot get 12g springs for this board -- that is a specialty that only the Gergoplex provides.
- I find the layout of the Corne not to particularly work for me. I have pain from crossing my thumb underneath my wrist (damn the Mac command key!).
- The eink displays are not particularly useful on this board and I could do without them.
- I will probably keep this as a travel board for when I need to go onsite for work or when I want to work in other places, but it is not quite daily driver material.
Craigslist and r/mechmarket have been my go-tos to finding used boards. It's not very reliable as they pop up once in a blue moon, but every so often the stars align and I check mechmarket on a day when a board I want is there.