The Quest for the Perfect Keyboard: Part 3, the Conclusion

See also: Part 1 and Part 2.

Did I find the perfect keyboard? After all my research, what did I get?

Well, I learned that the perfect keyboard doesn't exist. And, if it did, you would have to make it yourself. And it would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars - if not over a thousand. Does that mean my quest was a failure? Not necessarily - I discovered that there are a lot of keyboards far, far better than what I was using, so while I cannot get the "perfect" keyboard, I can get a really good one.

I also learned that to get close to what I would call perfect is well out of my price range at the moment. One day, I might be able to justify spending around $500 on something like the TECK, but not today.

The process was helpful though: I had to analyse what mattered to me, what I could do without, and what features and attributes were "showstoppers" for me.

If you noted, when I started this I commented that I don't have any budget at all to spend on keyboards, but thankfully there's a thing called Christmas, and the fact that there wasn't much else that I wanted for Christmas. And, a half-price special on one of the products I had my eye on made a big, big difference.

So, I got this:

The Tesoro Tizona.

Yes, I went all purple Spanish flaming sword. Raah.

Is this the perfect keyboard? Nope. But it's MUCH better than the playdough-like, garbage, cheap membrane thing I was using.

Bleck.

The keys have taken me a moment to get used to - I realised that the distorted layout on the keyboard I was using at work has me expecting keys in the wrong places (mainly the arrow keys). But, I'm getting used to it pretty quickly, and I get a removable numeric keypad, which attaches to either side of the keyboard with nice strong magnets. The hold between the numpad and the main keyboard is good and solid.

As you can see above, I put my numeric keypad on the left. Because I can. At first, this was quite a lot more awkward than I expected: I'm not used to using the numpad with my left hand. It sort of feels backwards. Also, it's amazing how much you miss having an enter key in the very bottom right of the keyboard (this was my wife's first complaint when she started using my computer - until I pointed out that she can simply move the keypad to the other side again!) Having choice is good. It definitely is nice having the mouse where I want it.

I went with the "Brown" keyswitches, which means "quiet tactile". I figured I would probably annoy people if I got the clicky ones, even though they apparently provide a better typing experience. The other interesting thing about mechanical switches is that they activate half-way down, not when you bottom them out: this means that, with care and practice, I can type gently and not bottom out the keys - making it notably quieter (even the Brown keys are louder than any membrane keyboard I have ever used). I might, if I get that way inspired, get some rubber dampener rings to quiet the bottoming-out clack, but that's for later.

But, once used to it, is it better to type on than a membrane keyboard? Oh yes. So much yes. It's cleaner and more responsive - I know when I have pressed a key, and the key works every time. No guessing, no wondering if that keypress registered. And, because it's registering the keys at the mid-point of the key depressing, I don't even have to push it all the way down.

Seriously, if you haven't tried a mechanical keyboard, you really should. It's noisier, but so much nicer.

For the purists, the Tesoro uses "Kailh" branded switches; a company called Cherry produced the original mechanical key switches, but with their patent expiring, copycats have been able to replicate their design. Kailh switches are arguably inferior to Cherry (or at least, so say some strong opinions on the Reddit Mechanical Keyboards forum). However, others argue that there isn't much difference. For me, this is my first mechanical keyboard, so I'm happy. I doubt there is going to be any quality issues, as this is quite a sturdy keyboard (for those who don't know, mechanical keyboards usually come with a honking great metal backplate in them, so are a lot heavier than other keyboards. You could probably use it as a blunt-force weapon).

The Tizona has three "thumb keys" - little buttons below the space bar, intended for use as shortcut keys. I haven't yet got around to configuring these, but the place where I see they will get the most use will be at work, where I'm doing a lot of CAD, so have my right hand almost always on the mouse - my plan is to turn the thumb keys from being "web browser", "my computer", and "email client" into Backspace, Delete, and Enter, as these are the right-hand keys that I find I most often want from my left hand. However, I'm not decided on that, as I already assigned the Back and Forward buttons on my mouse to Backspace and Enter, so that's two functions I already have on hand... But, it's my keyboard and I can set it up how I want (Autohotkey being my helper), and I like that I've got extra options that I don't know what to do with yet!

And, while it is completely irrelevant to the usability of the keyboard, the Tizona really does have the best box I've seen. It's awesome. It even comes with a plastic cover that works really well as a dust cover (for the main keyboard at least - no such luck with the numpad).

And no, that's not your eyes fooling you: the box really does have tapered sides. It's a trapezium, and so is the smaller, matching box for the separate numeric keypad. Why? I don't know, but it's cool.

So, in the end I got a keyboard that fulfilled most of the things that I found mattered most to me: it's mechanical, it lets me put the numeric keypad wherever I want, it has three extra buttons for me to configure, and even has a couple of bonus features like media keys (with use of the function key). I even got to keep the Menu key.

Another small bonus is that because the numeric keypad can attach to either side, it leaves a spare USB port on the other side (or a free port on both sides if you have the keypad completely separate) - built-in USB hub!

Now the only problem I think I am going to have is that when I'm using something else, all your normal keyboards are going to feel awful!

I do have a suggestion to you though: if you are using an awful keyboard, don't. Many of us have jobs that involve spending a lot of time using these things, so get one that you like. And if you get sore wrists, then definitely find something that looks after them. Most workplaces will probably look at you strange if you say you want something better than the stock $15 keyboard that came with a computer, but ask anyway - or, just do what an old co-worker of mine did (around the time that I started looking into all of this) and go out and buy your own to use. It doesn't have to be a $500 mechanical ergonomic masterpiece, but even among membrane keyboards, a quality one is far, far better to use than a bad one. And look at ways to make using the keyboard easier - modify the layout, learn how to use Autohotkey and make the Scroll Lock key work for you, add shortcuts and macros. Don't settle for rubbish interfaces.