Ok… now I also am part of the exclusive club of Model01 owners
I was using ergodox-ez for 5 years, before I made the transition to the keyboardio, and I can compare them now a bit more detailed. Just a bit about the background:
- I got the Ergodox-EZ with Cherry-MX blue and Gateron Browns at the time. I really loved and still like the Ergodox-EZ. It was mindblowing coming from a more or less standard keyboard at the time.
- One of my Ergodoxes broke and i looked for an alternative. After a ton of research and a ton of reading i decided the Keyboardio was an option - unfortunately they were not really sold anymore so I had to find used ones
- fortunately I found 2, more or less the same configuration I had with my ergodoxes: one load clicky one, one silent tactile (I added silencing ringt to the ergodox, so it was quite similar).
now lets get a bit into detail after about 3 Days of usage:
- the loud click is really loud, definitely not good for office use! I like the clicky sound to it, but it sometimes feels a bit… stiff. And it seems the keys behave differently
- the quiet click is awesome. a lot quieter than my Gateron Browns and really nice to type on. I am actually thinking about exchanging the swiches on my loud model 01, because the typing feels really nice - but that is obviously personal taste
- compared to the Ergodox the keyboardio feels a lot more valueable. The wood makes it something that feels not like a computer accessory.
- The sculpted keycaps give the keyboardio model 01 a really unique look, especially if you decide to use Symbolic Keycaps
- I happen to got a set of white translucen keycaps with my keyboardio (thanks to @TheBaronHimself)
- the Thumb-Cluster is definitely better than the one on the ergodox, all keys can be easily reached by thumb. But I could not get my head around thumb-shifting. fortunately you can reconfigure your keyboard to whatever suits best. So my layout currently is more or less inspired by the one I had on my ergodox (shift on both sides of the keyboard)
- the best thing ever are those palm keys - those are a live changer and really some genios invention. never thought that this really is a useful thing. but it is…
Typing comparison
This is a tough one. I was used to typing on the ergodox for 5 years now, so switching away from it always includes some getting used to. But I am now typing at almost the speed I had before (unfortunately I cannot get past the 90wpm wall - but that is a different story).
Typing on the clicky keyboardio compared to the clicky and loud ergodox is somewhat harder. It feels that the actuation force is highter on the matias switches compared to the ones I have in my ergodox. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. It feels a bit “stiffer” this way, which gives it a real nice feel to it.
Typing on the quiet keyboardio compared to the “quiet” ergodox (gateron browns are not really quiet!) - here the keyboardio model 01 wins by far! the keys feel a lot better - never thought I would ever say that, but Matias has here the better switches.
So where do I like typing the most? Definitely the Mode01! The sculpted keys, the shape, all that feels better than the ergodox. but I tend towards the silent keyboardio.
Clicky or Quiet… tough call. Cannot really tell now. I will switch between keyboards and decide. When I know, I will post something here. I just switched between the keyboards while typing this post. Still cannot tell what feels better, but I think I prefer the quiet ones…
Software
Well, the software… let’s compare them from a software developers view.
As of now, both do have a graphical configurator. And I would say, none of them does have an advantage over the other (now, that ergodox added support for macros).
When I look at the opensource firmware of both keyboards, things get way more interesting. The QMK Firmware used in the ergodox is a very powerful system that enables you to play with a lot of features. But all is built in the same codebase. Which is not a problem, as you do not install all of it on your keyboard. So, when playing with the keyboard you have all at one place. That makes things both easy and complex. It keeps all in sync, but the maintainer have to approve all extensions and changes. this is additional efford.
The plugin mechanism of the keyboardio is way more flexible, when it comes to having the community add new functionality. But this brings also some complexity you need to deal with. If you change your base system, all other plugins need to follow. This is not happening always, as I see it. I tried a couple of 3rd party plugins but never got them to work. But it might also be, that I am just doing something wrong through
Both software could have better support for LED-Features. For example, have effects run on a base color .Compared to the Software of the Razer BlackWidow Chroma (despite the fact that it would not really work on OSX)which is awesome when it comes to led features, both qmk and Kaleidoscope need to add some features.
Especially making use of the colors on different layers would be awesome, like the ColorMap Plugin does, but a bit more.
conclusion
just from the looks, from the features and the feel - the keyboardio is just the better keyboard. Love it - although I only have a couple of days experience. I will post updates, as soon as I got more experience with the keyboardio.