ZSA: Did they really name themselves in such a way just to cause havoc for large handed QWERTY users on their keyboards?!?

So I finally did it. I bought a ZSA Voyager. And also a shit load of keyswitches. Let’s get the big question out of the way first: do I like it? Yes, but… It’s a great keyboard, even if my comparison points are not very mechanical. The ‘but’ though does a LOT of heavy lifting. But let’s start with the ‘why’.

In previous posts I’ve talked about wanting a split keyboard that helps my back (yes unlike most people I see, my main issue is posture and not wrist/finger pain). I am a large individual and hunching over all day everyday isn’t great. Also I’ve just wanted a split ergo keyboard that looks cool. On these fronts, it’s a success. And really I just like things that are functional, so maybe that was all the motivation I needed all along.

But now the bad. There’s 2 aspects here. The first is about relearning how to touch type and things of that ilk. The second is about the board itself.

The (Mavis) Beacons are lit!

Eons ago (years that start with 19 and a few beyond that) I had typing classes. Really. Some of these were at school, some my mum signed me up for (I started having to use a laptop at school in 1998/year 5 because dyslexia and dysgraphia and needing to type at a reasonable pace was required), but they never really got embedded. Sure I know the basics of it but like most people I developed my own style over time because it was easy and fast enough. I really wish now that I had actually stuck with it properly because that would have probably saved a lot of time (literally) over the years, but also now would prevent this post from existing. Because holy shit, I am fucking slow now that I have to use a new form-factor of keyboard with a new layout of keycaps.

Of course I didn’t go into this journey blind, I watched and read quite a few things to help me decide. Hell, like three days before buying this I almost bought the Dygma Raise 2, and thank fuck I didn’t (more in the board section). One thing that no-one seemed to cover was the absolute mental block that happens when having to relearn typing. Everyone talks about how it’ll be slow and painful and slow, but this mental block is THE hardest thing. Specifically, having to kinda think about where your fingers should go to press what symbol, especially if its on another layer, not only disrupts my typing but actively discourages me from doing things. For example, I had to migrate a lot of code at work (re-monolithing a service for reasons) and I kinda did it half arsed because having to fix and type things just elicited some level of anxiety in me. It’s also in my personal projects, which being in Rust sure requires a LOT of typing. However, I am stubborn. So I power through because I want to master this thing, and not have another thing put into a box stored in the shelves behind me.

And yes, this entire time I’m sticking with QWERTY for the simple fact I need to use other keyboards at times (in both US QWERTY and Nordic ISO forms). Maybe when I master this I’ll explore Colemak-DH or Graphite for some real fun and speed and not having my right little finger be a jerk (after months of pain). Although sticking with QWERTY has allowed some bad habits to stick around like “pressing K with right little finger” and “pressing A with the left middle” but they should go away after some time…

An extension to all this is that the Voyager has only 52 keys. That means layers and programming it the way that works best for me. I’m still figuring out whats best but right now it’s not too different from the default, but I’m still working on it (where space and backspace + delete are is a constant source of frustration for my fingers). Speaking of the board…

Taking a trip

(Voyager, get it?)

I opted for the Pro Red keyswitches because I read somewhere they were the quietest. I don’t know what scale those people operate on but they sure as hell weren’t. They were deafening. Thankfully a post tipped me off to some very quiet switches called “Ambient Nocturnals”. From what I had read about these, they are practically silent but very lightweight. Mechboards had a heap of those in stock, but also the slightly heavier ‘Twilight’s. I bought 5 sets of each (fucking spenno I know) and I was so glad I did, because it turns out they are indeed silent. And also the Nocturnals are indeed slightly too light for me. However some of the Twilghts died in transit (3 actually) so I have a few Nocturnals in here and it’s actually noticeable. BUT the important thing is that it’s almost as quiet as my Logitech MX Keys S, which is amazing and I don’t cringe at every keypress now.

Above I mentioned I was a large individual, and that corresponds to my hands as well. A reduced key, low-profile, small-footprint board should have given me some hints about this but the Voyager is small. That has been quite a challenge. Have a picture to show my concerns.

However, it’s been useful to my left thumb which is slightly smaller than it should be due to an accident when I was 10. There’s not much I can do about this apart from getting used to it, which is slowly happening.

One main complaint I have with this though is how I wish for a third thumb key. That would make so many things just that bit easier, but I can see why they stuck with two. Okay, one more complaint was that I wish it could store profiles. I jump between Linux (daily personal), Mac (work), and Windows (gaming I guess) frequently. I guess a solution is for one system to have the ’true’ layout and then use layout software on the others to line things up. Basically this is just an ALT, CTRL, Meta/CMD problem. I’m sure that someone out there has figured it out…

Onwards

It’s only been a week with this, so there’s still a lot more work to go. I have only switched to my MX Keys once and that was out of a need to do something quickly. The main thing I have been changing around is my trackball. I’m still getting used to that, but during this week I have mainly used my mouse because I needed something to be normal and fast. I am now back to trackballing and it’s fine. Just gotta learn and get used to it all. I of course have been spending a bunch of time with monkeytype doing long stretches of english and moderate bursts of Rust for symbol training.

Just gotta keep voyaging (ick I know).