So I just got this little guy 2 days ago.
I have gone all TKL now (work x1 / home x2) and most of the times I don’t miss the numpad but I do from time to time wish I had access to it at work. With a detached numpad I could place it in front of my TKL or to the left or just out of the way.
I searched on newegg and amazon and most of the numpads out there either don’t have mech switches or they don’t have USB ports.
I want one with USB ports so I can kill two birds with one stone, reducing some wires clutter on my desk.
So when I found this keycool I immediately purchase it since it meets all of my requirements. I wish there are switch choices like regular keyboard but I realized that they don’t sell the same volume so it’s hard for the vendor to justify stocking up on all different variety.
My preference would be brown but blue is not bad, at least it’s not linear switch since this is not used for gaming.
The build quality is not bad except for one thing - the underside/four rubber foots are not even and it wobbles on my desk. I tried a different desk and it wobbles the same way and my other keyboards are fine so I’m sure either their build quality is not good or I got a lemon.
I’m too lazy to ask for exchange I’ll just keep it since I don’t use it often but it could be annoying if you have a keyboard that has uneven surface you know what I mean.
The numpad comes with a useful functional layer as seen in this picture.
It compliments your TKL or 60% that don’t have a FN layer like the realforce or filco. I have QFR / QFS so I got the volume up/down combo covered already but at work I use the realforce.
The realforce has an embedded numpad layer and it’s toggled with the numlock.
So when I use this numpad along with the realforce at work, I can’t have quick access to the numbers layer on the numpad because that conflicts with my typing on the realforce until I found the dipswitch setting to turn off the numpad.
So there you have it. If you have a keyboard with embedded numpad layer, make sure it has a dipswitch settings otherwise the numpad will be useless.
Overall if not for the uneven surface I’d give this keycool a solid 8/10 considerin the price/quality ratio.
Edit: I've seen other people's post with embedded pictures and they dont show up huge in their post but instead will go fullsize when you click on it. I just use this forum's img tag and it doesn't work the same way. Anyone knows how to fix it?
