Hello geekhack. Last year I had the pleasure of picking up the HHKB Pro 2 - Type-S. While I've lauded the HHKB in various other threads around the forum, I've not yet given a thorough review of the product as a whole. I feel that after a solid year in use as my daily driver, it's time for a proper assessment.
Like many others before me, I read up as much as I could about the HHKB mainly via geekhack forums. Bottom line, one will never know how a board will feel or perform until it is in your possession. Reading and reading about others' experiences simply fueled my fire until finally I caved and bought one--et nous voici donc.
Pros :
- 60%
- Symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing
- Topre
- Intuitive function layer
- Proper location for the 'Control' key
- Backspace placement above enter
- DIP switches
- Excellent stock keycaps
- Back legs have 2 angle options
Cons :
- USB hub not necessary
- ABS space bar
- Some keys have minor alignment problems
- No black case option for the Type-S
- I don't have multiple yet
Personally, the flaws listed above are non-factors to me but they are flaws none-the-less
Starting from the research phase, to making the purchase, and now after a year of use, my experience with this board has been great. I affectionately refer to the board as "my baby" and no other keyboard thus far has been able to take its place.
After receiving the board, of course I dove right in and it was love at first type. I can't recall exactly but I'll say it took about a week to accommodate to the function layer. The arrow keys were the easiest to grasp while the home, end, pg up, pg down locations took slightly more time to get used to. The function layer is very intuitive and after some use, it has easily worked its way into my muscle memory.
The break in period lasted about a month, maybe less. I use computer for my job and type quite frequently during the work day and I thoroughly enjoyed this phase. The key press feel is good out of the box but once broken in, the feel even improves, as one would expect. Tactile feel with butter smooth movement all while feeling like a miniature piano key is the best way I can put the feeling into words. Over the past year, there has been no dramatic change in terms of the keypress feel that I could tell.
Before exploring the world of mechanical keyboards, out of habit I've always used keyboards with the legs extended and so naturally, I extended the HHKB legs and used the board this way for ~6 months. Toward the end of my "extended leg" phase, my wrists and hands began to bother me with discomfort. I took this to the ergonomic section and it was suggested to lay the board flat and even after further discussion, I've placed some cardboard under the board to eliminate the negative angle. Placing the board like this greatly eased my discomfort and fatigue and provided a much more enjoyable experience. To be clear, the board did not directly cause my issues--I was simply working too many long hours . Thanks to other members here with great suggestions and forcing myself to take breaks (away from a keyboard), my carpals have been far less aggravated and have mostly returned back to normal. I'm forever grateful for the knowledge of the members here in regards to the health of my wrists.
I've had no problems with the board moving around or sliding while typing unless I intentionally move my board--exactly how I like it. No need for more grip on the feet or larger surface area for the grips as they work just fine as is. The case could be a TOUCH heavier but otherwise no complaints here either. Adding weight diminishes the portability factor and I do carry my board around.
DIP settings activated on my board :
1 - ON (HHKB Lt. Ext mode) [In conjunction with switch 2 set to OFF]
3 - ON (Delete becomes backspace ; fn + backspace becomes delete)
6 - ON (Wake up enabled)
All others set to OFF.
Future plans :
- Proper lubing
- Hasu's controller
- Debadging
Using this keyboard has been a dream. As listed in my 'Cons' above, I wish I had more than one board and I will eventually. Thanks to geekhack for the wealth of information that led to this purchase and year of pleasurable typing. Also a thank you to Hoggy and the others over in the ergonomic forum for saving my hands and wrists
