DesignThe Jane I ordered is a murdered out 2019 V2 CE with a multicolor steel weight. The whole kit looks really balanced and has zero QA issue. The keyboard has a minimalist appearance and some very interesting design details in the back. The textured carbon bottom plate matches nicely with the matte black case and the steel weight. There are three sets of screws and the screw holes are placed elegantly as well. The additional F13 key does break compatibility with other 80% PCBs. But once put together, the placement of the F13 actually makes sense because it leaves the left half more symmetrical. The F13 key also stagers the F row with Row 1 which looks better than when F1~F4 keys matches 2~5.
If you’ve been following the bike industry, SRAM’s flagship drivetrain XX1 Eagle AXS has the same "prismatic" steel cogs and lots of carbon parts. If SRAM ever made a finest keyboard it would be like this Jane. The triangular weight looks clean yet subtle and slides perfectly into the case. You do have to remove the weight before separating the top piece and the bottom piece. It's a less convenient way to access the PCB & plate but that’s not a bad trade-off.
(Pics from the Internet)
Build
- Hineybush thin H88 PCB x FR4 half plate
- Gateron Ink Black switches from NovelKey with switch films. Spring lubed with Krytox 105
A note for those who have the Hineybush PCB & plate combo: the plate could be so thin — quite favorably — that the keycaps sit slightly higher than the top case. I did eventually sink the keycaps by adding some thin stickers between the plate feet and the top case. That said, the half plate flexes quite a bit and makes the typing sound incredibly playful.
Keyboard aside, the batch of Gateron Ink switches I got have horribly loose metal leaves. This is a known issue:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=102322.0. I had to reposition the leaves when lubing and stickering them, every, single, switch. Some switches even have ghost typing because of bent leaves so I had to dissemble the Jane to take the bad ones off. It was a waste of my time and I will never want to touch them again.
Overall I'm in love with the Jane and it will stay in my collections probably forever. Look forward to rebuilding it with the yellow Jane PCB and carbon plate. Again big thank you and congrats to Yuktsi for another successful GB!
