Hello
Can't find this topic being discussed before, but it it has, please post a link.
These two boards are very similar right?
A year on, what's the feedback? The Bluetooth keeps me looking and looking. Worth a punt in Blue?
HHKB JP and FILCO MINILA
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Findecanor
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
- DT Pro Member: 0011
Something that both keyboards have in common is that the staggering is a uniform 0.25 0.25, not 0.25 and 0.5 like most keyboards. I have heard one person complain that the left hand needs to get used to the layout. I would like to hear other people's opinions.
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Hypersphere
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Silenced & Lubed HHKB (Black)
- Main mouse: Logitech G403
- Favorite switch: Topre 45/55g Silenced; Various Alps; IBM Model F
- DT Pro Member: 0038
I haven't tried these two, mainly because of the staggering. Some time ago, I took a long and careful look at the Filco Minila, but I decided the layout was not for me. In particular, I like to have a Backspace/Delete key that is at least 1.25x and a Right Shift that is at least 1.25x. I bought the Tex Beetle, and something I could not adjust to was the 1.00x Right Shift. It turns out that I also do not like Cherry mx switches (and I have tried blue, green, red, black, brown, and clear).
However, I love the 60% form factor, and the keyboards in this category that I have kept and use regularly include the HHKB Pro 2 and KBP V60 Matias Click and Matias Quiet Click keyboards.
The HHKB Pro 2 layout works so well for me that I remap all my other keyboards to something as close as possible to a Mac/HHKB configuration using Karabiner software for the Mac.
I also really like the Topre switches in the HHKB and the Matias switches in my V60 keyboards.
However, I love the 60% form factor, and the keyboards in this category that I have kept and use regularly include the HHKB Pro 2 and KBP V60 Matias Click and Matias Quiet Click keyboards.
The HHKB Pro 2 layout works so well for me that I remap all my other keyboards to something as close as possible to a Mac/HHKB configuration using Karabiner software for the Mac.
I also really like the Topre switches in the HHKB and the Matias switches in my V60 keyboards.
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Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
- DT Pro Member: µ
The HHKB family has some rogue members. There's the Lite, which is no HHKB at all. And then there's the Pro JP. That layout is enough to give it a bad reputation all of its own.
Filco's Minila isn't exactly loved for its layout. But the Minila Air does have bulletproof Bluetooth, with months long battery life, in an excellent form factor case. If only Filco had taken more of a lesson from the true HHKB for the layout, though. The Minila sucks for aftermarket caps, as well as throwing in a sneaky stagger spanner in the works for typing. You either don't notice it, I hear, or you hate it. There's no telling without trying either board out.
Filco's Minila isn't exactly loved for its layout. But the Minila Air does have bulletproof Bluetooth, with months long battery life, in an excellent form factor case. If only Filco had taken more of a lesson from the true HHKB for the layout, though. The Minila sucks for aftermarket caps, as well as throwing in a sneaky stagger spanner in the works for typing. You either don't notice it, I hear, or you hate it. There's no telling without trying either board out.