WindX R2

 

So I know I have professed my love of smaller boards typically I choose something in the 60-75% range as my daily driver. However I do always feel the need for a number pad. As you might have noticed in most of my photos with a smaller board you will see a separate numpad near by. At work I think of this as a must as I work with numbers all day and it slows me down dramatically when I have to use the number row. At home I really only use it for passwords so not really needed. 

Wind studios have made a board for keyboard enthusiasts that has a number pad. It looks like they took a 65% and slapped a number pad on to the side, and I kind of love it. This board looks like a full size if you saw it at a glance but it has removed the F row and many of the keys I never use on a full size board like Print and scroll lock.

The design of the board feels really unique and building it was a fun process. The bottom of the case is kind of the middle of a sandwich which is easier to see from the side where you see the grey piece below and in-between the two parts on the top. Now I don't have a lot of experience with Bluetooth custom keyboards and besides my Angry Miao boards the only Bluetooth board I have built was the Mammoth 75 and that was a huge pain to figure out. This board was not easy figuring out the Bluetooth and finding help online wasn't as easy as I hoped. The thing that took a bit to find was that the boards on position is up which everything I found online said it was down. Besides that the build went very smooth.

Things I love about this board include the solid build quality, the design, the option of VIA and QMK support if used as a wired board and the Bluetooth option which I actually need at work enough that I keep a BT enabled board close by if I am using a wired only board.

As for dislikes the only thing that has bothered me in the couple weeks of testing has been the light and how it bleeds out so much under the surrounding keys and the software. I still enjoy the light and would choose it over the plain badge option. As for the software I had such a hard time with it and the layout of how to change things is so confusing. If I was giving this board to an average person I would make sure to configure it for them and never tell them the software exists. 

All in all I think this board is a perfect board for someone not willing to let go of their number pad but wanting to get into the custom keyboard market.