Keyball44

The keyball44 was delivered in about a months time. Build quality is solid. The board came pre-flashed and so was ready to go upon arrival. The keyboard was packaged appropriately for international delivery. I did originally order a lily58, and changed my mind to the keyball44. Customer service was responsive and accomodating. I've been using the board daily for over 2 months now and have encountered zero issues.

If I were to write one minor complaint it's that it would be good to mention that the trackball is sold separately. To be fair, this is clearly mentioned in the keyball44 overview page. I think it would be a good addition to the keyball44 product/part selection page as a warning so the buyer remembers to go over to Amazon to get a trackball. Maybe even sell the trackball as an add-on similar to the tenting legs, TRRS cable, etc?

1. Very effective for alleviating round shoulders.
2. The spacious middle section allows for placing items like a tablet, which is very convenient.
3. It’s also compatible with the Aten KM switch, making it perfect for those who use multiple computers without any hassle.

Very comfortable keyboard layout, corne like alpha cluster with compact kyria-like thumbs. Plus a ball! Bearings are ceramic, so in a way that is already pre-upgraded!

Build is entirely SMD based, so as long as you are comfortable with small components, soldering is a cinch. Pads are well laid out, spaced nicely, labelled well for the LEDs, and overall a very easy experience. I've soldered a fair few boards, all THT (something like 15+....) so this was a first for all SMD and it went very well. Keep in mind that I almost exclusively use a 2.4mm chisel tip with unleaded solder, and there were zero issues getting the iron in position for any components. Only partial issue I had was that the Kailh sockets are too narrow for that kind of chisel, so I had to get creative with iron positioning.

Note that the ball sensor orientation is vertical, and motion is best sensed directly opposite to it. The motion is thus optimized for thumb motion, however a finger can be used (the top of the ball is semi useless for up/down motion so you do have to use the side of the ball with your finger) in a pinch.

Remap does work well, UI is a bit annoying when you want to change the entire layout though (Colemak DH user, so the majority of the qwerty layout has to go!).

A small note with switches and the plate: I do not know if this is an issue across the board (heh), but I built this board with Infinity Key Cow switches. The switches had significant difficulty inserting into the plate, and I found that the LED side switch clips were all getting shaved once they successfully inserted. I did NOT have this issue with any durock or kailh switches that I tested with, so this may be exclusively an issue with the Cows (I did note that those clips did look a bit larger than the other switches).

Overall very pleased with the build, and the comfort of the board!

The build quality is good.
Although delivery took a month, it was worth the wait.
The trackball has excellent sensitivity.
Mapping software is also convenient.

I like building and collecting silly keyboards and this one is fun to use. I thought using the trackball was gonna be a pain at first but no I picked it up pretty quickly. Borrowing my friend's trackball mouse my mind would want to push the absolute unit around the table instead of pushing the ball but I believe since this trackball is attached to a keyboard my mind recognizes it for thumb use only.

I'm really cheap so most of my other keebs have some level of jank and in turn personality. I really tried (didn't try?) and it came out way nicer than expected. Mismatched MCUs, 3 different kinds of switches, and keycaps from an old typewriter.

Typing experience has taken me a bit to get used to. I'm used to 36 keys and much more aggressive pinky columns so I keep accidentally pressing the extra columns and I have repeating buttons because I don't know what to do with them.

I used remap to flash my keyboard and it worked great for me. My only minor issue was the spacers for the choc thumb cluster that was too short. Or maybe the others were too long? I printed some better fitting ones and it works fine now. I might get actual ones when I'm not lazy...