Last summer, Hexgears’ X-1 set Kickstarter ablaze with the promise of a single keyboard that combined the feel of a mechanical with the wireless features and slim design of a modern chicklet keyboard. Now, they’re back with a new model that edges a bit more towards traditional mechanical keyboard territory, while maintaining what everyone liked about the X-1.
The biggest change about the Hexgears Venture is that it’s a full-sized keyboard, now with a number pad. It’ll take up more space on your desk, but should help you breeze through spreadsheets in ways that just aren’t possible without those extra keys.
About those keys...they’re sculpted now, rather than flat, which makes the whole thing less dramatically slim than the X-1, but it’s still low profile compared to most mechanical keyboards out there. You also get replaceable Mac keycaps in the box for free this time around, for the Apple users among you. Underneath the caps, you get per-key programmable RGB lighting, and even you get your choice of three different Kailh Choc switches, each of which provides different feedback and actuation points. Based on this sound test, I would definitely get the white ones, but I also work from home so...
The Venture is up for preorder now on Kickstarter starting at $119, with estimated delivery in October.