Warning: this review is still in theseed stage, see this page what that means.
Verdict
I really wanted to like the Model 100. It has a lot of original ideas, such as palm keys, a pseudo-key well (making reliable hotswap possible), and a case only people who love their craft could make. It’s clear that a lot of thought was put into the design of the keyboard.
However, find the Model 100 difficult to recommend as an ergonomic keyboard — it is pretty high, the standard tenting method (the octofeet) make the Model 100 a lot higher while only tenting the keyboard at 7.5 degrees. While I initially liked the palm keys a lot, they became uncomfortable after a while. The firmware is also a bit lacking, especially if you want to avoid overloading your thumbs by using homerow mods with bilateral combinations and typing streaks.
The Model 100 lacks the agility of the ZSA Voyager and the ergonomic prowess of the Glove80 or Kinesis Advantage. Given that the price is pretty much equal to the competition, I feel like there is no reason to pick the Model 100, except if you really want something that approximates a key well while having hotswap.
Positives
- Even though it does not have a full key well, the pseudo-well gives does make Model 100 feel more natural than most flat keyboards.
- Thumb keys follow the natural arc of the finger.
- The keyboard supports hotswap, so you are not married to the initial switch choice.
- The wooden case feels and sounds great.
- Built-in palm rests.
Negatives
- The keyboard is relatively high — you need to adjust your table and mouse height.
- The keyboard is very high with the octofeet, while only giving a maximum 7.5 degrees of tenting.
- Initially it felt like the palm keys added another dimension in terms of layers switching. However, they became uncomfortable to use for me after a while.
- The Kaleidoscope firmware is more limited than QMK and ZMK. It was hard to get reliable home row mods. As a result, you typically need to use more thumb keys.
- The outermost index finger keys are hard to reach. The default layout puts frequent keys (Enter/Esc/Tab) in that column, get tiring after a while.
- The keycap shapes are proprietary, so you can only get replacement caps from Keyboardio.