The Split Keyboard For Anyone? Ultimate Hacking Keyboard 80 Review

I have a fondness for split keyboards. It all started when I bought the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard 60 just a few years ago. So when Ultimate Gadget Laboratories offered to send me a UHK-80 review unit, I was ecstatic. Full disclosure, they sent this to me for free but did not pay me for this video. I've used the 60 for over 2 years now, and I'm convinced split keyboards can be for anyone. If you take away one thing from this video, it should be this: your thumbs are the strongest fingers you have, and right now you're using both of them for exactly one key: the spacebar. I'll get into why that matters in a bit, but first let's just observe the unboxing. As you can see, everything was neatly packaged. It even provided a link to get some easy-to-follow online instructions for assembly. Other than the unit itself, which now comes with the wrist rests built in, they sent me the tenting kit known as the Riser 80. Wireless dongle and batteries, OS keycaps, and all 4 modules: the key cluster, the touchpad, the trackball, and the TrackPoint. It also comes with a keycap remover, USB-C cable, and bridge cable to connect both of the sides. Let's talk pricing. The UHK80 by itself is about $365. The riser tenting kit is another $85. The dongle is $28. The batteries are another $28. The OS keycaps are $9. And every single module is $61 each. So the configuration you're looking at right now, with all 4 modules included, is a little over $750. Definitely not cheap. That being said, you do not need to buy it that way. If you get just the keyboard, plus maybe the riser and just one module, which I'd recommend the key cluster, It's about $500, and honestly, that's the setup I'd probably have most people start out with. The upgrades to the 80 from the 60 are quite nice. Other than the obvious additional keys, there's a new OLED display and wireless connectivity options. I went with the regular brown key switches like I did for the first keyboard, but here's a quick example of the different options that you have. A real highlight for me is the smarter placement of the thumb cluster keys. Here's the 60. It had these kind of clicky microswitches here, which, while definitely oddly satisfying to use, weren't as practical as what we're seeing here with the 80. 2 lower profile options that work really nicely. as additional modifier keys. When I first set this keyboard up, I tried plugging in the right side as instructed, but nothing happened. The UHK Agent software simply didn't pick it up. It wasn't until I reset each side of the keyboard manually with a SIM card eject pin that it actually popped up and started connecting. I'm not sure exactly why this happened, but if it does happen to you, the reset buttons on each side are the fix. From there though, it was smooth sailing. It recognized the wireless dongle and I paired with it with no problem. One thing to note, a direct USB connection is still required to use the UHK Agent software, at least for now. So if you're running wireless, you need to plug it back in directly every time you want to make a change to a binding, which of course isn't a big deal, but if you like to tweak your layout constantly, you'll definitely notice that limitation. Initially, I decided to give it a go unmodified with just the default settings. After giving it a test run with the standard keyboard legs, I switched over to the riser tenting kit. I found the screws a little finicky to get in, especially compared to the larger ones that were on the 60, but after some time I finally got it done. Unfortunately, I put them on backwards the first time. Whoops. I had to take them all out and put them all back on correctly. Let's try this again. Alright, this is looking much better. I also swapped the space key and mod keys. I exclusively use my left thumb to press the spacebar, and even though I'm a touch typist, having it in the right place just felt right. The experience of actually typing on it felt very natural to me. The regular brown key switches and the PBT keycaps were familiar from the UHK60. A few slight muscle memory adjustments I had to make, like moving your hand to an area where the keys were a little more wide or a little more narrow than before, but pretty much all minor things, all things considered. For someone moving from a more traditional keyboard, I'd encourage you to try to use your thumbs more than you probably are right now. Your strongest digits are wildly underutilized. Both of them are relegated to a single key, just the spacebar. So imagine being able to use them for more purposes. With the UHK60, my goal was to use my right pinky less by making my right thumb backspace and my left thumb enter on the key cluster module. I am proud to say I have successfully incorporated that into my typing. I utilized the remaining keys on this module for another backspace and a delete key to make this more convenient. But this time around, I want to try leveraging these lower profile keys for Shift and Control and see if I can do it. I'm going to spend a full week actually forcing myself to use them that way, and I'll tell you how that goes by the end of this video. In fact, to force myself to do it, I'm actually going to disable the left Control and Shift keys Completely. This could be rough. Something I never got very good at was using the trackball module. Every once in a while I'd use it for something quick maybe, but I never used it seriously. This time I'm trying the trackpad module to see if it's easier to use. The key cluster module and any of the right module options actually work together, so you can easily left-click, right-click, or scroll between each of them if you don't want to use your mouse. Using the UHK Agent software was just as delightful as before, with a couple new options related to connectivity and battery settings. Everything else was pretty standard. I really like how it used a similar default profile to what shipped with the UHK60 initially. It helps reinforce the continuity in the sort of intuitive layers they've been establishing over the years, and everything just kind of made sense for someone that's used it before. The side-printed legend is a nice default to follow, and even if it's probably more opinionated than you might like or use yourself, having it there is my preference. You can always get those blank keycap variants if you prefer to use, or custom ones from third parties. Some of the notable customizations I did, other than the obvious spacebar swap I mentioned earlier, is effectively use the FN layer as the mod layer instead. Since it will have consistent placement on both sides of the keyboard. I did that on the 60 as well and it served me well. New for this time is I replaced the skip forward and skip backwards with volume up and volume down, and I use the Fn layer to bring those skip keys back. Some of the macros I use quite often are actually pretty simple. Just type my email address. This saves way more time than you might imagine. Okay, so overall, after a week or two of using this keyboard, I am a big fan. It is everything I love about the 60 with just a little bit more. First, that thumb shift and control experiment. Man, it was difficult. It was so slow to try and use at first that I ended up just avoiding capitalizing letters altogether. I barely touched the right side, using mostly the left. But eventually I did get used to it. After one week of it, I'm finding myself alternating between the pinky and thumb use, so I'll count that as a win. What's funny though is despite having some of these new dedicated keys, I find myself using keys that I had under the constraints of the previous model. For example, most of the time I would rather use a modifier key and stay on the home row to use the arrow keys, for example. After so many months of muscle memory, Rather than reaching down to the dedicated arrow keys I have now. The beauty is, though, I have the option of both. So sometimes using the modifier keys with arrows makes sense, and having dedicated arrow keys makes sense in other contexts. So should you upgrade from the 60? This is for you that already have the 60. I would say it depends. For context, I was running a Razer 60 with rubber palm rests, so that's kind of what's informing my answer. The built-in wrist rests alone are a really nice upgrade. On the 60, I noticed they kind of get wobbly over time and I have to kind of tinker and retighten them, which was especially annoying when I had the tenting riser kit to manage as well. So this solution kind of solves that completely. Then there's the extra keys. So out of everything, the dedicated F row and the arrow keys are probably what I missed the most on the 60, but the single biggest upgrade for me are the additional thumb cluster keys. These 2 keys below space, mod, and the Fn keys are amazing. I really have a tough time giving these up now because you just have so much more options with your thumbs. If I were to invent my perfect UHK device, I think it'd be something like a UHK-75. Getting the thumb cluster upgrades, the F row of the arrow keys, and maybe a print screen key or a couple media keys, and I'd probably be completely set. I don't know that I'll ever end up using the dedicated scroll lock, insert, pause, delete, home, end, page up, page down keys, etc., especially when there's already available options through other layers. What I will probably do is reassign those keys to something else and use generic blank keycaps to not confuse myself. Now, who should probably skip this keyboard? If you're happy with your 60 and you don't need a wireless connectivity option or a bigger screen or those extra keys, you probably don't need this. The UHK60, especially the V2, is still an amazing choice. If you genuinely cannot get behind a split keyboard for some reason, or you need something really low profile or something with one piece, then this obviously is not for you. But again, I would try to push that stigma away and try the split keyboard. I'd recommend this keyboard to anyone who would like to try it, but in particular power users who want a little bit more out of their device. You will enjoy tinkering and tweaking your setup until it's Just right, and you will embrace using layers and the thumb cluster keys. You just will. You just have to apply yourself to relearning some muscle memory, and it is so worth it. Thank you again to Ultimate Gadget Laboratories for sending this to me. I was very happy to get it and review it. Very grateful for that. And for you for watching, of course, the viewer. And to you all, I say God bless, and I'll see you on the next video. Bye.