Twiddler 3 owners, how do the keys feel?

[xiaq]

Hi all! New to the forum. Twiddler 3 looks like an amazing product for typing on the go and I'm considering getting one.

Twiddler 3 looks reasonably ergonomic, and a lot of work has evidently been put into making the strap comfortable. But one thing that I haven't found a lot of reviews on is how the keys feel (which seems quite important for something you expect to press millions of times!).

Some questions I'm curious in:

• Are the keycaps hard (feels like plastic) or soft (feels like rubber)?
• Is there a "click" (not necessarily audible, but tactical) when pressed, or any other kind of tactical feedback?
• How much travel is there - do you find them too shallow or too deep?

A bit about my background with keyboards: I use a mechanical keyboard with Cherry brown switches and quite like it. I also find scissor switches (used in most laptops) OK, but dome switch keyboards are a bit uncomfortable for me.

[cchelak]

I have found the keys on the twiddler 3 to be disappointing, personally.

• The keycaps are a hard plastic.There is no rubber between this hard plastic and the switch, leaving the buttons to feel like they are loosely floating in the case.
• There is an audible click, similar to pressing a switch the side of a phone, though the buttons are loose and feel less precise than that.
• Travel time is based solely on the looseness (imprecision) of the button, mentioned above. Other than that, there is minimal travel time, think the distance of the scissor switches on your laptop, maybe less.

A few of my buttons (the default F key, for example) will spam. I use my Twiddler on walks mainly, not looking at the screen. On these walks, my phone registered that I pressed a button 8+ times when I pressed it once. I've looked at my phone and saw the letter repeated 20 times before. I thought it was a network issue, but I'm seeing it in untethered mode, too. For someone who enjoys a snappy and precise mechanical keyboard, I can see this lack of precision being a deal-breaker for you.

Further, the paint has rubbed off of each key within a month's use. I imagine they don't find the text that important, expecting us to configure the keyboard from default to a layout of our liking, but it gave the impression that it was made cheaply.

[tony]

@cchelak great feedback!

The Twiddler switches are the Omron B3FS-1010P - 0.98N force
{datasheet} (235.6 KB)

The plastic used for the keycaps is a PC-ABS blend called Bayblend® FR3010.

We only stamp print the letters on the keycaps because if you are looking at the keys when you are using the Twiddler you are using it incorrectly. The next Twiddler will probably just have black keys to avoid the perception of "cheapness".

[xiaq]

@cchelak Thanks for sharing your experience! Good to know that the keys do have tactile feedback. I was more worried that the keys might be like those mushy rubber keys on some remote controls, at least that’s not the case. Loose keycaps sure sounds non-ideal but it’s probably not a dealbreaker for me.

Key spamming is a pretty serious issue though, but if you’re getting them even via USB and only getting it on some keys, I suppose that points to some sort of mechanical defect, which should be covered by warranty? @tony can you maybe speak to this issue?

[tony]

@xiaq most of the time Key Spamming is a result of debris getting caught in the button mechanism. While we can fix that, its not a warranty issue. The buttons are rated for 1m key presses and we have yet to have one fail because of a mechanical issue.

Moral of the story, keep your Twiddler clean and it will serve you well for a long period of time.

[xiaq]

@tony Good to know that. Keeping it clean is indeed something to keep in mind.

I was more worried about a new unit having key spamming issues, if that happens (however unlikely it is) I suppose that that should still be something covered by warranty.

[tony]

We test every single Twiddler before the leave the factory. Every one.

If your Twiddler develops key issues, we will check it out and repair/replace if it is a warranty issue.

[Geoff]

Hey @cchelak, ever try contact cleaner on your unit? Worked a treat on mine when a key started sticking.

I don't work for Twiddler, this isn't official advice.

Hey @xiaq, I had a Twiddler fail on me, replacement under warranty was quick and easy. Keys are hard plastic, good tactile feedback though with the contoured case you might feel minor differences between the keys. Travel is about right.

It's hard to compare to regular keyboards: I love the freedom of putting my arms wherever I want, and have a layout designed to facilitate lots of micro chording: common chunks of words are a single press for me. (Think 'th', 'as', 'ing'). There is a learning curve.