First Ergonomic Keyboard Build - QK Alice Duo

TLDR

Built the QK Alice Duo keyboard.

Why Ergonomic?

After using a regular keyboard for my entire life, I wanted to try something different, and that’s when the QK Alice Duo came in. It’s a new keyboard made by Qwertykeys and what caught my attention is that the keyboard is split in two.

I think having a split keyboard is very ergonomic for my my hands and arms. With the keyboard being split, my arms can be at a 90 degree angle while typing, although the mouse placement is a bit weird. What would have been an awesome feature was to include a track pad on the QK Alice Duo. Instead, the two dots at the end of the keyboard is a mode to change the RGB on the keyboard (although you can it with Via).

Having the keyboard split into two made me realize how horrible type touching with my right hand is. I realize that my right hand is mainly typing with the index finger and now that I’m using this keyboard, I’m training it to be better.

My WPM on a regular keyboard layout is about 140wpm, and it dropped to as low as 90wpm with the Alice layout. I think I’ll use the QK Alice Duo to practice typing, and switch to a regular keyboard for work/main use.

What The Box

The keyboard came inside this huge carrying case. For a split keyboard, why does it need such a large case??

Both boards are about 2 pounds each. After building the W70 and using the spring mount, I wanted something a bit more firmer, so I opted for the 1.6mm PCB board and the FR4 plate.

The keyboard came with it’s own stabilizers. I wanted to buy another set of stabilizers, but most sets only come with 4 x 2U sized stabilizers. Because I want a larger backspace, I needed an extra 2U stabilizer, so I opted to just use what Qwertykeys provided.

I had a set of Baby Kangaroos tactile switches, lubed and ready to go so I threw them on the keyboard just to try. After using the keyboard for the past few days though, I’m most likely going to swap the switches out to a linear switch. I have the Akko Rosewood switches coming in, so I’m excited to try that.

I really like the color scheme of the bottom of the keyboard. The dark pink area is the adjustable tent to make the keyboard higher or lower to fit the curve of the hand.

After swapping the Yeeti keycaps to the W70, the Metropolis was free to be put on the Alice. I was panicking a little because none of my GMK sets had the Alice spacebars. Luckily, the KAM superuser spacebar set had something for me to use.

I will probably swap the Metropolis keycaps out in the future for another future GMK set.

The Alice keyboard is very fun to use. I don’t think I’ll buy another Alice keyboard style unless there’s a special design or interesting feature with it. This keyboard is already interesting enough with it being split into two boards.

-LW