Leaf&Core

Tada68 Keyboard Review (Kailh Box Jade Switches)

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 10 minutes.
Tada68 keyboard on desk

The Tada68, my latest keyboard

I have a problem. An addiction, of sorts. I love mechanical keyboards. Mechanical keyboards are expensive, so a great deal of research and planning should go into each purchase. You have to consider form factor, key layout, key switches, the enclosure, keycap profile, keycap design, whether you’ll build it yourself or get it assembled, even what color you want the LEDs to be. Then you have to consider where you’ll buy the keyboard or its components from. Mechanical keyboard enthusiasts plan out their new keyboards for months before making a decision, hoping it’ll be the last board they buy, their “endgame” board, only to come up with another cool idea for a keyboard a few months down the road.

When I set out to get a new board, I didn’t want something “off the shelf.” My previous boards have been wonderful, but I wanted something that was completely unique to me. I was looking for a low profile enclosure, a form factor greater than 60%, but less than 70% (basically, a 60% with arrow keys), nice switches, and possibly some LED lighting for further customization. I eventually landed on the Tada68. After careful planning, I made one exceptionally nice design, so, before we get into the review, here are the specs:

Warning: Nerd Alert

You could certainly buy a pre-made, off the shelf Tada68, and it’s going to be wonderful for you, even if you know nothing about mechanical keyboards. You may scratch your head a little when modifying the firmware to make it a Mac board or customize it in other ways, but it’s not impossible.

However, this is a customized board. The sections below on keycaps and keyswitches might be a little confusing if you don’t know much about mechanical keyboards. I am totally going to geek out a bit. I recommend reading up on what makes a mechanical keyboard different if you want to understand more about these sections. I’ll still attempt to explain items for a general audience, as I always do, however, existing keyboard fans will likely get more out of this review. That’s just the nature of an enthusiast-focused keyboard such as this one.

The Keycaps

I have to mention these first because it was something I changed about the keyboard after using it for a day, and I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression. These are lovely Cherry profile keycaps in a beige white on light gray colorway. You can find them here for just $34. I normally prefer darker keys and a flatter profile, but I really loved these. So much so that I put them on a tenkeyless board of mine. The Cherry profile is a fantastic improvement over OEM profile, the profile used by most keyboard manufacturers, as they’re lower with a softer angle. Ergonomically, they’re wonderful keycaps, and have a weight that sounded great with the switches I chose. I prefer the looks of DSA, and I like the dark on green color scheme, otherwise I may have decided to keep these keycaps. They changed my views on more traditional-style keycaps.

One thing I will note about these keycaps. There is one key, my right arrow key, which has a dent in it. An actual dent in the keycap. It’s the strangest thing. It appears to be a manufacturing defect, as though it wasn’t formed with enough plastic.

The Switches

I was considering Zealios 78g for this build. It’s a tactile switch, a bit smoother than the Cherry MX Clear switch, a favorite of mine. However, I never used a keyboard that featured Zealios switches, so I ordered a tester. I had three other slots to add to the tester, so I decided to also try out Kailh Box Navy, Gateron Green, and Kailh Box Burnt Orange switches. When I first pulled the switch tester out, I had bumped the Kailh Box Navy and fell in love. The Zealios was great, and if I ever build another keyboard for my office, I’ll use them (they’re quiet), but this was a keyboard for my apartment, and I loved the noisy and tactile click of the Kailh Box Navy switches. However, they were a bit hard to type on due to the heavy spring. The Jade is the same switch with a lighter spring and a snappier click. I ordered this board on faith that they’d be better for me than the Navies. I was right.

Novel Keys x Kailh Box Jade Switches

I like a heavy switch. However, I think the clickbar (explained below) on these might provide just a bit too much resistance. It took some time to get used to because, even with the lighter springs, these are a bit of a finger workout. They feel and sound excellent to type on though. It’s a feeling and sound that just can’t be replaced, like clicking a pen with each keypress. If you’ve tried heavy switches like the Cherry MX Green or Clear switches, and want something that, at peak force, is a little heavier, these will be right for you.

If you’ve ever wished your keyboard had more tactility, these are definitely right for you. The Kailh Box Jade switch is the most tactile switch I’ve ever used. It might be a bit of a strain to type on right now, as I’m not used to them yet, but they are absolutely lovely. If you want something that’s a bit lighter, you could go with the Kailh Box White switches, but if you’re craving a heavy tactility, the Box Jade Switches are the way to go.

I find that, because so much of the resistance is in the clickbar, not the spring, the switches are easy to bottom out after activation. It’ll take practice not to do this, but I have noticed I bottom out less frequently just a few days after typing on this.

Mechanics of the Box Jade Switches and the “Clickbar”

Bottom of a Box Navy switch (same setup, heavier spring). Notice the hollow area and metal bar (click to zoom).

These are linear switches that include a mechanism known as a click bar. Without the click bar, depressing a Box Jade, Navy, White, or Pale Blue switch is a smooth action, like a Cherry MX Red or Black switch. However, the switch depresses a metal bar spring, called the clickbar. The top portion of the switch pushes this clickbar down, over an angled portion of the switch. The bar snaps back up exactly at the actuation point. This means the click you feel isn’t actually from the actuation of the switch, or anything that has to do with the functionality of the switch at all. Instead, it’s all in the clickbar.

Does that cheapen the click? Perhaps. But to your fingers, you won’t know the difference. If you are extremely careful, using two hands to steady the switch, you can sometimes activate the switch before the click, and also repeat the typing action without the secondary click. This is far from a deal breaker. In normal typing situations, you’d never know the difference.

Typing Feel and Sound

There’s more that goes into the typing feel than just the switches. They play the biggest part, sure, but not the only part. For example, these switches are a little heavy, and I do find their click just a little too high pitched. However, I’m using DSA keycaps on this board right now. A set of thick double shot SA keycaps would produce a wonderful sound with this board (which is why I’ll be getting them).

Going with the slim aluminum enclosure also removes some of the resonance. I think it looks nicer, but the trade-off here is that there is less area in the case to create a “thunk” noise with each keypress. Thanks to the design of these switches, I don’t bottom out hard, but when I do, especially with the spacebar, there’s a solid sound that comes from the keyboard. I like it. However, if you want a deeper sound, you should definitely go with the full sized plastic enclosure, which creates more of a resonance.

I will speak one word of caution: this is not a keyboard for the office. Unless you work in an office where everyone has an extremely loud keyboard and no one minds the constant clacking, you will not be welcome in the office with these switches. They are, by far, the noisiest things I have ever heard on a keyboard. Is it wonderful? Yes, if you like that sort of thing. Your coworkers will not. I actually tried it out at the office, and, within a few seconds of typing, had someone ask me if I was going to keep this keyboard in the office. They were very happy when I said no.

Keyboard Layout

More desk space! Also, I just couldn’t abandon those keycaps. They look nice on my other board.

As for typing on this layout, it’s fantastic. However, I did have a problem with the location of the delete and tilde keys. On most keyboards, the tilde key would be next to the 1 key, however, since this keyboard doesn’t have a Function Key row, the escape key is located next to the 1 key. The tilde was moved next to the backspace key, with the delete key under it. I didn’t like this much, I wanted to swap the locations. Fortunately, the firmware (TMK) is customizable, so I was able to swap them. It looks better with my keycaps this way anyway.

I did find that the volume controls on the first layer were a little strange. Perhaps it’s an Eastern vs Western writing style thing, but the volume went from increase to decrease. Furthermore, it ignored the obvious implications of the buttons. M was to increase the volume, < was to decrease it, and > was to mute it. I changed M to be mute, < to move the volume down (to the left on the Mac’s volume indicator), and > to increase it.

Size/Form Factor

I thought it would take me some more time to get used to the lack of a function key row, but, as it turns out, I don’t really miss them. The function keys can be brought back by pressing the FN key and a number. This also unlocks other functions on the keyboard, like controlling the backlighting, changing the volume, and even moving the mouse around. However, since using the function keys on a Mac can always be a little difficult, and I had already set mine up to require the function key for any non-shortcut task, it was easy to switch to this. I think that, unless you need a number pad, this is the perfect form factor for most people. If you could get used to the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro, you can definitely get used to the lack of a function row.

The aluminum enclosure I got is low and slim, but the plastic case (which KBDfans included) isn’t much thicker. It has a small footprint on your desk, leaving you plenty of room for your mouse, a notebook, or other knickknacks.

Looks

The stock keycaps aren’t my usual style, but they’re actually really nice. A sort of retro beige look that I really like. Surely because it reminds me of old Apple keyboards. I like rounded keycaps more, with large surface areas, which is what drew me to the DSA profile. Since keycaps can be used to completely change the look of a keyboard, I won’t go into that too much. Suffice it to say, if I didn’t have a set of DSA profile keycaps lying around (and an SA profile on the way), I would have been content with the keycaps this board came with.

Case

The stock Tada68 comes in a plastic case. It’s certainly thick and durable feeling, but it’s still plastic. If you decide to get it, and want to switch to the full size or the slim aluminum cases later, you’ll be happy to know that it seems to be an easy swap, only 6 screws.

I went with the low profile aluminum case. This added $55 to the cost of this board, but, for me, it was worth it. I love the premium weight and feel it gives this board, while still remaining comfortable to use with only a 0.75″ wrist pad.

The only oddity would be the LEDs on the bottom of the case. While I can clearly see the green switch LEDs, there are four LEDs on the bottom of the case. However, with the low profile case and the recessed LEDs, the light from these LEDs can barely be seen. I see more from them via the top through light leak near the Shift and Caps Lock keys.

Build Quality

Note the slightly crooked ‘R’ and ‘X’ keys.

This case was handmade and shipped out within a day of ordering it. I honestly couldn’t believe how fast KBDfans operates. Seriously, huge shoutout to them for an amazing job. There are a few keys that are at a slightly imperfect angle, barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it. Just my X, R, J, and \ keys are at a slight angle, all rotated ever so slightly clockwise. Is it a dealbreaker? I’d say far from it. This is a tough build, clicky Box switches with LEDs, so the fact that only 4 / 68 keys have a slight rotation is an indicator of a job well done.

A slight light leak

Beyond that, the case is perfectly sturdy. Honestly, the thing feels like a weapon. Forget the big kitchen knife, if someone breaks into my apartment, they’re getting a whack from my keyboard. No, not really, because I’d hate to hurt anyone, least of all my keyboard.

 

 

Firmware

The firmware section was so large, I had to move it to its own post. No joke! The included TMK firmware is customizable, but, as you’ll see in the firmware setup guide, it can be a little sketchy. Fortunately, it’s based on the TMK firmware, which can be replaced by the easier to use and open source QMK firmware.

If you’re interested in a thorough guide to setting this up, without compiling it yourself (there are plenty of guides on that already, not the least of which on the QMK firmware Github page), check out that post here. This review turned out to be half how-to guide, and I realized that might not be what everyone comes here for.

Hope the guide helps! It uses the online QMK Configurator and Terminal commands to set your keyboard firmware.

Support/Assembly

I got this through KBDfans, a popular enthusiast site for custom keyboards and accessories. The spare DSA keycaps set I had on hand? I ordered it from them last year. When I realized I would be going through them, I felt a little safer about this experimental build. They responded to questions on Facebook Messenger quickly, and, once I had placed my order, they had it built and shipped in record time. I had my keyboard, from China, a week after ordering it (admittedly, I did get rush delivery). Truly excellent service.

Customizability

This is a kit keyboard. It’s highly customizable. You could bring your own case, order one of the three KBDfans has for it (in a variety of colors), put any LEDs in your switches that you want, add your own keycaps, and even completely overwrite the firmware with ease. In fact, because there is open source firmware, I could write my own firmware if I wanted!

You’ll also be happy to know that the larger keys use Cherry MX style stabilizers. That means replacing the larger keys on the board is incredibly easy. No lining anything up, just get the right sized key and put it on.

The stock plastic enclosure

If you want, you can remove the aluminum feet on the bottom of the keyboard. This would make the keyboard lay completely flat. The slim aluminum case has only a slight incline, but if its too much for you, screw the feet off. I will admit, they’re hard to get back on, because the screw is inside the board. However, I was able to remove the feet and replace them without taking my board apart. I don’t recommend removing the feet from this board without taking it apart and removing those screws. But, again, that’s something you can easily do. This is an enthusiast’s board, and it’s made to be highly customizable.

Odds and Ends

Besides the sketchy TMK firmware updater, and the lack of a breathe pattern in the QMK Configurator, there’s one issue I have with this keyboard: it uses a USB-B mini connection. I’d have preferred USB-C or USB Micro, but this is a small complaint. For now, it works out well for me, as I had a nice braided USB-B mini cable. However, if I ever want to upgrade the cable, it could be find to find one with the correct ends in the future.

Overall

Last Friday, my iPhone XS, Apple Watch Series 4, and Tada68 came in the same day. I won’t lie to you, I was most excited about the keyboard. Now, as it turns out, the iPhone XS is a far better upgrade than I expected, and the Apple Watch Series 4 is absolutely wonderful, but more on those two later. The Tada68 has also met my expectations. While I’ll admit the firmware was a bit of a hassle, creating my own layouts and loading them onto my keyboard made it really feel like it was my own. I always tell people I love my car in part because I have literally put blood, sweat, and tears into it. That kind of devotion pays off.

I love this keyboard. It’s clicky (and loud), tactile, endlessly customizable, fun to type on, looks great, and perfectly sized for my desk. Really, I think it’s my favorite keyboard right now. I can’t wait to update it with SA keycaps and really make a cacophony of sound! If you’re a keyboard enthusiast, and don’t mind putting a bit of work into your keyboard, you’ll love the Tada68.

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