Massdrop ALT Review

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There’s a joke among keyboard enthusiasts there there is no “end game.” There will never be a single keyboard that makes us happy enough to never buy another set of switches, keycaps, new boards, or new parts. We laugh at those poor, naïve fools who believe they’ve done it, they’ve found their perfect board.

It wasn’t that long ago I had a custom Tada 68 assembled by KBDFans and sent to me. It is a 68% keyboard (no function key row, but otherwise similar to a standard keyboard without a number pad), with Box Jade switches (loud, clicky, tactile), and green backlighting. I have my favorite set of keycaps on it, my Pulse SA keycaps. By all means, it should have been my end game. But, there are a few issues.

First, I was kind of hoping for at least one RGB board. Not just so I could have rainbows across my desk, but also for all the customization it entails. Next, I wasn’t sure about the switches when I made this board. I initially had my heart set on Zealios 78g switches. These are a firm tactile switch, smoother and more tactile than Cherry MX Clears, but otherwise very similar to the popular switch. I didn’t get the board with them, because I became obsessed with the (wonderful) Box Jades, so I knew I’d have to buy another board in short order.

Enter the Massdrop ALT

As many keyboard enthusiasts are aware, Massdrop is a godsend. It’s a great place to find keyboard accessories, parts, or full boards that may only go through a limited production phase. It’s the best way to find rare parts through group buys.

Massdrop also manufacturers their own products on occasion. They have two keyboards now, the Massdrop CTRL and the Masdrop ALT. The CTRL is a “tenkeyless” board, that is, a board that only sacrifices the number pad. But I prefer a more compact board. That’s where the 65% ALT comes in. For me, it’s perfect. I don’t need function keys often, but I do need arrow keys all the time. As a result, this is the perfect layout for me.

It also has hot-swappable switches. This means I can, at any time, swap out the switches for another set of switches. It means I can buy a pack of Zealios and throw them on the board if I want. Or I can mix and match switches.

The Massdrop ALT also comes with RGB lighting, both for the edges and the keys. It’s built into the PCB, which means I can replace the switches without losing the cool RGB effects.

Finally, the board features the QMK firmware. This open source firmware is what I put on my Tada68 after becoming frustrated with the original firmware. Out of the box, it’ll likely be perfect for you, but you can customize it yourself in the QMK firmware editor and quickly update your firmware.

Massdrop items are gone in a flash. You have to be quick to get them while you can. The Massdrop ALT, for example, is no longer on sale. Still, this was the second run for this plucky keyboard. If this review makes you think about getting one, be sure to watch Massdrop closely. They’ll surely have a new version, either with identical keycaps and features or something new, later on.

Realizing that it might not be around forever, and seeing the endlessly customizable Massdrop ALT as an investment, I snatched one up. What do I think of it? Read on!

The Keyboard Itself

Hot-Swappable Switches

So, for those of you who don’t know, hot-swappable switch sockets enable keyboard enthusiasts to not only swap out their keycaps, but also the switches themselves. They do this by allowing you to mount any plate-mount switches into the board and having them click into place. You can remove switches as you use it! In fact, I took a spare Box Navy switch I had from a switch tester and put it in place of my escape key, along with a brass switch I have from an artisan keycap maker, Salvun. The combination adds punch to my Escape presses, while the weight of the keycap means it’s not harder than the other keys to press.

The Massdrop ALT comes with a tool to unclip switches from the board. Using that, you can put any switches you want on the board. I had planned on getting some Zealios V2 switches, cutting off the PCB mount stabilizers, and putting them on this board, but, as I’ll describe below, the Halo Clears it came with stunned me. These are some great switches! I can see now why they’re so popular in the community.

Customization and Colors

The Massdrop ALT, out of the box, has a lot of customization options. Without needing to reconfigure your board using the QMK firmware customization process (described more below), you already have many options to make this board all your own.

First, there’s the colored patterns on the LEDs. The default is a rainbow pattern that shifts across the keys. There’s also a steady rainbow pattern, red, green, blue, yellow, and white patterns. There’s a nice steady blue and pink pattern that would be excellent for split keyboard, but looks nice on a board like this as well. One of the modes is a white key pattern with a red line that passes through the keys, like a red shadow passing over your board. Then there’s the “nightrider” mode, as I call it. A red line that passes behind your dark keycaps. There’s also an option to have no LED lights… but, like, what would you want that? What’s wrong with you? Who hurt you?

All moving patterns can be reversed, going from right to left, if you prefer. There’s also an option to use a “breathing” pattern, having the lights dim and brighten over a few seconds. There’s no reason for any two boards to look alike. Although, the moving rainbow pattern is really cool, and I think a lot of people will stick with it.

Sound

 

Some keyboards actually have a speaker in them. This is not one of those boards. Instead, the sound I refer to is the sound of the keyboard. This will vary depending on what switches you choose to put on this board. For example, that Box Navy switch I have on my escape key makes a nice clicking sound, and the brass keycap gives it a weighted feel.The Halo Clear switches I have on the rest of the board are tactile, yet quiet. The tactility is early in the keypress, and I rarely bottom out hard. This gives them one of the more pleasing sounds a keyboard can make. If you’re good at not bottoming out often, it’s actually really nice just to listen to. If you’re one of those people who get ASMR, it’s an excellent board for that. Dear ASMRtists I’m subscribed to: this one right here.

However, there is a negative side to the sound this board makes. If you are typing fast and a little hard, hard enough to bottom out on occasion, you’ll definitely hear a pinging sound coming from the board. I especially notice it on the space bar, as I tend to hit it pretty hard (as you could probably figure out from the fact that I have it reversed).

Because this board has standard screws on the bottom and was made for customization, you could change this sound if you wanted to. Just take the board apart and put small pieces of rubber or foam between the PCB board and the metal board on top. Just make sure it’s nothing that could conduct electricity, or you could damage the circuitry. One commenter on Massdrop claimed to use sorbothane, at a 1/8″ thickness (though they recommended 1/10″, as this was snug). They say it didn’t dampen the ping sound enough for them though. While the ping on the Massdrop ALT isn’t as bad as this KBDFans Tofu board, you could follow the same methods to ensure that your board is perfectly silent, if you so choose.

USB-C

This board uses a USB-C connection. It’s prepared for the future, in that sense. It comes with a USB-A to a USB-C cable which is a bit counterintuitive. After all, isn’t this supposed to be a USB-C board? However, even with a MacBook Pro, which only has USB-C ports, I prefer the USB-A. I use a fantastic 14 port Thunderbolt 3 dock along with a 4 port USB-A hub to connect my keyboard, mouse, headphones, and laptop fan to the same USB port. I like being able to quickly disconnect and connect my devices like this, which I couldn’t do with a USB-C cable.

Interestingly, the Massdrop ALT also has a secondary USB-C port on the other side. This allows you to charge another USB device. I found it doesn’t have data transfer, in fact, it even confuses my HTC U11, but it can charge your devices. It’s a handy feature, but I wish it had data connections so I could use it as a one port hub for my mouse and keyboard.

The Build

This is a weighty keyboard, despite its small size. It’s made up of aluminum, an acrylic layer for the LEDs, and an aluminum top. You can easily disassemble it with the included keycap puller/screwdriver combination. If you decide to do any mods, for example, something to silence the slight ping of this board, it’s relatively easy to do.

The board is solid, with absolutely no flex. The aluminum and rubber feet that are included attach with strong magnets. You can remove them easily, and even reverse them, if you’d prefer your keyboard to lean away from you. I tried typing like that for a little bit, and, while I didn’t prefer it, I understand why someone might.

Layout

I’ve been testing another board a friend lent me (review coming soon!). It’s the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 by Fujitsu. Let me tell you something, that keyboard taught me the importance of an intuitive layout. I just can’t wrap my head around not having arrow keys. I could give up delete, page up and down, home and end, but to give up arrow keys? It’s insanity!

That’s why I love this layout. It’s a 65% layout. The only flaw I have with it is that I dislike pressing FN for the End key, but I got used to it as well. Besides, this is based on the highly customizable QMK firmware. If I don’t like it, I can change it. With a 65%, you have the comfort and keys of an 85% or “tenkeyless” keyboard in a much smaller package. The only sacrifice will be that you have to press the function key to use the numbers at the top of the keyboard as your function row. That’s a small sacrifice for the smaller package, and it’ll take you no time to learn.

The Switches

I almost started this review about the switches, because I’m so excited about them. I took a gamble and went with a set of switches I had heard about, but never used. Kailh’s Halo Clear switches. It’s a tactile switch with a focus on smoothness. The best comparison would be a mix between a Topre switch and a Cherry MX Clear or Zealios (V1) 78g switch. It’s firm, smooth, and quite tactile. I enjoy it more than a Cherry MX Clear, more than a Topre switch, and about as much as a Zealios V1. It’s quick, crisp, with early tactility and a decent resistance to bottoming out. I highly recommend it if you prefer a heavier switch.

As of this writing, Massdrop is sold out of these switches. They only have Halo True and Kaihua Box White switches. Box White switches are the same as my beloved Box Jade switches, only with a less tactile (and less noisy) click. The Halo True switch is a lighter version of the Halo Clears.

If they get back in stock, Massdrop also sells the ALT with Cherry MX Brown switches, Kaihua Speed Silver switches, and a barebones set with no switches, so you can provide your own. However, these are currently out of stock, and we don’t know if Massdrop will get more. I highly recommend the Halo Clears, if you get a chance. Out of the tactile switches offered, I think they’re the best. If you want a click, however, you can’t go wrong with Box White switches.

I used to believe clicky switches were always better than their tactile counterparts. However, between the Zealios, Halo Clears, Cherry MX Clears, and even Topre switches, I’ve come to learn that tactile switches can be just as good—if not better—than clicky switches.

The Firmware

QMK firmware is well known in the mechanical keyboard community. It’s highly customizable, open source, and there are plenty of editors on it. Massdrop even has a guide for anyone to follow. However, while the online configurator may be a nice GUI, the process of flashing your keyboard is not.

To get your compiled firmware from your computer on your device, you’ll have to use Massdrop’s MDloader. If you’re not familiar with Terminal, either get familiar or abandon hopes of customization (for now). I am familiar. Download the tools from GitHub, make the Massdrop script executable, and execute it on the command line. If Apple says it can’t run the script because it was downloaded from the internet from an unidentified developer, go into Settings > Privacy and Security, and allow it to run from the General tab. From there, it’s simple if this is the only QMK firmware capable device you’ve connected (if it’s not, get the address and replace the -f commands below with that address).

 

./mdloader_mac -f -D firmwareFiles/firmwareFile.bin 


./mdloader_mac -f --restart

 

The -f part tells the system which keyboard to hit. In my case, I had only had this and the other keyboard I’m testing right now plugged in. Since this was the only QMK keyboard I had on board, I could use the -f (first) option.

It’s not difficult, but don’t expect the colorful GUI on Massdrop’s website to be indicative of the entire process. Massdrop is working with the makers of the QMK Toolbox to simplify this process with a GUI. You may want to wait until then if you don’t know your way around a Terminal. However, I recommend just learning a few basic Unix/bash commands. They come in handy!

Just how customizable is this firmware? Someone actually got snake on this board. Snake! You can play a video game on your keyboard now! Now that’s a highly customizable piece of firmware.

The Keycaps

The pinging noise is annoying, but I think the worst thing about this keyboard is the keycap selection. These keycaps look pretty great, at first glance. They’re shine through doubleshot PBT, giving you a clear look at light-up lettering. They’re thick, and seem to be high quality. However, the letters aren’t all centered. I notice this on the V, B, T, P, Q, and E keys, especially. Furthermore, there are dark spots in some of the characters, especially those with an enclosed loop, like the letter O, D, B, D, Q, and others, like the % sign and 6 key. This must have something to do with the forming of the clear layer under the top layer, as they’re still partially transparent.

The worst part of them, however, is the texture. I touched my delete key with a little bit of hand lotion still on my finger and now it has a lighter color. That’s due to this rough texture that is going to beg for your hand’s dirt, oils, grime, or, in this case, hand lotion. As someone who obsessively uses hand lotion in the winter, this will be a problem for me.

Furthermore, the keycaps are a bit more difficult to replace. Because this board has a smaller shift key, part of being a 65% board, you may have to keep this shift key on the board until you can find a set with a 1.75u shift key. Most full keysets you’ll find won’t have this size. Still, it’s not entirely uncommon.

These aren’t the worst keycaps ever. You may use them forever without ever finding them annoying. However, in part because I want to try a different aesthetic, and also because I’m not a fan of this rough texture, I ordered another set.

Massdrop

Ordering from Massdrop was a breeze. While the ALT was in stock, it was simply a matter of placing my order. By the next day, it was on its way to me, and a day or two later, it was at my apartment. Easy! The company isn’t always perfect, but I’ve never had an issue ordering from them, and they’re quick to help out in the Talk sections of drops. I got my Pulse keycaps through them, as well as this board. I’m also waiting on a few other drops. It seems to be a useful site, one I check in on frequently.

Overall (tl;dr)

This is a fantastic board. I got it to be an office board/customization project, but I keep taking it home on the weekends or overnight because I can’t get enough of it. It’s a joy to type on, a joy to look at, and I love how I can change so much about it if I ever get bored of this board. The keycaps aren’t the best, and the pinging is a little annoying, but if you can get this with good switches, you’ll love it. I recommend this board so much I convinced a coworker to get it already. It’s solid, has middling quality keycaps, great options for switches (including BYO), and beautiful LED lighting that doesn’t require in-switch lighting.

If you’re looking for the perfect starter board or just something that will be easy to customize in nearly every way imaginable, look no further than the Massdrop ALT.