This keyboard is something else

The market for mechanical keyboards has boomed in recent years as people look to improve their homes and spend their money. If you can get a $600 Keycult board, you can find anything from a $20 AliExpress special to keycaps and switches. Angry Miao's Am Hatsu is a wireless split ergo keyboard with an aluminum body that sells for $1,600. You will never have to think about charging it if you choose the company's Cybermat. That will cost you another $380, though.

You're going to have a hard time finding one of those, because for $2,000 you get a whole new typing experience and a learning curve. The prices on the secondary market will be a bit more than the original retail price because Angry Miao doesn't have any plans for another Am Hatsu production run.

You can only make a decision about whether or not this is worth the money, so let's get this out of the way. It's either something you dismiss at the beginning or an impulse buy to reward yourself for your smart investments. I am not sure if there is a lot of room in the middle.

The image is from TechCrunch.

If you're new to mechanical keyboards and want to personalize your experience, a GMMK Pro, Keychron Q2 or Cannonkeys Bakeneko65 will give you a great experience for less than $250. If you don't want a custom experience, just get a Leopold or a Ducky. You don't have a lot of choices if you are in the market for a split. An ZSA Moonlander will get very close for a fraction of the price, and may have some advantages. The Kinesis Advantage 2 is a single-piece design with a similar layout. If you want to just use your toes to type, a Drop Planck or Preonic would be a good entry point.

Angry Miao isn't new to the mechanical keyboard market. The company had a cult hit with the Cyberboard, which has sold out of three production runs after lots of positive reviews. A new Cyberboard is expected to launch next month.

Miao was angry with his Cyberboard. The image is Angry Miao.

Am Hastu plays in a different market than the Cyberboard, and definitely isn't for everyone. It is a challenge to learn to use the new layout. The benefits of having keys in a straight line instead of the staggered layout of traditional keyboards is that you can relax your shoulder muscles and not have to move your wrist. Think about learning to use your right thumb for pushing space and your left thumb for backspace. The Am Hatsu doesn't have a number row, let alone F-keys or arrow keys, which is why you have to learn the layers system for typing numbers. 65% boards are popular in the mechanical keyboard community. They have space for page-up and page-down buttons, and they give you all of those in a nice compact format.

I spent a week with the Am Hatsu and am typing this story on it, but it isn't for the faint of heart. My normal typing speed is between 80 to 90 words per minute. It went from 15 words to 30 after a week. It is not an indictment of the Am Hatsu. You have to get used to it.

The image is from TechCrunch.

The hardware is beautiful if you take the plunge. Miao talks about how the Am Hatsu's unique aluminum body was made with a five-axis machine. That process is not cheap, but it shows. The build quality here is different. I don't think you will be able to find a split keyboard that is close by. The design was inspired by Westworld. I can see that, with its black and white color scheme and overall design language, but it is not important. If you want to get a board, you have to buy an NFT on OpenSea, which you can then trade in for a physical board.

The design is rounded out by small strips on the inner side of each half that show the charging state of the individual sides. They add a nice touch of color to the board.

The battery is supposed to last two weeks on a full charge. It won't matter since the Cybermat will just draw power from that, but there is a port underneath each half. That isn't a good place for it. The design team tried to hide the ports and screws, so it's either a way to sell more Cybermats or just a matter of design over function. You think designers have learned from the Magic Mouse 2?

The image is from TechCrunch.

The connection works well and I didn't notice any lag. You can use the keyboard on your computer. It's either wireless or bust.

I don't like the idea of being stuck with one kind of switch, Angry Miao's Icy Silver switches, for $1,600. The switches are linear, so they are not like a Cherry Brown switch, which is semi-tactile. I like linear switches, so this works for me, but this is not a hot swap board, so you can change the switch for something you prefer.

The TTC-made Icy Silver switches feature long dual-stage springs that take an initial force of 45 grams to initiate. That is a bit lighter than the popular Gateron Yellow switches with an actuation force of 50 grams, and a bit heavier than the TTC Icy Speed switches. If that doesn't mean anything to you, just know that these are really smooth switches and I have yet to feel any scratchiness or ping noise.

I'm not fond of the keycaps. Angry Miao's Glacier keycaps are a bit too thin and smooth for my liking. I would probably replace them with a PBT set, though finding a set with all the right keycaps for this layout may be difficult.

The image is from TechCrunch.

If you're really into mechanical keyboards, you'll ask, but does it bother you? A lot of people prefer a kind of deeper sound, but in reality, nobody really knows. The Am Hatsu doesn't have a deep sound. It is more of a higher-pitched one, but it is not unpleasant.

You can change the sound profile on most enthusiast keyboards. You can make changes to the design with high-end boards. The Am Hatsu does not. This is not meant to be a keyboard for tinkerers. You're not going to be able to open the board with a screw. It also goes for the software. You only get the two default layers to work with if you modify what every key does. Adding additional layers is standard in the world of small and ortho linear keyboards.

Let's talk about the Cybermat as well. It's a heavy piece of hardware, weighing in at just over nine pounds, made out of a single 900x340mm piece of aluminum, making it a bit thinner than the standard 900x400mm size that's typical for deskmats.

The company's second iteration is something else, like the Am Hatsu. We're talking about a giant wireless charging station, powered by a 90W GaN charger, that has 12 charging coils, two at the sides, and the rest in the middle for charging the two keyboard halves.

The image is from TechCrunch.

It comes with a deskmat that will show you where the coils are. Miao says the mat was inspired by the Cybertruck, with its hard edges around the corners and at the bottom of the mat.

There is a cutout in the back- left corner that has charging indicators for the four charging zones.

The company says that the mat has a wide range of security features, including overcurrent protection, overvoltage protection, undervoltage protection, overheating protection, and foreign object detection. Since I don't have the best record of keeping coffee off my keyboards, I still felt uneasy putting a cup of coffee on it.

It's a solid piece of hardware and I accidentally stepped on it while setting it up. The price is hard to swallow, but the same goes for the keyboard. It is not a device you just buy to see if it works for you.

Angry Miao shows that you only have 72 hours to return it if it is unused. It may be hard to swallow, given the price, that sales are final.

It isn't something that makes for an easy buying recommendation. If it is what you are looking for and money is not an issue, go for it. Try one of the more affordable options first if you are on the fence. You won't be able to find the build quality and eye-catching design of the Am Hatsu anywhere else, but that's because of the eye-watering price.