Latest news with #Wooting
WIRED
02-07-2025
- WIRED
Wooting's 80HE Feels Like the Pinnacle of Hall Effect Keyboards
Wooting was one of the first analog keyboard brands to break into the mainstream. When the original Wooting One TKL launched, it was a big deal—optical switch technology was still new to most people, and the idea of a keyboard with hyper-fast, adjustable key actuations was both novel and revolutionary at the time. Later, when it debuted its Lekker Hall effect switch in the Wooting Two, it was one of the first companies to utilize the technology for gaming. Things ramped up in 2020 with the release of the Wooting 60HE: Wooting was taking preorders months in advance, the keyboard was reselling with massive markups, and Hall effect completely overshadowed optical switches as the next big thing. Now, Hall effect keyboards are a dime a dozen. It kicked off an arms race, and Wooting's 60HE fell behind. But with the new Wooting 80HE, the company returned to the tenkeyless (TKL) layout of its first keyboard and made a keyboard that's not only competitive but impressive. The 80HE has every feature I want in a Hall effect keyboard, without any of the mistakes I commonly see. It's robust, reliable, and easy to repair. The 80HE has two versions, one with a plastic case and the other with a zinc alloy. The plastic version retails for $200 and comes in opaque black or transparent gray. The zinc alloy model costs $290 and includes a carrying case. It comes in black or white. You can also get the keyboard in ANSI, ISO, and JIS layouts. I tested the zinc alloy case in black with a standard ANSI layout. Fantastic Functionality Photograph: Henri Robbins For nearly every Hall effect keyboard I've reviewed, software has been a sore spot. They've been buggy, awkward, poorly designed, filled with advertisements, or just plain unintuitive. Even the best software I've tested, from Keychron, has minor issues with connectivity and setting functions. This is where Wooting stands out. Its in-house app, Wootility, is great. It's a simple, lightweight utility that provides extensive adjustments and customizations. It's available both in-browser and as a downloadable executable, meaning you can access it anywhere and use it offline. More than that, every part of its design makes sense: The application is organized, easy to use, intuitive, and explains every setting. Plus, during my entire time using the browser version, I never ran into connectivity issues—the minute I hit 'enter' for the URL, it recognized the keyboard. This isn't the case for most in-browser keyboard utilities, which don't always want to connect. Even niche features like gamepad emulation worked flawlessly. I replicated the analog inputs of an Xbox controller's stick and triggers without any hiccups or confusion, adjusting the settings on the fly and still maintaining keyboard inputs for unmapped keys. I even put down a half-decent lap time in Art of Rally after a bit of practice (and a few crashes).
The Verge
16-05-2025
- The Verge
Wooting's 60HE v2 upgrades the best gaming keyboard with improved speed and sound
Wooting set the standard for gaming keyboards with the original 60HE three years ago, and now it's ready to launch a successor with an upgraded design. The 60HE v2 will be available later this year with true 8K polling, a new closed-bottom switch, and an aluminum case that should all add up to a faster keyboard with an improved sound and feel. The original 60HE popularized the use of Hall effect switches and a Rapid Trigger system. Together they sped up how quickly you can activate a key, improving competitive PC gaming. Keychron, Corsair, SteelSeries, and many others followed Wooting and now offer similar boards with Hall effect switches and Rapid Trigger-like systems. The upgraded 60HE v2 will improve the original model's speed thanks to true 8K polling and a low input latency of just 0.125ms. That's the same latency as the 8kHz USB polling on the larger 80HE that Wooting launched last year. Wooting is also shipping the 60HE v2 with a new 'Lekker Tikken' switch, a closed-bottom Hall effect switch with a 4.0 mm actuation range. Hall effect switches use a magnet so the board can track how far a switch has been pressed, but the sound profile has typically been worse than Cherry MX-style switches. Gateron, Neon, and other switch makers have been steadily improving the sound profile of HE switches over the past few years, and Wooting's upgraded switch promises a 'uniquely marbly sound signature.' Wooting has also improved the acoustics and typing feel by using a PET film layer beneath these new switches, and a Poron sandwich pad between the plate and PCB that's designed to reduce vibrations. 60HE v2 owners will also be able to swap between a silicone block which has soft sounds, or an EPDM foam block that produces a louder sounding board. If you're a fan of a split-spacebar then you'll also be able to choose this option on the 60HE v2, and Wooting is even shipping this upgraded design inside a premium aluminum case. Just like the 60He before it, the v2 will be fully customizable and compatible with most after-market cases and keyboard parts. 'The original 60HE wouldn't have happened without our community, and neither would this,' says Wooting CEO Calder Limmen. 'We've learned a lot since the first release. The 60HE v2 is the next step.' The Wooting 60HE v2 is expected to launch in Q4 2025, but Wooting hasn't revealed pricing or exact release dates just yet.
WIRED
30-04-2025
- WIRED
Corsair's K70 Pro TKL Keyboard Mixes Switches With Mixed Results
When I test a mechanical keyboard with 'Pro' in the name, I expect it to be the best of the best, with no compromises over its non-Pro variant. Razer has this figured out: The BlackWidow V4 Pro is better than the original V4 in every way, and it proves that a gaming keyboard doesn't need to employ Hall effect switches to be good. Conversely, Corsair demonstrated that Hall effect switches don't automatically make a keyboard better, especially when there are trade-offs to get them. The Corsair K70 keyboard has three flavors: Core ($100), Core Wireless ($150), and Pro TKL ($180). The Pro has an advantage over the Core because it has some Hall effect switches but skips wireless connectivity. It sports an 8,000-Hz polling rate, extensive RGB, and a magnetized wrist rest. It also has a few sacrifices that make it lackluster compared to the other K70 models and its peers. A Tale of Two Switches Photograph: Henri Robbins Corsair's product page for the K70 Pro TKL says the keyboard uses 'Corsair MGX V2 switches,' with no mention of standard mechanical switches in the Tech Specs section or elsewhere. In the exploded view of the keyboard, some of the switches have pink stems instead of blue and are listed as 'MLX Plasma switches.' Every key not part of the main cluster, like the function row, Escape key, arrow keys, and other navigation keys, are mechanical switches. Even on the packaging for the keyboard, this is only presented in small print on the top of the box, with the rest only mentioning the MGX Hyperdrive switches. Intentional or not, this is frustrating. When I buy a keyboard, I expect all the keys to have the same type of switches. If that's not the case, the company should be clearer than this. Thankfully, the keyboard doesn't feel bad to type on. The MGX V2 Hyperdrive switches are crisp and responsive without any softness at the bottom of the keypress. There is almost zero scratchiness when typing or even when pressing a switch down slowly, a feat possible thanks to the contact-free design of a magnetic Hall effect switch. (Read more about the tech here.) This is likely further improved by the double-rail design inside the switches, introduced with the Keychron Q1 HE and used in multiple keyboards since. Photograph: Henri Robbins The Hyperdrive switches share the same design as Wooting's Lekker switches, which means the two can be swapped between keyboards. However, both are made using an earlier design of Hall effect switches and are not interchangeable with the newer Hall effect switches used by Keychron (an issue I discussed when reviewing the Q1 HE last year). The MLX mechanical switches are enjoyable to use, although they feel heavier than the Hall effect switches. They have a deeper, full tone and a slight scratchiness that can be felt even when typing normally. It feels similar to the 'good' scratch of something like a Cherry MX Black. The MLX switches feel slightly slower to bounce back after a keypress. I felt continually thrown off by the mixing of the MGX Hall effect and MLX mechanical switches, since the two felt noticeably different. This is not to say that the MLX switches are bad; I enjoy typing on the standard K70 Core that only has mechanical switches. The issue is how the two blend. It was distracting whenever I had to use both switches back-to-back. Half High-Speed Photograph: Henri Robbins The K70 Pro TKL performs well for gaming. It has incredibly precise and responsive inputs, and more than that, the MGX switches' weight and rebound speed are tuned for responsiveness without being so light as to cause any accidental mis-inputs.
