In my elementary school, we weren’t given grades of A B C D F as was the standard before and since. Instead, New Haven R-II school employed a different set of letters that meant the same thing. They were E S M I F. I have no idea how this came to pass, but I hope it was because some person seeking a doctorate in education realized that his dissertation was due tomorrow and he had nothing. Frankly, I could get behind that kind of education theory. Beats modern pedagogy, anyway.
Last week, I reviewed the Unicomp New Model M, the torchbearer for a line of keyboards that elicits reverent voices and knowing nods from those who have used one. Cross over to the fruity side of things and there was a similarly admired board, the Apple Extended Keyboard, and a modern continuation, Matias’s Tactile Pro.
Every muscle was tight and trembling, like a thoroughbred in the starting gate, steaming and snorting and eager to unleash its immense pent-up power.
A couple of years ago, Metadot released the Das Keyboard 6 Professional and the MacTigr in short succession. I’ve previously reviewed the Mac-centric MacTigr, and liked it, but what about the more “normal” successor to the Das Keyboard line? Let’s take the 6 Pro for a “test type.”
A couple of years ago, I reviewed the uniquely styled, crowdfunded Epomaker B21, one of my favorite keyboards despite and, to an extent, because of its quirks. They followed it up with the B67, another keyboard that marches to its own drummer to delightful effect, quirks and all.
At the height of the rage around the first consumer marketed Hummer, later rechristened the H1, I remember getting the chance to climb into one at the nation’s leading dealer of that incredibly robust SUV. The vehicle was capable of tackling terrain no car I’ve ever owned could, but also was incredibly basic on certain creature comforts. This is a professional tool. That analogy aptly fits the Das Keyboard MacTigr, the curiously spelled, newly released keyboard from Metadot.
The B21 doesn’t look like an ordinary keyboard. Crowdfunded in mid-2021, it appeared with its two brightly colored knobs ahead of present onslaught of turny-thing keyboards. Relegated to Indiegogo while Epomaker nearly simultaneously launched the more conventional AK84S on Kickstarter, the B21 felt almost forgotten. But it hasn’t been on my desk.
I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect keyboard for a while now, and the Royal Kludge RK100 offers an attractive option from a well-established brand that falls just below the attention around Kickstarter stars Epomaker and Keychron. In so many ways, this keyboard checks every box I was looking for and for a remarkably good price. Let’s give it a spin.