Iris Rev. 8 Hotswap PCBs

TLDR; Perfect for small hands and a physical requirement to have them tented to an extreme angle. The adjustment from Ergodox to Iris was painless and quick. Love it!

I'm a long-time Ergodox user, but I have small hands. Eventually, I started having thumb problems from reaching for the thumb clusters, and I wanted something smaller but still with the familiar Ergodox column stagger, and that I could tent to the same angle I had the Ergodox on a custom stand, but with a stand that was more portable. I first got an Iris rev 5 from the warehouse sale, just to see if the size would work for me, and it did!

The warehouse sale keyboard was soldered with switches that I didn't want to type on all the time and had less memory so that I couldn't fit as many options on as I wanted in QMK. (I use half of it for a number pad now, when I need one.) I went ahead and bought a new Iris barebones kit so I could really customize QMK and use my same keyswitch layout from the Ergodox (very light clicky switches on the outer columns, medium ones under the index, middle, and ring fingers, and a slightly heavier one on the homing keys).

I wanted the rotary encoders but have only very rudimentary soldering skills, so I asked, and Keebio was happy to solder those on for me. When one half came with a problem with the reset button, they very quickly swapped it out for me. Some of the best customer service I've ever had.

Best of all, when I asked Keebio support if the tenting kit could go to an extreme angle, they were very prompt in replying that it could, but the stands were prone to sliding over 45 degrees. So I got a strip of nonslip shelf liner, and they don't go anywhere. They don't tip over at all. And they are very easy to fold up and then put back to where I like them.

I couldn't be happier now. Instead of my thumbs naturally falling in between the thumb cluster and the bottom row on the Ergodox, they fall directly on the center thumb keys. I've played around a great deal in QMK and have a whole stack of layers (with different lighting colors for each one), including moving my number keys off the top row, so on the base layer, I just use the top row for macros, and don't have to stretch my hand up there. I have the rotary encoders different on different layers, too, for everything from mouse scrolling, to arrow keys, to volume. I don't miss the extra column or thumb cluster from the Ergodox at all now that I'm used to this layout.

Enjoyed working on this build. Only purchased the PCB with no switches, plate or case. Used files found in the github repo to print a case. First printed the Phoenix case. Came out good, but I was not paying attention when glueing on the components so the rise things were miss aligned and angered my OCD gods when each half was not the same height. Then I also realized the PCB had underglow LEDs as well so I utilized files in the github repo to print myself a case in transparent PLA. Came out nice. One of these days I will master QMK enough to get fancy enough to do custom colors on each of the keys versus the defau† animations. VIA worked out of the gate, but I like the option of using custom macros so I compiled my own firmware via QMK.

I love these keyboards. I've had my first rev 8 for over a year now, and it has worked beautifully. I would 100% recommend it, the folks at Keebio are amazing to work with. Fantastic product!

I bought this as my first split keyboard, and the experience has been great so far. The assembly process was quite enjoyable, and all the parts feel high-quality and dense.

It's worth noting that the acrylic middle layer pieces I received were quite loosely fitting out of the box, and caused some rattle in the typing sound. I see no need to deduct any points for this, however, since it was easily fixed by the addition of small drops of glue between the acrylic pieces and aluminum base plates.

After this modification, the typing sound and feel are really wonderful, at least with the Gateron Pro Yellows I used. It's very deep and creamy.

Creating and flashing my own layout with the board was extremely simple with the use of the online qmk configurator, and quite fun as well.

The package arrived on time, and undamaged.

Overall, I'm quite happy with my experience. This is a very high quality product.

Really good quality keyboard highly recommend

Decided that for the office I wanted a slightly less expensive board that I would feel okay with leaving at work, and also that I wanted to dive back into the world of split keyboards ever since I had an Ergodox that I loved but then sold. This caught my eye for the price and speed of shipping, so I jumped on and bought a B stock kit. Overall, the board is very easy to build and there is nothing out of the ordinary for that. The B stock has some noticeable things that make it clearly B stock, but nothing that bad and nothing that ruins the board.

Overall, I am very pleased with the purchase and even decided to order the tenting kit as I am realizing that was a big part of why I was able to hit my normal WPM on the Ergodox when I had it.

Really nice build quality on this, the thumb cluster is well designed, pops right up in VIA for easy remapping. I do wish we had south facing LEDs but thats minor. Highly recommended!

This is my first experience with a split/ergo keyboard of any kind and I couldn't have chose a better board - I purchased two, one was a birthday gift for a friend and the other for myself. It has been nearly 1 month since the boards arrived and my friend and I have both got rid of our old boards and strictly prefer the iris at this point. One comment i would like to make is one of the boards had an RGB node that was faulty causing some weird RGB issues, I reached out to customer service about the issue and they had a new board in the mail within the hour with a return label included. the customer service and the product itself both get a 10/10 in my books.

Could not ask for a better first-build experience. Everything fit together perfectly, switches lined up between the plate and PCB without effort, and the completed build feels solid. Add that the reduction in hand strain not to mention incredible style and I couldn't ask for a better board. The hot swaps make it easy to play with different switches and I didn't have to stress over soldering.

Everything went together so smoothly for a first time kb builder! The durock sunflower switches and GK happy planet keycaps weren’t the best choices, don’t let the backlights shine, but otherwise I’m loving it.

I've purchased probably half of keebios keyboards and they are always a pleasure to build! great quality and customer service.

This is my first split ergo and the first keyboard I've assembled. Thank goodness for hotswap sockets, right? The packaging was nice and snug and the case feels like it would do a great job protecting the boards.

Everything works perfectly and it feels very solid. I will absolutely consider another board from Keebio if I feel like moving on from my Iris.

Very well built. Careful and compact packaging too.

I have tried many keyboards and by far this is the best.

I recently bought an Iris 8, this was my 2nd Iris and it's just an amazing design. It fits my hands well, the layout is practically perfect, and the ease of use, especially with the via support is fantastic.

The customer service from the vendor is top notch, and if you choose ANY of their boards you will not regret it.

IMHO - the Iris is his best design, but the others are extremely valid and whichever one resonates for you should be grabbed ASAP

Everything was perfect and easy to setup for a beginner.

Love this thing, this is the 8th iteration and I have been using for 3 of them and upgrading regularly.
Switching fully to USB c is so appreciated, even the connection between the plates it is perfect

My only issue was one of the 10k resistor leads was not on its pad (luckily I had flux/solder wick but just check for anything and they will probably send you a fixed PCB). The last time I was in the market for a new keeb things were a lot different; there were a dearth of good mx style clickies (blue is not good). My daily driver became a Viterbi rev. 1 with Matias clicks. Now with hot swap sockets, I can try all the awesome new clickies on the market🥹

Had no issues with lighting, or response to key switches.

3 days delivered from US to Italy, iper detailed tracking, support extremely fast.
Perfect packaging, the product is exactly how I expected PLUS free gifted really cute keychain and sticker.
Works perfectly.
I only need to upgrade the firmware(probably cause I'm on Linux).

Love it. Maybe wait for the LP version to be in stock though

Perfection

Using gateron clears with 20g springs and dvorak layout just to make the whole keyboard even nerdier than it was. I've got a blistering 18wpm on this baby! But it's been so much fun, and the keyboard itself is gorgeous. You can also put different layouts on the right and left pcbs, for quickly switching between two.

This PCB is amazing. It’s all the greatness of the rev7, but without the stress of “is there enough room for this compiled layout?” Would totally recommend both the product and the company.