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.

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

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!

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.