Packaging and Accessories

One of the things I look forward to in this hobby of mine is the unusual packaging that is afforded to the smaller-scale products brought out by companies that are aiming at the higher end of the market (>$100 in general), and the Kira from Input Club is no different. It arrived in a standard cardboard shipping box, but the actual product packaging is nothing standard. Indeed, we see a luxurious case employed here; it is suitably large and thick to offer protection during transit provided the insides are neat and tidy too. Kira, the theme of light in many languages, is denoted by the stitched logo that depicts rays of light on the front, and the orange color accents also hint at this theme being present throughout the product. Opening the zipper reveals the contents inside, which are separated into two compartments—one for the accessories and the other for the keyboard itself.


The keyboard is held in place very snugly by two sets of hooks and loop fasteners on either side, as well as a molded section inside the packaging to cup it effectively. There are also two sets of accessories that come with the keyboard, each in their own plastic pouch. The first is a set of replacement keycaps in different color options to add some flair and customization options for the end user. We also see colors that are not usually chosen by the more mainstream companies—orange, purple, blue, and pink—for some of the modifier keys on the keyboard, all of which are presented as an infographic for those wondering. These are all thick PBT keycaps (average wall thickness of 1.36 mm) with dye-sublimated legends, meaning they will not wear out any time soon. The use of dye-sublimation as opposed to, say, doubleshot injection, means there is an inherent limitation on the color of the legends based on their backdrop, which is why we see darker legends on a light background only. In this case, the use of black for the legends makes complete sense. Oh, and no backlighting here either owing to the solid plastic base.


The next set of accessories is made up of different things. There is a card that lets you know that the manual, which is really more of a Wiki, can be found online here. Normally, I would throw a small fuss about the absence of a printed manual for accessories such as keyboards. However, having gone through it, I can understand that including every bit of that large knowledge base in paper can result in a small handbook. A simpler quick-start guide would have still been nice, but here too, I remind myself that the Kira, as with just about anything from the Input Club, is open source and any guide risks being out of date.

We also see a metal switch puller here, which already hints at a feature of the Kira, as well as a metal wire-style keycap puller with a spacing for your thumb to rest on. A wire puller works better than plastic ring-style pullers since it doesn't scratch the sides of the keycaps being pulled, so I always appreciate seeing one. Lastly included is a detachable cable for the keyboard itself. Given this is a newer design, USB Type-C is being used, which is also something I appreciate, as readers of our website would know. The cable itself is not braided, black, and terminates in a gold-plated male Type-C connector on one end and a male Type-A on the other. It would have been interesting to see a more colorful or even differently wound cable, but I suppose those can always be accessories for optional purchases.