Treating the Kira as a mainstream product would be doing it injustice as it is really a whole other ball game when it comes to such crowdfunded, custom-designed products. These tend to appeal to a small niche of the mechanical keyboard market base, be it via the use of a different form factor (the ErgoDox EZ Shine is a prime example here) or offering many a customization option when it comes to switches, case design, or similar hardware choices (the MK Fission, for example). The Input Club Kira goes about taking both of these options, adding a software configurator while keeping the open-source design, and making it fun to build if bought as a kit.

You do pay for it, however, as the economics of scale do not work out in favor of the Kira. Crowdfunded keyboards rarely do, and the lack of a global retail channel also plays a role here. Also keep in mind that this product is essentially the fruit of labor from a team smaller than just the marketing team of your average mainstream peripheral company, and it is then all the more surprising that the Kira is actually in front of me and as polished as it is. There are pros and cons of this formula, but prior success with their own WhiteFox keyboard did help, along with the trust they have earned thus far by being a successful part of the mechanical keyboard community for years.

There appears to be no real consensus on what the base language to use for open-source keyboards is, with Input Club using their own keyboard language layout (KLL) across their devices, but few others also taking that route. Time will tell if the open-source nature makes a big difference to the vast majority of customers who inevitable will rely on first-party tools or even those developed by a peer with the interest and free time to invest, and this is a situation this niche industry has to come to grips with sooner or later. The after-sales support offered by Input Club is also not that satisfying to me as a reviewer, although understandable to me as a consumer. In the end, that latter part is what made me award the Kira an Editor's Choice award. Is the Input Club Kira, having met its own design intentions and yet still facing some challenges at this point, something I would buy with my own money? Yes, and that is really the crux of the matter in this subjective hobby of ours.