Introduction

A couple of years ago—I had just started writing keyboard reviews, among other things, for TechPowerUp—one of the products on my list to cover was from this relatively new company called Ultimate Gadget Laboratories who had just created a crowd-funding campaign for their keyboard. The founder of the company was quite enthusiastic about sending me one, but mentioned that paying customers come first, to which I wholeheartedly agreed. The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard's Kickstarter campaign was so successful that they only now had enough stock left to send review units out to the media, which is how we arrive here today. No such thing as too late in my books, and thanks again to them for sending a sample to TechPowerUp!


The Ultimate Hacking keyboard has a lot to live up to if the name is anything to go by, and the feature set is immediately discernible from the image above. It is a split keyboard in the ~60% form factor with an LED display and a bridge cable to help connect and use the two pieces together. The keyboard was designed with ergonomics in mind, and the company provides accessories to make the most of the situation. Indeed, you can even use it as a mouse fairly easily to make it a single I/O peripheral if you so desire. It is a change from all the RGB backlit keyboards in the market already, and there is more to see as we begin the review with a look at the specifications below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

If first impressions are all you get, the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (or UHK for short) does a good job with the packaging. A thick cardboard box greets us with a black wrap all over and the company and product name on the front, along with a colored render of the keyboard in action. More renders are on the back, including of the available accessories consisting of the palm rests and add-on modules which are still in the making as of the date of this review. A pictorial description of the contents is seen on the side, and two double flaps help keep them inside the box during transit.


Opening the box, we see a clear plastic cover and everything neatly placed in compartments shaped to size. There is a welcome note first up, which is a nice touch, and the keyboard itself is seen front and center. On either side of the keyboard are the two cables, and on top is a plastic ziplock bag with screws. More accessories are underneath the keyboard, but we will get to those soon enough. You may have noticed that no manual is included, and UHK instead does a novel thing with an interactive setup on their website you are meant to go through with the keyboard connected. I can not overstate how useful it is, and major props to the company for helping make the transition period with a fairly unique form factor as easy as can be expected.


The bridge cable is coiled, going from 11 cm to 30 cm when fully extended, and terminates in 4P4C jacks on either end that have four wires to connect each of the 4 pins of the jacks, just in case you decide to make your own. The USB cable goes from a male mini USB to male USB Type-A, which hints towards the use of mini-USB on the keyboard. In addition to the screws we saw before, UHK also includes four sets of keyboard feet that are handy for the tilt/lift/tent features of the keyboard we will see on the next page.


This is one of few keyboard form factors I recommend using a wrist rest with in combination with the keyboard feet for the best ergonomics. The wrist rest is an optional extra, however, and costs as much as many mechanical keyboards at $75. As such, packaging for the UHK Palm Rest is similarly featured as the keyboard, with a quick look pointing towards the use of thick wood and steel, as well as the various ergonomic options available with it shown on the front and back. Inside the box, we see a similar plastic cover as with the keyboard, and the two pieces of the palm rest as well as the installation hardware are all placed in shaped plastic containers.


Each piece of the palm rest is shaped to match the two pieces of the keyboard. The wood used is natural beech, and it is a thick section that is machined and then lacquered for longevity. It is then affixed to a powder-coated steel plate used to screw it to the keyboard section itself, with spacing for the keyboard feet to be attached. There is a gentle slope on the top surface to rest your palms on, especially if you are tenting the keyboard.

Four separate add-on modules are also currently in development, and they can be pre-ordered if you so desire. I recommend waiting until they are released, but also recognize that the UHK itself came about via crowd-funding in the first place. These modules allow for more keys, a trackball, a touchpad, and/or a trackpoint and cost $60 each as of the day of this review. Depending on how things go, I plan to take a look at these in the future. You can also buy a different color keyboard case for $35 if you want to change things over.