If you have taken the time to read the full review, by now you would be in one of two states of mind- intrigued and interested, or completely dismissive. If all you have read are the first and this final page, you may be more likely to be in the latter state of mind. After all, why would a super small keyboard with less than half the keys of a full size keyboard cost more? The answer lies in the details.

Be it the PBT/dye sub/DSA keycaps or the CNC machined aluminum alloy case, the Vortex CORE has not shied away from using expensive components and this has definitely contributed to the price point a lot. Then there is the part where the market for a 40% keyboard is significantly smaller than most others, so volume sales discounts do not apply here either. From a purely physical point of view, the price point is logical and hard to really justify as a minus. There is a lot of interest for this keyboard among those already in the market for a 40% keyboard But such is the nature of this market however that it is a small pond, and there are some fish residing in it already.

Competitors to the Vortex CORE include the JD45, the MiniVan and the ortholinear Planck which cost more, do not come assembled out of the box generally, but offer full programmability. In this tiny market, literally, where the ability to fully customize the keyboard easily is a big factor, the CORE is lacking. It is a bit of a shame too, since their Poker series has a similar issue and feedback from buying customers did not do much yet. Perhaps the next product from Vortex will feature this, hopefully, but it does not do anything for this review.

My main takeaway from this keyboard has been to not underestimate or dismiss any keyboard immediately. As I am typing this review on this very keyboard, I am getting more and more comfortable with it. There are still enough things to where I personally will probably not use this as a daily driver, but I will definitely make a place for this in my travel bag for when I need to transport a PC- there is not much better in such a compact size.