I want people to know one thing right off the bat here—you will see more keyboards and brands offer SOCD (Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions) features in the coming months. It's not going to be restricted to magnetic switches, as we've already seen Razer implement it with its optical switches and now Corsair has it on mechanical switches too. It's going to be the next wild west of gaming keyboard features, with many likely to just use it as a software feature that requires programs to be running in the background. Others will be able to save it onboard the device, making it harder to tell whether it is active or not. A lot of people are going to consider these as game cheats, whereas others will no doubt purchase the keyboard primarily to use them in games, aiming to get a better result compared to others. Assuming you won't get kicked off the game by anti-cheat software, please note that SOCD will not make you a better gamer. It's a shortcut, and there's nothing wrong in using it as long as you know the associated cons and do it for your own enjoyment. I don't see SOCD any more controversial as, say, macros in that the use case matters more here. Use it for productivity or with single-player games with low stakes and have fun. I can even see some productivity uses here, but those are not going to get news headlines.

Wooting effectively started this race with its announcement of the 80HE earlier this year, talking about Rappy Snappy in the launch video. While that deservedly got a lot of media attention, especially with the likes of Valve effectively banning it in various games/tournaments, let's not forget that the 80HE has been a highly anticipated release for years now. Wooting debuted with a TKL keyboard and we finally have another close enough in size/form factor over seven years later. The 80HE is a spiritual successor to the Wooting one, that keyboard which put the European brand on the market and showcased analog control with keyboards. The 80HE has that too, and in a significantly more improved implementation with the new Lekker switches and the amazing Wootility software experience that now can be web-based too. There's plenty more on offer with the 80HE that I've barely spoken about, for example the keyboard supports 8000 Hz polling—I think most consumers have concluded it hardly matters to them though. A lot of what made the Wooting two HE successful is here too, with the Lekker switches and the likes of rapid trigger and DKS. I understand why this keyboard has already crossed 23,000+ pre-orders, but things are not all rosy.

Starting at $200 for a plastic chassis and going up to nearly $300 for a metal one, the Wooting 80HE does not seem as good a value anymore. There are hundreds of HE keyboards on the market now, many of which use similar, if not better switches. You can get a full metal case keyboard for $120-150 now, and many of these features that were previously Wooting-only have since become common enough with the more widespread adoption of Hall effect switches. Even Razer and Logitech, which are not known for value, are competing against Wooting in terms of larger channel marketing and brand awareness as well as a similar feature set. Some backers who have received their keyboards have issued complaints about the metal case getting scratched easily, a few have even mentioned the metal case has a bent corner. Wooting, to its credit, is handling things as well as anyone can expect. But there will continue to be lingering doubts about the money spent, especially as we are seemingly getting $100 keyboards with SOCD now. For twice the price, and going up higher if you go the modular route or the metal case pre-built, the Wooting 80HE is a tougher sale even in the best of situations. The keycaps are fine, as are the switches, and the plastic chassis + damping is okay too. The gasket mount isn't the best either, so really you need to consider the PCB and Wootility to be the primary reasons for this purchase. I'd say there is enough new here, everything is certainly better polished than the average Chinese brand keyboard, and it's still amazing to me how analog keyboard control didn't take off at all—Wooting still has it on lock. Wootility is probably the best peripheral software experience on the market, especially now that so many languages are being supported, and having a web version makes it even sweeter. There's enough here to merit a recommendation I feel, but with the added caveat of Wooting no longer being the best value for money in this niche segment. If you step beyond non-magnetic/optical keyboards, then things get tougher purely from a typing experience/sound, where Wooting still has room for improvement.