Closer Examination

I am no stranger to split keyboards, and long-term readers of TPU will have seen several such examples from the likes of Mistel and Kinesis. Ergonomic keyboards tend to go either this or the more traditional Microsoft Ergo keyboard route, which we will be looking at soon! ZSA impressed us with the ErgoDox EZ Shine, and the all-new Moonlander clearly has a few things in common. This is why I will compare and contrast the two in addition to treating the Moonlander as its own thing, of course.

So yes, the Moonlander is also a split, ergonomic keyboard. There are two keyboard halves, if you will, whose keys will look familiar and yet different. The use of a columnar layout is the biggest change for me outside of the split nature itself, and it will be one of the bigger obstacles in getting used to the keyboard. There are also a lot of keycaps with just a dash as a legend, which can be confusing at first glance. It can also be confusing on a second or even third glance, but let's discuss the method behind this madness in due time. The easiest way to visualize using the Moonlander is by imagining your hands on the two halves and the thumb finally coming in handy with the thumb cluster of each half.

There are a few similarities in terms of the metal feet, which are taken from the ErgoDox EZ, and I absolutely am a fan of this decision since it works really well. There are threads on the extreme ends of either half with a cover as it ships out of the box, with optional feet that can be installed there for more customization. The two you do get are on the top in the middle, with a knurled grip to loosen/tighten it as it clicks in discrete steps to rotate 360° around the case itself. In fact, a similar function is achieved by the thumb cluster to where the provided hex key is used to loosen the hinge to align itself based on your hand size, shape, and typing ergonomics.


The thumb cluster and other hinge on the bottom can be removed if needed. This hinge holds the currently folded palm rest, also referred to as the wing, on the back. Magnets keep it in place too, so simply pull it before you rotate it to the front as seen above. The palm rest will naturally change inclination depending on where you have positioned the foot and thumb cluster.


Here is an example of what I mean, with the Moonlander currently tented outward and the thumb cluster pointed downward. This positioning would be apt for someone with larger hands, with the thumb naturally further away and resting on the thumb cluster. Average-sized hands would want to have this cluster level with the rest of the keyboard, and smaller hands may consider a light upward incline instead. This is truly one small change from the ErgoDox EZ, but one giant leap for ergonomic keyboards. One thing I do wish ZSA had done was to have a less aggressively curved palm rest, which currently is quite biased towards the extreme edges. This may result in some unconsciously putting their wrists through ulnar deviation, especially as they get used to the Moonlander.


With the wings unfolded, we can get a better look at the back of each half, where we see several tiny hemispherical pads that raise the plastic case off the resting surface to prevent scratches and add friction in use. There is also the expected certification information, and more credit to the designer and manufacturer of the Moonlander itself. In fact, the large badge also confirms the switch type, which is unheard of for pre-built keyboards. The thumb module gets its own sticker, and the use of the term module also tells us that ZSA intended the Moonlander to be modular. See those four brass standoffs in the back of each half? Those are securement points for additional modules aside from the thumb and the "wrist support" module that is the wing itself. There is an official tripod kit as well as several community creations in the form of STL and a few other file formats for 3D printing items, including additional feet, a whole tent kit for the back, or even a tripod mount. For once the open-source nature coupled with mod support is actually backed by the community! ZSA says there are more first-party accessories on the way as well.


The left half of the Moonlander is a standalone unit and may thus be used by itself as a fancy gamepad/macro-pad. All you would do is connect the provided Type-C cable to the Type-C port and then your PC with a Type-C port, or Type-A using the provided adapter. To use both halves, connect the left and right sides using the provided 3.5 mm TRRS cable with the 90° angled adapters. It's longer than I'd like, and the average user will have to do some cable management even if you have them spaced out quite far with something else in between.


A look from the side shows the slim nature of the Moonlander before any tilting or tenting, making it viable for flat-packing and portability coupled with the carry case. The keycaps are also flat in profile, which is synergistic with the columnar layout and keyboard feet/thumb cluster to allow the fingers to move between keys easily—with practice, anyway. The provided keycap puller works quite well, and the absence of large space bar keys means the wire is plenty to remove pretty much all keycaps on this keyboard. These are the same high-quality PBT plastic with doubleshot injected legends as for the three replacement keycaps, and all support backlighting too. There are very few secondary legends, which are found alongside the primary ones in a smaller font compared to the other single-legend keycaps. The legends themselves are placed in the top center, which should allow for uniform backlighting with north-facing LEDs. If all goes well, there will be blank, sculpted keycaps coming to the Moonlander as an option during the order or as separately available accessories sometime before the end of the year.


There are several switch options to choose from for the Moonlander, covering linear, tactile, and clicky feedback mechanisms from the likes of Cherry and Kailh. I went with the rarely seen Kailh Thick Gold, also referred to as the Kailh Bronze. We indeed see north-facing LEDs here, at least with respect to the keycaps themselves. The larger keycaps use costar-style wire stabilizers. While a pain to deal with for keycap removal, these help mitigate that mushy feedback of the cheaper plate-mounted Cherry-style stabilizers. The wires are unfortunately not lubed at the points of contact, which I would recommend users do since ZSA did not.


If the ten switches offered at the time of testing don't include your top pick, the Moonlander also supports hot-swappable switches, which is a massive update from the ErgoDox EZ Shine in the earliest iteration. The ErgoDox EZ did get hot-swap switches eventually, which you are now guaranteed, and the provided switch remover works equally well in removing the stock switches. I don't believe there is an option to purchase the Moonlander without switches at this time, however. With a switch removed, we see the use of a 5-pin mechanical hot-swap socket with an SMD RGB LED associated with each switch. This is also the best time to show off the provided Kailh Gold switch, now in place between the two Kailh Bronze switches.


Given the Moonlander configurator refers to these as the Kailh Bronze, I will do as much. You may see Kailh Thick Gold used too, but both terms refer to the same switch. It is a tactile and clicky switch in the cross-point stem design, making it compatible with all Cherry MX-supported keycaps. Indeed different from Brown switches in color, the stem is bronze in color. This makes it easier to distinguish between these, and the clicky feedback may be a surprise if you are not expecting it. This is a 3-pin mechanical switch with RGB support since the top is translucent to allow light through, and there is a cutout in the housing for the SMD LED underneath to shine through without immediately being cut off by the opaque bottom housing.