Introduction

Input Club, Inc., or simply Input Club as shall be referred to henceforth, was, in their own words, "formed by a small group of keyboard enthusiasts who also happened to know something about electronics, design, and engineering" with the goal to foray further into the field of human-interface devices (HID). Their team comprises five equal leaders, if you will, working on the various aspects of what makes up an enthusiast-grade keyboard. They have in the past brought out products including the WhiteFox, K-Type, and Infinity ErgoDox kit, often working together with Massdrop on complete kits and assembled keyboards alike. A fallout then came about between the two brands, which is outside the realm of discussion for this review, and the more independent Input Club has since worked to get new switches built to their specifications, but there have also been proof-of-concept keyboards that were ready to go into the crowdfunding phase for retail availability. The aforementioned WhiteFox had a very successful Kickstarter campaign, and that directly led to the Kira, another Kickstarter campaign that ended recently and just as successfully. Thanks to Input Club for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp.


The WhiteFox was a strong inspiration to the Originative SABER68 we took a look at in 2017, and both are ~65% form factor keyboards, which is understandably not for everyone. With the Kira, Input Club sought to retain a smaller form factor without sacrificing the dedicated keys and functionality of a full-size keyboard. As seen in the image above, it essentially is a ~95% form factor keyboard that removes the gaps between the various key banks in a standard 104-key ANSI layout, which reduces the overall length of the keyboard, making it closer to a TKL (tenkeyless) keyboard in form factor instead. This theoretically allows for end users to reach the keys they want without having to move their fingers as much, and the form factor alone makes the Kira a rare beast in this crowded market of mechanical keyboards. We examine this and much more in this review and begin with a look at the specifications below:

Specifications