The Corne is dead.
Long live the Corne.
After my previous Corne, the Corne Eyelash from PandaKB, started acting up and draining its battery fast, and being a non-stock MCU board – i.e. not repairable – it was time for a replacement.
I present you with the Corne V4 with a 3D-printed steel case from Etsy by FunkeeB. Here paired with – IMO – amazing LDSA keycaps I procured from Keeb Supply.
The keyboard itself is neat. It is a Corne in a 3D-printed 316L Steel Case. The PCB is well soldered and electronics are assembled very neatly. It worked out of the box.
Things to be aware of:
- It is 3D-printed steel, so it can feel brittle; there are ways to treat/polish it further to get a smoother/satin finish, but at this price point, this is perfectly adequate quality;
- the plastic plate and case do not match perfectly, which again is expected for this kind of product; don’t get me wrong, it is still a very good and well-built keyboard, just don’t expect millimetre precision like from a mass production factory.
As for keycaps, from all the keycaps I tried: MBK, KLP Lame, THT, Chosfox and LDSA, I can say that the MBK and LDSA are my favourites.
KLPs were simply too “disruptive” on a low-profile keyboard, while LDSA offer a nice solid well for fingers to find their placement comfortably.
LDSA/MBK > THT > KLP > Chosfox
