I love custom keyboards. I soldered my own Lily58, which I consider to be an amazing keyboard. Currently, I am gearing up to complete my very first single-slab Unix60. The joy of building these is real.
However, it is hard to pretend that, electronically, these are still fairly janky devices.
For example, a recently purchased Eyelash Corner (Corne-J) has questionable solder quality. Split keyboards often use TRRS connections, which can result in fried electronics. Cheap boards sometimes feature dubious battery power management solutions. The list goes on.
Yet, the problem is not limited to DIY keyboards. The impressive Varmilo Minilo 75Pro recently failed me. While switching modes from Bluetooth to 2.4 GHz, the switch briefly jumped to an undefined position. For a fraction of a second, it was in neither position. After correcting the switch setting, the board behaved differently—it had reset its settings to factory defaults. My VIA keymap was gone.
Something glitched, and the board reset itself.
It appears that, for the most part, programmable keyboards are not electronically perfect. Something to keep in mind.
