I have been using the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard 60 v2 for about 10 months now and I figure I owe them a full review.

10/10 This is the best designed product I have ever owned, full stop.

It feels like every feature is executed as well as I could have hoped for, it is truly a pleasure to use. Note that I am not a mechanical keyboard aficionado, prior to this I owned the Kinesis Freestyle Pro and was not satisfied with it, and I tried out a bunch of coworkers' keyboards/got their opinions when deciding on the UHK. Despite not having any passion for keyboards, I now have the irrational urge to show off my keyboard to anyone who will listen.

Price: Big drawback, very pricey. Setup pictured (keyboard, wooden palm rests, keypad module, trackpad module) is currently $650 including shipping to the US (shipping is DHL express, extraordinarily quick but adds a lot to cost.)

The most basic setup I would personally buy (keyboard + palm rests) is $500, again including shipping to the US.

Those quoted prices are with recent price hikes, it looks like since I bought everything has been hiked about 15%, which is the current US general tariff for Hungary (where the boards are designed and assembled.) Not sure how DHL or whoever is importer of record would assess the tariff, possibly this is just general cost increase or possibly they are rolling in tariff cost for a mostly US consumer base. Not sure.

Basic Features:

• Split keyboard, but you can just slide the two halves together and it is seamlessly starts communicating over that connection, so you can have a compact and aesthetically clean keyboard that instantly transforms into a split keyboard.
• Hot swappable switches
• Extensive and intuitive key programming software that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Default keys are high quality and shine-through, so you can take full advantage of the per-key fully programmable RGB lighting.
• Default tenting is minor but sufficient for me and very quick and easy to add/modify/remove.
• Great hardware addons. Beech wood palm rests are comfortable and attractive, the key cluster module has mouse buttons and minor scroll wheel, they also have more intense risers for granular and dramatic angle adjustment, a lenovo-style trackpoint module, and more choices.

What I Like: As I opened with, I think this is just a sublime example of design, merging form and function. Here's a little more about how that affects the experience

• Programmability - The software is a dream. Most simple remappings/key combo macros are a couple clicks, very intuitive to setup a single keyboard layout or change multiple at once. Also simple to switch between layouts, or program different ways to switch between them. The LED screen at the top can broadcast the 3 letter name of the layout by default, but you can also write to it in macros to give you feedback on what's happening there. Per-key RGB is set up by default in a useful way, color coded by key function (modifier, macro, mouse, keycode etc) but you can of course modify every detail of it, change those details on the fly with a macro, change the brightness or of course turn it on/off. The macro language is DEEP and incredibly powerful. For that reason, it's not all that simple or intuitive, but there is great documentation and the person who created/maintains the language/software is super responsive on the forums.
• Customer care and responsiveness - mentioned above but deserves its own point. The designers, engineers, the guy who writes the programming software and firmware, all pay attention to the forum and are incredibly helpful. They will troubleshoot issues, write macros for you, release patches on demand the day after a bug is reported, crazy shit like that.
• Build Quality - Feels well built. Metal parts are thick and the plastic parts are similarly solid. Any place you're screwing/unscrewing parts the thread is thick metal, and I haven't ever seen any complaints about physical build quality online. They don't sell that many and I suspect QA is manual. Makes it a bit heavy for its size, and then quite heavy if you add the hardwood palm rests. What actually finally prompted me to post this review is that basically a full beer was spilled on one half of my keyboard. I unplugged it, disassembled, deep cleaned it, and the process just reminded me of how painless a full strip down and switching keys is on the board. I am now typing this review on the keyboard post beer-bath, no issues.
• Design - some reiteration but really it is the details that makes this a pleasure to use.
  • The two halves of the keyboard and all modules just slide on/off well-built rails in the center, with light magnets to secure the connection. Just plug and play, as soon as you plug them in they are functional and show up in the programming software.
  • Input devices like the touchpad module are very programmable. See photo for an example of some of the settings for the touchpad, you can design your own sensitivity curve.
  • Adding and modifying things like the tenting or palm rests is incredibly easy. Insert and twist to add small tent legs to any corner of either the keyboard or palm rests for your choice in positive, negative, tented, or no tilt. Palm rests attach via two hand screws that fold to flush and the attachment feels solid and is at just the right position for me.
  • Keycaps themselves are super high quality. Shine through of the RGB is useful and classy, keys are just barely textured in a way that's hard to describe, I like it better than more "slick" feel on most keycaps I've used, but it's not textured enough to make it hard to clean or anything.

Sound: Seems important to you guys here so I thought I'd disclaim that I don't really know how the board affects this. I was just looking for a tactile but quiet as possible experience so I can use it in an open floor plan office without annoying people. They have 8 switches to choose from by default, Silent browns were ok but I ended up with the Kailh Box Whale Pro Silent switches which are a little quieter still. Good enough for me.

Notes and Use Case: I am a software developer and play video games occasionally. I had severe wrist pain on the outsides of my wrists, and I thought it was the angle of my wrists when converging on a straight keyboard for hours each day, and that was definitely part of it but my Kinesis Freestyle Pro (split) didn't fully solve it, what ended up being a huge factor was just how much I moved off the homerow. Going for arrow keys or ctrl based hotkeys had me bending my wrist even though my neutral position was better. Now that frequently used ctrl hotkeys and arrow keys are both on my modkey + homerow, I rarely move off the homerow and I am quicker, more accurate, and most importantly completely pain free.

60% layout is pretty small for most people, but I encourage you to make it work for a bit and it will start working for you surprisingly quickly. Switching between gaming/work is a single keybind, very intuitive and suddenly I have my left spacebar back and the backtick works as the escape key again, etc. If you need a numpad, then you need a numpad and this is probably not the keyboard for you. For everyone else not on the ortholinear grind, this is the keyboard for you, you just don't know it yet.

Conclusion: 10/10 keyboard according to a non-enthusiast but heavy keyboard user. Super pricey but it's one of those things where if it's the way you perform your profession, and you're touching it literally 10 hours a day, you want that experience to be good and it's worth paying for quality. I have two identical setups to the one pictured, for work and home and I consider it money well spent.