Today we have another cool mechanical keyboard build.
Let me know how you feel about more builds by the way.
Been trying to get more in to mix it up a bit.
Anyway, here we have the Austere by newcomer Ivery Boards.
This was a very limited run of I believe 20 units, and was done in a black, and a grey
version, in which we have both today.
And no, it didn’t come with these sweet TX bags, the owners just happened to have
them.
The TGR Alice is an immensely popular keyboard, and are difficult to come by, so why not make
your own?
And that’s what the Austere is based on, using the same PCB, and therefore layout.
And we’ve seen a bunch of other people doing this, with some variations as well.
The plate files are publicly available, and yes, he did get permission by the designer
to go ahead with this, so yeh, all good.
Also, I’ve never built an Alice before, so I don’t really know the differences,
other than the external ones.
Anyway, let’s take them apart to have a closer look.
It uses Hex screws to hold the case together, and Phillips head screws to hold the plate
in.
And as with many customs, this is a top mount keyboard.
So rather than having the mounting points on the bottom of the case, which can create
an uneven experience, with the keys around those points being harsher.
Having the plate screwed to the top piece allows for a more uniform experience, and
also slightly softer experience.
All of these parts are made from aluminium.
Here’s the top piece.
Beautifully finished inside and out.
The inside in particular is very clean.
So yeh, on the outside we have all the case screws, and we have these holes to help with
positioning.
The bottom piece carries most of the weight, and is quite simple.
There’s no additional brass weight, or engraving or anything.
Just nice and simple.
The plate is 1.5mm thick.
Again, finish is smooth, even, and clean.
As said before, it is using the TGR Alice PCB.
Looks like it supports through hole LEDs if you’re into that, and of course 5 pin keyswitches.
Stabs are always boring, so I’ll skip that.
I’m using GMK screw ins on one.
And KBDfans gold plated screw ins in the other.
Alrighty, for the first board we have Holy Panda keyswitches.
We’ll talk more in depth about them later.
But these are the ones from Drop, and are factory lubed, which had mixed results.
Comes in a cool box though.
So it has a Halo True stem.
And then Panda housing.
Polycarb on top, nylon on the bottom.
And yeh, you can see with this particular one, there’s lube on one side, but not so
much on the other.
And it just varies from switch to switch, and that’s why there was a whole lot of
criticism and stuff.
They go in pretty tight into the plate, and since they don’t have the plastic legs,
I just decided to put them all in first.
And then it’s just a matter of soldering them in place.
And then for the 2nd board we have T1s that are lubed up nicely.
And is another comparable tactile keyswitch.
Keycaps, are courtesy of old mate Jono.
And they’re in these awesome JTK trays.
Pretty neat, especially if you have a bunch of these, the side profile is so aesthetically
pleasing.
Unfortunately you’d need several hundred bucks to do that.
But yeh, depending on what kits you have, you may need 3 of them, so it can get pretty
bit pricey.
And these ones in particular don’t fit SA keycaps, and probably whatever new tall profile
comes out.
And here they are.
Absolute stunners, as you’d expect from a board based on the Alice.
It’s a striking layout, and gives the keyboard so much character, and in turn flows onto
how the keyboard is shaped around it.
There are some slight differences between the Austere and the Alice.
The side bezels are larger which I think looks quite nice in evening it out to be more like
the top and bottom.
And at the front, it’s pointy, rather than straightened out, and I think it flows really
nicely from side to side.
And that’s probably the main physical difference between the two at first sight, besides the
missing TGR logo.
There’s a nice chamfer that goes all the way round, pretty standard.
The side is very Koala-esq with a curved bottom edge, and that also allows you to more easily
pick up the keyboard.
And the bottom is just completely plain.
So overall as an alternate case, it’s very simple in design, but done very cleanly and
it looks beautiful.
No drastic changes, and of course you can’t stray too far as it is using the exact same
layout.
The quality is there.
Solid, hefty aluminium.
On these two units the anodisation is very nice.
For the black one, the finish is very even, and the two halves match very very closely,
if not perfectly.
But it is smoother than the grey one, and does pick up oils a bit more.
The grey one on the other hand has a rougher finish, like a coarser or grainier feel.
It’s not rough by any means, just not as smooth and slippery as the black one.
And I prefer it as it has that softer feel.
But visually again, very even finish, however the two halves don’t match as well as the
black one.
So at the right angles and lighting, the top does look a tad darker.
Anyway, this keyboard is more about the layout.
It’s a split layout, but the keyboard is in one piece, and the gap is quite small,
basically like a 1u gap.
And the middle portion of the keys angles inwards.
And we’ve seen this with many ergonomic boards in the past.
So basically on a normal keyboard, our arms angle inwards, and then we have to angle our
wrists outwards.
Whereas this allows you to keep that natural arm and wrist positioning.
I haven’t used it long enough to notice any ergonomic and health benefits, but it
makes sense.
The good thing about this, is that it’s a pretty mild approach, and is quite easy
to get used to.
The only thing with splits though, is that everyone types a bit differently, and this
is very apparent with the B and Y keys.
Fortunately, by default there’s 2 B keys, and you can later program that.
But there’s only one Y key, and I’m one of those people who press Y with the left
hand.
But other than that, you can get typing up to speed on this in no time.
Functionally, it’s quite close to a 60% keyboard, but more like the size of a tenkeyless.
So there’s no dedicated arrow keys which I personally struggle with, and no function
row on top, which I’m fine with.
On the bottom row we have our control keys looking quite lonely.
But they’re in the right spots.
So like for an FPS game with your fingers on WASD, left control is perfectly positioning.
And as for the right control, I never really use it so yeh.
There are some slight variances with the layout.
So split backspace, split right shift, stepped caps lock, and the left bottom row has these
two setups.
So the layout.
I like it.
It takes time to grow into it, but it’s not too foreign, the inward angle does ease
up the wrists a bit, which may be more noticeable overtime.
And it just a fancier, and cooler looking 60%ish board.
And if I liked 60%, then I’d love this even more.
Alright, now to the keyswitches.
These are 2 pretty hyped, and kinda controversial in their own ways.
And these are both strong tactile keyswitches in the market.
And they both feel amazing.
The Holy Pandas.
Sliders are lubed from the factory, albeit inconsistently.
They’re still pretty scratchy, but the tactile bump does help mask that a bit.
And it is a strong bump.
If you’ve only felt Cherry MX Browns before, these are seriously several levels above those.
The bump is very close to the top, with close to no pretravel.
Usually when you have lubed switches, the bottom out would be softer.
But since it’s only the sliders, the bottom out is pretty harsh, especially in comparison
to the lubed T1s, which were lubed by qw3stionablebuilds.
Again, strong tactile bump right near the top.
The lube job is better here, so they are smoother, which also rounds out the bump slightly.
And the bottom out is softer and more pleasant for me personally.
Not a straight comparison between the two switches, since the T1s are modified.
So they do sound very different.
The bump is very similar though, but the bottom out feel is completely different.
So yeh, one loud one, and one muted one.
Let me know what you think, and what you would prefer to use.
I love them both in their own ways.
The Holy Panda one feels sharp, and the tactility really pierces through.
Whereas the T1 board is a bit more relaxing and pleasant.
I didn’t really go in depth, as there are some really good reviews on these switches,
which I’ll link in the description.
But basically, very tactile, and very satisfying.
As for the stabs, pre-retooled GMK screw ins are solid, especially when modded.
The KBDfans gold plated ones are pretty good as well.
Keep in mind they are much cheaper.
But there is still that hint of rattle.
Okay, so overall, I really really enjoyed building these boards.
As said before, I haven’t built the TGR Alice.
I’ve seen them in real life, but yeh, no prolonged experiences.
The layout is really cool, and while it’s not really for me, as I prefer more keys,
a lot of people love it.
Ergonomically, in theory it should be better for your wrists.
But for me, it just looks really cool, and has that strong character to it.
Like it may look very foreign, but it really isn’t in terms of usability, and that’s
what I love about it.
This is Ivery Boards first keyboard, and it’s been a real solid introduction.
The quality is right up there.
Fit and finish, I have nothing bad to say about it.
And it’s a clean and simple take on the Alice, and he’s done a great job in doing
that.