Still in the room for today’s video, because it is still super smokey outside.
Don’t know how accurate this is, but yeh, the sun shouldn’t be bleeding red.
Anyway, today we check out the Mistel Barocco MD770, and I have the RGB version.
And apparently there’s a bluetooth version, which may or may not be out yet.
Opening it up, and we have a user manual, which you will actually need for this board.
We have a wire keycap puller, which is rubberised.
Really nice.
A whole bunch of keycaps that we’ll check out later.
We have our USB A to USB C cable.
And USB C to USB C cable to connect the two halves together.
There’s some tall rubber feet.
And finally the keyboard itself.
So this is how it comes out of the box.
We have our two halves, because it is of course a split mechanical keyboard.
It has a plastic enclosure, and is also available in white.
The plastic feels good, with a satin finish that doesn’t show fingerprints.
The bezels are sizeable, but look a bit thinner with the pretty flat chamfer that goes all
the way round, with the top being a bit thicker to accommodate the LED lock indicators, as
well as the tasteful Mistel branding.
The keyboard does have a slight natural inclination.
But if we turn it over,we have our typical rubber feet to keep it from sliding, but we
have these other spots.
And that’s where our tall feet come in.
So the whole split thing is for ergonomic benefits which we’ll go deeper into, and
basically these feet enhance that.
We only get 4 feet, so you can increase the angle by putting them in these two spots,
but that will only increase your wrist angle which is not good.
So I recommend putting them in the inside spots.
This is much better than the 60% version, the MD600, as those just used flip up feet
that didn’t have this flexibility.
On the rear we have 4 USB C ports.
The two middle ones are for connecting the two halves with the coiled cable.
And then this actually confused me at first.
You have to use the right hand port to be able to use both sides.
And now we can talk ergonomics.
So.
Split keyboards.
Looking at a traditional computer keyboard, our hands have to go towards the middle, which
angles our arms inwards, and then we have to straighten our wrists.
If we take our halves apart, we can spread out our arms to a more natural position, which
slightly improves our wrist positioning.
But then if we angle the pieces inwards we fix that even more.
In addition to the split, having the feet on the inside edges gives the tenting effect,
where we peak towards the centre.
And this is also just how our hands rest naturally.
This can be kind of difficult to adapt to, just having the pieces split apart can be
disorientating.
But for me, as with every split in existence, it’s just individual typing habits.
So I type with like 3 fingers on my left, 4 if you count the thumb for spacebar.
And then 2 on my right.
And I’ll often press B with my right, and Y with my left sometimes.
And it’s just something that you have to get used to to fully benefit.
And it probably will be beneficial for your typing form in the long run.
And funnily enough, this caused my to use the keyboard in it’s joint form quite a
lot, especially when I wanted to get serious work done, but in tented mode still.
And I actually found this pretty comfortable to use, although the front is a bit high.
Other benefits of the split nature.
It’s just all about flexibility.
So we move each piece wherever, so you can have food in the middle if you want to, whatever
you want.
You can move a piece out of the way, which some might like for gaming or something.
And you can even just plug in the left hand side for even more space.
The actual layout though is a classic 75%, but with a split spacebar, therefore it has
85 keys I hope.
We have our dedicated arrow keys.
A couple of nav keys on the right hand side, and the function row on top.
So essentially a tenkeyless keyboard in regards to primary functionality, but in a more space
efficient form factor.
Replacing keycaps should be fine, except for the spacebars which may be tough.
With a 3U on the left, and 3.25U on the right.
However, these keycaps are really nice.
They’re a real solid 1.5mm thick PBT, and are doubleshot, so the legend is another piece
of plastic and won’t fade away.
Really nice quality, the legends look clean and crisp, and the alignment looks pretty
flawless.
Just the E on the backspace is a bit thin.
Would have been really cool if they were in Cherry profile, which are a bit shorter, but
that might be asking for too much.
The black matches the case nicely, and they’ve gone with orange for the legends which is
the Mistel colour.
And those extra keycaps we got in the box.
These actually complete the set for a full sized keyboard which is amazing.
And there’s an M on the inside of each cap from Mistel.
Anyway back to the layout.
This keyboard is programmable.
Mistel are part of the Vortex group, so this has exactly the same onboard programming methods
as the Poker keyboards which I’ve gone through in the past, and I really can’t be stuffed
to do that again because it’s so tedious to go through.
But yep, we can customise each key with macros and such, except for these keys.
But yeh, I’ll link that in the description.
And on the bottom we also have some dip switches that change some key positions.
But the one of note is dip 1 which can change it to Mac mode, and that enables a bunch of
the Mac OS functions.
It comes in a range of Cherry MX keyswitches.
And with so much development in the keyswitch world, I honestly find it somewhat limiting,
especially when you go towards the higher end of retail mechs.
Anyway, I have Cherry MX Browns in mine, which are a light tactile switch, and has a bump
in the middle.
Types exactly how you would expect a Cherry MX Brown to type like.
We get that faint tactile bump, and the bottom out and top out sounds are pretty loud.
The keyboard does sound somewhat thin, so it doesn’t have the most pleasant acoustics,
being a tad high pitched.
There is a bit of metallic ping, but it’s not very noticeable in actual use, but you
can hear it with singular presses.
The stabilisers however are solid.
There’s minimal rattle which is great to hear, and makes the typing experience better.
To take the keyboard apart, there’s a bunch of Phillips head screws on the bottom which
releases the top frame.
And then a bunch under some keycaps.
Here are the bottom plastic pieces, which are very basic, with minimal ribbing on the
bottom surface.
Pretty empty, and is maybe why it didn’t sound the best, so maybe you can chuck some
foam in there to get a denser feel and sound.
The top plastic pieces are of course flimsy on their own, but they feel good and are actually
quite thick which I like.
Here’s the PCB.
Again, I don’t know much to be honest.
But the solder joints look nice and clean.
And we have the SMD RGB LEDs for each switch, so the switches won’t be tough to desolder.
On top we have our USB C ports.
And finally the plate is made from 1.5mm steel, and gives the keyboard most of its weight
and rigidity.
Alrighty, so it’s another cool keyboard from Mistel.
Back when the 60% version came out, it was quite popular as it was basically a split
Poker, which was hugely popular back then.
Now they have their 75% version, which I think is a great form factor which is super accessible
to use in comparison to the 60%, because of the dedicated arrow keys and even the function
row on top.
They improved the feet situation, so we can actually tent it now, although it is a pretty
mild angle.
The keycaps are awesome.
And it’s just cool having another split option on the market.
Split isn’t for everyone, and it will take time to adapt to.
But you can’t deny the ergonomic fundamentals behind it.
It’s just how our bodies are, and some people will benefit more than others.
You still will need to address the wrist angle if you’re resting them on the desk.
Like the tenting is fine, but we still that front angle.
It comes in at about 160USD.
So it’s not cheap, but it is unique, and well it’s fair in the retail market.
And unique is the main word.
You won’t find many other split 75% keyboards.
Even in the custom game, which would be several hundred dollars more anyway.
So if you’re keen on the split, and 60% isn’t your thing, then this may be the one
for you.