Premium custom keyboards at an affordable price… that’s the stuff I like to see.
So let’s check out the HEX.3C.
As many of you know, I love all keyboards, but always have a soft spot for budget-centric
mechs.
And as the market continues to grow, we’re seeing way more variety, not only in design,
but in price.
So let’s get it out of the way, this is $140 for the case and plate.
I know that for many that aren’t really into the custom keyboard game, this is a lot,
and don’t get me wrong it is a lot for a keyboard.
However, this is budget-centric in the custom keyboard scene, which totally isn’t for
everyone and that’s fine.
The 3C is Hex Keyboards first release, and they ran a group buy, so yeh, sorry.
But there will be extras avail, and potentially future runs.
Ok, so first impressions.
Not bad at all, everything looks to be in good shape, the blue looks sweet as, and there’s
even the logo engraved on the inside bottom, love it.
The edges are fine, but the corners are pretty sharp, probably as sharp as I’ve come across,
so take care.
But straight away, these holes look very small and deep, and are very close to the edge,
not that it matters.
But yeh, they’re small.
Aaaand, you’re gonna need the thin precision screwdrivers, which I know we have here at
home, but I need some for myself anyway, so brb.
Alrighty, bit of a trip, but now we can take it apart.
This is just a really cheap screwdriver set, it uses cheap metal, so you gotta be careful
or it can lead to stripping the screws, invest in better tools.
Simple base.
We can see our plate mounting holes around the edge, so this is a bottom mount keyboard,
with the plate screwing onto it.
There’s just a bit of a finishing defect on the inside bottom edge, all cool though.
The floor is pretty shallow, so it’ll probably be pretty tight to add like foam or whatever
underneath if you wanted to.
But yeh, pretty simple.
Here’s the plate.
I have the brass version, which looks and feels beautiful, bit of a coarser finish.
This is the premium option however, with the base options being classic aluminium in teal
which is pretty cool, and black POM, which is plastic.
Also, I have the fixed 7u version, but there’s also the universal version for more layout
customisability.
There’s a bunch of cuts going on here, most importantly around the sides.
These are quite considerable cuts, I mean, it’s nearly along the whole perimeter.
So each mounting point is quite isolated actually, with a lot of give happening, and this was
done to kind of counteract the hardness that bottom mount can give.
But we’ll see how it all works out later.
This does not come with a PCB, but here’s the PCB I got with it.
The 3C is compatible with the DZ60 and similar PCB’s.
Just make sure the USB port is on the left, and it will probably be okay, and the USB
port hole is quite large to accommodate different styles.
It also means that you can do hotswap, although you’d have to check the compatibility, as
they are fixed layouts.
I prepared some stabilisers already, lubed them up nicely, which you should always do.
And for the switches, we have the new Naevy’s from aeboards.
These are tactiles, don’t know the factory or anything, but keen to see how they go.
I totally forgot about this.
I was also given some foam that goes in between the plate and PCB.
I don’t believe it comes with the board, but you can get files for it.
It’s a bit stretched laterally, so I had to put in more keyswitches to force it into
place.
And damn it made building this so much tougher because it’s just too thick, and I had to
press the PCB and plate together quite hard with a lot of force.
So I was soldering 1 pin on each keyswitch, forcing it together, and then reflowing the
joint.
And the pins only just came out the other side.
Okay, let’s put this thing together.
What’s special about this board is its mounting.
And really that’s what sets it apart in the budget market, because there are a bunch
of budget options, but they’ll probably be tray mount, and like obviously the Tofu
HHKB is quite similar, but has an integrated plate design.
So that’s why it’s unique, it’s mounting.
There’s a few options to go with, as we’re given some o-rings, by the way, awesome colour,
and Poron washers, which are a foam material.
And these go under and on top of the plate, removing that metal to metal contact, and
again contributing to the softness.
Because what’s holding them in place is the head of the screw, you can’t screw it
down too hard.
And especially for the Poron, you don’t want to just fully compress it obviously.
Let’s have a listen to all the configurations, and then talk about it.
Okay, so the differences between the first 3 configurations is quite small.
They sound very similar, I’d say the oring oring config is ever so slightly lower pitched
than the ones with Poron in them.
But very similar, and with similar sound, they feel very similar.
Honestly it was difficult to tell them apart without side by side comparisons.
And it totally makes sense as they are just tiny pieces with not a lot of contact.
But being clear, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just that it doesn’t change too much depending
on the config.
However adding these pieces does make a difference compared to not having them.
It dampens the bottom out slightly, and in sound as well.
Pretty contained too, not spilling onto the table which is nice.
Combined with the plate, it does offer a lot of flex.
When typing normally, it won’t be too crazy or anything, but definitely when I push down
firmly, something is hitting something, but I didn’t experience any shorting out which
would be a concern, especially since the base is quite close to the PCB, being quite shallow.
As you would have heard though, the fourth config sounded quite a bit different.
This was with the plate sitting on 2 o-rings, with the Poron on top.
It made it a little more bouncy, with a tad more vibration
As always, the switches make a big difference though.
These Naevy’s are tactiles with quite a strong bump, so, well for me personally, it’s
a little harder to gauge how the board feels compared to using linears.
These have a 67g spring.
They’ve described it as an MX Clear-like bump, but with a long stem pole.
Kind of like how the Holy Panda’s have a long pole, but it doesn’t feel like them.
Therefore the total travel distance is slightly shorter.
There is a bit of travel before the bump, and it’s quite rounded, and quite scratchy,
so yeh, definitely like the MX Clears in that regard, although I’d say it has more tactility.
I did lube these just a bit with Christo MCG111, like with a lot of tactiles, I don’t like
a thick lube, and you don’t want to apply too much to conserve the bump - although you
can do what you want.
But it is still quite a scratchy switch.
Very enjoyable though, very tactile, but not as harsh and sharp as say Holy Panda’s.
I’m keen to see how round 2 comes out.
Personally, I prefer a harder bottom out for tactiles, so that I can feel that bump, and
perhaps be cleaner, so I don’t feel that this combination of flex and tactility is
particularly the best to express this board, but as always, you do you.
This amount of flex won’t be for everyone, but it is quite uniform, because usually the
middle will have the most movement, but the edges do too.
Would be nice to try linears out, but not today.
Aesthetically, it’s very simple, very clean, and it looks great, no complaints.
I have the HHKB version, so we have the corner blockers, but there’s also the standard
60, and winkeyless which is pretty neat having those choices.
The anodisation is clean too, a little grainy, but I like it, it’s not as sparkly as like
some of the cheaper stuff.
Colours between the two halves aren’t too far off.
So, the HEX 3C.
To me, this is a board that offers something different in the budget custom scene.
And it’s really cool to have more options in the lower end, especially mounting options,
which determines so much in how the keyboard feels.
The plate design here is pushing it, it’s different, may not be for everyone, but again,
it’s different.
This is their debut board, and they’ve done a fantastic job putting everything together
for the price, even the packaging was nice.
But there’s definitely some small things that they’ll have to improve on with their
future boards, and these things come with experience.
I’m super excited for some of their upcoming boards, in particular the 6C looks very very
intriguing, looking forward to that.
And if they can improve and continue serving the community with slightly more budget friendly
options, they’ll make a lot of people happy.
I’ll chuck all necessary links in the description, including the Naevy switches.
So keep an eye out for their stuff.