Gadgetory

this may be the most expensive keyboard we've ever tested individually addressable RGB keys no Cherry MX switches with custom key caps no Thunderbolt 3 pass-through with triple OLED displays no it no it's got none of those things it's the completely wooden handcrafted in Japan keyboard from Tekoa priced at nearly 1400 US dollars but is it at all worth it or does it get chopped by this $40.00 Chinese keyboard that we bought on Amazon speaking of things that are worth it by the way Tunnel Bear tunnel bear thinks the Internet is better when everyone can openly access the same content so try total bear for free over at tunnel bear comm /l TT available in either maple or walnut from responsibly managed forests we're gonna start with a look at the illustrious Kokua keyboard key meaning both wood and tree in Japanese see what they did there simply put it's a work of art the 89 gently concave key caps are cut from a single panel of wood with their relative position preserved such that the natural wood grain pattern is visible on the finished board the keys contrast subtly with the chassis which is one solid piece even on the back where they cared enough to carve a recessed bevel so that the board is easy to pick up off the desk turning now to the poop end of the stick we've got the $40.00 cooler tron other than the fact that this board is indeed made of wood its appearance is not that similar to the a koa key ok hand-carved sustainable bamboo sure I guess but there's no cohesive color scheme and the keys chassis pieces and the media keys have no consistency in the direction of the wood grain then making matters worse at the top of the board the wood motif is disrupted by an obnoxious cooler Tron sticker and a nearly useless power indicator LED that I would gladly trade in for caps and/or num lock lights something her koa managed to include and in a way that actually enhances the look of the board let's go back to the Hikawa and look a little closer the laser etched letters on the tree board have amazingly sharp corners like they're they're perfect to the eye the tactile guides are both elegant and functional and the key caps are aligned in perfectly straight rows one of the weakest points of the cheaper boards looks on top of that poor key stabilization makes the spacing between letters uneven assaulting your eyes and that impression has only made worse upon closer inspection excusing even the corrugated look of the bamboo wood grain the keycaps legend is etched with a degree of precision that I could charitably described as serviceable except for this Internet Explorer looking key that won't servicing me at all when it comes to general build quality from a more keyboard e standpoint honestly neither of them is the best we've seen I mean look at that flex akoha though at least to their credit all the key caps are aligned and sit at the same height by comparison check out cooler Tron's ragged afro and low rider style question mark while we're at it the edges are pretty rough the f9 key is randomly darker and the key guides subjectively mind you are a little too subtle to be really useful now some have complained that the legend on this one can be difficult to see particularly in the dark but cooler Tron claims that the symbols become easier to read after 2 weeks of use presumably thanks to finger crud filling up the grooves mmm yummy so for build quality and style points I'm giving it to her color it even feels and smells way more woody than the cooler Tron which might sound inconsequential but it's actually kind of the whole point here boy alright then what about the practical aspects of this showdown the bamboo board believe it or not is actually surprisingly decent to type on since it's one of those men Kanaka boards meaning that the switches are membrane but a small lip on the key cap gives the stroke a more tactile feel it's not as loud as a set of Cherry MX blues but it is louder than your typical membrane board it's got a bit of a weird layout since it's a full 104 keyboard with a numpad but then with compact navigation keys but I might even go as far as to say that I like typing on it at least I would if it weren't for that astonishingly heavy spacebar but this stupid thing takes the force of Thor's hammer to press down it's shorter than normal and it's its left-of-center leading some typists to accidentally hit the Alt key instead alright then but what about typing on a keyboard that is 35 times the price well to put it plainly this membrane is mush city people who aren't accustomed to mechanical boards might not notice but those who are and who might be considering the Jaco Ikki are barking up the wrong tree so to speak and this one's got a weird layout too it's like Japanese but with an English legend which is great if you're Japanese and you want to type in English but if you're used to a North American keyboard like I am you will be annoyed by the shortened ENTER and backspace keys you will have no use at all for the keys that Japanese speakers use to switch between their various alphabets and you probably won't be a fan of the even stumpy ur spacebar though it should be noted that this one was actually easier to use because at least it's centered so which one's better well truthfully in spite of the awful spacebar the bamboo Letran is probably the better type er so while you can get a real mechanical keyboard at this price point the novelty makes it may be a decent buy especially since unlike the Jaco icky it's wireless then again we couldn't even slide the little door shut and without it breaking as for the keyboard I believe them when they say that each individual unit is made by a Japanese master craftsman in a labor-intensive process at a rate of just one per day unfortunately that craftsman didn't spend any of that time on things that keyboard enthusiasts actually care about to be clear no one here hated it I'm just a little disappointed that someone could spend so much time making such a beautiful object then charge a sizable chunk of cash for it without even doing the requisite market research to realize that for 1386 dollars we expect a braided cable so then which one would I rather have in my home office honestly neither of them they're both kind of novelty items though at least one of them is priced accordingly I can't believe that we paid for this thing I feel like a total SAP often but what's not awful is ting the mobile carrier that's focused on customer service and customer satisfaction first when you call ting you do not speak to a robot you get put through directly to a person and you don't have to pay extra for that kind of service you pay only for the airtime that you use with the average ting bill only 23 bucks a month per device and if you're stuck in a contract and switch to ting they'll even cover 25% of your cancellation fee up to 75 bucks they've got new lower mobile data rates data is now just $10 a gig beyond the first gig and every single ting customer will be able to reap the benefits of this new change so head over to Linus ENCOM and try out their savings calculator it'll tell you how much you'll save then sign up at our link to get twenty-five bucks in service credit or towards a new device we're gonna have that linked below so thanks for watching guys that this video sucked you know what to do if it was awesome they'll get subscribed hit that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured in the video description also linked in the description is our merch store which has cool shirts like this one our community forum which you should totally join and if you're still hanging around the video for this long because you really think the HECO icky is that amazing maybe we'll have an ebay link below to cuz I gotta get rid of this thing $1,400 keyboard