The Anti-HHKB - KBDfans Agar Dual-Mode Review

The Happy Hacking Keyboard is undoubtedly a divisive product, but its key layout was capable enough to where people were often more than willing to put up with the quirks. Now, many manufacturers have decided to produce their own riff on the same formula, but with considerable improvements at... a lower cost? PFU might want to check under their bed.

Source: KBDfans

This is the KBDfans Agar, one of many takes on the HHKB formula that have been trickling onto the market from boutique manufacturers in recent years. The idea here is pretty simple: how can we make an HHKB more modular, improve its connectivity, and make it actually feel premium enough that its price tag doesn't immediately come across as extortionate? 

KBDfans offers the Agar in both kit and assembled form with options for either MX or electrocapacitive domes. Prices start at $110 on the kits and $150 for the assembled models before options. For my build, I opted for the barebones dual-mode wireless MX kit with screw-in stabilizers, but no switches or keycaps since I was providing my own. That ran me $150 before tax and shipping; which ultimately pushed the final price to $205 since the kit was coming from China.

That $205 figure does not include my switches or keycaps, both of which I already owned, so someone building from scratch should budget accordingly. Even then, that's very competitive against a Topre HHKB Professional's starting price of $239 and even more-so against the $329 MX HHKB Studio. The question remains now: is it actually better than either?

Right off the bat; as I was unpackaging everything for assembly, I noticed something wrong.

As I sorted through the contents of the boxes I noticed that the keyboard's batteries were missing. Considering I had specifically ordered this keyboard to take advantage of its optional wireless configuration, this was extremely troubling. Did I forget to purchase the batteries along with the keyboard? Did KBDfans forget to pack them? What was going on?

Turns out, it's neither: the batteries do indeed come with the dual-mode Agar kit. They were just shipped separately from the rest of the kit due to US customs policy, which KBDfans support confirmed when I reached out to them.

This was merely the beginnings of an unfortunate observation I had in regards to the documentation and presentation of information about the keyboard. I was never made aware of the separate shipping arrangement, nor was it documented anywhere on the ordering page for the keyboard kit.

Installing stabilizers: not fun.

Similarly, it's not well documented that you need to order the stabilizers as a separate add-on, as they do not come with the kit. KBDfans apparently just assumes you've fully read the packaging list, and that you'll check off anything else you know you'll need, which apparently isn't just switches and keycaps - it's also the little bits of plastic and metal that keep the wide modifiers from feeling like shit. That feels a pretty cheap decision, as stabilizers are very important components and cheap enough that it makes little sense to forgo including them.

Imagine trying to assemble something off a YouTube Short - that's how bad this is.

On top of that, both the provided written and video assembly and configurations guides are annoyingly devoid of detailed information and actual step-by-step guidance. The PDF manual provides more instructions on the basic factory firmware configuration of the keyboard than the assembly process of it - and even it's pretty sparing with the former.

The video guides are even more egregious, being shot less like an instructional guide and more like a vibe video with tons of jump cuts, artistic shots and zero written or spoken explanation of what's going on. Not to mention the video for setting up the YIKB stabilizers is completely separate from the main videos, not even linked, and shot just as informally.

Look guys, I appreciate the studio lighting and white glove presentation - but I'd much rather gain an understanding of how much lube I'm supposed to put on these fucking stabilizers instead.

Yeah, I'm aware I have an '8' key instead of 'W'. Nobody said buying used keycaps was foolproof.

Nevertheless, I was able to get my keyboard built: an anodized gray finish equipped with Kailh Deep Sea Pro Whale silenced tactile switches, topped with Drop White-on-Black MT3 ABS Keycaps.

It looks absolutely phenomenal. I was actually a little unsure about how the keyboard's aggressively sculpted case would look in the flesh, but the rounded edges, scooped sides and sloped front corners make the Agar look quite unlike any other HHKB style case on the market. I think the rather high set and rounded shape of the MT3 keycaps compliment the look extremely well.

The Agar also feels as expensive as it looks with the case on my example being a solid block of milled aluminum, with a big copper bar screwed into the bottom for additional weight. I'm not entirely sure what would compel someone to make a 60-percent keyboard; a layout practically made for portability, even heavier than necessary for it to just feel premium - but that's exactly what KBDfans did.

And my god, it feels every bit as insane as you think it does.

I'm no stranger to comically heavy keyboards but most of those are vintage monsters with full-sized layouts that take up damn near your entire desk. This is a comparatively tiny 11.7-inch wide, 4.8-inch deep, and 1.3-inch tall case and yet it weighs an absolutely biblical 3.9 pounds. This is no longer just a keyboard at that weight - it's a typing implement. You don't just set it on a desk - you support it with one. Technically it is still portable, in the same way that a kettlebell is also technically portable.

In all seriousness, the weight is going to be a very real thing to take into account if you decide to travel with the Agar. It weighs as much, if not more than most 14-inch laptops so it's definitely not going to just disappear into your bag. For that purpose, the polycarbonate case might be of greater interest if your goal is to shed some pounds from the keyboard, and removing the copper weight would also certainly help. It alone weighs just over a pound, and isn't necessary for the keyboard to work.

Still, in terms of actual construction, the Agar is actually a fairly unique keyboard in that it uses a completely screwless PCB mounting solution. The PCB and switch assembly just snaps over the top of  six silicone grommets positioned around the edge of the keyboard tray, while the USB daughterboard automatically connects to the PCB via a MagSafe-like connector.

It's a setup that doesn't make a whole lot of immediate practical sense but being able to quickly remove PCB assembly can allow you to do deep maintenance on the Agar a lot easier than with a traditionally wired keyboard model. It also makes the process of swapping cases a whole lot less painful: just pull out the PCB assembly, transfer over the connectivity and mounting hardware, and just press the assembly back into place.

That's not gone well.

However, this oddball PCB mounting system does inadvertently cause something rather hilarious when you try to pop switches from the hot-swappable sockets using a pulling tool while the keyboard is assembled - you might accidentally hot-swap the entire PCB assembly out of the keyboard case.

Now, inadvertently ripping the guts out of the keyboard wasn't all that surprising to me considering how this chassis was designed, and the magnetic connector actually does the job of preventing serious damage from occurring to the PCB that may have otherwise been caused by doing this in a wired setup. It's just not one of those things you'd expect to happen - even if it really isn't a hinderance to replacing switches.

The dual-mode Agar offers two modes of connectivity: wired over USB-C or Bluetooth 5.1 paired with up to three devices. The lack of 2.4 GHz wireless might seem like a weird omission considering how expensive this keyboard is - even just as an option, but I don't think the Agar necessitates it. This isn't positioned as some RGB laden, hyper-fast polling, hall-effect gaming keyboard. It's a portable-ish slab with a layout designed primarily for productivity in mind.

That's also how the keyboard can get away with two tiny rechargeable batteries that combine for a total of 560 mAh. That is quite a bit smaller than batteries that you might find in competing keyboards, which tend to range from at least 1000 mAh packs all the way up to 4000 mAh - but many of those are also equipped for much faster and more power hungry 2.4 GHz wireless. The Agar absolutely sips power over Bluetooth and while I wasn't able to get an accurate estimate on duration; starting from a 76-percent charge, the keyboard only dropped five percent over the course of a week. I'd call that very workable.

There is also another odd design choice with the keyboard and that is the complete omission of an accessible exterior power or mode switch. Instead, KBDfans' buried the Agar's power switch underneath the "Control" key - a rather inconvenient spot for it be in if you just want to keep the keyboard quiet while it's in storage or transit.

Instead, switching between USB and Bluetooth modes is done through the programmable function layer, which works fine so long as you remember which key does what. Still, the keyboard is always on and that to me is a little strange. The low power consumption and the rather aggressive sleep timing help make up for this, but a more easily accessible physical switch doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to ask for.

Source: zmk.dev

The keyboard is equipped with open-source ZMK firmware, which is fast becoming the unofficial standard for Bluetooth equipped custom wireless keyboards. Configuration software comes in the form of ZMK Studio which offers both web based and locally run options. Y'know, as like what every major peripheral manufacturer should be doing. The web version of ZMK Studio only works with the keyboard plugged in over USB, while the local version works with either USB or Bluetooth.

It's a very minimalist program, featuring only a keymap and layer editor. Any other customization is buried within the keyboard's firmware, and that's a whole can of worms the average user probably doesn't want to open up. Still, for a keyboard that already doesn't have many extras like adjustable polling rate, RGB, macros and whatnot - that's probably enough to get most people by.

In terms of typing feel, this is honestly a pretty difficult keyboard to evaluate objectively since there isn't any single "default" configuration. Every Agar build is going to be unique so I figured the best thing I could do was try two different types of switches to see how they behave when paired with the case.

The first switch I tried is the Leobog Ice Vein: a budget friendly, POM stem and nylon bodied, lubed linear that's commonly found in a lot of budget keyboards. I figured this would be a good baseline switch just to establish some of the general characteristics of the Agar, and they certainly did. The Ice Veins feel nicely controlled and the Agar's silicone block mounting give the plate an adequate amount of give, so the bottoming out isn't overly harsh feeling. Within the heavily dampened case of the Agar, the Ice Veins give off a satisfying, but just slightly subdued sound.

Silenced switches are where I really wanted to see how the Agar performed though and for this task, I of course selected the aforementioned Kailh Deep Sea Pro Whale: a premium lubed, silenced tactile switch. I already really liked how these switches performed in the HHKB Studio so I was very keen to see how they would perform in the Agar. Like the Ice Veins, the Whales feel very controlled and pleasant to type on whilst paired with the silicone block mounted plate, but the dense and heavily dampened metal case really knocks down the sound of these already very quiet switches.

That was the main common characteristic: the solid metal case and foam dampened construction of the Agar really deadens the sound of all these switches. Unsilenced switches like the Ice Veins really have their normally prominent "clack" reduced down to more of a pleasant "poppiness" that - while I still won't call it office friendly, is certainly a lot less aggressive sounding compared to the same switches in a less dense case with a more rigid mounting solution.

If you want silence though, that's where the Agar really starts to come into its own - for better or worse. Silenced switches like the Whales are muted to the point where the faint sound of the spring and slider is probably more pronounced than the actual bottom out and return. I probably wouldn't put this configuration much louder than a bog-standard rubber dome or scissor switch keyboard; it eliminates that much more sound. Still fairly satisfying, but man - they're REALLY quiet.

It was almost a shock coming to the Agar from trying these switches in the HHKB Studio. The undampened, hollow plastic body and aluminum plate of the HHKB gave the Whales an extremely satisfying, baritone sound that is among the nicest keyboards I've ever listened to. The densely built Agar almost completely nullifies that same effect, leaving just the faintest vestiges of that sound. It's a rather substantial difference, and I almost found myself craving the more impactful sound of these switches in the HHKB Studio, even though the two keyboards feel almost identical in actual typing.

It's not that the Agar makes switches sound bad - it certainly does not. It's just that the case has so little resonance that it acoustically changes the sounds of switches dramatically enough that it might actually be jarring to someone already well accustomed to how they behave in other cases. There's really no clean answer to what switches work best with this case in my honest opinion. You just have to play around and see what sticks.

Overall, I think the Agar is a flipping fantastic keyboard. It's built to an extremely high standard, the case has some interesting and surprisingly useful engineering behind it, and it provides a lot of streamlined real-world utility - the kind I think often gets lost under a mountain of bloat in keyboards from the major manufacturers. Compared to an actual HHKB, it's also surprisingly competitive in value despite feeling like much more of a premium product. In a lot of ways, it's the kind of keyboard that people modify HHKBs into - just without the questionable judgement and financial self-harm.

The Agar is not without its shortcomings though, and as few as they are - they're noteworthy. The lack of an easily accessible power switch is a bit annoying, the keyboard is heavy enough to require a CDL license to operate and above all: it's still a boutique kit keyboard - complete with all the purchasing confusion, instructional vagueness and subsequent manual tedium that I've unfortunately come to expect of this type of product.

Because of that last point, the Agar kit fails the one big thing the HHKBs have going for them: pure convenience. Unless you opt for a pre-assembled Agar, you're going to be tasked with the process of assembling and tweaking what may eventually become the keyboard you paid for. Most people really can't be bothered with that and want something that just works straight out the box. 

Even I - the deranged tinkerer I am - completely sympathize with that feeling. The slightest amount of friction or uncertainty in the process of buying or building is what kills this kind of boutique keyboard for newcomers who might otherwise be interested in it. As much shit as I give PFU, they still make the easier product for everyday people to pick up on.

That's not to say there aren't upsides to the kit: you do get to build exactly the kind of unique keyboard you want, and that's not something a pre-built model can fully replicate. But what really screws all of this up is that KBDfans' cheapest entry point for a pre-built dual-mode Agar - one equipped with Gateron G Pro Red 3.0 switches and no additional options - costs just $183 before tax and shipping based on the current price as of writing. That's actually $7 less expensive than the cheapest dual-mode Agar kit that I could spec out with stabilizers and keycaps - and the kit doesn't even give you any options for switches. 

At that point, the pre-built Agar isn't just a better value compared to the kit - it absolutely murders it.

But the Agar does demonstrate one major thing, and that the concept of an HHKB is no longer chained to the keyboard bearing the same name. This keyboard demonstrates that this layout is now effectively democratized, in platforms that can improve upon what you otherwise would have to simply just tolerate from PFU - things like skidding flip out feet, AA batteries, and non-standard bottom-rows.

Topre is the one exception to all this - or at least it was. For the longest time, HHKBs and Realforce keyboards were the only consistently available products where you could get the unique feel of a Topre switch, but now that's beginning to change. Third party electrocapacitive rubber dome switches offering a more modularized version of Topre's own design are beginning to be offered as an option on many more keyboards, and the Agar just so happens to be one of them.

While I haven't personally tried the Agar EC, it's existence amongst a growing number of third-party electrocapacitve keyboards means this switch type is becoming increasingly democratized. That's no longer just challenging the Topre HHKB as a product. That's challenging PFU’s most defensible advantage: that buying an HHKB was one of the only straightforward ways to get this kind of switch feel.

In short, I think the Agar represents an exciting new frontier for keyboards - that enthusiasts no longer need PFU to obtain the HHKB layout, premium construction, flexible switches, open programmability, or even a Topre-like EC experience, nor do they have to sell an internal organ or two to make it happen.

Is this keyboard the perfect anti-thesis to PFU's walled garden? Certainly not, but regardless of how you choose to get an Agar, you can expect a cleverly designed and fabulously well put together keyboard. I'm happy to carry it in my bag - though my spine might eventually disagree with me.

What's Good

• Gorgeous design and ludicrous build quality.
• Unique tool-less PCB mounting makes servicing easy.
• Open-source ZMK firmware.
• Competitively priced to rival HHKB-layout keyboards.

What's Crap

• Documentation and assembly instructions need serious improvement.
• No easily accessible power switch.
• Weight is the point - it also makes it rather travel unfriendly
• MX kit omits stabilizers.
  

Verdict

Probably the best bang for your buck in a premium HHKB layout keyboard, if you can navigate around the boutique muck.