WEBVTT

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this may be the most expensive keyboard

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we've ever tested individually addressable RGB keys

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no cherry mx switches with custom keycaps

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no Thunderbolt free pass-through with

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triple OLED displays no it no it's got none of those things

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it's the completely wooden hand-crafted

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in japan keyboard from hakoa priced at

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nearly 1400

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us dollars but is it at all worth it

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or does it get chopped by this 40 dollar chinese

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keyboard that we bought on amazon

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speaking of things that are worth it by the way tunnelbear tunnelbear thinks the

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internet is better when everyone can openly access the same content so try

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tunnelbear for free over at tunnelbear.com

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LTT

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available in either maple or walnut from responsibly managed forests we're going

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to start with a look at the illustrious hakoa keyboard ki meaning both wood and

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tree in japanese see what they did there simply put it's a work of art the 89

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gently concaved keycaps are cut from a single panel of wood with their relative

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position preserved such that the natural wood grain pattern is visible on the

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finished board the keys contrast subtly with the

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chassis which is one solid piece even on the back where they cared enough to

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carve a recessed bevel so that the board is easy to pick up off the desk turning

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now to the poop end of the stick we've got the 40

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cooler tron other than the fact that this board is indeed made of wood its

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appearance is not that similar to the hakoa key

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okay hand carved sustainable bamboo

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sure i guess but there's no cohesive color scheme and

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the keys chassis pieces and the media keys have no consistency in the

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direction of the wood grain then making matters worse at the top of

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the board the wood motif is disrupted by an obnoxious cooler tron sticker and a

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nearly useless power indicator led that

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i would gladly trade in for caps and or

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num lock lights something hakoa managed to include and in a way that actually

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enhances the look of the board let's go back to the hakoa and look a

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little closer the laser etched letters on the tree

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board have amazingly sharp corners like they are they are perfect to the eye the

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tactile guides are both elegant and functional and the keycaps are aligned

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in perfectly straight rows one of the weakest points of the cheaper boards

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looks on top of that poor key stabilization makes the spacing between

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letters uneven assaulting your eyes and that impression is only made worse upon

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closer inspection excusing even the corrugated look of the bamboo wood grain

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the keycaps legend is etched with a degree of precision that i could

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charitably describe as serviceable except for this internet explorer

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looking key that won't be servicing me at all

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when it comes to general build quality from a more keyboardy standpoint honestly neither of

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them is the best we've seen i mean look at that flex hakoa

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though at least to their credit all the keycaps are aligned and sit at the same

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height by comparison check out coolertron's ragged afro and low rider

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style question mark while we're at it

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the edges are pretty rough the f9 key is randomly darker and the key guides

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subjectively mind you are a little too subtle to be really useful

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now some have complained that the legend on this one can be difficult to see

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particularly in the dark but cooler tron claims that the symbols become easier to

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read after two weeks of use presumably thanks to finger crud filling up the

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grooves yummy so for build quality and style points

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i'm giving it to hakoa it it even feels and smells way more

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woody than the cooler tron which might sound inconsequential but it's actually

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kind of the whole point here it's wood

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all right then what about the practical aspects of this showdown the bamboo

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board believe it or not is actually surprisingly decent to type on since

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it's one of those memcanical keyboards meaning that the switches are membrane

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but a small lip on the keycap gives the stroke a more tactile feel it's not as

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loud as a set of cherry mx blues but it is louder than your typical membrane

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board it's got a bit of a weird layout since it's a full 104 keyboard with a

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numpad but then with compact navigation keys

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but i might even go as far as to say that i like typing on it at least i

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would if it weren't for that astonishingly heavy space bar

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like this stupid thing takes the force of thor's hammer to press down

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it's shorter than normal and it sits

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left of center leading some typists to

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accidentally hit the alt key instead alright then

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but what about typing on a keyboard that is 35 times the price well to put it

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plainly this membrane is mush

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city people who aren't accustomed to mechanical boards might not notice but

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those who are and who might be considering the hikoi

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ki are barking up the wrong tree so to speak and this one's got a weird layout

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too it's like japanese but with an english legend

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which is great if you're japanese and you want to type in english but if

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you're used to a north american keyboard like i am you will be annoyed by the

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shortened enter and backspace keys you will have no use at all for the keys

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that japanese speakers use to switch between their various alphabets and you

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probably won't be a fan of the even stumpier space bar

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though it should be noted that this one was actually easier to use because at

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least it's centered so which one's better

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well truthfully in spite of the awful space

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bar the bambooler tron is probably the better typer so while you can get a real

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mechanical keyboard at this price point the novelty makes it maybe a decent buy

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especially since unlike the hakoa key

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it's wireless then again we couldn't even slide the little door shut without

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it breaking as for the keyboard i believe them when

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they say that each individual unit is made by a japanese master craftsman in a

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labor-intensive process at a rate of just

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one per day unfortunately that craftsman

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didn't spend any of that time on things that keyboard enthusiasts

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actually care about to be clear no one here hated it i'm just a little

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disappointed that someone could spend so much time making such a beautiful object

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then charge a sizeable chunk of cash for it without even doing the requisite

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market research to realize that for one thousand three hundred and eighty six

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dollars we expect a braided cable

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so then which one would i rather have in

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my home office

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honestly neither of them they're both kind of novelty items

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though at least one of them is priced accordingly

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i can't believe that we paid for this thing i feel like a total sap

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that was awful but what's not awful is ting the mobile

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carrier that's focused on customer service and customer satisfaction first

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when you call ting you do not speak to a robot you get put through directly to a

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person and you don't have to pay extra for that kind of service you pay only

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for the air time that you use with the average ting bill only 23 bucks a month

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per device and if you're stuck in a contract and switch to ting they'll even

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cover 25 of your cancellation fee up to 75 bucks they've got new lower mobile

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data rates data's now just 10 a gig beyond the first gig and every single

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ting customer will be able to reap the benefits of this new change so head over

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to Linus.ting.com and try out their savings

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calculator it'll tell you how much you'll save then sign up at our link to

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get 25 bucks in service credit or towards a new device we're going to have

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that linked below so thanks for watching guys if this

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video sucked you know what to do if it was awesome though get subscribed hit

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that like button or check out the link to where to buy the stuff we featured

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in the video description also linked in the description is our

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merch door which has cool shirts like this one our community forum which you

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should totally join and if you're still hanging around the video for this long

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because you really think the hakoa key is that amazing maybe we'll have an ebay

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link below too because i gotta get rid of this thing

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fourteen hundred dollar keyboard