Boasting infinite customizability, the Flux keyboard is finally the answer
to what would happen if you made it a keyboard and a display.
It's a keysplay, a discord?
Whatever it is, this is just about the coolest thing
that I have ever seen. In addition to allowing the display
to be used for dynamic macro assignments, language switching, or just sick vibes,
it boasts top tier keyboard specs too, including a 1,000 Hertz polling rate
with a claimed 1.2 milliseconds input delay
and adjustable actuation points
thanks to its analog hall effect switches. Oh, and did I mention that the force of those switches
can be changed by swapping out magnets and that the entire key frame can be taken off
and switched to go between linear and tactile feel in just seconds, not sold yet?
The software allows your key maps to change according to the application you're using
and Flux even offers an ecosystem of accessories,
including extra buttons, extra dials, and even more extra dials
for your gaming and productivity pleasure. It even works across Windows, Mac, and mobile OSes
with Linux planned for the future. Wait, already available?
Can anything possibly live up to all of these promises?
Maybe, but it won't be the Flux keyboard because we found some stuff that they claimed
that wasn't quite true, but there's still a lot to love here.
I mean, look at it and look at these great new colors of polos
available at ltsdstore.com and look at this segue to our sponsor.
The story of how I got my hands on this thing is actually kind of funny. Reddit user FrancineGosBoom posted that finally
after backing this thing ages ago, his Flux keyboard arrived.
So I slid into his DMs and I said, hey, can I borrow that to make a video?
And he was like, sure. Said the story was funny, I didn't say it was long.
The base is a solid chunk of machined aluminum.
Does that get across the weight? Good, gravy, you could kill a man with it.
On the bottom, you'll find two-stage angled feet depending on your preference,
as well as the latch mechanism for the key frame, which is the piece that goes on top
and is the frame that holds the keys. Over on the top, we've got our main USB-C port,
then on both the left and on the right, we've got past reports for peripherals, storage drives,
whatever the case may be. And then in terms of other accessories,
we've got a dual-headed one here, USB type A for data, USB type C for another
greater than 30 watts of recommended power,
and then a right-angled USB-C to go into the keyboard itself
because it's got a power not just a keyboard,
but also a flipping display.
Well, it doesn't flip, unless you flip it.
Now for the part that's really exciting for me, according to Flux, their key frame uses acrylic
to achieve 97% transparency and, wow,
that is really clear, but more importantly has magnets
on the side of each key switch that it uses in place of a more traditional method
like a spring to provide the spring force that lifts the keys back up.
Because of that, you might use the quick swap mechanism to change it out for one with different force
or with a different type of key switch. This is a linear one,
but they have a tactile key frame as well. Flux advises against touching the bottom of the key frame
at any time because, I mean, getting fingerprints off of that
would be an absolute nightmare, and also advises against using any chemical cleaners,
even things like alcohol that you might normally use to clean something like a keyboard
because this is acrylic, and that's gonna be a really bad time.
Hey, how's the feel, ooh. Because there's no stem,
you do end up with a little bit of side to side play on the key switches,
which normally wouldn't really matter, except that if you accidentally press them off center,
it can cause them to sit a little bit off kilter, which can lead to it taking quite a bit more force
to press them versus if you press them in the middle. It's not the most forgiving design.
With that said, you might not need to press it very far.
Flux offers the ability to change the actuation point
from anywhere from 0.4 millimeters to 2.8 millimeters
out of the total four millimeter travel. So you can have it be more like a hair trigger
as you're typing or as you're gaming. And finally, the passive module,
which seems to be basically just a window into the screen.
Ooh, magnets.
This isn't needed today, but if you wanted to put on any of their other modules,
like their three button module, their single dial module,
which can be either clicky or smooth, or their three dial module, then this would be great.
It would allow you to kind of put one of those over there,
or whatever works for you. I'm gonna put this over here.
That is so freaking cool.
The possibilities are endless.
Ooh. Acrylic is not a great material for a keycap.
So it's not objectively terrible to type on,
but it's not comfortable. It's like kind of almost sticky
as you go across it because it's so smooth it almost like grabs you.
Okay, all right, okay. Let's get the software. Let's get the software. Remember when 600 megabytes was a lot for a GPU driver?
Pepperidge Farm remembers. All right, here we go.
Whoa, hotkeys for changing my actuation modes.
So here, we go into actuation, and then I can just change anything I want.
Oh, I want a really light WASD, for instance.
Boom. Save to keyboard.
Oh, they already had one like that,
with really light WASD and fairly light everything else.
Okay, so we're on the same wavelength flux. This is cool.
You can take your profiles with you from one system to another.
You won't get the detection of your active application, so it won't be able to like automatically switch
to DaVinci Resolve hotkeys on a non-supported system,
or when their Polymath software isn't running, but at least you can load up most of the stuff
that you need onto the keyboard itself. I am loving the configurability for this.
Would I actually love gaming on it, though? Wait, no, I have no style right now, though.
We can fix this. Oh, I had to, oh, that is so freaking cool.
What is the point of guns if they don't kill people? I can't say there's anything special feeling
about it from a gaming standpoint, but I also wouldn't say that it takes anything away.
Realistically, though, that probably has more to do with my skill than it does to do
with the quality of this keyboard. The Labs team found that while they claim
one to two milliseconds of input lag, we actually found that it was more like 10 milliseconds
on average, not an incredible result.
But can your gaming keyboard do this?
Huh? Ooh, clock.
Oh, wait, I already have clock. Ooh, analog clock. Ooh, flip clock.
But wait, there's more. You can upload videos to it.
Apparently it has eight gigabytes of onboard storage.
So they claim multiple 1080p movies even.
I just wanna see the jellyfish now. I just wanna play with it.
Sorry, sorry, I'm getting distracted. For the first time ever. Linus Texas coming at you from a keyboard.
I don't even care that it's kind of a bad keyboard.
Oh, oh, that's cool. And like it's not like a crappy display even.
It's not the world's greatest display, but it's decent.
They claim 300 nits peak brightness. We actually measured a little higher than that.
So maybe they're talking more like how much is left after it comes through the keycaps.
We found it was about 280 nits. And it's about 170 pixels per inch.
I mean, this is a 1080p display. So it looks like, it looks really good.
I'm watching me manhandle a keyboard. Well, I manhandle my keyboard.
It's like having an out of body experience or something. This is so trippy.
Okay, enough of that. They have a handful of supported applications. So let's fire one of these up
and see what we get in terms of shortcuts here. DaVinci Resolve and Create and Save.
So I'm here in my DaVinci Resolve. All right, in marker, out marker.
Don't have to think about that. Blade, boom, boom.
Delet, ah, dude.
There's people I've met. Let's put it that way that would love this.
Their only complaint would be, but why not more though?
Oh, and this effect is so cool. I didn't even notice this before.
If at this point you're thinking, what's the catch?
Boy, do I ever have one for you. The price is a pretty tough pill to swallow.
$530 US dollars gets you just the keyboard, no extra modules.
So if you can see yourself getting more than $500
of extra productivity, or if you just plain need
to have that swag on your desk, it does what it says on the tin.
If you're quite literally anyone else, it's a little tougher to recommend.
But what I can recommend is checking out our sponsor.
Did you guys enjoy this video? Why not watch the one that I'm playing right now?
It's a classic, the world's ugliest keyboard.
I don't know why I've had that hockey footage in it.