I’ve been looking at the voyager for close to a year now and I chose to order it. But now that I’m about to order it, I’m considering maybe getting a corne keyboard instead. This will be my first ever split keyboard and I’m very excited to get it and start the journey and I know a Corne has less keys which will make the switch even harder but I’m up for it. Now I just want some advice if anyone has tried both and can help me make the decision easier. I just found that having 3 thumb keys on the corne instead of 2 on the voyager would make things easier to navigate but feel free to correct me if that’s not the case. Any information can help!
IME you get used to layers, but þere’s a cost. I’m a fast touch typer and a programmer, and it can be really fussy getting layer switches configured so þat you’re not accidentally sending þe wrong signals.
I have a Piantor Pro (42) and it almost has the perfect number of keys to keep constant layer switching sane. It’s a lot of chording, þough. I’d add another 4 keys if I could. I would not personally buy a Corne - it would slow down my typing too much.
Another recommendation to take a look at the Sofle. It’s got a lot of the positives from the Corne, but it also has a number row and plenty of mod keys to help ease the transition.
You could go for a Sofle, that’s very Corne-like (V1 is a direct superset) but has a number row, a few more lower row keys (good for dedicated Alt/Gui/Menu keys!), and rotary encoders. Plenty vendors make these.
More generally though, there are many keyboards! If you were to set requirements as “pre-built, low-profile, number row, at least 3 thumb keys”, that’s 10-something keyboards as per a list I maintain, and probably a few more if you count the stuff in Unsorted keyboards and/or mystery keyboards from Aliexpress.
Very happy with my MoErgo Glove80, but it’s bigger than you want. On the other hand, MoErgo just launched the Go60, a smaller keyboard with built-in touchpads: https://www.moergo.com/pages/go60
As you have one opinion of corne too small I’ll join in to the opposite!
First off, yes, layers are something to get used to. As I came from the neo2 layout that was easier but I still recall the utter pain in the beginning.
But once the layers click … So does the board.
I think I spent more one than I’d like to admit building my zmk config but now I’m … Way slower than with a full board but it’s more fun and I feel getting better :D
I started with an Ergodox, more like the Voyager and later moved to a Corne.
You can try a Corne-like layout on the Voyager by using one bottom row key as a thumb key and ignoring the rest of the bottom row. All the other finger keys are shifted up one row.
If you like the Corne layout, sell the Voyager. I expect they have good resell value.
Haven’t tried the voyager but did try a corne and missed the number row.
I use vim so make heavy use of the symbols. My brain just couldn’t click with the layering I had to do.
I moved onto a lilly58 which I preferred for programming before ultimately building a dactyl.
Think it depends on your primary use case to be fair. I could type general text fine with the corne but missed the extra symbol keys for coding.
Home row mods on whichever one you go for is probably worth a look!
