Koolertron One Handed Gaming Keyboard with 32 Macro Keys, 44-Key Fully Programmable Mini Mechanical Keyboard, Mini USB Macro Keypad High Ground Keyboard for Gamer/Designer/Video Editor

I was worried about this one. I've been spurned before. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, though.I've been PC gaming since middle school, but I broke my right arm when I was in high school. I can use a mouse in my right hand fine for day to day stuff but between the scar tissue and slight nerve pinching that causes it to be uncomfortable, really uncomfortable for gaming. For whatever reason using a keyboard in my right is fine though (I guess because my hand rests on it differently).I've spent YEARS, actually over a decade, looking for an ideal gamepad. I ended up with a Logitech G13 at some point and have stuck with it but I don't like it for MMO's, basically not enough buttons combined with having to program different profiles for each game was rough. I picked up something really similar to this device a couple years ago but it was angled a bit differently and used Cherry MX Black switches and it actually physically hurt my arm after brief play sessions (20-30 minutes). Hence why I was worried about this.After pulling all the keycaps off and spinning them 90 degrees so I can use it vertically instead of horizontally and programming it... it's taking a bit of getting used to a slightly altered button layout but I'm getting there. It's not as comfortable as my Logitech G13 but I figured it wouldn't be, but it's WAY more comfortable than the similar product I tried a couple years ago.The software's easy enough to use, although I'd love a toggle to switch from horizontal to vertical (not necessary, just a nice option for those of us doing that), and once I got it setup I haven't had to run it again.I could see this being a great macro keyboard for work use, but for me it's a "better than good enough but not perfect" gaming pad. I'm still tempted to start researching custom building my own so it could be more ergonomic but for now this will work.Update (08/05/2018):Figured I'd do a "I've had this almost a year now" update. It's still a solid 4 stars. Still vaguely interested in custom building something more ergonomic but haven't felt the need to since I got used to this. Not perfectly comfortable for my needs but I'm used to it and it's working just fine. Now the biggest complaint I have is that the manufacturer still hasn't listed this on their actual website and from I can tell the only response to "where can I download the programming software" is "the URL is on the manual." Neither is a huge deal, but I tossed the manual a while back and I'm curious if the software's been updated at all and can't track down any website to download it.Update 10/18/2020:I bought another one. Old one's mostly fine, keycaps are dirty but I could clean them if i cared enough. I was able to put my old one back into "programming mode" to copy the keymapping to a file, then load that file onto the new one, and I didn't realize how nice that would be.They did change the model a bit. The shell feels cheaper, it's lighter, the USB cable ports don't come with covers, the gold/bronze colored screw caps on the top now are just formed bits of plastic in the shell... It's fine, but definitely doesn't feel or look as premium even though it costs the same. It did come with a pretty basic set of black and white key labels you can use and a keycap remover (which I don't think was included last time). These labels are just the main keys, no F1-F12 row or other such "uncommon" keys. A-Z, 1 to 0, and some punctuation keys. I don't think the cost of these add-ins outweighs the cost reduction of the cheaper materials/build quality. Again, it's fine, but for how much it costs I could get a similar quality 104+ full size keyboard. Granted, they probably have a special PCB, and a different kind of chipset so it's fully programmable, but those kinds of thing shouldn't fluctuate the cost so severely.Another change is that the older model is flat, no angle, but this model has a very slight angle to the body. If used as pictured it's like a normal keyboard slant, but used vertical by my right hand like I do it leans the right up into my hand... which is kind of fine? It's a weak enough angle that it's not super noticeable and it probably helps shorten the distance my pinkie finger is reaching, so I guess that's fine.Still a solid 4 stars from me, but the obvious cost reductions done without reducing the price are tempting me to drop the score. There's nothing else quite like it for my needs, at least not without spending WAY more, so I'm just happy someone's making stuff like this.

I got this product to increase my workflow speed with Design programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and After Effects.Before this product, I had already been used to all of my regular hotkeys & hand positions for the various programs, but I was worried that at some point I was going to obtain wrist issues with all the 'Alt', 'Ctrl', and 'Shift' key combinations on a daily basis- most especially now that I've began working from home.Once I got this product, I quickly realized just how much time I'll have to put into programming this to get back into my traditional workflow.After some time, I figured out my resting hand position, my most common keys, the best placement for the keys, and setup all of the hotkeys I use regularly.At the beginning, I felt like a newborn attempting to walk being 100% honest. I literally wanted to return the thing and go back to using my keyboard, but I was determined to use it because of the potential for it to be even better than a traditional keyboard.The most difficult part was remembering where all of the keys were, without having to shutdown the Keypad, re-open the editor in programming mode, and taking a screenshot of all the currently set keys.This keypad did however come with 2 color sets of Keycap stickers for a traditional QWERTY keyboard, black and white. As I started to place my stickers onto the keycaps however, I quickly realized that it'd literally be zero use if I'm going to have different key programmings for different Profile setups.To explain: If I place an A sticker on key 27, then in Profile 1 it's fine. But for Profiles 2-3, I'll either have to have key 27 be the same A key to not get mixed up with the stickers, or not use the sticker at all in the case that I prefer key 27 to instead be a combination of Ctrl+Shift+FSo I ended up taking off all the stickers I had put on, and the ones that were left on ended up coming off on their own within 2 weeks. Mostly due to the heat from my fingers resting on them, likely causing the sticky part of the sticker to melt and dry up when it's pops off.I ended up switching out most of the white keycaps to my resting hand area so that I could use Sharpie to write in letters, key combos, or symbols to dictate the tool it's for.Which was half a mistake, as the sharpie would rub off even after a day of drying.This issue is literally the only reason why I'm docking off a star from the overall rating, if there was a more convenient way to visualize the current key presets on screen per profile, then I think it would be an insane addition to this products functionality.This product has literally become like my big toe (For humans, if you lose your big toes, you'll have to relearn how to walk)I don't use any of my design programs without my hand on this keypad, and my workflow has increased insanely to the point where I can very quickly get carried away with myself and do MUCH MORE work than I'm supposed to. I highly suggest this to anyone who uses programs that regularly uses 2-3 Key combo hotkeys. It's been the most convenient purchase I've made for my business so far, and I've actually been extremely tempted to buy a second one just so that I could imitate an entire keyboard layout with 2 pads and be like a hackerman in a 2077 movie.

It’s easy to program, the instructions do not tell you what MO1 - M04 or TG1 - TG4 it doesn’t explain how to switch layers. I got to a different layer and it is stuck, can not switch back. Will return if I can’t get clear instructions. update, search YouTube for instructions. Works great.

RECOMMEND: Yes. 4-stars. (read below)PROs:• solid constructionCONs:• The manufacture's software is terrible. Instructions will drive you mad.• Price. I paid roughly $100. For what the product is, it's easily overpriced. What it's worth? $40• Programming. To program the keyboard, you have to unplug, press and hold a key, and then plug back in. Since the instructions and software are garbage, you can expect to repeat this task several times.HOW I USE:Mainly for Microsoft Excel. I programmed a string of keyboard shortcuts for specific keys. My workflow has significantly improved.Due to the limited functions of what the manufacturer's software can provide, I had to look for an alternative. Do yourself a favor... download AutoHotKey (AHK)! AHK will take your Koolertron keyboard to the next level. I am not going to go into the specifics of AHK, but there is a slight learning curve. Trust me... after an hour of research and testing, you should be well on your way.USB cable with an on/off switch. Since the manufacture did not include a simple on/off switch, to avoid damaging your USB ports, buy a USB cable with an on/off switch.

I wanted a small one handed keypad for using z-Brush, which is a world of hurt with it's keyboard shortcuts, especially when you use a custom UI. After looking around I went with Koolertron and overall I could not be happier.Setup was a little bit of a PIA, as I had to install a Windoze VM on my Mac, but once running, the Koolertron software was easy to work out and programming the keys to what I wanted was simple enough. As advertised, the actual unit stores the config, so once I plugged it into the mac, there was no more messing around with something like Karabiner, the keypad just worked as I set it up -– which is the way I like things to be.Overall quality is good, and the unit has enough weight to not feel flimsy. The keys, being Gateron Reds, are maybe a bit light and linear when compared to the Cherry's on my WASAD keyboard, but as it's only being used for shortcuts, I don't see it being an issue at all; though I might install some bumpers to give the down stroke a bit of a firmer feel. I will swap out some or all of the keys with custom ones I'll design and order from WASAD.All in all, this was a great buy and if you are a professional creative, I could not recommend this more.

Quick delivery, well within the stated period. As stated, you will need a Windows machine to program the keys via a downloadable software. After that, I had no trouble getting it to work in Mac or Linux. The key caps are all of a single size. Would have loved to have have more colours. Thankfully I have some Cherry MX numpad keys I can swap out and macro them. The USB port on the device is a USB mini and they are on both sides of the keyboard. I actually much prefer they make it to come out the back like other keyboards. They also provide two good quality adjustable screws which I presume you can swap out the existing ones to tilt the board to your liking (no mention of this in the instruction booklet).

I used this as a gamepad, where it works quite well once you remap some keys. The supplied keycaps don't cover this use perfectly, but you can get most of the ones you want in position. The configurator is clunky and fairly basic, not as fully featured as the open source qmk or tmk firmware. Also, one of the supplied keycaps is randomly a different profile to the rest.

I bought this for work because of the special program I use and all the F keys with a num keypad. They do have the market cornered with this product but for the price should include top quality key caps of choosing! not some fn useless stickers!!!!!! doesn't feel like real cherry reds at all, seem pretty cheap, so hopefully they can be replace down the road with real quality switches. besides that programing was easy enough. Put some efforted into the word QUALITY! because for the price it was the same price as my razer mechanical keyboard that has quality switches and key caps.

I absolutely love this thing, it has mad emy workflow as a digital artist much more fluid and ergonomic! The mechanical keys are nice and clicky, and the smaller for factor allows me to use this alongside my tablet.My only complaints aren't very major: firstly, this uses an outdated mini usb cable, not even micro usb let alone usb C, which not optimal at all and makes replacement more difficult; secondly, the makers don't supply stickers for function keys like Enter, Alt, Ctrl, Backspace, etc. which are all used in various editing/creating software, so prepare to create your own labels. Thirdly, and this is my only MAJOR complaint: you can only program the keys on a WINDOWS machine. The keypad is usable on MacOS, but to program the keys to your liking, you better have a Windows machine somewhere, otherwise you are stuck.