Kira is a classic-feel mechanical keyboard ‘arted up’ with trippy RGB backlighting
Keys are good
If you consider the typing experience on modern notebooks an insult to your fingers, you might like the sound of Kira ($179 – or $259 for the metal-framed version) – and we mean that literally. Closer in nature to a typewriter than a MacBook keyboard, Kira’s chunky keys use a range of hot-swappable switch types, from the ‘sharp, heavy and clicky’ Novelkeys Box Pale Blue to the ‘light and airy tactile’ Hako Violet. But Kira marries its retro feel with a dash of modern – it’s open source and customisable, so you can turn any key into a multi-function macro. And there’s fully programmable RGB under-lighting, too. The keyboard’s creators argue this makes the Kira a “work of functional art”. Stuff mostly likes the idea of being bathed in multicoloured light, imagining we’re starring in a trashy sci-fi flick while smashing out a masterpiece.
Craig Grannell
Contributor 
