I've now been using my Kipper2K keyboard for several months and I wanted to do a follow up review. I just happened to glance down at my keyboard while moving from my PC one to my Amiga and realized something was off and some of the key legends looked a bit dark. Thinking I had some grime I grabbed a baby wet wipe and gently tried to clean the surface of A, S, C, and the directional arrow keys before my heart sank; the legends are wearing off. What was white is now showing the "black" (gray) plastic color through. It is simply unacceptable after so many delays that the quality of the printing on the caps could be this bad. I have used every garbage cheap PC keyboard under the sun at work over the years and NEVER worn through letters this quickly. Looks like I will be trying to source an entirely new set of caps much sooner than I thought and I am not sure what to do about the long spacebar, CAPS, and front facing legends on the number pad keys.

Before I get too far into this review I want to make sure I am clear about one thing; The Kipper2K or A090 Amiga keyboard (as listed on the invoice and the email prompting me to do a review) is a good quallity product that is going to become more important in the future of keeping classic Amiga computers (or authentic feeling emulation) going on into the future. Nothing about it feels flimsy or cheap. I really am very excited to have mine and now that I have been using it extensively in AMOS Pro for a few days I think I can make a reasonable assessment. I don't want any negative comments I make about it to detract too much from how good it really is. . . though it is not perfect. For starters it should be known that I ordered an A500 version with black keycaps intending first for it to be used with the hitherto vaporware A1200.net Black A500 replacement cases. To say the color of the keycaps is black would be generous to dark gray and an insult to black. They are dark gray. I have a clicky tactile wireless cherry compatible keyboard right next to my new Amiga keyboard and there is no possible way anyone could reasonably call the keys black. This was admittedly a big letdown upon opening the main box and unwrapping the board. I didn't want a CD32 keyboard, I wanted black - black like a CDTV, black like my Checkmate A1500+ case, black like Batman. After mulling it over for a bit I decided that this may work to my benefit in the long run though if I want to spend money having custom caps printed for the F-keys. Since they are Cherry MX compatible, I can order new true black modifiers and extended keys and my board would closely resemble a dark version of the Amiga two-tone color scheme. Time will tell if I will do this. I can't comment on the classic color scheme since I didn't order those caps. The keycap lengends themselves look good and for the most part very closely match the Amiga. I didn't expect perfection but they are absolutely close enough for me not to care in the least about the minor differences. CAPS has a proper semi-transparent spot for the LED to shine through. The surface texture is rougher than I expected (and rougher than I am used to with any other keyboard) and I do wonder if in time and long use the surfaces will wear and shine, showing their wear poorly. But as I said, they can be easily replaced. (Except CAPS.) I do wish there was an option for the Big L A500/A2000 Return but I imagine this is basically impossible to source with a cherry compatible mount. The green and red LEDs for drive and power are exactly what you would expect; three very standard rectangle LEDs side by side. They work. They are cheap. They are available. I fully understand why they are there. Their surfaces of all but one appear to have been very lightly sanded to improve the diffuse look of the light exiting the end. What I am thinking of making for myself (or I would buy from an enterprising maker) is some cast resin semi opaque LED extensions to cover one or two LEDS in an Amiga keyboard and present as one at the surface of the keyboard with a uniform diffuse colored light. I could harvest them off my old keyboard (assuming the voltages are compatible) but I don't want to damage that board and then it is left without LEDs. The build quality appears to be very good. I didn't spend hours meticulously examining the solder joints but a quick look or two over the back to get the "lay of the land" didn't present anything that wasn't expected. Everything was nice and tidy. I suppose this is what we were waiting for? ;) The fit for an A500 I cannot comment on. I am a VERY special case user as my keyboard was meant to be installed in a modified A2000 keyboard case that I used with my A500 inside a Checkmate frame. I delicately cut out the LED holes for the A500 keyboard, modified a few posts and supports, and have had my Mitsumi with iDye treated keycaps in there for almost two years now. Would the Kipper2K keyboard fit? In a word, no... not exactly. The lack of the sheer amount of metal backing the new keyboard means that it doesn't fill the volume quite the same. It is not quite as tall on the ends as the original meaning the existing supports that fit the A500 and A2000 keyboard hardware were incompatible. Worst though is the pin headers for the connections on the top edge of the keyboard. Fitting them with the cable attached would be almost impossible for my use case. Disappointed again I decided I could try it in my unused Checkmate keyboard frame and it quite simply would not and cannot fit. The A500 keyboard pins at the top rest on the top edge of the metal case. I made the difficult to choice to modify the pins; each was reversed 180 degrees putting them in a down towards SPACEBAR direction. Warranties be damned! I waited long enough, I wasn't going to let a few pins stop me from enjoying a much better typing experience on a computer I still use almost daily. The interference problem was solved and with some fiddling with added spacers I was able to fill in the missing metal of the backing support and get the new keyboard to play nice where I want it! Overall, typing has been a joy. Though I am more than accustomed to typing on the stock A500 keyboard I am finding I am missing some keys but I think this is due to a disconnect between expectation of sensations while typing and the reality. Like my brain thinks typing on a PC not AMIGA. In every meaningful way it FEELS like a really decent PC keyboard. The feel is close to the MX Brown switches in my PC's keyboard. It has a higher pitch while typing on most keys. The feel of the press at the bottom is hard with a audible, but not really tactile, click. (I hope that makes sense. I am not a keyboard enthusiast like some.) The 0 and ENTER on the Numpad, the SPACEBAR, and RETURN are mushy and disappointing in comparison to the other keys. I may think about looking at what the keyboard modders of the world do in this situation. The reality is that even if you ignore the age of every other Amiga keyboard on the planet right now, without a USB or PS2 adapter, this is the best AMIGA keyboard, ever. Now for some deep honesty. Getting this shouldn't have taken this long and in taking that much time there should have been a lot more regular updates on progress. Until about two weeks ago I was ready to give up on the dream of a new and good Amiga native keyboard. Had I committed to cancelling in a fit of exasperation I would now regret it. The world has gone bonkers in the last year and a half and that gives a lot of leeway for delays. And it seems to me a lot of people have been waiting very patiently. I would say to keep waiting if you can. They are coming. I have mine and it is real and really, really good. 95/100

This is the stupiest Amiga Hardware ever. There is absolute no documentation about using the Gotek Feature. There some unpopulated parts on the PCB which are also not descriped. Also there are no extra Keys in my order. The keys are not black! It is a grey color. Price is absolute stupid for what you get. It seems there are some other criminals using Amiga to make some easy money! Don´t buy this!