Input Club Nightfox review: A compact and swanky keyboard for your desk

Layout, Switches & Conclusion

True Fox layout and Hako switches

The keyboard uses the “True Fox” layout, which was conceived by Matteo Spinelli (a keyboard designer known for keycap sets like Granite and Skull Squadron) as his ideal layout. One of the main grouses people have about compact keyboards is their lack of a dedicated arrow cluster, but the Nightfox thankfully retains that.

However, there’s a gap between the left arrow and Fn key. This may seem odd at first, but it actually helps you find the arrow keys more easily and reduces typing errors. That aside, other things that may need some getting used to are the smaller 1.5U Backspace key located in the R3 row instead of R4.

That said, the True Fox layout still manages to include all the important keys. For example, most compact layouts tend to sacrifice the tilde and Print Screen keys, but the True Fox retains both of them. I’d say that the layout is actually quite close to what the HHKB Professional 2 offers, so those who like the HHKB will adapt to the Nightfox pretty quickly. The only drawback is that the non-standard layout makes finding custom keycaps a little harder.

Finally, the Nightfox uses Input Club’s own Hako switches, an evolution of the Halo switches that shipped with the first edition of the Whitefox. The new Vera edition of the keyboard also includes changes such as updated PCB circuitry with extra ESD protection, Cherry-style stabilizers, and support for LEDs on the PCB.

The Hako switches are manufactured by Kailh and are a variant of their box switches. They were designed to mimic the force curve and velvety feel of Topre switches. However, that’s a debatable claim, and not exactly one I agree with.

Still, I do appreciate what Input Club is trying to do with the Hako switches. For starters, they feature a unique force curve where the switch becomes significantly steeper after the actuation point. This helps discourage bottoming out, which Input Club says is a non-optimal way of typing that leads to fatigue.

My version of the Nightfox is equipped with the Hako True switches, the stiffest of all the Hako switches with an actuation force of 60g and a bottom-out force of 94g. I do have a habit of bottoming out when I type, and I can say that the Hako True switches make it easier to stop doing this. In addition, I really like how smooth each keystroke feels and the increase in force after the actuation point is a unique experience that few other switches provide.

That said, these switches are probably not for everyone. Since they were designed to make bottoming out more difficult, they’re arguably not suitable for gaming, where you’ll be furiously bottoming out most of the time. Furthermore, even though the Hako True is supposed to be a tactile switch, they feel more like a heavy linear switch. That’s partly because the bump sits so high up that there’s practically no pre-travel before it, so you barely feel the tactile bump at all.

In other words, if you bought into Input Club’s marketing and were hoping for a tactile, Topre-like feel, you’re going to be disappointed. Otherwise, the Hako True offers quite a distinctive typing experience that you won’t find on any other Cherry MX or box switch.

I should also mention the improvements that the box switch design bring over regular Cherry MX switches. Thanks to per-switch drains and protected contacts, which can minimize the impact of liquid spillage, they’re supposedly more resilient than other MX switches.

To cap things off, the Nightfox is fully programmable, so power users will be able to program their own keys and layers. The keyboard runs on KLL, short for Keyboard Layout Language, and you’ll be able to port your custom configurations over to another keyboard that uses it as well.

Conclusion

Having said all that, the Nightfox has thoroughly impressed me with its build quality, design, and customizability. However, even though it retains its arrow keys, its non-standard layout, steep US$189 price tag, and heavy Hako switches mean that this isn’t exactly a keyboard for the masses.

It’s a luxury item for those who have done their research. But if you’re in the market for a compact keyboard and appreciate switches that prevent you from bottoming out, it doesn’t get much better than this.