Choc V Keyboard Kit

I had experience with split Corne boards, both of which had been mostly-assembled kits where the only soldering was the pins for the controller. I took the plunge on this design to avoid some issues with side pairing, and the soldering went better than expected after a few YouTube tutorials on soldering small parts. I appreciated that there were a few extra diodes - I needed all but one of the extras. Overall the soldering was no barrier.

The layout is enough offset from what I'm used to that it feels a little clunky now, but not so clunky that I couldn't type this whole review on the board.

I did have issues with the controller, but having the custom config files for this board made it approachable to edit build config to work around those issues (and the controller is not part of this kit).

Overall, I'm really pleased with the value for money, although unfortunately I have a sense that this foray into soldering more components may embolden me to even more projects.

The design with a soldered PCB and a lower layer under seems really great to me (and more robust) - much less fiddly than either of the standard designs I'm used to which have hotswaps and a thin piece halfway up the key to stabilize.

Nice kit at a great price. This board has a fantastic design with the second pcb layered under the first to protect the components. It's about as low profile as a choc build can get. Really nice as a travel keyboard since it's so flat, and it not being a split makes it a little easier to carry around and set up.

I used a Helios (RP2040) and QMK MSYS to flash. This was my first time soldering and using QMK (previously only used pre-flashed vial boards), and so I wanted a cheaper board just in case I wasn't successful with either of those, and it was a bonus that the end product is such a nice looking and functional board.