Mistel MD600 Alpha Black 60% Alice Hotswap Bluetooth RGB Mechanical Keyboard

Overall: Practically 5 out of 5 (see "Bluetooth" below for my main caveat).

I've been using this keyboard for a few weeks now with wrist pads, and I love it.

I got this keyboard after extensive research and trying out some other keyboards (ex Mistel MD770). My main priorities were a) something that relieves carpal tunnel pain and b) doesnt break the bank.

My main recommendation if you are considering this is a) get the wrist pads and b) do a test run with an Amazon version as they have a better return policy, then come back and buy it here.

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Ergonomics (5/5):
In my view, the most important choice you can make for ergonomics are a) a split layout and b) wrist pads. Everything beyond that (I recently switched to the Colemak layout and experimented with tenting) seems to me to be a difference in degree, not kind.

In addition to the split design, I love how the Alice layout almost seems to reduce the size of the keyboard relative to my hands (medium size for reference). It virtually eliminates reach, and is not difficult to adapt to.

Feel/Action (5/5):
The typing action is a dream, and the doubleshot keys have a very nice feel.

Each row of keys is a slightly different height, which turns out is quite nice for finding where you are on the keyboard and prolly easier for typing as well. While it is a minor bummer I cant move them around for the Colemak layout, it doesnt actually impact my use and wont be an issue for the vast majority of buyers.

I chose the brown switches, which I combined with o-rings as I work in a shared office space. Without the o-rings, the keyboard is too loud. With the o-rings, it is quieter than most other keyboards in the space. I did try the cherry mx silent reds on a different keyboard, but I didnt really like the feel.

Macros/programmability (4.5/5)
I am not big into macros, so my views are prolly limited here. It doesnt work with VIA, which isnt a big deal to me personally.

I LOVE the fact that it has Colemak built in. I have used it with other laptops/computers, and it is super convenient to switch to Colemak. I can also see how having different layers are helpful, but that is outside of my usecase personally.

I like the fact that you can hardcode switching the fn key with capslock, which I recommend doing.

Bluetooth (3/5):
I tried using the bluetooth connection for a while ultimately to revert to wired. The bluetooth just isnt worth it; it doesnt wake my laptop on its own, takes 5s or so to reconnect to it, and suffers from a delay that is noticeable at 60wpm.

I dont know if these issues are because of my laptop, if that is a common issue for bluetooth mechanical keyboards, or specific to this keyboard.

As I think, however, that most people will likely use this as their main keyboard and thus prefer to plug it in anyway, I am not factoring this into my score.

Stray thoughts:
It has magnetic feet which you can move around as you please.

It has RGB; I just shut that off and never looked back as I dont need the frills.

It has two "B" keys, which I did not notice till the 2nd week of use.

If you ever wanted to join the halves together (why would you?), you can join them together permanently with screws. Kinda pointless imo as the jigsaw design seen in other split keyboards seems better, but joining together in general is kinda pointless so eh.

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Bottom line:
Highly recommended.

I purchased the MD600 Alpha about a week ago. It has instantly become my favorite split keyboard ever. I've been a split keyboard user for a little over two and a half years. I bought my first MD770 when I started to notice shoulder pain from sitting in a hunched position due to my wide shoulders. As soon as I moved to a split keyboard the shoulder pain went away. At this point I could never go back to a single piece keyboard. Mistel has knocked the ball out of the park on this keyboard. They moved the layer switching to the home row on the left hand which allows me to switch between layers on the keyboard one handed without having to move my hand off the home row making my productivity go up without having to move my fingers to the bottom row to switch. I have accomplished this by moving the function key to the left space bar as I never use my left spacebar to make a space. I can also still use one handed arrow navigation by moving the function key on the right half of the board to the PN key(You do have to relocate the PN key to another key first. I had to contact Mistel to figure this out. You move the PN key the same way you move the FN key). The split alice design feels great on the pinkies as it feels more natural for where my pinkies want to move when searching for keys. I love the fact they dropped the keyboard down to a 60% board as I rarely use the F function keys, but on the rare chance I do, they are now one row closer to the home row. This also allows me to not have to look down at my keyboard and move my hands because I'm not moving my hands far away from the home row. Whenever I used to use the F function keys I would always have to look down at the keyboard to find the right key which would slow down my workflow and productivity and take me out of flow state and what I was doing or thinking. I purchased my MD600 with the Gateron G Pro Yellow switches. This was a change from the cherry MX brown switches on my MD770. I have welcomed the change. The yellows are quieter and in my opinion feel better. I used to get finger strain from typing for a long time on the browns. However the yellows feel like they dampen the blows to my fingers which allows me to type longer and without as much stress/impact on my finger joints. This keyboard has 2 'B' keys. They put one on each half of the board. This initially threw me off a bit as I'm used to the N key being the bottom most left key on the right half of the keyboard. However this was not an issue as the keyboard is totally programmable, so I just made the second B key an N key. This actually opened up the ability to use the original N key as a hot key for any function I wanted. I should also mention reprogramming one B key doesn't change the other. The RGB patterns on the board are cool to look at. You can set up different RGB patterns on different layers which also helps me to keep track of which layer I'm on if I forgot to switch back to my default layer. Another awesome feature is the ability to have 3 different bluetooth devices connected individually to the keyboard. A lot of times I'll have my laptop setup next to my work computer to just have some sort of background noise on while I work. I used to move back and forth between my work keyboard and the laptop keyboard but now I can just switch the keyboard over to my second device and switch back. Another thing to mention is that you still need to use the actual FN key when switching between bluetooth devices even if you relocated the FN key which I did. The last feature I love about this keyboard is the ability it has to switch between different keyboard layouts with just a few button presses. If you hold down the FN and backslash key for 2 seconds you can switch from QWERTY, to Dvorak, to Colemak. I use all three layouts just because I find typing fun and changing up the layouts helps me keep repetitive stress injury to a minimum. I have nothing but good things to say about Mistel and I plan on using their keyboards for years to come. I'd love to see an ortholinear and low profile key design from them in the future so I can try them out as well. This is probably the highest quality split keyboard on the market for the lowest price and an excellent way to get into split keyboards if you have been thinking of making the switch.

Visually, this keyboard looks amazing. RGB is nice and inoffensive. The layout is very good, too. It helped relieve the strain on my hands while typing at work. But that's where the positives end. I have been using this keyboard for a few months and right after a month or so one of the switches failed. I figured it's normal and that it happens. Less then a month later another switch failed. As of the time of me typing this (on a different keyboard) a total of 5 switches failed which is alarming to say the least. There is a massive quality control problem with these things. I am not a heavy user. I barely game on it. I mostly use it for work witch requires me to type a sentence or two 5 days of the week. I would not recommend this keyboard. Look elsewhere.

The function key combinations make it way to easy to accidentally put the keyboard into some weird mode that (unless you're staring at your fingers while typing) is not easy to get out of. Whatever mode it is, the keyboard stops sending keystrokes, all the lights go out, and I haven't been able to figure out what the hell it's waiting for. I end up having to unplug the keyboard and replug it back in. Happens about 15-20 times a day (I'm a fast touch-typist). If I could return it, I would. Definitely not something I'd recommend for anyone that's even partially proficient at touch typing. [MK note: We accept returns within 30 days of purchase -- please submit a ticket and we will be happy to assist.]