Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Mechanical keyboards
Raised as a usability problem by 21 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 17 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1Clicky long-travel keys make typing slowUnreviewed
- 1Clicky long-travel keys make typing slowUnreviewed
Every issue, all time, most people first
Clicky long-travel keys make typing slowUnreviewed
20132026- Keys look good but feel poor to type on once received2022-08-18
- Mechanical keyboards are clicky, have long travel and make typing slow2022-05-24
- Keys require too much force to press and the typing noise is distracting2021-11-19
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 23 complaints
- Back button on mobile exits the site instead of closing the open keyboard2026-04-20
- Modifier key layout differs from Mac, breaking muscle memory when switching keyboards2024-12-29
- Keys placed beside Enter make it hard to find Enter and arrows by touch2024-12-29
- Arrow keys packed among other keys, so user must look down to find them2024-12-29
- Standard layout strains wrists, keypress depth hurts fingers, clicks are annoying2024-12-28
- Switch comes off too easily when removing keycaps, leaving keyboard unusable2024-11-28
- Missing home, end, page keys and menu key forces reaching for the mouse or awkward key combos2022-08-18
- Keys look good but feel poor to type on once received2022-08-18
- No dedicated Page Up/Down keys, so the commenter cannot page through documents easily2022-08-18
- Scene is disorganized and constantly shifting, making it hard to find a keyboard2022-05-24
- Mechanical keyboards are clicky, have long travel and make typing slow2022-05-24
- Default keymap requires holding a modifier to reach Escape, which is awkward and easy to get wrong2022-03-19
- Keys require too much force to press and the typing noise is distracting2021-11-19
- Mechanical keys feel like they slow typing speed, adding irritating latency2021-02-18
- Causes wrist and shoulder pain after a single day of use2020-12-28
- Requires remembering keyboard state and many key chords, adding cognitive load2020-01-22
- Good mechanical keyboards require assembling carefully picked parts with no end-to-end guides2019-09-03
- Mechanical keyboards are tall and painful to use, with poor keypress feedback2019-06-30
- Tall keyboard height makes the commenter's wrists hurt when typing2018-08-01
- Blue switches feel too stiff and hurt the commenter's wrists2017-07-21
- Can't type as fast on the new mechanical keyboard2016-10-30
- Removing the menu key forces slower mouse-free text correction and navigation2015-05-26
- Keys register wrong characters, such as M typing M and U typing UI2013-03-01