Photon

Surprisingly Amazing Acoustics

I decided to pick up the Photon because it seemed like a good, cheap option for a portable, wireless board. I was expecting it to be just alright overall, so, it was a very pleasant surprise to discover that the board just sounds awesome. It's definitely punching up when it comes to acoustics.

Another banger from Ai03

After maining the Vega for a long time, I purchased the Photon as a more portable board to use at work. It sounds great and ZMK works seamlessly once setup. +1 for Cannonkey's order team as well. Top notch.

Nice sounding board, but has some annoying details.

PROS - Fast shipping. - Nice weight for portability. - Well finished, no sharp edges, and everything fit together well. - All the screw holes have inserts. - Sound is good (I’m using Morandi’s and the plate foam). - I like the default 65 layout with the delete at the top right. CONS - Case screws through the top are very annoying. They’re short and fall out and roll around the switches (or down through the PCB switch holes if you haven’t put your switches in yet). Screws through the bottom would be much more manageable. Or even just use hex heads because they’ll stay on the driver. - The WIN/OFF/MAC switch should be more polished and labeled. It looks very cheap. And you shouldn’t have to go to the documentation for switch positions. - Paying an extra $17 for foam seems like a lot. The foam should come with the base kit. Half the fun is trying different configurations of switches and foam to see what sounds best. - And, the top row of switch sockets is rotated 180 degrees? I’m sure there’s some design reason, and I know you’re not worried about LEDs, but it’s just seems kind of odd to flip an entire row of switches over. NEUTRAL - I’m not sure about the push for clip-in stabs. I accidentally bought plate-mount, so I used some Durock V3 screw-ins and they worked just fine. I did try some older stabs but they had an issue with binding. - ZMK studio doesn’t work on my Mac. It’s a little annoying because it has a Mac toggle, but the default layout is ok for now, so it’s not that important. - The underglow LEDs are just ok. Overall, they’re not very bright, and I think putting them a little closer to the edge of the PCB would have been better. But, normally you’re not using them, I suppose, to save battery. OVERALL It’s not a bad board. Just seems a little expensive for what it is (with shipping and foam, $140 or so) I wouldn’t buy it again, and I wouldn’t recommend it at full price. Maybe if it goes on sale.