Glove80 Keyboard

By Xah Lee. Date: 2022-02-20. Last updated: 2024-01-01.

Glove80 Keyboard is announced in 2022-02, on kickstarter. From a startup company MoErgo. First batch came out in 2022-12.

2023-01-19 got it today.
2023-12-24 have been using this keyboard as my main for 9 months.

glove80 keyboard 20230122 bgwqR-s35 — press the lower left corner key (the magic key). The 2 green rows shows battery status.

80 keys total.
Weight: 550g (super lightweight)

glove80 20230129 wPNhG-s1100 — glove80 battle station 20230129 wPNhG 4032×3024

Quick Start

Once you got the keyboard, press the power button on the back. Do this for left part and right part.
Then, connect the USB on the left part to your computer.
You can start to use the keyboard.

(if the right side battery is low, just plug-in the USB to the right part to charge it first. To check battery status, press the lower left corner key on the left part, then, 2 rows of lights indicate battery status. The top row is left part, the bottom row is right part.)

Video Review

Xah Talk Show 2023-01-29 Glove80 Keyboard Review

What is in the Box?

Glove80 Unboxing

USB Port and Power

On each keyboard part, there is a USB-C port, and a power switch button, at the back.
The power buttons are the nice push-in type. They stay down when on.
The left keyboard is the main. Plug USB to that part if you want to use the keyboard wired, and you do not need bluetooth on in computer.
The left and right talk via bluetooth.

glove80 USB port 20230127 — glove80 USB port

Show Bluetooth Connection Status and Connecting to Bluetooth

Glove80 Bluetooth Connection

Wired Use

Plug in the left side, to activate wired mode.

In wired mode, you do not need bluetooth capable computer.

Battery

Show Battery Status

To show battery status, press the lower left corner key on left part.

The lights on the QWER row shows the battery levels for left-hand-side.
The lights on the ASDF row shows the battery levels for right-hand-side.

glove80 status lights 20230127 4522-s1000 4032×3024

Battery Life

I use it about 8 hours per day, with lots heavy typing. I charge it maybe once every 3 months. (but later on, i usually just leave the left side plugged in, because i don't need bluetooth on my main workstation.)

How to Charge Battery

Each hand has a battery.
To charge each part, plugin the USB cable.
According to the manual, charging time is 3 to 4 hours.

You do not need to charge both at the same time. You can leave the cable plugged-in on the left part. When plugged in, the keyboard is in wired mode. When fully charged, you can plug the cable to the right part.

The Magic (MoErgo logo) Key

The lower left corner key with the MoErgo logo is the “magic” key. It is a key for selecting bluetooth device and show battery status, and other keyboard config.

glove80 magic key 20230127 FjkDc-s1000 — glove80 `magic` key 4032×3024

Concave Key-Surface

The keys form a overall concave bowl-shaped surface, so that your fingers dip onto the keys. No bending up the wrist, and each key fits different lengths of fingers.

How Long Does it Take to Adopt?

If you never used a ortholinear layout keyboard (where the key columns form straight lines), might take 3 weeks to be fluent.
If you have used a ortholinear layout keyboard, you'll be comfy with it right away.

glove80 kbd 20230119 left 182-s70 — Contoured keywell, fits different finger lengths. 20230119 left 182

glove80 kbd 20230119 896-s70 — glove80 20230119 896

Thumb keys

The thumb keys, fixed many problems of traditional keyboard.

Thumbs are the most muscular and most flexible fingers, and all the modifier keys such as Ctrl Alt ❖ Window ⌘ command are now right under your thumbs. Also, the Backspace is right there, one of the most frequently used key.

Low Height on Desk

This keyboard is designed to have minimal height. So that the keyboard does not raise your hand position on desk much. (look at the key D.)

Low profile of the keyboard. Note the height of key D.

Removable Palm Rest

Detachable palm rest.

To remove the palm rest, just unscrew it at the back. Those are thumb screws, just twist it to screw.

glove80 keyboard 20230126 599-s35 — glove80 keyboard with palmrest

glove80 no palmrest 20230126-s999 — glove80 without palmrest 20230126 4032×3024

glove80 kbd back 202301 CDWhw — back 202301 CDWhw

glove80 palmrest 20230126 GfSVg — Palm Rest

Adjustable Feet for Tenting

By default, the keyboard is tented for 8 degrees. (tenting means raising the middle, so to avoid wrist pronation.)

To adjust tenting angle, just twist the feet. Excellent design.

It comes with extra long screw feet if you want extreme tenting.

glove80 feet 20230127 9022-s1000 — glove80 feet 20230127 9022

Keycaps

The keycaps are custom designed by MoErgo. Highest quality design and material.

Keycap material is POM plastic (won't wear-shine, won't age-yellow) [see Keycap Material: ABS, PBT, PVC, POM]
Keycap top surface shape is cylindrical concave. [see Keycap Profiles]
Key labels are laser marked. (never wears off) [see Key Label Printing Tech]

Included are extra Keycaps for Mac's Command and Option keys.

All keycaps are the same shape. (allows you to rearrange them.)

Swapping Keycaps

🛑 WARNING: Be very careful when pulling the keycaps, you may pull out the key switch and damage it. Choc switch keycaps are very tight. When you pull a keycap, use the bundled wench to hold down the switch under it.

glove80 pull switch 2023-03-16-s350 — glove80 pull switch (key puller and mini wrench included)

Key Switch

Key switch is Kailh Choc Switch.
They offer several choices of activation force and feel.

I recommend linear light switches if you are a writer.
The one i have is linear at 35g force (Pro Red).

Kailh Choc Switch

Backlight

Glove80 Backlight