Before the mechanical keyboard hobby really took off during the pandemic, Andrew Cannan launched the Satisfaction 75 while still working as an engineer at Klaviyo. Although it took a while to sell the first production batch of 200 units, the Satisfaction has become something of a classic. Cannan has since co-founded Canonics Together with his wife Ana Clara Oliveira, he expanded the company into a full-scale store for custom mechanical keyboards and launched a number of successful products. keyboard designs On its own.
On Thursday, CannonKeys is launching a new version of the original Satisfaction 75, and opening pre-orders for sat75xIt adds a number of modern conveniences to the original 75% design (like a hot-swappable PCB, gasket holder, and pre-welded handle) and then packs them into an injection-molded polycarbonate body.
There are three colors to choose from at the moment: Cloud White, Dark Purple, and Layered Grey, with the latter two being transparent. Best of all, there’s a small LCD screen that displays a picture of Bongo the Cat and counts the words you type per minute. What more could you ask for?
At $111 per board, this is a fun and easy way to get started building a custom mechanical keyboard without spending a fortune. You’ll still need switches and keycaps, but at least for now, CannonKeys is offering a complete kit with PBT keycaps and a pack of 80 linear or tactile switches for $150 total. As is often the case with new keyboards, it’ll be a while before they ship, with pre-orders expected to arrive in early 2025.
In 2019, the original Satisfaction was released. It started at $400.It’s clear that CannonKeys is trying to reach a completely different market with this new release.
“When we started CannonKeys, it wasn’t meant to be a full-time job or grow into what it is today,” Cannon told me when I asked him about the company’s origins. “It was really just making these keyboards, and I wanted to sell them and share them with others — and there seemed to be a lot of other people interested in them. So it just grew from there, and before you knew it, we had employees and a team.”
In fact, it was the disaster caused by Apple’s butterfly keyboards on MacBook laptops that prompted him to look for other options, including straight keyboardsSo he built his own keyboard from scratch. As it turned out, it wasn’t his style. “But at that moment, he got a manufacturing fever,” he said. “I saw that it was possible to do this. You can do this. There are people who will help you. And that’s when I thought, ‘Well, if I don’t like the traditional calendar, let me try to make something I like.’ … The Satisfaction 75 was actually also the first keyboard I ever designed with a case and everything.”
The couple initially ran CannonKeys out of their apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, while Oliveira worked on her doctorate at Brown University. CannonKeys hired its first employee in 2021, and after storing much of its inventory in what was sometimes more than a half-dozen rented U-Haul containers, the company now operates out of a small warehouse.
With the Sat75 X, CannonKeys is, in some ways, reacting to a changing market. Not long ago, there weren’t a lot of options for someone looking to build a custom mechanical keyboard on a budget—say, under $150. There were some classics, like the Tofu, and CannonKeys itself was offering Pakineko In this price range, however, the options were limited.
“You could have things that were lower priced — like zero to $150 — and then you could have things that were $400 or more, and that middle ground was missing,” Cannan said. That void was quickly filled by some of the larger, more vertically integrated companies like Keychron and Akko, for example. “There’s more choice now for the consumer, and I think that’s great for the hobby as a whole, and it’s good for our business as well.”
But Cannon pointed out that this also means there’s no reason for CannonKeys to follow other companies like Meletrix, which makes its own popular products. Zoom in Keyboards retail for $200 to $250.
“We’ve always wanted to make things that resonate with people and are interesting and unique. But I think now, in today’s market, that’s even more important,” he said. “The whole idea behind the Sat75 X was that it should be more accessible.”
I think CannonKeys has nailed this. Their pricing is nothing short of competitive, especially for a small company. CannonKeys provided me with a pre-production sample of the Stratus Grey version of the Sat75 X, as well as a set of their NicePBT keycaps. Linear Keys from Keygeek.
The whole point of a custom mechanical keyboard is that you can customize it yourself. CannonKeys sent along a foam pad and a silicone pad, which, combined with the large silicone damper on the bottom of the case, provided a very pleasant sound signature that wasn’t too muted and not too high-pitched. CannonKeys also plans to sell FR4, aluminum, clear PC, and additional gaskets.
Obviously, the plastic case on a $111 board is never going to feel as luxurious as the big, heavy metal case with extra weights that retail for $500 or more. But it doesn’t feel cheap, either. I think the big silicone damper really helps with this, but for builders who like a louder, harsher sound, removing it will definitely help them shape the board to their liking (as well as choose a different board).
The way it’s built, the board ends up feeling very stiff, which may not be to everyone’s liking. I think it would be easy to regain some flexibility by choosing a different design, though I don’t think the way the PCB is built (which it shares with the more premium Satisfaction 75) is set up to give you the best typing feel.
At this price point, there are some compromises as well. For example, there’s no wireless option, and there are no LEDs to illuminate the keyboard. If those things are important to you, this simply isn’t the keyboard for you.
As someone who tends to travel with an external keyboard, I can see myself carrying this with me in the future. It’s lightweight, very pleasant to type on, and not too loud.
Ultimately, building the Sat75 X was also a good reminder of how much fun it can be to build a keyboard from the ground up again. Many of the boards I’ve tested recently have been pre-built, and while I tend to tweak them and try different switches, for example, it’s not the same as building something from the ground up (I do, however, like that this is a hot-swappable board, because having to solder each switch to it seems tedious).
In today’s world, there aren’t many things we make and modify ourselves (except for the bookshelves we buy at IKEA). There’s nothing particularly difficult about building a custom mechanical keyboard, but it’s a very satisfying experience.