Model Kits & Things: The PocketType

I recently purchased and made the “PocketType,” a tiny little keyboard by maartenwut and mechboards that you can fit in your pocket, hence the pocket name. This is a keyboard kit, which is something you have to make. It comes in black and white and is a through-hole (you see the components).

Here’s a pic of what it is:

Coming in at $45 USD, the kit features 48 keys that are default mapped (through QMK firmware) like a small ortholinear QWERTY keyboard (arrow keys are on the same line on the bottom right corner).

• 

• 

Even if you’re new to the hobby, this isn’t a difficult keyboard to make. In fact, if you have a soldering iron, it should be fairly quick to get it up and running. The switches that it comes with are tactile, though it has a deep thick audible thunk—I would argue that they’re clicky but the product description disagrees with me—and the keycaps are little round buttons that sit snugly on top of them.

Here are the switches and caps by themselves so you can see what they look like:

Like other kits, you can solder in the diodes (black stripe down), the resistors, the LED’s, switches, and pro micro in any order you see fit (I soldered them in the order I listed here). Then you pop on the caps, screw in the acrylic pieces, and Bob’s your uncle, you’re done! Just don’t forget to flash the pro micro with the PocketType firmware (or with a custom profile, if you’d like) before you put that on there and it should be good to go.

Overall, a very quick and easy build. I didn’t have to be too careful with any of the components and things worked out pretty well when I slapped all the kits I had on me together (I didn’t encounter anything too buggy). In my opinion, this feels like it would be a good starter kit because most of the things you need to build it are already provided. It’s much easier to deal with shorts on a board this size than a regular sized keyboard.

Here’s some photos of the black one I made:

Final verdict: I would say, go for it. Get this board. It’s fun to build, it’s fun to play with, and it’s worth the cost if you’re interested in projects like these. If you’re like me, you may even buy three.