Anika Begay
Just before the mechanical keyboard hobby exploded during the pandemic, Andrew Kannan launched the Satisfaction 75 while still working as an engineer at Klaviyo. While it took a while for the first run of 200 units to sell out, the Satisfaction has become somewhat of a classic. Since then, Kannan has co-founded CannonKeys with his wife, Ana Cala Oliveira, expanded the company into a full-scale custom mechanical keyboard shop, and launched several other successful keyboard projects.
On Thursday, CannonKeys launches a new version of the original Satisfaction 75, opening pre-orders for the Sat75 X. It adds a number of modern conveniences to the original 75% design (like a hot-swappable PCB, gasket mount, and pre-soldered knob) and then packs them into an injection-molded polycarbonate body.
There are three colors to choose from so far: cloud white, octo purple, and stratus gray, with the latter two being translucent. But most importantly, there’s a small LCD screen with Bongo Cat that 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 breaking the bank. You’ll still need switches and keycaps, but at least for now, CannonKeys is offering a full set with PBT keycaps and an 80-pack of linear or tactile switches for $150. As is often the case with new keyboards, it will take a while for them to ship, with pre-orders expected in early 2025.
In 2019, the Satisfaction originally started at $400; with this new version, CannonKeys is obviously trying to reach a very different market.
“When we started CannonKeys, it wasn’t supposed to be a full-time job or grow to where it is today,” Kannan told me when I asked about the company’s origins. “I really just made these keyboards and wanted to sell them and share them with others, and there seemed to be a lot of other people who were interested. So it just kind of took off from there, and then before you know it, we had employees and we had a team.”
In fact, it was Apple’s butterfly keyboard disaster on its MacBook laptops that prompted him to consider other options, including ortholinear keyboards. So he built one from scratch. As it turned out, it wasn’t the right style for him. “But by that point, the manufacturer bug had hit,” he said. “I saw that it was possible. You can do it. There are people who will help you. And that’s when I thought, well, if I don’t like the garden, let me try to make something that I will like. […] The Satisfaction 75 was actually also the first keyboard I ever designed that came fully equipped with case and everything.”
The couple initially ran CannonKeys from their apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, while Oliveria was simultaneously working on her doctorate at Brown. CannonKeys hired its first employee in 2021, and after initially storing much of its inventory in what were 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 a way, reacting to an evolving market. Not long ago, there weren’t many options for someone who wanted to build a custom mechanical keyboard on a budget, say under $150. There were a few classics, like the Tofu, and CannonKeys itself offered the Bakeneko at that price point, but the choices were limited.
“You would have things at that lower price point, like zero to $150, and then you would have things at $400 plus, and that middle ground was missing,” Kannan said. That void was quickly filled by some of the larger, more vertically integrated companies like Keychron and Akko, for example. “Now, there’s a lot more choice for consumers, and I think that’s great for the hobby as a whole, and it’s good for our business as well.”
But, Kannon noted, that also means it doesn’t make sense for CannonKeys to simply follow the lead of other companies like Meletrix, which makes the popular Zoom keyboards, which retail for $200 to $250.
“We’ve always wanted to make things that resonate with people and that are interesting and unique. But I think now, in today’s market, that’s even more important,” he said. “The idea behind Sat75 X was that it should be more accessible.”
And I think CannonKeys nailed it. The price is nothing if not aggressive, especially for a small company. CannonKeys provided me with a pre-production sample of the stratus gray version of the Sat75 X, as well as a set of their NicePBT keycaps and KeyGeek linear switches.
The point of a custom mechanical keyboard is, well, you can customize it. CannonKeys sent out a foam plate and a silicone plate, which, along with the large silicone dampener on the bottom of the case, created a pretty nice sound signature that’s not too muffled or too sharp. CannonKeys also plans to sell FR4, aluminum, and clear PC plates and additional gaskets.
Of course, a plastic case on a $111 board is never going to feel as premium as a big, heavy metal case with extra weights that costs over $500. But it doesn’t feel cheap either. I think the big silicone dampener really helps, but for builders who like a louder, clackery sound, removing it will definitely help them shape the board to their liking (beyond choosing a different plate).
The way I built it, the board ended up feeling pretty stiff, which might not be to everyone’s taste. I think it would be easy enough to bring back some flex with a different build, though I don’t think the way the PCB was constructed (which it shares with the more premium Satisfaction 75) is set up to ever give you the most cushioned typing feel.
At this price, there are also some compromises. There’s no wireless option, for example, and there are no LEDs to illuminate the keyboard. If those things are important to you, this is simply not the keyboard for you.
As someone who tends to travel with an external keyboard, I can imagine packing this one in the future. It’s lightweight, very comfortable to use, and not too noisy.
Ultimately, building the Sat75 X was also a good reminder of how much fun it can be to build a keyboard from scratch again. Many of the boards I’ve been testing recently have been pre-built, and while I tend to modify them and try different switches, for example, it’s not quite the same as building something from scratch (that said, I love that this is a hot-swappable board, because having to solder every switch just seems tedious).
In today’s world, there aren’t many everyday objects that we can build and modify ourselves (aside from the odd IKEA bookcase). There’s nothing terribly difficult about building a custom mechanical keyboard, but it’s quite satisfying.
