The Breaker Times

It only took one keyboard for Wooting to catapult to the top of the list of the best gaming keyboards. The 60HE is as iconic as it is controversial, flipping the mechanical keyboard world on its head with Hall Effect switches in a 60% form factor. Now, Wooting is back with the 80HE, which is a slightly larger keyboard that aims to improve on the handful of pitfalls the 60HE ran into.

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You’re getting improved switches, a gasket mount, a clearer focus on internal construction, and all with the Hall Effect goodness that made the 60HE such a smash success. Wooting made a great keyboard here that feels premium from the moment you unpack it. However, unlike the 60HE, the new 80HE isn’t a foundation for mods and tweaks. It’s a great keyboard that you will inevitably retire, which is a hard sell for upward of $290.

Wooting 80HE specs

Design

At first glance, the Wooting 80HE doesn’t seem that special. It’s what Wooting calls an 80% layout — it’s not, which I’ll get to in a moment — and it doesn’t stand out like Wooting’s 60HE+, which came with its own branded nylon strap attached to the side of the keyboard. You have six color options available across two different materials: Black, Ghost, and Frost with PCR (plastic), or Black, White, or Raw (silver) with zinc alloy.

The zinc alloy frame feels fantastic, with a smooth finish around all edges of the keyboard. It’s a unique feel. You don’t get that sand-blasted, textured finish you find with raw metal, but also not the highly refined finish on aluminum. The zinc alloy case fits somewhere in between. It also makes the keyboard quite a bit heavier. The Wooting 80HE weighs in at 4.7 pounds with the zinc alloy case, and only 1.7 pounds with the PCR case.

I like a heavier keyboard — read my Meletrix Boog75 review for more on that — so I naturally gravitated toward the zinc alloy case. I’m not sure I would’ve chose it if I were buying the keyboard myself, however. The PCR version comes in at $200 prebuilt, while the zinc alloy version costs $290 prebuilt — a $90 premium. You can buy the case separately later down the line, but Wooting charges $110 for the case on its own.

The price alone isn’t the big problem here. You can easily spend over $200 on a case alone depending on how premium you want to go. The problem is that you have to get the case from Wooting. The 80HE doesn’t actually use an 80% layout — it’s one vertical row short of an 80% layout proper. It’s closer to the extremely popular 75% layout, but you can’t use any 75% case here. It has to be Wooting’s case. There really isn’t a good reason to use this layout, either. It gives you two extra keys compared to a 75% layout.

Another strange departure comes in the adjustable typing angle. No, you don’t get plastic feet that are prone to breaking. Instead, Wooting includes three sets of silicon feet that attach to the bottom of the keyboard. They’re just kind of awkward. They feel securely attached, but the odd designs on the feet (see above) mean they hang over the edges of the case. It looks like a cheap afterthought, not some thoughtfully designed interchangeable feet like I saw on the Asus ROG Azoth Extreme.

There are some practical issues here, without a doubt, but the Wooting 80HE still looks incredible. You get a lightbar on the keyboard that pulls double duty as a status indicator for a variety of functions, and the RGB backlighting might be the most vibrant I’ve ever seen. It’s even better than the Razer Black Widow V4 Pro 75%, with lush colors that transition seamlessly between keys. The keyboard looks amazing, despite its design faults elsewhere.

Sound and feel

One of the issues with the original Wooting 60HE was the sound and feel. Wooting was a pioneer of Hall Effect (magnetic) switches, and the 60HE ignored designs targeted at a premium sound and feel for a keyboard squarely focused on gaming. The 80HE brings some typing enthusiast sensibilities to the design, and the sound and feel of the keyboard is much better as a result.

The internals here are completely different than the 60HE. At a high level, the two changes pulling the most weight are the gasket mount and the switch plate. The gasket is pretty tight here, but you still get a softer feel compared to the top mount available on the 60HE. It’s not quite as light as the Keychron Q1 HE, but the Wooting 80HE is much closer to the sound and feel of that keyboard than it is to the 60HE.

In addition to the gasket mount, the 80HE uses a polycarbonate switch plate instead of a steel switch plate like the 60HE used. It’s softer than aluminum or steel, which contributes to a nicer typing feel overall, even with the tighter gaskets. I prefer FR4 overall, but a polycarbonate plate isn’t far behind. Wooting changed up the sound dampening internally, with a mixture of silicon, foam, and a “tape mod” under the PCB, all of which contribute to a soft, deadened sound that’s shockingly good for a Hall Effect keyboard.

Still, this is a Hall Effect keyboard. If sound and feel is your primary concern, traditional mechanical switches are the way to go. Some keyboards, such as the Glorious GMMK 3, now even allow you to choose between Hall Effect and mechanical switches. With the Wooting 80HE, you’re locked to Hall Effect switches. The PCB is hot-swappable, however, so you can add your own Hall Effect switches if you want.

As with the 60HE, Wooting is using its own in-house Lekker switches with the 80HE. You have the choice between the L45 and L60, which differ only in their end force — 45 grams and 60 grams, as you might suspect. Both are linear switches, both use an MX stem so you can add whatever key caps you like, and both support the full actuation range of Hall Effect switches from 0.1mm up to 4mm.

Features

Wooting was one of the pioneers of Hall Effect switches, and the 80HE comes packed with features to show off the switch tech. As with other Hall Effect keyboards, you have an adjustable actuation point from 0.1mm up to 4mm, allowing you to slam on your keys or barely scrape them to register a keystroke. Dynamic actuation, or what Wooting calls Rapid Trigger, is the better way to use Hall Effect switches, however, with the keys actuating and resetting based on their movement, not a set point in the switch.

Now, Wooting also offers Rappy Snappy. Great name, but not a unique feature. It’s the same as Razer’s Snap Tap feature, which allows you to monitor two keys through software and trigger the most recent input between them. Instead of letting up on your D or A key when strafing in Valorant, for example, you just press down on the direction you want to move while holding your other finger down.

It’s been called “cheating” by esports pros like Valorant player Ethos, and for good reason. It undeniably gives you an advantage in competitive games, so much so that Valve actually banned these features from official Counter-Strike 2 servers, as did the ESL for all of its Counter-Strike 2 events.

Although Hall Effect was unexplored territory just a year ago, the feature set available today feels set in stone. I’m not sure how much further Wooting — or other brands, for that matter — have to go with the tech. The Wooting 80HE sounds and feels great, but a traditional mechanical keyboard still sounds and feels better, and gives you a lot more options for customization. If you don’t see a feature here that Hall Effect affords, the 80HE might not be for you.

Software

Wooting’s software is great. To manage the 80HE, you’ll use the aptly-named Wootility software, which is available both through your browser and as a standalone download. I prefer the browser version. It’s convenient, you can use it offline after pairing your keyboard, and it gives you access to all of the functions of your keyboard without the need for an external app. All of your settings are stored on the keyboard proper, so everything will continue to work even if you don’t have your browser open.

The usual suspects are here. You can adjust the actuation point on a per-key basis, change your Rappy Snappy keys, and adjust per-key RGB effects. The RGB effects stand out especially, as you can configure different lighting effects for different layers of key mapping. For instance, holding down the Function key will toggle over to your second layer, and by default, only a handful of keys with media controls are lit up. That’s an area I saw the Hyte Keeb TKL fall flat.

You can fully remap all of the keys, including support for up to four layers — three layers in addition to the main layer. You can rebind the keys to functions like launching your calculator or turning your system off, as well as mouse controls. However, there’s no support for macros (you need the separate, free Wootomation app) or customizable commands. For instance, you can open your default browser or email client, but you can’t open a specific application through a key mapping like a secondary browser.

If you’re brave, you can dive into the advanced Hall Effect settings in the app. Wooting supports controller button mapping with analogue inputs, as well as dynamic keystrokes that allow you to map several functions to one key press. These extras serve to show off what Hall Effect switches are capable of, but I’m still not sold that they’re actually useful. Maybe there’s a power user out there triggering a bunch of inputs with a handful of keystrokes, but I haven’t seen it.

The main draw here is that Wootility is easy. It’s very responsive, even in your browser, and I never had a question about where to go to access a setting. Updates happen almost immediately as well, so you don’t have to wait for ages when trying out new lighting effects on your keyboard.

Should you buy the Wooting 80HE?

The Wooting 80HE does one thing really well. It’s the Hall Effect keyboard, in the same way that the 60HE was, and now with some premium internals in tow. The main problem is how expensive it is. Keyboards like the Meletrix Boog75 and Keychron Q1 HE offer Hall Effect switches at a much lower price and with just as much quality. Wooting certainly has an edge with its software, and if you want to spend up for a premium experience, the 80HE delivers.

My reservation about recommending the 80HE, however, is the lack of customizability, at least right now. Modding was a huge deal with the 60HE, and Wooting unnecessarily restricted the modding potential on the 80HE with a custom layout that serves no practical purpose.

It’s a stark change for the company, which has, up to this point, maintained open-source software and design files for its products so users can customize their keyboard in the way they want. Currently, there are no design files for the 80HE.