Lofree Flow 2

When I am traveling I really enjoy traveling as light as possible. This means either bringing a laptop when I know I got some work to do or my iPad when I want to relax and disconnect. I prefer reading on an iPad over a laptop or a phone and I still have enough screen real estate to write a few emails if needed or SSH into my workstation or a server in case of an emergency.

Now we all know I enjoy a good keyboard. And good keycaps. (Read: I despise typing on a glass surface.) I was shopping around to see which light, compact keyboard I could bring. There were a few contenders, especially from Logitech, but I settled on the Lofree Flow 2.

Add a foldable iPad stand and a magic touchpad and I have a setup that is less convenient, heavier and worse in most aspects than a MacBook… and also I really enjoy using it, no idea why.

It is not the most compact keyboard, it looks a bit stupid with the asymmetrical design, the touch bar on the side is kind of okay and it has the ``` key on a separate key which is odd for a 65% keyboard. But it is well built, the switches are pretty good and the typing experience is far better than other mobile keyboards I tried while still being reasonably light. The keys are not wobbly at all and can be pressed at any point, which is a big upgrade to the Keychron K2 I was using while traveling. Overall this is a pretty good keyboard for its price. You could likely find either cheaper or better ones, but the overall package fits the price.

The material is a bit trippy for aluminium. It has a texture to it that makes it feel odd and not like aluminium at all. The keycaps have a slightly rough texture which does not take as much time to get used to as the case. I do not want to sound like it feels bad, just not the way I expected it to.

I have seen some people report issues with the Bluetooth connection, but I can say that about basically any device using the worst standard to connect peripherals to anything. Battery life seems pretty decent, especially because I keep the backlight off. The switches are quiet enough that I would not wake my wife in a hotel room if I would type an email on whatever a hotel calls a "workspace". Also Lofrees customer support seems not worth the trouble.

I have been using the Flow 2 for a month now. I have written some code on it, worked on some documents, answered emails and wrote some blog posts. It is a very solid 65% keyboard I do not regret buying, but it is not a keyboard I would recommend for someone who wants a mechanical keyboard to last. Starting with a very limited switch selection making you semi dependent on Lofree to have one of three types in stock, the battery being kind of a pain to swap if you get a replacement and the touch bar basically being not serviceable at all. But it is worlds better than "compact" keyboards I compared it to for travel.