Closer Look
The Core has only 47 keys and when you take a close look at it, you do realize just how small it is. Aside from the missing keys we mentioned so far, look closely and you will that the Core has a split space bar. Look even closer and you will find the F and J keys protrude outwards ever so slightly more than the others, helping those that can touch type to orientated themselves around the Core without having to look at it.
This is a keyboard with the PCB in a case, as opposed to most others which have a top and bottom panel, and thus all keycaps are floating by design. You can remove/install them easier thus, and also clean the keyboard easier too.
If you ever wanted to replace a missing keycap on the Core, you might as well give up already. This is down the shape and size of most of the keycaps. Not only that, but on closer inspection you will find that the keycaps on the Core are of a shorter profile to standard Cherry keys, despite using genuine Cherry MX switches. These low profile keys on the Core makes it much more easier for your fingers to glide across the keys without having to lift your hands too much away from the keyboard.
Performance
Before using the Core, you can download the latest firmware for it (version 1.04.02) directly from Vortex’s own website, or this direct link.
I am going to be honest here, I received the Core from Vortex nearly 2 weeks ago, and it really has taken that long for me to get semi-used to the keys layout and to use all the layering to get the right functions out of a keystroke. Looking at the Core it can be a little daunting at first knowing that to get the full use out of it, there is a steep learning curve to remember all the layering.
The vast majority of the keystrokes, such as the numbers, are all layered onto the existing keys, rely on muscle memory to press the Fn (with blue legend) or Fn1 (with red legend) on the far right to access these layers. To be very honest here, as a personal preference, I would have preferred if the Fn and Fn1 keys had swapped places, I finding reaching over to the right edge of the Core meant I would occasionally slip and press ENTER instead, but where the FN key is, my thumb could rest on the key and my fingers would be long enough to get the numbers and function keys. I found I didn’t use the Fn key as much as the Fn1 key due to both the numbers and functions keys being mapped to be used with the Fn1 key.
A few days of using the Core, I discovered that Vortex has kept both the left Shift and right Shift keys. This is great news for those that are used to using either of the shift keys, but for me this meant that another key which I use a lot, the TAB key is now layered with the Caps Lock key, cue much annoyance as I kept pressing the Caps Lock and nothing seemed to move on the screen. Something I found out about my typing through typing with the Core is that only use my right thumb to press the space bar and never my left, this I noticed as I watched myself typing on the split space bar.
Pressing the Caps Lock button and a bright white LED shines up off the PCB between the Caps Lock and A button, and the LED is very bright, leaving me seeing pink patches after I looked directly at it.
The black Cherry switches used gives key press a smooth linear action, but it is weighty with the keys bouncing back to their initial positions. The switched do not produce any loud clicks, but more like a low thud on key press, meaning you don’t annoy the other people around you with loud constant clicking when you bring out the Core on your travels.
