Satisfaction Survey Results

Two weeks ago, we sent out a satisfaction survey to everyone who received their URSA set. We wanted to know what's working, what isn't, and what you want to see next. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill it out. We read every single response.

This post covers everything that came back. The analysis below focuses on themes that came up more than twice across all open responses; one-off mentions aren't included, but they were all read.

What you love

The profile is what you came for, and it's what you stayed for. Nearly three quarters of respondents who answered the open question specifically called out the sculpt and shape as what they love most, often inseparable from feel, since the two tend to go together. Typing feel and texture under the fingers came in close behind, followed by aesthetics, sound signature, and build quality. A meaningful share of you specifically mentioned that high-quality Topre-compatible caps finally exist at all, which, fair point.

Comfort and low fatigue came up often enough to be notable, and the convex bottom row keeps getting singled out. It's genuinely good to read.

Issues reported

About a quarter of respondents reported experiencing some kind of issue. Here's what came up, in order of frequency:

Spacebar acoustics were by far the most common complaint. Clicking, rattling, hollow sound on upstroke or downstroke. We covered the root cause and a DIY workaround in update #23, where we identified three scenarios related to stem socket and stab tolerances and shared temporary fixes while we worked on the molds.

Stem breakage was reported by about a third of those with issues, typically when removing caps with a puller. Also covered in update #23. We adjusted the plastic mix and kept testing.

Surface marks came up for a handful of respondents. The finer texture picks up light scratches from fingernails or keycap pullers more easily than rougher surfaces, which is a known trade-off of the texture we chose.

Other items including loose stems from factory, spacebar fitment on specific keyboards, missing layout coverage for some boards, and occasional color inconsistency on darker colorways each came up a small number of times.

What you told us beyond the issues

The open "anything else?" field gave us a lot to think about, and we're grateful for how candid you were.

More colorways were the single loudest signal by a wide margin. People who rated 5/5 want more. People who had issues want more. It came up consistently across the board, and it's something we take seriously.

Stem anxiety surfaced from a significant share of respondents who had no stem breakage but still mentioned being nervous about removing their caps. That tells us the stem issue has had an impact well beyond the physical failures, and it deserves a clear, public resolution. We hear you.

Layout expansion requests covered ISO, JIS, Japanese HHKB modifiers, UK 105-key, RC1, and 65%. Several of you were explicit that you'd buy additional sets if your layout was covered. That's not lost on us.

Left-aligned legends came up enough that it's clearly a real segment, with some of you opting for blanks specifically because of it.

Homing bars, blanks kits, sub-legend and language support (Kana, Hangul, Ukrainian), and MX compatibility each came up a few times as well.

Where we stand going into the next batch

Spacebar acoustics and stem fragility have been our main focus for the past three months. We're confident neither will be a problem in the next batch. The molds have been amended, materials adjusted, and we're not moving to production until we're satisfied with consistency across the full range of keyboards URSA runs on.

What you told us maps directly onto what we're planning: new colorways, expanded layout coverage, and continued improvement on the things that fell short the first time. Customer support was mentioned unprompted as a positive by more than 1 in 10 respondents, and that means a lot to us. We'll keep it that way.

Help shape the next batch

We're now running a survey for the second URSA batch, and this one is worth your time. It includes new kitting options and colorways we haven't announced yet, and we want your input on them before we finalize anything.

Take the survey here

Japanese speakers: there's a dedicated version of the survey that includes JIS-specific kits. 日本語版アンケートはこちら 🫡