Choosing your first build: Lily58 and its rivals

This book builds a Lily58, but you should not take that on faith. A first keyboard build is a real commitment of money and evenings, and the right board for you depends on decisions nobody can make on your behalf: how much soldering you want to do, how many keys your brain wants, whether a cable between the halves bothers you. This chapter lays out those decisions first, then puts the Lily58 next to its main rivals with honest pros, cons, and Canadian price tags. By the end you will either agree with the book's choice or know exactly which exit to take, and both outcomes are fine.

A reminder from the reading notes: every price below is in Canadian dollars, approximate as of mid-2026, and quoted as a range on purpose. Treat the comparisons between options as the durable information and the absolute numbers as the neighbourhood.

The four decisions that define your build

Decision 1: how much do you want to solder?

There is a spectrum, and every point on it is a legitimate choice:

• A solder kit arrives as bare PCBs and bags of loose parts: diodes, sockets, jacks, controllers. You solder everything. Cheapest, most educational, most hours. This is the book's main path.
• A hotswap-PCB kit has some or all of the fiddly parts pre-installed at the factory, most importantly the hotswap sockets, so your soldering shrinks to a few components or nothing. You pay for the factory's time. Note the vocabulary trap here: "hotswap" describes how switches attach (push in, no solder), and a kit can include hotswap sockets you must solder yourself. The Lily58 kits in this book are exactly that.
• A pre-soldered board is a fully assembled PCB sold as a part: you add switches, keycaps, and a case, and solder nothing. Typeractive.xyz sells the Lily58 this way, among others.
• A prebuilt keyboard arrives in a retail box, done. You are a customer, not a builder.

Since this is a book about learning to solder, we lean toward the left end. But if halfway through soldering school you discover you hate it, the right end of this spectrum is waiting for you with no judgment.

Decision 2: wired or wireless?

A wired split keyboard has a USB cable to the computer and a second small cable (TRRS, explained in Chapter 3) linking the halves. It is simpler, cheaper, and never needs charging. Its firmware is usually QMK, the oldest and largest open-source keyboard firmware project.

A wireless build replaces each controller with a nice!nano (a controller with Bluetooth and a battery charging circuit built in), adds a small lithium battery per half, and runs ZMK, a newer firmware written for wireless from the ground up. The halves talk to each other and to the computer over Bluetooth: no cables at all on your desk.

Wireless is genuinely lovely to live with, and Typeractive.xyz (the shop run by the nice!nano's creator) has made it a well-paved path. It costs more (a nice!nano runs roughly 35 to 45 CAD per half versus 10 to 25 for a wired controller, plus batteries), and it brings lithium battery care into your life: do not puncture or crush the cell, do not solder near it, do not leave it at zero charge for months, and buy the battery from a keyboard vendor who sells the right connector and protection circuit rather than the cheapest cell on the internet. None of this is hard, but it is a real list, and this book's main build skips it by going wired. The wireless route reappears at the end of this chapter as a legitimate exit.

Decision 3: MX or Choc low-profile?

Chapter 1 introduced the two switch sizes. MX is the tall standard: the widest choice of switches by far, thousands of keycap sets, forgiving spacing. Kailh Choc is low-profile: about half the height, shorter travel, and it makes a split board thin enough to slip into a laptop sleeve. The costs are a much smaller keycap universe (mostly flat, mostly blank) and less switch variety. Most boards in this chapter exist in both flavours; the book builds MX because a beginner benefits from the bigger ecosystem. If a slim board is the whole reason you are here, decide now, because the PCB, switches, and keycaps all change together.

Decision 4: how many keys does your brain want?

Small-board people talk about key count the way sailors talk about boat length. The practical question for a beginner is simpler: do you want a physical number row? Boards in the 36 to 44 key range delete it and put numbers on a layer. That works beautifully once learned, but it front-loads the learning: you are adapting to a split layout, columnar stagger, and layered numbers and symbols all in the same two weeks. Boards in the 56 to 60 key range keep the number row, so day one is closer to normal typing. The Lily58's 58 keys are a deliberately gentle landing.

The contenders

Lily58: the book's choice

The Lily58 is an open-source split board: 58 keys, full number row, column stagger, a four-key thumb cluster per side, and a spot for a small OLED screen on each half. Because the design is open source (anyone may manufacture it), kits are sold by many shops at many prices, from polished packages at Canadian and US keyboard stores to bare-bones clone kits on AliExpress and Etsy for a fraction of the price. Typeractive.xyz also sells a wireless, pre-soldered Lily58 variant, which is the no-solder exit mentioned above.

Pros

• Number row and a generous key count: the gentlest split-columnar landing for a beginner.
• Enormous community. Build guides, videos, and troubleshooting threads exist for nearly any problem you will hit.
• Cheap to source: clone kits on AliExpress or Etsy can put the PCB kit portion under 60 CAD.
• Optional OLEDs are a fun, low-stakes extra.
• Open source: no single vendor can strand you.

Cons

• More keys means more soldering: about 58 diodes and 58 sockets per build, roughly 40 percent more joints than a Corne.
• Quality varies across vendors, since anyone can make one. A clone kit may arrive with thin documentation.
• Some layouts eventually feel 58 keys is more than needed; downsizers exist.

Approximate complete-build cost (PCB kit, case/plates, controllers, switches, keycaps, cables; tools excluded): roughly 120 to 350 CAD depending on sourcing, detailed in the totals section below.

Corne (crkbd): the popular minimalist

The Corne, also called crkbd or Helidox, is probably the most popular split kit in the world: 42 keys, three rows plus thumbs, no number row. It shares most of its DNA and ecosystem with the Lily58 (same controllers, same firmware, similar parts bag), and it is slightly cheaper and slightly less soldering. The price is that numbers, symbols, and the F-row all live on layers from day one. Plenty of first-time builders manage it happily; plenty of others wish they had eased in.

Pros: biggest community of any split board; cheapest to build; less soldering; forces good layer habits immediately. Cons: aggressive layer reliance on day one; no number row is a real adjustment for spreadsheet and data work. Approximate complete build: 110 to 320 CAD.

Sofle: the Lily58 with knobs

The Sofle is close kin to the Lily58: 58 keys plus support for one or two rotary encoders, the twistable knobs you can map to volume, scrolling, or zoom. If a volume knob makes you grin, this is your board. The encoder is one more part to solder and one more thing to configure in firmware, so it adds a little complexity for a fun rather than essential feature.

Pros: everything the Lily58 offers plus knobs; similar community and sourcing. Cons: slightly more parts and firmware fiddling; kit availability is a bit thinner than Lily58 or Corne. Approximate complete build: 130 to 360 CAD.

Iris and Iris CE (Keebio): the polished one

Keebio is a long-running US keyboard shop, and the Iris (56 keys) is its flagship split: a more finished product than the community kits, with tidy documentation, an integrated controller on current revisions (no separate Pro Micro to buy or socket), and options like per-key lighting. The Iris CE goes further: it ships pre-built and hotswap, so it is a "plug in switches and type" product, at a correspondingly higher price. Buying from Keebio in Canada means US shipping and possibly duties; check their current shipping page before ordering.

Pros: polished hardware and docs; a single vendor accountable for the whole kit; CE removes soldering entirely. Cons: costs more than community kits; one vendor, one stock level; shipping from the US adds cost and border friction. Approximate: Iris kit path complete build 250 to 400 CAD; Iris CE with switches and keycaps roughly 300 to 450 CAD.

Ergodox EZ and Voyager (ZSA): the buy-it-done option

ZSA sells finished, warrantied ergonomic split keyboards: the long-running Ergodox EZ and the slim, travel-friendly Voyager. Zero soldering, zero assembly, excellent configuration software (Oryx) that requires no firmware fiddling at all, and a real warranty with a real support team. The price is the price: expect in the neighbourhood of CAD 500 landed in Canada, sometimes less on sale, sometimes more with options. If your reaction to soldering school is "absolutely not," this is the premium version of that honesty.

Pros: no build risk at all; superb software and support; warranty. Cons: around triple the cost of a budget self-build; you learn nothing about electronics; less "yours" in the way this book cares about.

The non-split sanity check: a Keychron hotswap board

One more honest option, for a reader partway through this chapter thinking "actually, I am not sure about the split part at all." A mainstream hotswap mechanical board, such as one of Keychron's V or K series (roughly 100 to 150 CAD on amazon.ca or Keychron's site), gives you mechanical switches, swappable switches, and programmable firmware in a normal, familiar shape. No adaptation period, no soldering, no layers required. Some people buy one, love it, and stop there; others use it as the daily driver while their Lily58 parts cross the Pacific. Neither is failure.

Side by side

Don't be confused. A kit and a prebuilt both arrive in a box, but a kit is a box of parts and a prebuilt is a keyboard. Listings do not always shout the difference. If the product page mentions soldering, diodes, or "PCB only," it is a kit or a bare part; if it shows someone typing on it out of the box, it is prebuilt. When in doubt, the price usually tells you: a 60 dollar Lily58 is parts, a 300 dollar one is probably assembled.

Who should not build a Lily58

Read this section as a friend, not a salesperson.

• You need to be typing at full speed next week. The build takes evenings, shipping takes weeks if you go the AliExpress route, and the layout adaptation takes one to two more. A deadline and a first build do not mix.
• You mostly play fast games. Many gamers keep a conventional board for games (row stagger and dedicated keys have muscle-memory value there) even when they love a split for work. You might be buying two keyboards, not one.
• Numbers are your livelihood. The Lily58 has a number row but no number pad. If you live in spreadsheets ten hours a day, try layers first on your current board (most operating systems or a Keychron can fake it) before betting on them.
• You want zero risk of a dud. A first solder build carries a real, if small, chance of a dead column and a frustrating evening with a multimeter. Chapter 13 exists because of it. If that possibility ruins the fun rather than adding stakes, buy the ZSA or the Iris CE and enjoy them without guilt.
• The total honest cost bothers you. Add tools (Chapter 5, roughly 80 to 150 CAD if you own nothing) to the build cost. If the sum stings, a Keychron delivers most of the mechanical-keyboard experience for a third of the money.

Why this book proceeds with the wired, solder-it-yourself Lily58

Three reasons, in order of weight.

First, it teaches the most per dollar. The wired solder kit is the cheapest complete path in the table, and it is the only path where you practice every skill this book promises: reading a PCB, through-hole soldering, surface-mount-adjacent soldering on sockets and diodes, socketing a controller, flashing firmware, and multimeter debugging. Every other path deletes some of the curriculum.

Second, the Lily58 specifically is the gentlest full-curriculum board: the number row softens the layout transition, the community is huge when you get stuck, and the parts are commodity items sold by a dozen vendors, several of them Canadian (Chapter 4 names them).

Third, wired keeps the failure surface small. A first build has enough unknowns without adding Bluetooth pairing, battery polarity, and split-wireless firmware to the debugging space. Cables are boring, and boring is what you want under everything you are learning.

That said, mark the exit clearly: the Typeractive wireless, pre-soldered Lily58 is a legitimate way to own this exact keyboard without building it. You buy their assembled board, nice!nanos, batteries, switches, and keycaps; you assemble with a screwdriver; you configure ZMK with their web-based tooling. Expect the premium end of the price range. If you take that exit, skip the soldering chapters entirely and rejoin the book at Chapter 11; the firmware chapter covers ZMK's equivalents, and Chapter 14 applies to you word for word.

The three budgets, named

These totals recur through the shopping chapters, so let us name them once. All are complete builds (parts only, tools separate), approximate as of mid-2026:

• Budget, roughly 120 to 180 CAD: AliExpress or Etsy Lily58 clone kit, budget Gateron switches, basic keycaps, generic cables. Slow shipping, thin documentation, real keyboard at the end.
• Mid-range, roughly 250 to 350 CAD: kit and parts from dedicated keyboard shops (Canadian ones where possible), name-brand switches you chose on purpose, keycaps you actually like, faster shipping and someone to email.
• Premium or wireless, roughly 350 to 500 CAD: the Typeractive wireless route, or a wired build with premium everything.

Chapter 4 breaks each budget into a line-by-line bill of materials with vendors and shipping honestly included.

Takeaways

• Four decisions define the build: how much solder (kit, hotswap PCB, pre-soldered, prebuilt), wired or wireless (nice!nano and ZMK versus cables and QMK), MX or Choc, and how many keys (really: do you want a number row).
• The Lily58 wins for this book on gentle key count, community size, cheap sourcing, and teaching value; Corne is smaller and more layer-hungry, Sofle adds knobs, Iris CE and ZSA boards trade money for zero build risk, and a Keychron is the honest non-split fallback.
• Complete-build neighbourhoods: budget 120 to 180, mid-range 250 to 350, premium or wireless 350 to 500 CAD, plus tools.
• The wireless pre-soldered Typeractive Lily58 is a real exit, not a consolation prize; take it and rejoin at assembly if soldering is not your hobby.

👉 Decision made (or at least framed), it is time to meet the patient. Chapter 3 opens the Lily58 kit bag and identifies every single object inside.