ZSA Voyager + Navigator review

It’s been almost two years since I reviewed the ZSA Moonlander, and it’s still a keyboard I rate very highly. Sure, it’s pricey and challenging to get used to, but if you can afford it and are willing to learn how to utilize it, I think it’s one of the best ergonomic keyboards on the market. So when ZSA offered to ship the Voyager keyboard with the recent Navigator trackball module, I had high expectations.

Essentially, the Voyager is a stripped-down Moonlander with all the excess fat removed to leave the keyboard as diminutive as possible. “Laptop friendly,” says ZSA marketing. “You can take it with you anywhere – on your desk or on the go.” I certainly can’t argue with that, because with just 52 keys and a total thickness of just 16 mm (0.62 inch), the Voyager is as slim as you could want.

However, both thickness and number of keys result in some significant compromises. For example, there is no wireless option because batteries would add weight, cost, and size to the keyboard. With so few keys, you To have to take full advantage of Voyager’s layering system and access standard options such as function keys.

The advantage of the ZSA Voyager is that it comes with multiple USB cables of different lengths, but only one long TRRS cable to connect the two halves of the keyboard. In the box you will also find an additional 34 keycaps and two extra thumb keys in case the original ones break. This means you can heavily personalize your Voyager without having to spend extra money, and the tender case it all comes in is a nice touch.

While the Moonlander has sports legs that allow for silky adjustment of the tent’s height, the Voyager only uses four diminutive legs that attach magnetically (there’s a metal bar in the carry bag so you can clip diminutive stubs to it when you don’t need them). This means you only have one level of the tent – about five steps – but the overall shape of the Voyager means that any higher level would make it slightly unstable.

It would also ruin the extremely low profile of the keyboard, and considering this is the Voyager’s main selling point, it’s straightforward to see why ZSA kept the tent options to a minimum.

After a few weeks of training my brain to adapt to the columnar layout of keys, not to mention their relative paucity, I checked whether the Voyager works as an all-in-one keyboard, e.g. AND gambling. While I suspect some users won’t have problems, I had issues with Voyager in games, even after spending a lot of time experimenting with different layouts and configurations.

The problem is uncomplicated: there are simply not enough keys. You can create a game-specific profile in ZSA’s excellent Oryx software (more on this soon) and have all the keys I need in the right place, but I couldn’t create a profile suitable enough to be used across a wide range of game genres. What worked in Battlefield 6 was a useless mess in Hearts of Iron 4, for example.

For uncomplicated writing, however, Voyager is a pleasure to utilize. My review sample included Kailh Choc White switches, which seem responsive and nicely damped, and not too clicky. Each switch is hot-swappable, so you can always replace it with something with more or less resistance and feedback.

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One thing I wanted to change right away were the cables. The main USB Type-C port doesn’t fit very tightly on the left side, and the TRRS (tip-ring-ring-sleeve) cable to connect the two halves is quite stiff and bulky. For most of the time testing the ZSA Voyager, I used my own set of tender braided cables.

I mention them specifically because this is what ZSA provides with its Navigator module for Voyager. This is a trackball housing that snaps magnetically onto the inside edge of one half of the keyboard (you can order it for the right or left half) and connects to the system via two TRRS cables.

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The design of the Navigator does not entirely match that of Voyager. Some of the edges don’t fit together very well, and compared to the overall build quality of the keyboard, the trackball module feels a bit affordable. On $169however, it is not affordable and I must say that I felt quite disappointed with it.

You also can’t just snap the module in and start rolling the ball. It needs to be added using ZSA’s Oryx software, and while the process is relatively uncomplicated and only needs to be done once, I felt like I was experimenting with a crowdfunded project rather than professional hardware.

You’ll also notice that the module doesn’t have its own keys, so to perform “mouse clicks” you have to press the keys on the opposite half of the keyboard while moving the ball (or right after throwing the ball).

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Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t figure it out, although it may seem intuitive and uncomplicated to other users. ZSA plans to introduce a trackpad module to Voyager, and I suspect it will suit me much better.

All in all, ZSA Voyager has a lot to offer. It’s really great to utilize for uncomplicated typing, and while it’s very pricey ($365), you get a lot of extras throughout the package.

However, I don’t think I could live with the Voyager as my only keyboard for work and gaming, so as soon as I finished testing, I put the Navigator back in its case. But if I were a space-conscious, minimalist developer, I would seriously take a look at the ZSA Voyager.

But I don’t want to live with compromises, so my money goes to Moonlander. It costs exactly the same as the Voyager, and the 20 extra keys make it much better for gaming.

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