The Wooting One, designed in the Netherlands by Calder, Erik and Jeroen is one of the most unique gaming keyboards on the market. Boasting analog Flaretech switches and an aluminium top plate the keyboard offers a host of features specific to gaming that isn’t available anywhere else.
In this Wooting One review, I am going to take you through all the features the board has to offer. I will go into more detail on the analog switches later so if you are only interested in how the switches perform I recommend you skip to that section.
Table of Contents
Quick Answer
- Analog Switches bring many gaming benefits
- Hotswap switches
- Smooth Flaretech switches
- Solid typing experience
- Easy to use software
- Easy disassembly
- Fingerprint magnet
- Slight switch ping noise (can be fixed with lube)
- Some switch wobble
What's In The Box?
The Wooting One comes in a sleek black and white box. The keyboard is contained within a plastic cover which holds the little added extras that come with it. This includes a switch and keycap puller, the usb cable and some extra ‘test’ Flaretech switches.
I really like the fact that they provide you with some extra switches to try because it allows you to try before you buy if you want to pick up some additional switches to swap out on the board. It would have been nice if they provided some Linear80 (blacks) though as I didn’t receive any and you have to buy them separately.
Design & Build
The Wooting One only comes in one colour which is a stealthy, sleek looking black. The top plate is made out of aluminium with a black matte finish. The aluminium top plate definitely adds to the overall build quality and improves the typing acoustics. Most pre-built mechanical keyboards have a plastic top plate or case.
The only downside of the aluminium plate is that it shows fingerprint marks extremely easily. So if you want to maintain that sleek finish you will need to clean the plate regularly or avoid having greasy fingers.
The board has a nice gradual angle when using the feet. However, with the feet collapsed the board feels as though it is sloped downwards. Its as though the keys are sloped away from you.
One improvement would be if the Wooting One had two step feet similar to the likes of the Ducky One 2 series. This gives users more freedom towards how the board is angled when gaming and typing.
Overall, the minimalistic design looks elegant and crisp. The guys have done a great job of not trying to brand the board too much, providing a sleek looking ‘engraving’ of the Wooting logo below the space bar.
Features
Aside from the analog switches which I will go into detail on later, the Wooting One has a breadth of extra features that improve the board as a whole.
Modular Hot Swap Design
The modular hot-swap design of the Wooting One allows you to switch out the Flaretech switches for different variants. For example, if you prefer a heavier actuation force for the WASD keys you can take out the Linear55s (similar to Cherry MX Red) and replace them with the Linear 80s (similar to Cherry black).
There are a variety of Flaretech switches to choose from which I will compare later but you can be sure you will find a variant of switch that suits your preference.
Low Response Time
The input lag is non existent when it comes to the Wooting One. Thanks to configurability of the switches you can even choose where you want the actuation point to be. This means a key will be registered higher up so you don’t have to bottom out the switch.
I experienced zero input lag on this keyboard but this is what you would expect from any keyboard nowadays.
Onboard Memory
You don’t need to worry about losing your profiles for the keyboard if you switch from one PC to the next. All your settings and customisation are saved to the board itself thanks to its onboard memory.
The Wooting One supports up to 4 different profiles, 1 digital profile and 3 analog profiles. This allows you to easily save profiles for particular games that may require different analog settings. You can easily switch between the profiles using hotkeys.
The mode button in the top right of the board switches between digital and analog. You can then use the FN button plus left arrow, down arrow or right arrow to select profile 1, 2, or 3 respectively.
Cable Management
The Wooting One has a really nice quality of life feature with its cable management. There is a three-way cable gutter on the base of the keyboard which allows you to feed the cable in any direction you wish.
You can have the cable coming out of the centre, left or right. This reduces the amount of cable on your desk and adds to the minimalistic design the keyboard does so well.
Individual RGB
It wouldn’t be a complete gaming keyboard if it didn’t offer full RGB backlit capabilities. The Wooting One has subtle RGB lighting on all the keys. This is one of the first boards that does RGB without being too overbearing.
The RGB is simple to configure thanks to the amazing Wootility software which allows you to easily select the colour of each switch. Finally, gaming software done right!
There is also a list of presets to choose from such as the classic wave effect, breathe, cycle and more.
FN Media Keys
Similar to other gaming keyboards on the market the Wooting One offers full media playback keys that can be accessed by clicking the FN key. These are also nicely highlighted by the legends on the keycaps.
Flaretech Analog Switches
The main attraction of the Wooting One is the analog Flaretech switches. These come in three variants;
The Linear55 “Red”, Clicky55 “Blue” and Linear80 “Black”. These are all Cherry MX style housings. The colours in quotes above relate to their Cherry MX equivalent.
You may be asking what are analog switches? The Flaretech switches allow you to adjust the actuation point of the switch. The actuation point is the distance required for a keystroke to be registered. The lower the actuation point (in mm) the less distance you have to press the switch in order for a key to be registered.
The switches can be configured between 1.5mm for when you want fast response times up to 3.6mm which may be useful for heavy typists.
Another benefit of the analog switches is that they act like a joystick controller. For example in a driving game the more you press the switch the harder your car will turn. You can reduce the pressure on the switch to reduce the amount you are turning.
Or, if you want to switch between walking and running in an FPS game ( perfect for CS) you can make your character walk when you are only lightly pressing W and make them run when you bottom out the switch.
This allows you to easily hide your footsteps and opens up a range of potential from game to game, making movement easier and driving smoother.
The Flaretech switches also provide the ability to create ‘Double Keystroke (DKS) bindings’. These can be configured in the Wootility software. DKS bindings allow you to create your own mini-macros based on the keypress down and keypress up events.
For example in League of Legends, you could make one ability activate when you press the key past its actuation point then have a second ability immediately activate on the key up event. This could be a game changer for combos.
In Fortnite you can bind ramp, wall and floor to go off at certain points in the switches travel time allowing you to easily ramp up with protection using only one key. I will show this in my upcoming video review.
Switch Quality
When testing a keyboard it is important to also discuss how the switch feels. I only have the Flaretech Linear 55(Reds) and samples of the Clicky55 (blues) to review so I can’t speak for the Linear80 (black).
As for the Linear55’s which I have in my board I have been super impressed by the switch smoothness. For enthusiast mechanical keyboard lovers that prefer linear switches, the most important aspect of the switch is the smoothness.
People pay good money for bespoke high-end switches such as ZealPC’s Tealios/Healios, Novelkeys Cream switches or Gateron Inks. These switches are the smoothest linears on the market and can go for upwards of $1 per switch.
The Flaretech linears have honestly blown me away with how smooth they are. I have tested Gateron Inks & Tealios and in terms of smoothness, these are surprisingly close.
The Flaretech linears are the smoothest I have tried in a pre-built mechanical keyboard hands down. But the switches do have some drawbacks which you will see below.
As for the clicky switches I am not a fan of clicky switches in general. What I will say is that they have less of a ‘cheap’ sounding click compared to the stock Cherry MX Blues. There is a decent mount of tactility for a stock switch. I can’t speak for the overall typing feel on the Clicky55’s since I only have two switches that came with the board.
However, I feel like you would be missing out by not choosing a Flaretech Linear over the clicky.
Switch Ping & Wobble
Now to the downsides of the switches. Although the switches are extremely smooth they have pretty significant switch wobble compared to any Gateron or Cherry MX standard switch. This is not Wooting’s fault and I believe they have made Flaretech aware of the switch wobble that users have raised concerns about.
However, coming from multiple Ducky boards and currently building my own custom board with Gateron Inks there is a noticeable difference in switch wobble. The stems of the switch feel a little loose so when you run your fingers over the keycaps they do move slightly.
The second downside of the switches are the acoustics. Most mechanical switches have an audible ping inside the switch when you press it and release it quickly. The Flaretech switches however seem to have a fairly loud ping noise.
This isn’t a huge deal breaker for most, particularly if you are using the Wooting One primarily for gaming since you won’t hear it. Especially if you have headphones on.
However, as a typist, the pinging noise does start to become overbearing after a while. Particularly when you are used to a board that has zero ping. This is something that can be easily fixed with some modifications of the switch.
Lubing the spring with Krytox 205 Grade0 or Tribosys3204 does reduce the ping. Or you can pinch the bottom of the spring. I will have a video up soon showing a before and after of the switches after lubing.
Overall the switches are excellent. I have had to be really critical to find flaws in the switches. The switch wobble and pinging are minor problems that probably won’t bother most people and they are easily fixed.
The Wooting One is geared towards gamers too so you won’t even notice the issues discussed unless you are looking to use the Wooting One for typing in a quiet environment.
Keycaps
The keycaps on the Wooting One are ABS keycaps. Whether you prefer ABS or PBT keycaps is up to you and it differs from person to person. There are a few main differences between ABS keycaps vs PBT keycaps you should know about.
Firstly, ABS keycaps usually have crisper legends, the Wooting One is a great example of that. I like the neutral font, they haven’t tried to force a font to give the keyboard more of a gaming feel. It looks minimalist and clear.
ABS keycaps have more of a ‘smooth’ feel to the plastic and they show sweat marks more easily than PBT keycaps, particularly when they are black like the Wooting One.
Over time ABS keycaps can develop a ‘shine’ effect when a keycap is used regularly. Some people like the look if its even across all the keycaps but others hate it, it is a matter of preference. Just be aware that the Wooting keycaps are ABS and may develop that shine affect over time.
Often you will see it start developing on the WASD or spacebar keys first since these are often the most used keys.
The keycaps feel a little cheap, it would be nice to for Wooting to offer PBT keycaps instead for those that prefer it.
Overall Typing Experience
If you can look past the small issues with the switches the typing experience on the Wooting One is really smooth. I recommend you grab the Linear55’s or Linear80’s over the clicky switches since the smoothness is so buttery for a pre-built keyboard.
The switch wobble isn’t noticeable when you are typing fluidly since your fingers are only on the keycaps for a split second at a time.
After lubing the switches with some Tribosys 3204 the springs sounded much better too which really improved the overall feel of the typing.
Gaming Advantages
The gaming advantages the Wooting One offers aren’t available anywhere else. The analog switches open up a vast potential for efficient combos and game-changing shortcuts.
I jumped in a Fortnite creative match to play around with the analog switches and in under an hour session I had come up with 3 super useful DKS bindings.
I set the movement of my character to change based on how hard I pressed W. So if I was lightly pressing W I would walk, if I bottomed out the switch I would run.
Next, I tried setting up my ramp, wall and stairs to be pressed in sequence using just one key. This meant I could reliably and quickly build protected stairs using only one key. You can even transition this into doing really fast 90s using the same single DKS key bindings.
If like you are like me and struggle with fast edits then you are in luck. I have my edit key on alt so in my DKS bindings I set alt to go off as soon as I press alt then I can select the tiles I want to edit.
Then I have it set to press alt again when I start to release the switch. This means I can enter edit mode and exit edit mode with one press of the key. It makes editing so much easier and insanely fast.
The opportunities here are limitless and there is still so much more to explore with these analog switches.
Gamepad Love
The Wooting One can also be the perfect companion for controller based games. There are integrated gamepad settings that can be configured within Wootility.
This allows you to use your keyboard for driving games, platformers and more. Something that a standard keyboard can’t offer.
The analog switches give you more control over your movement thanks to their pressure sensitive functionality. Driving games on a keyboard actually work.
Acoustics
Aside from the switch ping the acoustics of the board for being a low profile build is really pleasant. Not all switches have the same amount of ping so when you hear one that has very little ping its sounds crisp and smooth.
The aluminium plate really does add to the boards quality and improves the acoustics too. Bottoming out the switches gives that satisfying ‘thock’ sound most mechanical keyboard hobbyists crave.
The switch wobble does somewhat affect the overall sound of the board. If Flaretech are able to improve the housing of the switches to better hold the stem then the board would sound even better. But I am being overly critical here as most users won’t notice or be bothered by the switch wobble.
The stabilisers are Cherry MX and can be popped in and out of the plate easily. I recommend you clip them and lube them if possible. They sound similar to what you expect from stock stabilisers.
After taking the board apart I noticed there is a lot of empty space. This makes the board sound a little hollower than it should be. This can be easily fixed using some shelf liner or some general sound dampener material.
How To Disassemble The Wooting One
The Wooting One is a so simple to take apart. I have made numerous coffee spills on keyboards in the past and they have always been a pain to disassemble.
To open the Wooting One you have to find the 11 small philips screws hidden under the keycaps. I recommend you take off all the keycaps to make sure you don’t miss any.
Then all you have to do is pull the top plate off. If you use a screwdriver or something to prop underneath the spacebar just be careful not to damage the PCB.
I recommend you take apart your Wooting One anyway to clip the stabilisers to reduce the rattle.
Wootility Software
Finally, someone has made software that just works. This is one of the few pieces of peripheral software that hasn’t made me want to pull my hair out. The Wootility software does everything you need and does it in a simple manner.
This includes allowing you to configure the actuation point of your switches, the RGB colours of individual switches or pick a preset mode. You get all the typical RGB modes such as wave, breath, scan, trail and more.
You can even configure the curve of your switches. What does that mean? You can have it so that depending how far you have pressed the switch the actuation can happen more quickly or slowly. Check the video below from the guys at Wooting that shows real examples.
After watching the explanation of the analog curve I recommend you skip to the part where they cover CSGO as it’s a great example of how this can be useful.
The Wootility makes it super easy for you to customise your keyboard exactly how you want it. You can easily switch bewteen different profiles too using the FN key and arrow keys.
So you can have different profiles for different games. And when you aren’t gaming you can switch back to ‘digital’ mode which is for general use by pressing the mode button in the top right.
Warranty
The guys at Wooting offer a 2 year manufacturers warranty from the date of purchase. This will cover any manufacturer defects or material damage through normal use.
This won’t cover those of you that are susceptible to those coffee spills!
A Sense Of Community
Due to the huge amount of customisation the Wooting One offers, there are large communities of dedicated fans that can help you. The discord is a great place to discuss DKS keybindings and ways to get the absolute most from the board.
It is also worth checking out the subreddit too where people discuss the board in more detail and provide some interesting discussions.
If you are still stuck and you need a quick tutorial on a specific part of the keyboard then check out Wooting’s YouTube. They have created some awesome tutorials to help you with some of the settings and jargon that comes with the board.
Final Thoughts
Overall the Wooting One is probably the best gaming mechanical keyboard on the market. It offers functionality that can’t be met by any other keyboard. The analog switches open up a breadth of possibilities from game to game.
Typing on the Flaretech switches feels super smooth. However there are some improvements that can be made to make this an even better all-round typing and gaming keyboard solution.
These are issues that Flaretech themselves need to solve and I know the guys at Wooting have passed on these improvements.
For any gamer, this is an awesome board and I can fully recommend it. If you are looking purely for a typist mechanical keyboard you need to be aware of the switch ping and wobble. If you can see past that then you will love the smooth switches.
As for gaming the analog switches really do offer something special. It is up to you how you use it.
