Astrohaus, a Detroit-based company, has been making “low-distraction writing tools” under the name Freewrite for about a decade. So far, these have all been standalone, single-purpose devices aimed simply at drafting text, but Astrohaus is expanding into the field at CES 2025. The company just announced a mechanical keyboard called the Freewrite Wordrunner, a device designed specifically with writers in mind.
This comes more than three years after Astrohaus quietly revealed its intentions to produce the keyboard, originally known as the Maestro. However, the company ultimately canceled its 2022 launch plans and I haven’t heard anything about it since. Apparently they’ve been working on it forever. CEO Adam Reeve said in a press release that the company has been iteratively developing it for nearly four years.
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Mechanical keyboards have largely become the domain of gamers. The company wanted to build a device for people who write for a living instead. Without spending some quality time with them, you won’t know if they’ve reached that goal yet, but there are some fun ideas on display here.
Wordrunner has a tenkeyless design that looks familiar at first glance, but you’ll quickly notice that the function lines have been replaced with a custom set of keys. This speeds up the movement of text documents. This includes find and replace, undo and redo, paragraph up and down, back key, forward key, and reload key. It’s frustrating to lose media controls from function lines, but Wordrunner covers it with a bright red joystick/button. It moves in all four basic directions, can be turned like a knob, and can also be pressed vertically to skip tracks, change volume, or pause a song.
Nathan Ingraham, Engadget
On the other side, there are three customizable macro keys with cute names: “zap,” “pow,” and “bam.” These are programmable if needed, but Astrohaus suggested using them to launch specific writing apps, convert text to title case, insert dates, etc. . We don’t know what we’ll use them for yet, but having customizable keys is a make-or-break feature for most enthusiast keyboards, so it’s nice to see them here.
Perhaps the most visually striking thing about Wordrunner are the two mechanical counters that appear at the top. One is a timer that you can use to write sprints or just focus a little bit. What’s even more interesting is the word meter center at the top of the keyboard. You can track your words with an 8-digit mechanical counter and store as many words as you want, so you can try to max them out someday. Of course, you can always reset it or pause it if you’re chatting with friends or sending an email and don’t want to proceed.
Nathan Ingraham, Engadget
The mechanical keys are backlit and use Kailh switches. The keycaps are replaceable, but the switches are not. It also has some built-in sound deadening, so you can use it without making overly loud key clicks loud to those around you (which can be a plus or a minus, depending on your keyboard preferences). When it comes to connectivity, Wordrunner uses Bluetooth or USB-C, and you can pair the keyboard with three different devices and quickly switch between them using dedicated hotkeys.
When I got a chance to try out the Wordrunner prototype, my first impression was, “Wow, it’s heavy!” It’s a thick slab of polished aluminum that matches the finish of the premium Hemingway edition of the Smart Typewriter. Astrohaus founder and CEO Adam Leeb said that even though the company plans this keyboard as part of its permanent portfolio, the finish makes it feel like a premium limited edition. He said he was doing it.
Nathan Ingraham, Engadget
I wasn’t able to try Wordrunner connected to my computer, but I could see the mechanical Wordometer flip over when I started typing. It’s very satisfying to watch them count up while writing a fantasy story. There is a small LED that turns green when the counter is on and red when it is off. The keys and travel were all great, and the joystick was a great tactile experience as well. I’m looking forward to using it like a media volume knob. Reeve says the keyboard is still a prototype, but to me it feels pretty polished and almost final.
Finally, there is the ever-present issue of availability. Astrohaus is launching Wordrunner on Kickstarter, as it has done with most other hardware over the past decade. The campaign should start in February at an early bird price, but we don’t yet know what that price will be. Luckily, if you’re interested, there’s a way to get the best deal for a fairly low price. Astrohaus says the first batch of keyboards will be delivered by the end of the year, with $1 pre-orders available for priority access and the best possible pricing. That’s still a long way off, but if you’re interested, even a dollar is not a bad investment.
Updated, January 8, 2024, 9:27 PM ET: This article has been updated to include Wordrunner hands-on impressions and photos.
