I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore gamer or a streamer. But I do, on occasion, stream the games I play on Discord with my friends and play a few competitively. More than that, what I really like is to do cool stuff with my PC. This is what I thought of when I saw the Mini Keydial KD100 from Huion. Huion is a Chinese company that specializes in design hardware such as drawing tablets and graphics tablets. In a market that is more or less dominated by the likes of Wacom, Huion offers a somewhat cost effective method to get the job done while still giving you all the features required.

The Mini Keydial KD100 measures 5.74 inches by 3.65 inches and weighs about 115g. Built from high quality plastic, the body of the KD100 consists of a wheel on the top left (we’ll talk about that in a bit), and 18 programmable buttons. At first glance, the KD100 looks and feels like a number pad that can be hooked up to your PC or laptop. But the beauty of the KD100 is that it can do whatever you want it to do. Do you want each key to open a different application? Consider it done. Want to map your Adobe Premiere shortcuts or Photoshop shortcuts so that you can quickly work between layers? Entirely do-able. Want to use the Keydial in your favorite games? Well stay tuned and find out.

Inside the box of the KD100, you get the device itself, a bluetooth/wireless adapter, a USB Type C to USB Type A cable, and a quick start guide. The 2.4Ghz wireless adapter means you can use the KD100 from upto 10 metres away, or use it for that ultraclean minimal look. In addition to connecting to a PC or laptop, the USB cable is also used to configure extra settings such as the backlight brightness and to set the sleep timer for the KD100 when not in use. It is also used to charge the KD100 if it’s running low on battery. The KD100 packs a 1200mAh battery that Huion claims can do upto 100 hours of continuous work and be on standby for 10 months. Charging the KD100 can be done via the included USB Type C cable and a full charge should take around two hours with a standard 5V 1A power adapter.

Setting up

This is perhaps the easiest setup process of any device I’ve used. All I needed to do was to plug the wireless adapter in and then download the Huion Tablet driver and instal it. From there, the tablet driver gave me all the access to the controls needed.

The KD100 has no backlighting whatsoever apart from the logo that lights up so it will take some time to get used to the key layout if you haven’t used it before. If you are adamant, you can go to the extent of pasting small sticky notes on each key to help you out. Huion’s companion software “Huion Tablet” gives you an easy to use interface with a host of features.

For example, each key on the KD100 can be mapped to a keyboard key, a mouse key, or a multimedia function (play/pause/volume control etc). You can also assign applications to each key or configure system applications such as locking the screen, putting your device to sleep, calculator, launching the start menu or shutting down the PC.

The default actions of the wheel on the KD100 can switch between Zoom in/out, adjusting brush size, and scrolling up and down. These can also be changed via the Huion Tablet app. For example, I have set the wheel primarily to act as a volume control, zoom in/out, and to scroll up and down. There’s definitely something cool about using the wheel on the KD100 to control volume when you’re watching a movie or using it as a scroll wheel when you’re reading a long article or scrolling through Facebook or Twitter via your browser.

Using the Mini
Keydial KD100

Having successfully set up the KD100, I began to play around with it. The Huion Tablet software has a default profile that can be configured if you want just a single profile and you’ll be using only that profile. If you want to set up additional profiles, you can create them and add applications either from the dropdown of running programs or add them manually. I used a number of apps to test functionality such as MPC, Adobe Photoshop, Brave Browser, Genshin Impact and God of War. While functionality of the first three apps worked really well, I was unable to get Genshin Impact and God of War mapped to the KD100. I also tried Need for Speed Most Wanted, but that was also met with the same result. So while apps can be mapped to the KD100, you will most likely not be able to use it as a gamepad.

The ideal usage scenario with the Keydial KD100 would be if you have a graphic tablet as it acts as an extension to the graphic tablet. The orientation of the KD100 is such that it can be used either in a vertical or horizontal position. Four rubber feet at the bottom of the device make sure it’s nice and stable. The 18 keys on the KD100 comprise of a scissor switch design that is comfortable to use and won’t strain your fingers. Each key has sufficient feedback and the wheel has a satisfying click both when rotating and when clicking the button on the wheel. I kid you not, I spent a good few minutes just pressing random buttons on the KD100 because it feels fun.

Once you have gotten familiar with the layout and mapped the functions or applications you want, it will make your life easier. Since it looks like a traditional number pad, you can very well use it as a number pad as well if you are on a laptop with no number pad or you’re using a TKL (Tenkeyless) keyboard. That way you basically get a high tech number pad that can also act as an extension for your keyboard.

Who is the Keydial KD100 aimed at?

That’s perhaps the beauty of it. The functionality of the KD100 can be made use of by anyone. If you’re a graphic designer or artist, you can use it to map shortcuts, and adjust brush sizes on the fly. If you stream or edit videos you can use it to launch your own apps and shortcuts and even play around with the timeline in Adobe Premiere. If you’re a tech junkie, you can get it just as another cool addition to your setup and use it for whatever you want. Honestly, the possibilities are endless. Because it can be used wirelessly from almost 10 metres, you can pair it to your drawing tablet, Microsoft Surface Pro, Desktop PC, laptop, Macbook and even your tablet.

Priced at LKR 12,500/- at the time of publishing, the Huion Mini Keydial KD100 is available at all Huion authorized resellers islandwide.

 

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