How to reconfigure the HJKL keys to act as arrow keys on the Vortex Race 3

I recently got my beautiful new Vortex Race 3 mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Clear switches. This thing is so easy and fast to type on that I will probably be writing a lot more blog posts in the future, just so I can use this keyboard :)

A colleague of mine has the Vortex Pok3r, which is even smaller and does not have any arrow keys. I definitely wanted arrow keys on my keyboard so the Race 3 was the perfect choice for the layout that I wanted, but I was a bit envious of my colleague being able to use HJKL (the Vim keys) plus a modifier as arrow keys, which is really convenient because they are located in the so-called home row (the middle row of letters on the keyboard) and you have to move your fingers a lot less to use the arrow keys. The modifier key I chose was Capslock, because it is also located in the homerow and I don’t use it a lot. I can still use Capslock if needed, but on another layer.

Here’s how to do it:

• Select a layer. You can do that by pressing Fn+Right Shift (unfortunately you can only cycle through layers instead of picking them via dedicated keys, as opposed to other Vortex models) and choose the red, green or blue one, as you prefer.
• Next, you have to remap the Fn key. That’s because you can’t just use any modifier key for “programmed” shortcuts, but, as far as I know, only the Fn key. You can map it onto any key that you like, I chose Capslock.

Beware: the pitfall here is that after remapping, the original Fn key doesn’t work anymore on that layer, so you have to use your new Fn for everything, even switching layers. So after this change you won’t be able to smoothly cycle thorugh layers with Fn+Right Shift anymore!

• Switch to programming mode by pressing Capslock+Right Ctrl, the LED unter the right half of your spacebar should light up
• Press Capslock+H for programming that combination. The LED under the right half of your spacebar should start flashing
• Press Arrow Left for mapping Capslock+H to the left arrow key. Then press Pn for finishing the programming sequence
• Repeat the previous two steps for J, K and L as well
• Leave the programming mode by pressing Capslock+Right Ctrl

And that’s it! You can now be ultra lazy and press arrow keys without moving your hand at all. Hooray!