Sixteen Keys or Five: KM16 Macropad vs. EM Mini Pad
The KM16 Macropad and the EM Mini Pad are both aluminium macropads for the hand that isn't on the mouse, but they're built for opposite priorities: the KM16 maximizes how many distinct shortcuts you can fit under one hand, the EM Mini Pad minimizes how much desk it takes up. If you need more than five or six shortcuts, buy the KM16; if you need a handful and want it out of your peripheral vision, buy the EM Mini Pad.
Key count is the real decision
The KM16 packs sixteen keys into a four-by-four grid plus three rotary encoders, one large knob and two small ones. That's room for test, commit, accept, reject, model switching and pane navigation, with the knobs handling continuous controls like volume, brush size or timeline scrub. The EM Mini Pad has five keys in a three-by-two grid and a single knurled knob:
- Volume and mute on the knob
- Four shortcuts on the keys
- A sixth key free for something like a boss key that minimizes whatever's on screen
Sixteen keys and three knobs is a genuinely different tool than five keys and one.
How you remap them
The KM16 is VIA-compatible, so you remap it entirely in a browser, no firmware flashing, no compiling, and VIA's layer support means a held key can switch the whole pad to a second set of assignments, one layer for your editor and another for something else. Nothing in the EM Mini Pad's listing describes an equivalent layer system; its five keys and one knob are more likely a single fixed set you configure once and leave alone, which fits its smaller ambitions.
Desk footprint and connection
The EM Mini Pad is genuinely tiny, small enough to live permanently between your keyboard and your mug, and it's dual mode, working over USB-C or Bluetooth from an internal battery, so it can go cable-free. That wireless option is also the EM Mini Pad's one piece of overhead: it's a Bluetooth radio and it has a battery to keep charged, neither of which the KM16's listing mentions at all. The KM16 is the heavier, denser block of the two, with RGB underglow that spills onto the desk, not a small footprint, but the weight is deliberate, so it doesn't move when you hit it.
The honest reason to buy the smaller one
If your actual shortcut list is short, mute, volume, one or two more, the KM16's sixteen keys mostly go unused, and you'll spend twenty minutes in VIA remapping a pad whose designer-oriented stock layout doesn't fit your workflow before you get real use from it. The EM Mini Pad's smaller grid matches a smaller action list without the setup tax.
Who should skip both
If your entire use case is accept and reject during agent review, neither of these earns its price over a cheaper two-button device or a foot pedal, you'd be paying for knobs and keys you'll never touch.
See how both stack up against a third option in KM16 vs. Left-Hand Pad, or browse the full comparison hub. Setup guide: KM16 for Gemini CLI.