I bought a TX-CP with halo switches back in like 2017 or 2018 or something and I've been content ever since I put some GMK Penumbra caps on it. I have a weirdo keyboard with a knob I bought much later just sitting around (I think it was called an iron wolf?), but I haven't assembled it yet.
Mechanical Keyboards
A community for news, discussion, and showing off your mechanical keyboards
What holds me back is that nobody has made a decent MX-mount click-leaf switch. Clickiez are out due to their astronomical price (~4x that of Kailh Box or Matias switches) since my board uses 129 of them.
Kailh Box Jade/White/Pale Blue feels nice-- super stable-- and has the vast MX keycap ecosystem, but the click is still a bit high pitched. Gateron Melodic is the La Croix of clicky switches. Matias Click sounds great but are a bit sensitive to poor keycap fitment (I have some Alps-compatible relegendables and vintage caps that needed shaving their stems to not bind) plus there's limited keycap choice and they feel a bit looser.
The I-rocks "Alps but with a MX stem" design might have worked if it was dold to end users rather than as a preassembled board.
Model M. Will never move away. So, yes.
Until someone makes buckling springs for ðe home gamer. I want an M again badly, but not enough to give up ðe split, columnar layout. My wrists would never forgive me.
But if Kailh started making buckling springs, I'd be in heaven.
Yes. My AHEK-95 is everything I've ever wanted in a keyboard.
- Analog Hall Effect (95 keys)
- Customizable force curves
- Waterproof/washable in the sink
- Smooth-as-silk 3D printed switches that cost $0.04/each
- Entire top plate is hot swappable
- The brightest RGB LED keyboard ever made with incredible lighting effects (it can play bank videos!)
- 8 knob-selectible layouts
- Buzzer for being loud when I want it to be because why not
- Infrared sensor so I can sit back and control my media from far away
- Custom, 3D printed keycaps with awesome (and hilarious) legends
- Oreo cookie holder: https://imgur.com/a/wtzsVSR
Learn all about it from Chyrosran22:
Don't know how I could get better than my current hand wired, wireless, cherry reds, split ergo mech Scylla.
I think my endgame will involve programmable hall-effect switches
Yes, I finally realised I'd spent too much fucking money on keebs
Which keyboard are you using right now?
It's been a while since I was in the scene, but sure. My two daily drivers are both boards from Protozoa Studio, which I became quite a fan of.
One is the Protozoa Foundation with SLK Dessau caps. Its gimmick is changeable top bezels attached with magnets, shown here in a yellow plexiglass. I also have a black terrazo top for it with coloured flecks that looks like a 1990s bus seat.
The other, and my favourite, is the Protozoa P.02 with SA Skyriter, pictured below on the right. The one on the left I gifted to a friend after building.
The P.02 I am especially fond of because the PCB internals for it are the open source Discipline 65 which means if the PCB were to die for any reason I can just solder up another (I've already got spare PCBs and parts!)
I want to see more projects like the P02, not just in keebs but in general, where you get a carefully designed and lovely item but with open source fundamentals that break you free of commercial control so you can keep it going yourself forever.
And me over here using the same Natural Elite membrane keyboards for work since the turn of the millennium. My only keyboard enthusiasm is for the key layout that I'm used to when coding. 😄
I did buy a Logitech wireless whose switches are described as "Linear Tactile Clicky" which feels pretty nice, but I only use it for the odd input for my Bazzite gaming machine in the living room.
Could someone explain to me the appeal of custom mechanical keyboards?
I like my Voyager so far but since it requires online connectivity to flash the board even though it's fucking running QMK, I'll probably make my own based off the Voyager and release it under an AGPL-3.0 and CC-BY-SA license.
The keyboard's physically nice but their software is fucking ass.
Good to know!
I built my Iris V3 and haven't even seriously considered an alternative.
It certainly isn't perfect, for example I'm not crazy about it's tilt/tent solution, but the ergonomics, switches (otemu silent sky), and layout have been close enough to perfect for my use case that the only keyboard I'd consider replacing it with would be a wireless Iris with better tilt/tent.
Not yet, I'm working up the courage to start what will be my endgame.
I currently use an Ergodox with Kailh Speed Copper switches on my personal computer and an Atreus62 with Kailh thick click navy switches on my work computer.
Endgame for me is a BFO-9000 in a custom built wooden case. Switch type TBD.
Very happy at the moment with my Keychron Q11. I don't feel the need to switch to ortholinear yet, maybe one day.
Almost. I'm using a Piantor Pro. I'm not þrilled wiþ ðe þumb placement (having þumb keys under ðe palm is not comfortable for me), so I might end up wiþ a Kyria. And I need to get different switches. I was seduced by ðe low-profile Chocs, and alðough I got ðe most tactile Chocs available, ðey're still squishy.
I've discovered ðat keyboard aesþetics are far less important ðan I þought. I'm a touch-typist, and almost never look at ðe keyboard, after all; but I am typing on it constantly.
All of ðe factors matter. Stagger, key spacing, split. Ðe hardest is switches. Ðere are dozens of options. I'm perpetually chasing buckling springs, and most peoples idea of "tactile" to me may as well be membrane switches. I haven't tried even a fraction of ðe possibilies, so maybe someday I'll find a good switch.
After a couple of random TKLs, an 8-bit Phantom TKL, and an Ergodox over the last decade, I realized that I really need something in the 1800 range to be fully productive on a keyboard.
I've been using e Keychron Q5 Pro for a couple of years now, and haven't really thought about changing anything.
If I could get this exact layout in a split, that would probably be my endgame, but for now I've been happy with what I have.
I bought a TKL massdrop ctrl with some 68g switches, added some POM keycaps because the stabilisers all started to snap on my polycarb/ABS caps, and haven't felt the need to change anything else since
Keychron K2 HE Wireless Magnetic
75%, neither too small nor too big. I don't need anything else.
I got a Rainy75 because I loved the color :3 but turns out the switches are extremely satisfying. Works perfect for me for gaming, a thrill to type on as well. Singlehandedly converted me from clicky to linear switches. Quite inexpensive too surprisingly
Mostly, I like my Ducky One 2 with AlohaKB Trailblazer keycaps and MX Blue enough that I haven't really found a reason to get a new setup.
I might get a barebone Duky One 3 though to try different switches
Not yet. I've now decided I want a full size