As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

[Mechanical Keyboards] Clickity Clack! We build them ourselves now!

1697072747585

Posts

  • schussschuss Registered User regular
    You'll have to remove the windows keys to do pudding keys (and keep the original spacebar), but Corsair makes full size mechs with good response time and icue RGB control. I like the feel of my varmilo more, but gaming response is better on the corsairs. I have puddings on mine and wit works great.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    Fullsize kit/custom keyboards are exceedingly rare in the mechnical space. Even mechanicalkeyboards.com doesn't carry the fullsize aluminum cases they used to because there just really isn't a market for it.

    That being said there are a lot of good fullsizers for RBG. The Steelseries Apex Pros are very good and the Steelseries engine is really robust for you to scratch that RBG itch.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Another option is a standard Tenkeyless (which are abundant) plus a dedicated numpad.

    Otherwise, yeah if you want a single ready to go prebuilt option, Steelseries is a great choice. The full size Glorious GMMK with Glorious pudding caps is also bright as fuck with decent lighting options.

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I love my GMMK but the software (the non Pro stuff) is not something I'd recommend to someone looking to bathe in RGB custom options. Shit's weak.

    jungleroomx on
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    I went with a Ducky Shine 7 in cherry clears. It was about the most high end full sized board I could find that also did RGB. Although I guess you can't go wrong with Leopold or Varmilio either. I went with the gunmetal, not the blackout board because I'd seen some comments about the board getting scratched and I don't think they had the blackout board in stock anyway. It's a beefy board and nice to type on, and it does all the nice color effects if you want.

    The default keycaps were fine for me, some people complained about some of the keys having weird shine-through artifacts but Mugsley shipped me a set of ABS side-light / printed keys that were nice because I wanted to go with side-lights for a while. My wife got me a set of Ducky PBT puddings for my birthday that I really like on the board and that's what I'm using now.

    I wanted to do a kit and build my own, but the custom / kit market for full size keyboards is as noted almost non-existent. I had bought a Ducky One TKL but found that I missed a number pad too much, and splurged on the Shine 7 instead of just getting a separate keypad. I'm pretty happy with it; I wouldn't mind if I had heavier linear switches though, I liked blacks on the TKL Ducky I used for a little while but even reds would probably be better - the clears are just a bit too sensitive for me.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    Leopold, Varmilo, Filco, Topre, all make great fullsize boards.

  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    Heh with the discount the Drop Ctrl fully assembled KB is the same price as the barebones

    be more economical to buy the full one and harvest the parts.

  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    How are drops kbs?

  • SoggybiscuitSoggybiscuit Tandem Electrostatic Accelerator Registered User regular
    How are drops kbs?

    They are fine? Not the most customizable kit, but you can do some things. My wife is uses the SHIFT I bought her at the start of the year 40+ hours a week and she has never had an issue.

    Steam - Synthetic Violence | XBOX Live - Cannonfuse | PSN - CastleBravo | Twitch - SoggybiscuitPA
  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Yeah, they’re fine. Not super high end or anything, but nicer than most off the shelf stuff, for sure.

    minor incident on
    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Yeh, they’re fine. Not super high end or anything, but nicer than most off the shelf stuff, for sure.

    Yeah they occupy that middle-ground between higher end gamery stuff like Logitech and top shelf prebuilts like Topre and Filco.

    jungleroomx on
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    The new Glorious keycaps have my mouth watering. But damn. $100 and I won't use like 1/3 of the kit.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    The new Glorious keycaps have my mouth watering. But damn. $100 and I won't use like 1/3 of the kit.

    They do look nice, but I’m a bit conflicted. The first two (the celestial fire and ice) designs are pretty clear ripoffs of other designers. Obviously changed just enough to be legally distinct, but it still feels sketchy.

    The complicating factor is that you can’t actually still buy the sets they were based on (Alexotos’ Aether and SA Dreameater), so it’s not like anyone is losing sales from it. But given Glorious has had a few public partnership promotional arrangements with Alex and then they pulled this (which Alex was clearly unaware of and unhappy about, according to his Twitter) makes it feel pretty shitty.

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • MechMantisMechMantis Registered User regular
    I shelled out for a SteelSeries Apex Pro with the fancy hall effects, we'll see if those are any good. ALSO got their pudding caps. Time to have a fancy type-on-able RGB lamp!

  • useruser Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    The new Glorious keycaps have my mouth watering. But damn. $100 and I won't use like 1/3 of the kit.

    They do look nice, but I’m a bit conflicted. The first two (the celestial fire and ice) designs are pretty clear ripoffs of other designers. Obviously changed just enough to be legally distinct, but it still feels sketchy.

    The complicating factor is that you can’t actually still buy the sets they were based on (Alexotos’ Aether and SA Dreameater), so it’s not like anyone is losing sales from it. But given Glorious has had a few public partnership promotional arrangements with Alex and then they pulled this (which Alex was clearly unaware of and unhappy about, according to his Twitter) makes it feel pretty shitty.

    Absolutely, I think its one thing when a fly-by night company hawks dupes on amazon and ali express, at a budget price -- because at least you can make some argument that it's servicing a price conscious tier of keeb enthusiast who doesn't necessarily care too much about quality.

    But its real shady for a really established company to ape the work of a prior collaborator, and then also come in at a similar tier of price.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    I really like my Apex Pro TKL

    6a5chrvslxjt.png

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    You guys aren't wrong but if I want the originals I have to shell out ~$300 and that feels equally as bad.

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    How are drops kbs?
    I've been using the Drop CTRL from their very first run for a couple of years now, and I like it a whole lot. I honestly can't think of anything I'd want from a keyboard that this one doesn't do, other than having a rotary encoder; I would really like a rotary encoder for volume control, and I feel like that's what will make me eventually switch away from this thing.

    My biggest complaint about the CTRL is that when they were doing their very first original run, the promo renders they had of the keyboard showed it as being a dark grey with matte finish, but when the board showed up in people's hands it was a bright, metallic silver color. There was a lot of frustration from people for the bait-and-switch; I very definitely liked the promised color way more than the silver, but decided to just keep the board and live with it. I've since gotten used to the color, it's fine. Of course, for people who buy it now, they offer cases in multiple different colors, including one that's close to what was originally promised.

  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    https://drop.com/all-communities/drops/BOGOMTFREE

    Drops doing buy 1 get 1 free on a bunch of MT3 keycap sets

  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    This thing about glorious new caps gets a huge meh from me. They are colour combinations. Can that even be legally protected? Were the original creators going to do another run? How long should that design be off limits?

    The exclusivity and faux scarcity of the keycap market is lame, in my opinion.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Certain colors placed in certain arrangements is a foundational part of design, and these are pretty clear ripoffs of popular, well known designs. Is it legally enforceable? Nah, probably not, but it’s still a shitty thing to do from a company trying to push themselves directly to the enthusiast market. I know Aether has had two runs so far and it’s still pretty popular so I wouldn’t be shocked if another one was coming someday.

    And there’s not really any faux-scarcity in the keycap market. As a rule group buys take as many orders as come in. They don’t cut them off at a certain number. Those small runs are run by individuals and small businesses who aren’t able to order tons of additional stock for people to buy after the fact. The wait sucks, but there’s no way to have hundreds of keycap designs out there any other way that would let retailers avoid a colossal risk. And then the designs that are run by larger companies in larger numbers (like Drop’s various GMK and MT3 designs that they keep in stock) don’t have any scarcity issues. We’ll probably see more of the in-stock stuff over the next couple of years as the hobby grows.

    Really, the lamest part of the market is how most of the cool designs are almost all done through GMK who are fine in terms of quality but with an abysmal 12 to 18 month lead time. Which is the reason I never bother with GMK group buys.

    The resale prices on r/mm for certain GMK sets are crazy though, but that’s more akin to hunting down an expensive collectible book or a record or something.

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • zagdrobzagdrob Registered User regular
    For me I like the look of a lot of Drop stuff, but between being ABS and the lead time (and $100 / set) it's just not worth it. I'm just all in on PBT, it really does make a difference.

    Now I did buy some headphones from them on clearance and am pretty happy with that buy. And I regularly check their stuff out. I do need another desk mat and an aviator cable.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Looks like Glorious released a statement about the issue. What they did is definitely a bit sketchy, but it sounds like they’ve resolved things with Alex, including offering to pay him for his design, which was the right move.

    https://www.pcgamingrace.com/blogs/news/celestial-public-statement

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    https://drop.com/all-communities/drops/BOGOMTFREE

    Drops doing buy 1 get 1 free on a bunch of MT3 keycap sets

    Thanks for this. Seems like a decent way to try out mt3.

  • a nu starta nu start Registered User regular
    Came back to mechanical keyboards after ignoring them for the past decade or whenever their recent popularity started. Glad there is was more options in switches beside how loud you want it to click. Ordered a Drop Shift for work and a GMMK Pro for home, but of course they are stuck in postal service hell somewhere.

    Number One Tricky
  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular

    Thanks for this. That's a decent price for a pretty nice looking set. Even if I get dinged bad on import duties it'll be a decent price.

  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    I should add that the other thing that caught my attention about that set is the profile - xda. I haven't tried that. I find myself buying sets just to try out the different profiles. Gotta catch them all, I guess.

  • MechMantisMechMantis Registered User regular
    Oh yeah, the SteelSeries Pro is fun to type on-- liking the linear hall effects a lot over the MX Browns I had prior-- and it has ALL the RGB, and the pudding keys are great looking.

    Thanks for the reccomendations!

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    biuydgdzzdi7.jpeg


    Got bored, built out a new keyboard.

    Edit: the specs are:
    Glorious GMMK Pro
    Aluminum plate
    Durock L7 67g linear switches (lubed and filmed)
    Artifact Bloom Black-on-Black keycaps
    Gothcaps Hellcap artisan on Esc
    Homemade engraved walnut badge
    Homemade walnut wrist rest
    Random dog hairs, brindle

    minor incident on
    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    The finalmouse group is teasing a keyboard announcement on Nov. 17. Their communications are super cringey and eye-roll inducing but I am curious to see what they do. Their magnesium-bodied mice are neat (if over-priced and over-marketed).

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Opinions on my Nuphy Air 75 pending, but in a bout of boredom I put the extra set of grey keycaps I bought with it on my K2, and... this looks kinda nice?

    These are low-profile keycaps though, and the K2 definitely wasn't made with that in mind. Will see how this feels after a while.

    tl5xyydpkkab.png

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    ...also what are some good typing test sites? Most of the ones I find on google are ad-infested garbage.

  • BlazeFireBlazeFire Registered User regular
    I have used keybr when I was practicing with my split keyboard.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Echo wrote: »
    ...also what are some good typing test sites? Most of the ones I find on google are ad-infested garbage.

    Monkeytype.com is simple, basically ad-free, and works great

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Anyone else debating trying to grab a doorbuster on BF at GMMK? Example: GMMK TKL + Pandas + Keycaps + wrist rest (and I *think* a cable) for $110

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Anyone else debating trying to grab a doorbuster on BF at GMMK? Example: GMMK TKL + Pandas + Keycaps + wrist rest (and I *think* a cable) for $110

    3 boxes of the pandas alone is over $100 (if they're the lubed ones, which I think they are?), and the Glorious keycaps are $50, and totally serviceable. The wrist rest is fine too, if you're into that sort of thing. Even if you don't never use the actual keyboard, it's honestly a decent deal.

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    I'm going to see if I can jump in on a kit and then maybe sell specific parts via r/mm.

  • minor incidentminor incident expert in a dying field njRegistered User regular
    Drop is having a big keyboard/keycap/accessory sale this week, FYI. $20 to $30 off a lot of keycap sets, and decent discounts on most of the boards they offer.

    Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
  • useruser Registered User regular
    How are MT3 keycaps? I managed (quite unexpectedly) to get used to SA on one of my Keebs -- but I'm curious if MT3 is as thick.

Sign In or Register to comment.