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The Grumbles posted:Now I'm going into the office a lil more - and would like something I can use between my PC and my iPad - I'm looking at the Keychron K7. Anyone got any experience with it? Those mint/banana switches seem fun. What's it like sizewise compared to your average Akko/Ducky 65%? If you don't get a lemon, it's a nice portable keyboard, but if you do... well, this thread and the Internet at large are full of horror stories about Keychron's infamously bad customer service. The standard recommendation seems to be to buy from Amazon so that you have some protection if you get a dud. Size-wise, it's got the same footprint as any other 65% with a minimal bezel, but it is very thin--a little bit thicker than your average tablet with case, and almost exactly as thick as most laptops these days. I carry a tablet and the K7 together in an A4 folio pouch and it doesn't feel bulky at all. As far as switches go, I got one with the banana switches and an extra set of the mint ones 'cause I couldn't decide between the two. I'd suggest going with the banana switches unless you like tactiles that are *really* loud and heavy. Your other option with the same approximate feature set is the Nuphy Air60, but it *just* came out this week, so reviews are spotty, and it has a more... distinctive aesthetic sense.
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May 17, 2022 21:59
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teethgrinder posted:I thought I had finally broken keyboard-acquisition-syndrome but ... these caps got me As far as KS projects go, this one is actually on the safer side 'cause it's a real thing with an existing proof of concept for sale. There will no doubt be the usual issues when it comes to scaling up production and fulfillment on several orders of magnitude, but hey, at least it's not a complete pipe dream. (I backed it on the first day)
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May 18, 2022 23:26
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I've gotten into this hobby over the last six months or so mostly by going down some underexplored rabbit holes, which has been fun. Here's a TES68 with TTC Bluish White Silent switches and a set of Glimy 2077 caps. (apologies for the potato cam)
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May 25, 2022 14:36
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Indeed! Aside from the listed pieces, I did the Band-Aid mod on the PCB, swapped out and greased the stabs, and replaced the thin foam in the back of the case with a neoprene sheet, and it sounds and feels a lot nicer than the price would suggest now. I've done the same set of mods several times now with a few other TES68s in other colors; I'll post pictures of those builds too sometime.
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May 26, 2022 03:11
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PhilippAchtel posted:I purchased a Royal Kludge RK84 recently and have been quite happy with it so far. I might mod it. I might not. I got a G68 for "RGB go brrrr" reasons, but it's actually got a solid set of features for the price. It looks very fun with a set of pudding keycaps and sounds much nicer with some foam in the back of the case, FWIW.
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May 30, 2022 22:46
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I've covered my actual keyboard needs pretty thoroughly at this point, so now it's time for joke and/or gift builds. I'm finding that a separate numpad is a great way to try out a few switches in a realistic way without springing (ha) for a full set, and there's plenty of numpad keys lying around from the keycap sets I've gotten so far. 100g linears? Sure, why not. Muted clickbar switches?... actually kind of fun. On a related note, if anyone knows of a decent triple-mode numpad, I'm all ears. EDIT: answered my own question with this. It's also $15 cheaper on AliExpress, too! Nestharken fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jun 28, 2022 |
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Jun 28, 2022 00:03
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I actually just put together a keyboard as a gift using a Keychron K4 as the base and wound up leaving in the included G Pro Brown switches 'cause an upgrade would have been kinda marginal. A couple pieces of advice if you want to go down the customization route: 1) A switch sampler pack is a (relatively) cheap way to try out a bunch of different options for a lot less than a single full set. This is a decent cross-section of the currently trendy ones. 2) If you're buying a keycap set, double-check to make sure that it includes all of the necessary sizes for whatever layout you picked.
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Jul 13, 2022 15:32
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MockingQuantum posted:I suppose I'd probably need to find another keycap set if I got a switch tester, though. If you're willing to wait a while, you can get a bunch of cheap plain keycaps off AliExpress. Do be warned if you go browsing on there that a lot of the full sets they sell are knockoffs of existing ones, although whether they're actually lower quality than the originals is sort of an open question. This applies to Amazon too, FYI. HappyCapybaraFamily posted:65% and 75% layouts, from what I've seen, often have a 1.75u right-shift key, but the rest of the keys are usually the same size as full-size, 80%, and 60% layouts. Aside from the right Shift key, 65/68/70/75% boards also have a pretty random assortment of what they include in the top-right corner and where, so you might not get the correct profile keycap for your PgUp/PgDn/Home/whatever. This won't matter if you like a flat profile like DSA, of course.
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Jul 13, 2022 20:22
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smooth jazz posted:Customized my first keyboard today. It started with a keyboard video that showed up in my youtube feed, and ended up going down a deep rabbit hole. This mirrors a lot of my early experience almost exactly, lol. One tip--I'm gussing that you bent the pins down, not snapped them off completely, in which case you can just get some needle-nose pliers and bend 'em back into place. Also, testing each switch as you place them (JOSH) can shorten the troubleshooting phase considerably.
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Jul 25, 2022 21:27
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Deviant posted:this reads and looks like the work of the utterly deranged Oooh, I've got some cursed builds to share! All of these were built on a NuPhy TES68 (also sold as the CIY Tester68). I'd apologize for my phone's janky camera, but it seems appropriate in this case.  Turns out the TES68 actually has some unexpectedly nice features for a $20-30 barebones case, like a silicone dampening plate and a layer of dampening foam behind the PCB... so of course I started with the ugliest color they had, took out the sound dampening parts, put in some unlubed Cherry MX Brown switches, and threw on the ugliest keycaps I could find on AliExpress. Each keypress is simultaneously scratchy, mushy, rattle-y, and hollow.  I actually upgraded the dampening foam on these cases, and the keycaps look and feel quite nice in person... but I also installed the lightest and heaviest switches I could find on them: Gateron Clear and Kailh BOX Ancient Grey, with 35g and 95g actuation forces, respectively. The Clears are so light that just resting your fingers on the keys is often enough to depress them, and they struggle to lift the larger keys back up. Meanwhile, the Ancient Greys are so heavy that it's a serious challenge to depress them, especially with your pinky, although they do sound pretty nice if you don't mind the finger workout.
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Sep 14, 2022 22:15
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Fn1 + S + O for four seconds, apparently.
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Nov 11, 2022 16:20
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The K7 also has offset stems for the stabilizers, like this, so you'll need caps with the same offset--Azio makes the only ones I was able to find, and I never actually ordered a set, so I can't confirm that they have the *correct* offset. The K7 Pro doesn't have that offset, IIRC.
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Apr 14, 2023 14:34
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Gearman posted:Apparently there are Kailh Mute Jades, though the sound tests I can find make them still sound pretty loud, but certainly more muted than regular Jades. This is probably the closest you'll find to a "silent" clicky. Novelkeys should be restocking them soon: https://novelkeys.com/products/kailh-box-switches?variant=41869263372455 I have a few. Turns out when you silence the clicky part, they just sound and feel like an average heavy tactile switch.
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Jun 19, 2023 21:14
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The sets on AE are fine and pretty much WYSIWYG--some of the cheaper ones might have slightly misaligned legends or something, if you're especially persnickety about that, but you should be able to tell that from the photos beforehand. It's also worth poking around on Amazon if you see something you like, 'cause sometimes they'll have the exact same ones on there for the same price or cheaper, except with Prime shipping and returns in case you realize it doesn't match your board layout or whatever. Also worth noting that paying more for caps is no guarantee of quality. You can find plenty of angry people online who waited 2+ years for a $stupid GMK set that came with a banana-shaped spacebar, lol
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Jun 22, 2023 19:45
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Dirac Fourier posted:I put together a GMK67 with Akko Blue Jelly switches and a spare set of GMK laser keycaps that I had laying around. I paid $70 for the keyboard on Amazon and $40 for the switches, both from Amazon. It seems like a really good bang for the buck DIY kit. Anyone else pleasantly surprised with the GMK67? Yeah, CIY/Zuoya boards are pretty hard to beat in terms of value, and they seem to stay on the cutting edge of features like foam or silicone padding. About the only thing they don't offer are aluminum cases or QMK/VIA support, aside from the LMK67. Protip: they're more like $45 if you're willing to wait for the slow boat from China.
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Oct 4, 2023 14:06
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HamburgerTownUSA posted:Oh, I was digging through some old pictures and found this cursed one: 280? I made a gimmick board with Kailh Box Ancient Greys (which are 100g) and it takes some serious effort to type on even though I have pretty strong hands. Do you have to lean into each keypress or something?
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Apr 30, 2024 03:27
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