Hi, my name is Manuel. I have loved everything related with peripherals since I was a kid. Now that I am older and have my own money I can spend it as my mom says on “nonsenses”. I love keyboards and I have owned differente types of them, however I never had the time or money to be buying and trying different switches, stabs, cases… Now that I am looking forward to build my very own custom keyboard (ck) I am realizing of some stuff that really makes me feel uneasy.
While surfing through the reddit, some of the well known keyboard websites I realised that building your ck is very very expensive. Because of that I went straight to aliexpress, bought myself a hotswap keyboard which had a case that I liked. Looked for some switches, I bought Silent Tactile TOMs, and a set of keycaps of PBT, which as far I know is the best between PBT and ABS, the most common plastics keycaps are made of. Also I bought a coiled cable that costed me only 5$, compared to other sites where the price of a simple coiled cable are more than 20$. And a foam.
I build a “custom keyboard” for only 53$, which leads me to lots of questions. Why simple 60% whiteout cases from etsy or kbd, and similar shops sell them for nearly 50 or 60$. Yes, there are better materials, but is it not overpriced? Why sets of keycaps you could buy in aliexpress for 20$ less are sold way pricier in these shops, I am aware of dropshippers but it is way overpriced and sadly and surprisingly very concurred by people looking to buy their custom keyboard.
Is the keyboard market way overpriced? I see pcb plates listing for 60$ and I do not see a very critical difference. The only thing I am okay on spending money are switches and stabs, but why I should spend nearly a 100$ on a wooden case? Or 60$ on “artisan keycap” which is probably dropshipped or made for less than 5$? Why is etsy so used if there are lots of dropshippers? Even shops as kbd and someothers sell way overpriced keycaps sets that I do not think are very different to the ones I could buy on aliexpress?.
Am I too pinchpenny? Are there heavy arguments of why I should spend lots of money on a simple case? Or even on a set of keycaps?. A build as Wooting 60HE could be done with the plate and the same switches, and maybe using some config firmware programs?
If anyone is wondering about the keyboard I built, here it is…
HAHAHAHAH, I do think you and I have something in common, we are both very practical and want things that work well. Any recommendation of “not so finer things” I should look forward to buy for my next build?
Honestly I think you want to set a budget. And also, you’re really gonna wanna save up to $200~ for something of a high quality- most of these people are small companies, and so they can’t sell cheap. For instance, a Bakeneko65, one of the most popular beginner boards, is $150, and rightfully so. It’s a good quality, pretty, and simple frame that does nothing “wrong”. And then once you consider Aliexpress is like factory -> consumer, vs others who are a middleman, you get less profit margin worries there. I spent $350 total on my 2 boards- both are extremely practical builds. My first is a gaming board w/ green switches, it’s a simple, $150 build with all the basic mods (foam, etc), and it’s made to be pretty, but be hella responsive. My second, $200, is a split keyboard with more custom keycaps and so on. I could’ve spent only $160 on it, but I splurged on an artwork, and making it fit perfectly for me. Had I chosen the cheaper option, it wouldn’t be “ideal”.
In the end we need a budget, a design goal, and to realize this is a niche hobby with majority indie companies who don’t have the scaled economy to produce shit en masse, and are perfecting an artwork, not just a product. If you want practical and cheap, you could buy a membrane, or a $50 Logitech G (it’s on sale rn!) for instance. Its quality won’t be as high, its aesthetics and fine design isn’t as detailed, but it does a job well enough. And also, it’s really hard to trust Aliexpress- I’ve gotten scam things and high quality hand soldered stuff there. So it’s hard to make suggestions and so on for “super budget” of $50~. $300< is what I’m used to as the standard range, as it’s where the majority of good quality, good design things are found.
Thx man for sharing your experience, I may be quite simple thats why is hard for me to understand however, thx to everybody who shared their opinion in this post taught me lots of things. Right know im looking forward to buying a keycron whith a metal case, is it a good option? Right know they are on sale so I may be able to buy on of those for lees than a 100$, any recommendation?
Keychron is the ideal begineer pick imo. Good quality, good everything, fits all budgets. Choose what you like and can afford, then you can slowly mod it, buy new switches (Akko’s are amazing!), switch out the keycaps, maybe add a mod, etc.