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…
Hi, I see you ask about switch recommendations.
I type on tactile switches almost exclusively and I can recommend Gazzew Boba U4T, Panda Clones (Glorious, MMD/Feker), Gateron Anubis, and Tecsee Coffee Chip Ice Cream for equally as deep / deeper alternatives to Holy Panda. AFAIK they are less mainstream except for the first one. Mind that the tactility can be different, Holy Pandas have pre-travel before the bump hits, while Boba U4T bump will hit you immediately.
Linears I think SOTC sounds really good like marbles colliding but not as popular (at least around my area)
Although I have to mention that sounds also rely on the built of the board. Aside from the standards like plate and case materials, the weight, shape, also forms the sound. Keysets also affect this, in terms of their thickness, material, and profile (High Profiles such as SA/MT3 generally sounds deeper).
As for your post, I started with $50 full-sized non-hotswap mechanical keyboard. But here I am now with the so called “piece of arts” HHKB Layout Boards. For me, the sound and feel helps me calm down and focus when typing/writing codes/architecture, ofc aesthetics helps with being nice to look at.
Sorry for the wall of text.