Well I fell down the custom keyboard world.

Jay85 · 11 Mar 2022 at 16:15

pacegod said:
£640 is a good price from Mechmarket. Seems you got very lucky.

Sounds lovely. I have a Frog and few lesser boards like Ikki68, NK87 etc but want something else. A 7v is on the list, but people often want ridiculous money. Too many treat KB as money making investment rather than a hobby, and buy up the stuff users actually want.

Yeah its such a shame but its nice to see the community actually sticking together and shaming people who try it on the mechmarket. You see the guy who wont he keycult raffle and then try and sell his spot lately? Was banned and shunned instantly! Seems a lot better than the gpu market anyway. The guy i bought it from was genuinely a nice guy and wasn't after scalping what he had.

Came with a ton of extras too, extra Ansi hotswap pcb with foams, fr4, gold alu, pom, polycarb and abs plates! Pretty much everything that came with the original box too, including the nice microfibre cloth. Still has the protective peel on the weight but im tempted to leave it on to keep it scratch free...

Have you looked at the Phoenix as well on Keebcats? Thats a nice board too, the bottom is a 1 piece brass weight.

The Frog is a nice board, i know someone who has one, envious of you too haha! I was tempted by the Ikki68 but i have enough 65% i think for now. Still waiting on the Mode65 to be delivered sometime in April.

New keycaps finally arrived today. The Infinikey OG is a really nice set.

pacegod · 11 Mar 2022 at 21:24

Jay85 said:
Have you looked at the Phoenix as well on Keebcats? Thats a nice board too, the bottom is a 1 piece brass weight.

New keycaps finally arrived today. The Infinikey OG is a really nice set.

I did look at the Phoenix and I'd really like a red KB, but the offset screws on the base put me off, I know you don't see them but aesthetically its irritating.

Infinikey is a lovely set.

I noticed from Taeha that cablemods are selling reasonably priced coiled and straight cables with lemo type connectors.

Jay85 · 12 Mar 2022 at 00:47

pacegod said:
I did look at the Phoenix and I'd really like a red KB, but the offset screws on the base put me off, I know you don't see them but aesthetically its irritating.

Infinikey is a lovely set.

I noticed from Taeha that cablemods are selling reasonably priced coiled and straight cables with lemo type connectors.

Yeah i can see what you mean, i didn't even notice that tbh until you mentioned it haha.

Yeah its a lovely set, the alphas are legends are nice and sharp which i've been told has been abit hit and miss previously.

Are you tempted to get a new cable? I ended up ordering a few customs instead from Pexon and Keeboid. Not cheap but well worth the extra for the custom colours and materials.

pacegod · 12 Mar 2022 at 08:20

Ive bought a few from Loopy Loom, which have been great quality and reasonably priced. I try and get them to match the keycap set. So have a gmk lazer one, WoB and Red, they noramlly work out around £45-50, but then i get stung for another 20% on import to EU.
Pexon I used in the past for PSU cable, but I think they are that cheap.

Jay85 · 12 Mar 2022 at 11:41

pacegod said:
Ive bought a few from Loopy Loom, which have been great quality and reasonably priced. I try and get them to match the keycap set. So have a gmk lazer one, WoB and Red, they noramlly work out around £45-50, but then i get stung for another 20% on import to EU.
Pexon I used in the past for PSU cable, but I think they are that cheap.

Haha same! Or at least i try to get it to match the case. Pexom do a nice Lemo connector with Patina so went with that one, should look good with my Black and Gold theme on my Mode65 when it eventually arrives.
I've not used Pexon for computer cables so fingers crossed its not bad!

Yeah import charges are horrendous, you think you got yourself a good deal then you get hit with that and it changes everything lol.

davetherave2 · 13 Mar 2022 at 00:28

pacegod said:
Anyone looked at the Matrix 8vx 3.0
https://prototypist.net/collections...x-8xv-3-0-keyboard-kit?variant=39725357236290
I liked the look of the V2.0, just looking for a new build, I'd like a nice 75% really, but no GB or decent ones in stock.

Yes I am getting one or maybe two at this rate. I am struggling with what colourways I want. Waiting to see what Jae has on his build stream on Monday and then make a final decision.

Love the look of that Mr Suit. I may have to add it to my list of possible future builds if they do a round 3. But after the big splurge I am doing with the Matrix I will have to calm it down. Especially after getting in on the Phoenix TKL last week.

Jay85 · 13 Mar 2022 at 00:55

davetherave2 said:
Yes I am getting one or maybe two at this rate. I am struggling with what colourways I want. Waiting to see what Jae has on his build stream on Monday and then make a final decision.

Love the look of that Mr Suit. I may have to add it to my list of possible future builds if they do a round 3. But after the big splurge I am doing with the Matrix I will have to calm it down. Especially after getting in on the Phoenix TKL last week.

The R3 Mr suit has come and gone i think mate, i think it was last week or the week before but it wasn't colours i would have gone for Pink and lilac?

Finally got a decent shot of the back mirrored piece, its stunning!

davetherave2 · 13 Mar 2022 at 01:11

oh well, not a big deal as I have my eye on CW's next keyboard and waiting to see if/what happens with the pf F13 TKL.

pacegod · 13 Mar 2022 at 08:08

Don't Mode have the sonnet in the works as well, looks to be a 75.

I aslo am now looking for a Mr Suit, the blue is really nice.

Jay85 · 13 Mar 2022 at 11:30

pacegod said:
Don't Mode have the sonnet in the works as well, looks to be a 75.

I aslo am now looking for a Mr Suit, the blue is really nice.

Yeah the Sonnet75 is due to launch shortly, they keep announcing bits here and there, tons of teasers. I was gonna get a Sonnet but now that i have this i dont think i will, gonna see what 75's come later in the year.

Honestly the blue on this is gorgeous, its slightly textured but smooth at the same time. Worth every penny i spent it on it which is still ongoing haha!

pacegod · 15 Mar 2022 at 13:26

Having watched Jae build a Matrix 3.0 last night, I think I'll be getting one, just need to decide on a colour. Leaning or Ano red but feel that limits what caps will go with it.

I'm going to ask a stupid question, why would one go for WKL over WK? I have only ever bought WK boards. I know normally you get F13 but the 3.0 doesnt have this.

davetherave2 · 15 Mar 2022 at 15:15

pacegod said:
Having watched Jae build a Matrix 3.0 last night, I think I'll be getting one, just need to decide on a colour. Leaning or Ano red but feel that limits what caps will go with it.

I'm going to ask a stupid question, why would one go for WKL over WK? I have only ever bought WK boards. I know normally you get F13 but the 3.0 doesnt have this.

I think some people prefer the look of WKL over WK and want to honour the look of the older keyboards that didn't have a winkey (because windows didn't exist in the hayday of IBM)

I am getting the Matrix I am just stuck on colours at the minute so this may be the first board I buy multiples of, I am debating between McFlurry, Tiffany, Pink and White Flash.

pacegod · 15 Mar 2022 at 16:25

davetherave2 said:
I think some people prefer the look of WKL over WK and want to honour the look of the older keyboards that didn't have a winkey (because windows didn't exist in the hayday of IBM)

I am getting the Matrix I am just stuck on colours at the minute so this may be the first board I buy multiples of, I am debating between McFlurry, Tiffany, Pink and White Flash.

I noticed you can buy tops as well in different colours, that might just be enough for me, but a whole KB in one colour then a top in another. McFlurry seems nice as it has flecks in it. Need to decide as GB ends thursday i think.

davetherave2 · 17 Mar 2022 at 14:18

pacegod said:
I noticed you can buy tops as well in different colours, that might just be enough for me, but a whole KB in one colour then a top in another. McFlurry seems nice as it has flecks in it. Need to decide as GB ends thursday i think.

The GB has been extended to Friday due to the delay in the proto's being shown.

But I had purchased mine before finding this out. This is certainly the single largest keyboard purchase I have made and with the options I have chosen I am super excited and Q4 can't get here fast enough. But in all seriousness I am happy to wait and plan out these builds and not look at more shiny rectangles over the next 9 months.

Dreadi · 22 Mar 2022 at 21:10

Had anyone in here got a bm60rgb kit? I was all set to buy the ducky one 3 mini but then started looking at 60% kits...not found a great deal but the bm60rgb seems to fit the bill...

davetherave2 · 24 Mar 2022 at 15:44

Dreadi said:
Had anyone in here got a bm60rgb kit? I was all set to buy the ducky one 3 mini but then started looking at 60% kits...not found a great deal but the bm60rgb seems to fit the bill...

Sorry I haven't. From the brief look at the kit it seems to have all the bits required for a great starter set. I guess the question is what is your budget for the entire build and are things like ISO vs ANSI important to you? Are you looking to solder or have hot swap?

Dreadi · 26 Mar 2022 at 09:12

Looking for hot swap (which the ducky has), layout I'm not fussed about as it's only used for gaming so the right hand side of the keyboard is basically pointless

only thing putting my off the bm60 is I can't find out much about pilling rates and latency. I know it's not the end of the world but nobody wants to a laggy keyboard for gaming and the one 3 mini has a decent response time of 4.5ms.
Budget is around £140 (price of the one 3 mini) but the bm60 can be had for around £60 without keycaps..

davetherave2 · 26 Mar 2022 at 12:41

I'm not as familiar with more budget conscious options compared to the more medium/higher end boards, looking at the face of it, I think you can't go wrong with either option at that price point (depending on what the cost of shipping is for the BM60 kit). I guess it really comes down to cost and if you go with the keyboard kit getting a set of key caps that will be within budget. If you are looking for more of that modding and experimenting then the rm60 maybe the way to go (but you may need to spend a bit more getting things like lube, stabilizers, switches etc depending on the version of the kit you are getting).
I am sure you can mod the ducky as well other than the hot swap switches but looking at it from a review it seems to have had some of the more popular mods done like foam added etc.

Personally if the budget could be stretched a little further then maybe something like the KBDFans 67Lite or even the Zoom65 Olivia Edition (this comes with everything you need but will push the budget up even more and is a 65% rather than 60%, plus you have to wait for stock @ £189+shipping).

Ultimately I guess it comes down to what your preference is in terms of availability, cost, features and looks. If the ducky does it for you then go for that, if you want to experiment more and can wait for things, then go with the bm60rgb kit or other such kits that offer this more flexible approach to keyboard building.

Just know once you start looking at the more "custom" end of the keyboard world it gets very expensive very quickly and the wait times seemingly get longer and longer.

One thing though to consider is if anything goes wrong it will be easier to deal with the ducky replacement over the rm60rgb especially if you need to send anything back.

I wish you luck on whichever route you decide to go down.

edit: maybe also be worth looking at the Royal Kludge RK61 as an alternative "cheaper" option it can be had for around the £60 mark. Again should be hotswappable as well.

Dreadi · 28 Mar 2022 at 17:26

Bm60rgb Keyboard kit is down £46 delivered from China but.....I think I'm going to go for the ducky. Easier if something goes wrong and low latency. Might just grab some other switches in the sale to try out, maybe some gateron pros..

davetherave2 · 30 Mar 2022 at 22:14

I understand the decision there. It is a bit of a risk plus who knows how long you would have to wait for delivery currently. Have heard good things about the Gat Pros, but I have so many switches I really need to test out in boards. (need to stop hording them for just in case lol)

Although I am not a 65% user the new Zoom65 is certainly a tempting option to try out personally. But I think it would have to be more of a show piece for me rather than actually being used. I don't think I could get used to that smaller and more compact size.