[IC] Keyboard tryouts

[tinyprawn]

This idea is superficially charming, immediately alarming, and typically dismissed offhand so I understand the naysayers!  Please read on a bit and respond to the form so we know if we should bother putting more effort into this.

https://www.pararray.com/keyboards/interest-check/

The elevator speech:

• Switch testers hardly give any impression of what a switch will feel like to type on
• The buy-and-then-return-immediately approach is kinda crappy
• Endgame keyboards feature several exotic components which is expensive to build for the sake of testing

What I want to find out:

• Are any of you actually interested in renting a keyboard for a few weeks?
• If so, would it need to be endgame or would some simple boards with funky layouts or fancy switches be sufficient?
• Does the apparently high price tag of $50/week for an endgame board cause immediate refusal?

There is more information on the parent page for that interest check about what the plan is and why we are doing it.  I didn't want to get into how we may deal with things like vetting clients and handling fraud, loss, damage, and theft.  I think there are mechanisms in place in most rental/tryout businesses that make sense and can be applied to this world.

https://www.pararray.com/keyboards/interest-check/

I will try to keep up to date with this thread for feedback, but it really helps to have it submitted through the form.

Thanks!

[Cocopah]

Hmm, interesting idea. Is this more to test specific high end boards or primarily to try a switch on a full board? the 50$/week is a hard sale, at that point you can pretty much buy a full set of switches.

[tinyprawn]

the 50$/week is a hard sale, at that point you can pretty much buy a full set of switches.

So the $50/week board would likely cost somewhere between $700-1000 if you tried to rebuild that board at any given time.  There may be caps that are unavailable due to a group buy or something.  These $50/week boards would be very high-end... if someone is interested in trying one of those.

That said, offering a wider variety of cheaper boards would be easier.  Buying a dozen aliexpress GH60 kits would bring the cost per keyboard down to $200-ish.  Makes replacement and adding stock much easier.

I think the "full board switch tester" would be in the cheaper end in the 15-25/week range.

The other thing which I may nave neglected is that these would be split boards, 40% boards, weird stuff.  I have a couple of 60% boards and a tiny 35% board and some Gherkins on the way.

[Traveler]

It's an interesting idea, and something I could probably see myself using. If I put the pencil to it the prices are probably relatively reasonable, but at first glance they seem a bit high. Are these prices with shipping and everything or just for time, with shipping costing extra? And when the form says "Price targets are estimates based loosely on a 3-4 week booking.", does that mean 3-4 weeks is our only option or could we choose a custom number of weeks? I would only need 2 weeks tops to test a board.

And just for the sake of curiosity, is a board with Alps switches something that would be offered? I wanna try a board with some QC Alps but I'm to skeptical to build my own haha.

[tinyprawn]

Since time is of the essence, I tried to price 2-day 2-way shipping into the deal which is why 3-weeks is the only way it makes sense.

A company that does "baby stuff" rentals has a model where shipping is particularly expensive because car seats and high chairs are bulky. They have "free shipping" but the first week costs double what the second week costs and then each week thereafter is minimally expensive because the thing is where it is.

For example, a high chair costs $60 for one week, 90 for 2 weeks, and 110 for 3 weeks.

I wouldn't follow their model because typing on a planck for 10 days is just when it starts to feel okay. If someone has to return it after 7 days, they will invariably have a bad experience. 2 weeks might be long enough for something like green switches vs brown, but I think 3 weeks would be necessary for green vs blue.