New to the hobby, just ordered my first mechanical board

[cheetodust]

Hey everyone,

Like the title states I'm new to the world of enthusiast keyboards, but in just a few short days of youtube dives and a lot of googling I've ordered my first mechanical keyboard.  I opted for a TADA68 with gray aluminum case and Gateron blacks.  How'd I do?

My rationale for this first board was that I don't use the numpad really, but I use my arrow keys a lot so a 65% layout seemed like a great starting point.  After a lot of back and forth on switch choice I finally opted for a linear switch.  I originally thought a good starting point would be something tactile like a brown, but after watching a lot of videos, the muted tap of lubed Gat yellows and blacks was too irresistable.  Decided to go with black because I'm so used to typing on laptop boards with heavy actuation.  This board will be used mostly for light typing (message board posting, twitch chat, that sort of stuff).

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but I am already planning a custom build as well, and I'd like to do something with the Tofu 60 case, chocolate color w/ a brass plate. 

Any tips for getting into the hobby or comments/suggestions on the TADA68 are welcome. 

[Altis]

Hello and welcome!

The TADA68 looks like a good 65% layout, though I've never tried that board. I have a WhiteFox with a pretty similar layout and really like it.

My experience with Gaterons is has been pretty positive, as they're smoother than Cherry switches and seem to be well made. I only prefer the sound of the Cherry switch housing but that's entirely a personal preference. Linear switches are often overlooked by people first taking an interest in mechanical keyboards as they're often seen as less interesting than a hearty crunchy/clicky keyboard, but they're actually very nice to use and sound nice as you've pointed out.

Hope you enjoy the board and make sure to post photos of it!

[romevi]

TURN AROUND AND NEVER LOOK BACK.

[cheetodust]

Hello and welcome!

The TADA68 looks like a good 65% layout, though I've never tried that board. I have a WhiteFox with a pretty similar layout and really like it.

My experience with Gaterons is has been pretty positive, as they're smoother than Cherry switches and seem to be well made. I only prefer the sound of the Cherry switch housing but that's entirely a personal preference. Linear switches are often overlooked by people first taking an interest in mechanical keyboards as they're often seen as less interesting than a hearty crunchy/clicky keyboard, but they're actually very nice to use and sound nice as you've pointed out.

Hope you enjoy the board and make sure to post photos of it!

Thanks!  Yeah this will be my first experience with linear switches so I'm a little nervous, but I won't be relying on this keyboard on a daily basis for work or anything so I figured I could live with it either way.  Plus there's always the option of replacing the switches or dropping in a new pcb later.  It's supposed to arrive in a couple days so I'll definitely post some pics then!

TURN AROUND AND NEVER LOOK BACK.

It's... it's too late

[ArchDill]

TURN AROUND AND NEVER LOOK BACK.

This is the best advice...


Welcome!

[cicada]

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[cheetodust]

The keyboard arrived last night.  My first out of the box impressions were a) wow the aluminum case is heavier than I expected, and b) the stabs rattle a lot.  I plugged it into my Mac right away just to see what I was in for.  Luckily Mac OS had no issues recognizing the keyboard, and already recognizes the Win key as a Command key. 

I decided to use my Windows work laptop to actually program the board so I got set up there next.  Had to figure out on the fly how to run a Flash applet in Chrome using the Flash add on, but eventually got the configurator running.  I considered using two separate layouts - one for Mac and one for Windows and using a Fn combo to toggle between them.  After thinking about it a bit more I decided on just a Mac layout since the only real difference is the sequence of bottom row modifiers, and I will primarily be using this board at home on my Mac anyway. 

I'm really happy with the Gateron blacks as the switch choice.  I've never used a linear switch and I was unsure of what weight to go with, but at the end of the day these feel (and sound) great.  A little scratchy right of the box but have already started to smooth out quite a bit under normal typing.  I was getting pretty good wps right away on this board which surprised me due because of how different this thing is from the laptop boards I am used to typing on.  I managed to get a little bit of lube into the spacebar stabilizer and it definitely tamed the rattle a bit, drastically reducing the volume, though not eliminating it entirely.

I am now just waiting on a set of Mac modifier caps and accent caps to arrive to complete the setup.  I'll post some "before pics" a little later today when I get some good natural light in the office, and then follow up with some after pics in a week or so when I have the everything set up how I want.

[cheetodust]

Here are the "before" pics.  Stock PBT keycaps, gray alu case.  Only thing I did was swap position of left-alt and win key, and swap right-ctrl and Fn key.  Win and right-ctrl will be changed to Mac command key caps, and both alts will be switched to Mac option caps.

[cheetodust]

Well, here I am nearly a month later and I still haven't received my second order which included the accent caps, mac modifiers, and usb cable.  It was shipped ePacket from kbdfans, and the last tracking update was from a Chinese airport on 1/29.  I understand it probably got held up the whole week prior to Chinese New Year and maybe some afterward, but the fact that the status still hasn't changed is troubling.

That said, I'm trying to decide which direction to go in with my next board.  On the one hand the heavy aluminum of my Tada is pretty luxurious, but all the metal in the build does create its fair share of noise.  I kind of want to go in another direction with my next build and I have my eye on the new kbdfans DZ60 hotswap pcb.  It has a funky layout that includes arrows and a 2.25u left shift.  They combine the ?/ onto the right shift for this layout and I actually don't hate that idea.  I want to put it in a light plastic case and throw some Zilents in it as well. 

[cheetodust]

Finally got my other package a couple days ago.  The TADA68 now feels complete.  I have my Mac modifier keys and red escape key/usb cable.  Nothing ground breaking in terms of aesthetics but its the look that got me interested in the TADA in the first place.

And in the meantime I ordered the parts for my first 60% build!

It's a GK61 hotswap PCB in a generic Pok3r style plastic case with a steel plate which I got without switches and caps for $50 on Amazon.  The pics in the listing show Kailh hotswap sockets so that's cool.  I ordered some 65g Zealios and a set of simple gray/white DSA keycaps with Mac modifiers to complete the board.  Really looking forward to it.  Once I find a switch I really love I'll just drop the whole thing into a nicer case and invest in a really nice set of caps for it.