The Idobao ID87 is a really solid TKL for under $200

[Hipyo]

Howdy everyone!

I got my hands on the ID87 which held a group buy earlier this year. It's back up for sale on the Idobao website and I highly recommend it for anyone considering their first TKL and wanting minimal build effort. It's a hot-swap pcb with white SMD lighting per key and RGB underglow that is hidden behind an aluminum backplate. It suffers from some of the same hollowness issues as the ID80, but nothing some foam won't fix in the future.

Here's a video review of it if you are curious, I put Durock Pink Linears and PBT future funk on it.

[treeleaf64]

This looks like integrated plate though.. .. . . . so .. . not really that good value.

[Hipyo]

This looks like integrated plate though.. .. . . . so .. . not really that good value.

Whys that? I personally prefer a stiff typing experience so I really enjoy integrated plates.

[treeleaf64]

It's not consistent feel. Or rather, it's very very stiff and no flex at all.
And the sound is definitely horrible without the foam.

It's not a fun typing experience compared to top/bottom/gasket/sandwich mount.  (This is all in my opinion)

I'd rather have brass top mount  than  aluminum integrated plate

[Hipyo]

It's not consistent feel. Or rather, it's very very stiff and no flex at all.
And the sound is definitely horrible without the foam.

It's not a fun typing experience compared to top/bottom/gasket/sandwich mount.  (This is all in my opinion)

I'd rather have brass top mount  than  aluminum integrated plate

That's fair, to each their own I suppose!

[hpetrovski]

Since this is basically a bigger ID80, I'm assuming there's gonna be even more pingy-ness inside the case, so I'd say $200 for this is far from calling it well priced. I personally wouldn't be okay with putting $350 into a board and having to stuff it to death with foam for it to be bearable. I'm a big fan of linears on a stiff plate, but if I was in a market for something similar, I'd look elsewhere.

[phinix]

I think its a good alternative to DROP's CTRL - which is same built-in plate.
Plus its cheaper than DROP, has better profile (lower front) and loads of space inside the case to fill it with foam. They even sell special foam to put between plate and pcb for $9.
DROP CTRL sounds like a empty can and you have no space to try to silence it.

[phinix]

OK, I got this keyboard like last week, but had to wait for my Durock stabs to come over.

Today I built it, lubed stabs, mounted, band-aid modded, mounted my lubed Glorious holy pandas and my OG cherry keycaps set.
I bought it with original silencing foam that goes between plate and pcb.
Also added some foam inside the case to make it even more silenced.

What can I say...

This thing is better than RAMA U80.
For less than half the price. Well, Rama was £450, this was £170.

I know, pretty strong, but it is. It sounds amazing, holy pandas feel great on it, it is very low front profile, which I've been waiting for, full alu, heavy enough for me to still be able to move around on my desk, what I do constantly:)

Plus my dark grey version looks awesome:)
Now need to find out how to use QMK and add some shortcuts/macros I want.