Reporting back in! I got the board built last night!
Switches: Gateron KS3 lubed with 205g0
PCB Foam: EVA
Plate Foam: None
Case Foam: Poron
Switches: Geekark 9009 Reverse Cangjie
Here are updates following the unboxing. Basically after 1 hour of built ownership.
Bad Things
1. Feet magnets aren't strong enough and fell off several times during build. At one point one even just fell off on its own.
2. Ribbon cables are still not good IMO but it's only a pain during the build process. My recommendation is to remove the the PCB from the weight and test the board that way. Do be careful when holding the weight and screwing the pcb back in. If you wait to test the board until everything is put together, you'll have a fun time removing all 16 screws again just to get to the PCB.
3. Even with the poron light diffuser, there is still quite a bit of light leakage around the logo. Can probably be fixed with some electrical tape.
4. Case foam has plenty of cutouts to accommodate the hotswap sockets. However there are no holes specific for the ribbon cables to be threaded thru. In fact the holes on the case are covered by the case foam.
5. Velocifire repeatedly stressed to follow the plate file labeling for the different gasket zones. Plate file was for a different plate than what was sent to me, and the gaskets sent had labels that weren't even on the plate file. No biggie, it's relatively easy to match the gasket lengths with the tabs on plate.
6. You cannot have all the switches in place when assembling the case. Specifically the left/down arrow and pgup/dn keys. Not a big deal as this is common on many seamless designs. I've seen this on both the GHS.RAR and the Nyaong 75. However, unlike those two boards, the problem is when you go back to put in switches. The switches end up have a corner resting on the screw receptacle. See pictures
I have tested with Gateron KS3, JWK Alpacas, Durock POMs, and Tecsee Diamonds. All but the Tecsee fit like the pictures. The Tecsee couldn't even go sit in the plate properly.
This is very noticeable without the keycaps, but once they are on, you won't notice unless you are looking for it. You'll also feel it when you type on those specific keys as you will feel a very harsh bottom out on the corners that the switch is resting on the screw receptacle.
The fix is to cut the corners of your switches. Don't cut too much because you might mess up the top enough to introduce wobble.
Neutral Things
1. My Hope 75s is built with EVA foam and poron case foam only (Audience Voting). This led to a very okay-ish sound profile for me. EVA tends to round out the Jelly sound more than PE foam. It's not the best sounding board, and I really was expecting more but I suppose I could change it out to PE in the future for something better.
Good Things
1. That blue is gorgeous, it's probably the nicest blue board I currently own.
2. Typing feel was great. I was very skeptical about it as I typically do not like overly flexible boards. With all the flex cuts and ~1.1mm thick PCB, I was worried that it would just be too much for me. The board actually feels very very comfortable to type on. Great typing experience.
3. Having a symmetrical F13 layout is very aesthetically pleasing
4. Very good looking board, probably one of the nicer looking 75s I've seen in quite awhile
5. RGB strip is a very nice touch. The diffusion method is pretty darn near perfect.
Conclusion
I think the board is actually pretty decent. I love how it types and this is in my opinion one of the best looking 75s I've seen this year. However, I still can't shake the vibe that it's a cheaper Jelly Epoch copy. While the board looks excellent when built, on the inside it seems that a lot of shortcuts were taken, from the design to the manufacturing. They've implemented correctly a lot of what the Jelly Epoch did great, but the extras they threw in (except the RGB) seem rather not as well thought out.
A viewer asked if I would consider this board premium and if the prices it was being sold at make it a good deal. I would argue that because of point 6 in the bad things list, I cannot associate it with the word premium. The last time I had to modify a switch to make it work with a keyboard was converting 5 pin to 3 pin. One could argue that is no where near as destructive as what I had to do with the 4 switches on the Hope. Once again, this is all in the build phase, so once you actually do the build, and clip your switches, nothing to worry about. But because I am an enthusiast and I love to build and rebuild boards on a regular basis, this issue actually makes me enjoy the board a whole lot less. Knowing what I know now, I feel this board is a fantastic value and great price point at $359 (maybe a little cheaper would be better). But at $459, in my opinion not even that fancy PVD coated brass weight can outweigh the drawbacks.
