Hello there!
I just joined Geekhack after spending a big amount of time researching mechanical keyboards before buying one. I somewhat got more and more interested in the whole notion of it. What follows is my journey into buying an mech. keyboard and I hope you can find some joy in this wall of text. Personal info, nothing spectacular, will be embedded in the text.
After some time I found that buying a better keyboard from the start was my best bet, just like every other thing you get into, whether it be musical instruments or tattoos.
Choosing the MX switch was a tricky first decision and I bounced back and forth between reds and browns for a long time. I finally got the opportunity to test blacks, blues, browns and reds in a computer store. First I liked the blacks since I was coming from the chiclet keyboard on Macbook Pro, but after some time clicking that testing button I realized the force required was a bit too high. Since my new keyboard keys was going to be higher in profile (OEM) than my Macbook keyboard it would strain my fingers more, that was my reasoning. Reds felt a bit mushy and for me getting those wouldn't justify buying a mech. keyboard. Speaking of profile I understood that many geekhackers preferred the lower Cherry profile and I looked for a possibility to buy those kinds of keycaps, but in Sweden it wasn't an option to ship, mostly because of the high price tag. Getting it from a group buy would still cost me customs and so on... After understanding my situation, I don't mean to sound dramatic about first world problems, I started looking for the best accessible keyboard. Filco seemed to be one of the best common brands for it's price, getting a custom was a bit too hardcore. Ducky was on my mind in the beginning since they are easy to come by but I don't need any function keys, backlit, or any bling(!) That put me off the most even though switching keycaps would fix it. I wanted a TKL, I'm no programmer or IT guy of any sort, I do write a lot of text though (also outside this post) so a numpad would just take up precious space. I decided to get a Filco MJ2 Ninja TKL (MX Brown) in Nordic layout.
From the beginning I knew the stock keycaps were said to go slippery quite quickly and I therefore decided to get PBT ones. In this niche market it's hard to get them even in the US so to get some dyesub with Swedish or at least Nordic letters were impossible. I found out about the Ducky Premier and that Teraset would supply it and sell thick PBT keycaps with suitable letters, maybe you rather say characters I don't know... However these was at the time not in stock and "Available soon" and I figured they would be 1) Expensive and 2) Shipping from Finland cost like 25 EUR if I remember correctly. I started to look for alternatives and I found out that a Swedish computer supplier sold a 109 set Ducky Thin PBT Keycaps in black and white. They only had one in stock of each so I hurried to place my order. My Filco is black and I really like the look of white on black rather than having an all black keyboard, only negative thing is the dirt problem, still going strong though. I bought those keycaps for around 60 EUR and I'm pretty confident getting thick PBT's wouldn't be worth the money and wait. I have been a touch typist for a long time and blanks just looks better in my opinion. But my quest for a great keyboard didn't stop there, of course I needed O-rings to reduce the bottoming out clack noise. Again I searched this forum and watched videos to get an idea of the differences in sound and most importantly: the tactile difference. I didn't want to lose the feel of MX Browns. I bought the MX Cherry 40A-L's and it works out great!
At the end I bought the keyboard from one supplier, keycaps from another and O-rings from another. You get the idea. It wasn't optimal but none of them sold all the items I wanted. Total cost incl. shipping costed me about 250 EUR. A fair amount of money for a student but worth it in the end. The only negative thing I have to say is the metallic sound when bottoming out that haunts (these?) Filco boards. I knew about the flaw before buying one but took a shot, too bad a more or less exclusive keyboard should have this problem. Some keys on mine does give a slight ring but nothing too bothersome. I have typed on my Filco for nearly two months now and writing this post was a walk in the park, I'm currently at around 80 WPM.
I don't know how active I will be on this forum but from what I have read this seems like a good place to hang out
