My "super quick" review of Sifo and the board he built (GON Acrylic TKL):
Text Review:Background: More
This board, along with a hopefully soon Novatouch once I sell off some of my other boards to fund it, is my endgame setup. I knew it would be my endgame the moment I saw the "original", b7ad's GON Acrylic, which this is basically a carbon copy of (sorry, no originality here). The LEDs matched my Linux terminal colours exactly, the flathead screws and the whole "fresh out of the shop" feel was perfect and it was love at first sight.
I knew that to have a perfect board I would need to assemble it properly, since GON doesn't offer assembly of acrylic. At the time I only knew of Margo's assembly services, but the lovely exchange rate and Canada's super affordable shipping rates [/sarcasm] dissuaded me from shipping to UK.
Luckily I had begun checking out geekhack at the time and saw Sifo's artisan services, so sent him a PM and the rest is history. Probably one of the best choices I've ever made (not saying I've made many good ones in my life, but beside the point).
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Build Quality: More
Some credit has to go to GON for making some of the best tuned switches... ever. He's getting a bit of flak from people over delayed orders, but it says a lot about how good the man is when everyone stops complaining once they have received it. I will still wholeheartedly recommend GON, he's a very patient, great guy when you talk to him... just multiply advertised wait time by four before you make your decision.
However, I give my main credit to Sifo for assembling the board so well as to do the switches the proper justice. His attention to detail is excellent and all the switches are perfectly aligned. I know this because my BSP Olivetti, which is known for having crooked keys, is *uniformly* crooked (BSP QC is crapppp but the texture is worth the pain) when placed on. Just to be sure, I put on my Vortex set and everything lined up exactly flush.
The board's frame is assembled perfectly, screws aligned flush, alu feet level. If I *had* to nitpick one thing it's that he put the stick on rubber feet (not the ones on the alu feet, there are two other ones you put at the other end of the board) slightly misaligned, but that's just my OCD and it has no discernible effect, I just think honest reviews should cover *all* bases.
10/10-------------
Service/Communication:More
I think this is the most important part of "reviewing" someone - their work is important, but more important is how well they communicate and let you know about your product. In this area, Sifo gets an 11/10. He replied all my PMs and texts promptly, but what was most impressive is that he PM'd me and told me exactly how the build was going and issues he encountered.
In particular, he mentioned that the aluminum housing layers did not align flush, but he tried many times to get them to line up. I probably would have never noticed if he did not told me, though even now that I know, I don't even think about it - it's that small of an "issue". The fact that he was willing to alert me about a "negative" aspect of his work that is fairly unnoticeable was a welcome sign of honesty and one of the things I value in folks. Too many times I've been burned on Kijiji or mechmarket from people who "forget" to mention minor defects - even though they make no difference, I really value full disclosure and I do it in all my own sales.
Furthermore, during our correspondence, I realized I forgot to ask him to clip the stabilizers, after he had finished assembling. He willingly went back and figured out a way to clip them (luckily, GON's plate design is genius and he was able to avoid desoldering), and even lubed the wires with his own lube. Best part was he did it all free of charge, notifying me right away when it was finished.
11/10 Son of a ***** even let me try his TH600 when I came to pick up my board!
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The board itself (feel, use, look, software):More
Acrylic is one of those materials that don't look great... until you light it up with LEDs. It's the main reason I chose acrylic (also, to save money T_T). In that respect, when the board is on full LED, it is god-tier. I'm huge on aesthetics and this board satisfies me completely.
Feel-wise, the switches are stellar. I was extremely impressed by Topre at the meetup, but I still think Ergo-clear 62g wins my heart. It's still not quite as "smooth/buttery" as Topre, but it just feels so... right. Where Topre gives each individual press a great feel, Ergo-Clears feel effortless - I can maintain a typing rhythm much better and the feel of the smooth lubed switch accompanied by the satisfying "clack" of the downstroke... Amazing. I still notice no difference with stickers, but it came included with the switch, and it doesn't make it feel worse, so can't complain.
The frame itself feels really good. Even though it's acrylic, there's a hefty weight to it, about the same as my TEX aluminum Poker II. There is some slight flex if you push super hard on the middle, but then again, so does my Cherry G80-3000 at work. I never actually type that hard to create that flex anyway. During normal (and even fast typing), the frame is rock solid, with no flex at all.
My only gripe is it's really freaking hard to find linux support for NerD_config and the board seems to have problem when booting directly into linux through syslinux. Probably affects only 0.1% of us since the rest of you are windows using plebs, but just something to keep in mind if you have read this far and are deciding on getting a GON.
9.5/10-------------
Pics: Still waiting on Ivan's R4 PBT and exchange rate to go down so I can get some doubleshot keys from elitekeyboards.
I love this board so much I took it to work for a long typing session. I've used it for about two days now, long enough to get a feel for it.
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tl;dr:
If you are in GTA and are incurably lazy like me or don't have good soldering equipment, Sifo is a superb choice for your assembly services.
