geekhack
geekhack Marketplace => Group Buys and Preorders => Topic started by: abrahamstechnology on Wed, 23 January 2019, 14:45:27
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Hua-Jie has received my payment and started production on the switches. They will be shipped by April 23 and you will likely get them mid-May.
Ok, so it has been nearly a month since last trying to run this group buy, and I have learned some things, so I have made some changes this time.
-Will run for around one month, until the first of March
-Free shipping inside CONUS
-Lower prices
The minimum order quantity is 2,000 pieces, so if I don't meet that, I'll promptly refund everyone.
Hello Geekhack, I am running a group buy of Hua-Jie's AK-CN2 Alps clones, also known as the "alps.tw Type T1 clone". These are 60gf clicky switches similar to Xiang Ming's Ducky switches.
If you need more info on the switches then here:
Deskthority wiki: https://deskthority.net/wiki/Hua-Jie_AK_series
The MOQ I have to meet is at least 2,000 switches
Prices as follows:
- Kit of 50 switches- $20.00 USD
- Kit of 100 switches(BUY ONE GET ONE FREE-LIMITED TIME)- $35.00 USD
- Individual switches- $0.50 USD
- Shipping/handling inside USA- FREE (Small flat rate box)
- Shipping/handling outside USA- PM me so I can calculate it.
I accept payments via. PayPal.
Hua-Jie has a lead time of 6-9 weeks.
Begins today (01/23/19)
Ends on (03/01/19)
TO ORDER, JUST PM ME
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Approved, gl w GB
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Wonderful! Does anyone know how close these are to Alps?
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Wonderful! Does anyone know how close these are to Alps?
Somewhere between Alps and BOX Jade.
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I'll get 100! Hope it hits MOQ
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I'll get 100! Hope it hits MOQ
Great, send me a PM
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What SKCM alps would these compare to? I'm planning on building my first alps board in a few months.
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What SKCM alps would these compare to? I'm planning on building my first alps board in a few months.
I don't know, I don't think there is a SKCM Alps this tactile, the closest would probably be Ambers.
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Bump!
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Bump
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Bump
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Come on, anyone else interested??
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As a stakeholder in this GB, I would say it's worthwhile to encourage alternative sources of Alps-compatible switches, even if you don't have a planned project. Desoldering vintage boards only gets you so far-- you're running down a finite resource, and not exactly getting new levels of consistency.
Right now, we've only got one real player in the Alps game; Matias. Tai Hao, Xiang Min, and Datacomp may be available on paper, but does anyone sell those in individual-user quantities? Think of what the pressure of Gateron and Kailh did for the MX-compatible space-- everyone had to raise their game.
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As a stakeholder in this GB, I would say it's worthwhile to encourage alternative sources of Alps-compatible switches, even if you don't have a planned project. Desoldering vintage boards only gets you so far-- you're running down a finite resource, and not exactly getting new levels of consistency.
Right now, we've only got one real player in the Alps game; Matias. Tai Hao, Xiang Min, and Datacomp may be available on paper, but does anyone sell those in individual-user quantities? Think of what the pressure of Gateron and Kailh did for the MX-compatible space-- everyone had to raise their game.
Agreed, if there was enough support for Alps-clone switches, I could probably commission a custom Alps-clone switch more similar to SKCM Blue, or whatever people prefer.
Also would like to put out there, if you like both Alps and BOX Jade switches, Hua-Jie AK-CN2 feels and sounds somewhere between the two.
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Bump
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Bump
Big oof
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Bump
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Surprised that no one is interested.
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Surprised that no one is interested.
Why would anyone be interested in a white Alps clone when white Alps are common as hell and even the original switches that are being cloned aren't even likes that much
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Surprised that no one is interested.
Why would anyone be interested in a white Alps clone when white Alps are common as hell and even the original switches that are being cloned aren't even likes that much
Alps are out of production.
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If you want a new switch for a custom or full rebuild, your options are limited. Some people dislike the feel of Matias switches, or have had problems with quality. Vintage switches are going to be somewhat unpredictable, and you might not want to fight with disassembling one board to make another.
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Bump
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BUY WILL CLOSE SOON, SO SPECIAL OFFER ON THE LOT OF 100, BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
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What SKCM alps would these compare to? I'm planning on building my first alps board in a few months.
I don't know, I don't think there is a SKCM Alps this tactile, the closest would probably be Ambers.
What Alps boards do you have in your collection and what have you actually referenced to be praising these switches as much as you are?
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What SKCM alps would these compare to? I'm planning on building my first alps board in a few months.
I don't know, I don't think there is a SKCM Alps this tactile, the closest would probably be Ambers.
What Alps boards do you have in your collection and what have you actually referenced to be praising these switches as much as you are?
I've compered them to White Alps, Matias, and clickbar switches. I haven't tried Ambers but they seem to fit the description.
I really don't keep boards around that long, I like to sell them off or give them away so I can work on others.
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How close are you to the MOQ?
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Less than $100 USD away. 3 or so more participants should do it.
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I'm in, just out of curiosity. The biggest barrier I personally see to using Alps type switches is the availability of keycaps for layouts other than full size, tkl, or 60%. Since my interest is in 65%, Alps tends to lose me when I try to find the missing 1.75U right shift, the 1U keys for my bottom row, and the keys for my right-hand column (take a look at a Tada68's layout). Tai Hao isn't useful for this. SP stopped selling their Alps Granite sets (which had issues with gripping stems too tightly). Most older boards people scavenge for parts don't have these (with the exceptional of the occasional very rare vintage board). Matias has been talking about a new keycap offering for years without actually delivering. If you want to encourage more Alps use, I think we need keycaps for modern layouts more than we need alternate switch sources. If I'm missing an Alps keycap source that can fix this, please let me know.
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I'm in, just out of curiosity. The biggest barrier I personally see to using Alps type switches is the availability of keycaps for layouts other than full size, tkl, or 60%. Since my interest is in 65%, Alps tends to lose me when I try to find the missing 1.75U right shift, the 1U keys for my bottom row, and the keys for my right-hand column (take a look at a Tada68's layout). Tai Hao isn't useful for this. SP stopped selling their Alps Granite sets (which had issues with gripping stems too tightly). Most older boards people scavenge for parts don't have these (with the exceptional of the occasional very rare vintage board). Matias has been talking about a new keycap offering for years without actually delivering. If you want to encourage more Alps use, I think we need keycaps for modern layouts more than we need alternate switch sources. If I'm missing an Alps keycap source that can fix this, please let me know.
Thanks, and yes, I agree. Perhaps I'll do an interest check for Tai-Hao Alps sets (with more options such as WKL bottom row, bigass enter, etc).
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If they are similair to xian ming clicky switches then they aren't that good to be honest they bind a lot you have to hit them perfect in the center.
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If they are similair to xian ming clicky switches then they aren't that good to be honest they bind a lot you have to hit them perfect in the center.
These don't bind on the unstabilized large keys. They have a bit of wobble, though.
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I'm in, just out of curiosity. The biggest barrier I personally see to using Alps type switches is the availability of keycaps for layouts other than full size, tkl, or 60%. Since my interest is in 65%, Alps tends to lose me when I try to find the missing 1.75U right shift, the 1U keys for my bottom row, and the keys for my right-hand column (take a look at a Tada68's layout).
If you're willing to deal with unicorn vomit, those aren't hard to scavenge. Focus FK-2001 and many Northgates have 1.75 right shifts. Some of the cheap off-brand rackmount-size boards with near-1800 layout can provide a lot of the rest, if you can cope with having, say, 7 keys labelled Alt.
I think a huge resource we could use would be a reference for cheap rubber-domes with Alps-mount caps. Acer 65xx series, some Apple Design Keyboards, at least
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One more order and we are all set!
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I'm such a sucker for BOGO sales.
In for one (pair of) hundred switches.
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Contacting Hua-Jie about payment.
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Hua-Jie has received my payment and started production on the switches. They will be shipped by April 23 and you will likely get them mid-May.
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too late to get in on this?
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too late to get in on this?
Yeah, sorry. I'll do this again in the future.
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15 more days until shipping! (this is a relatively small order for them so it is rather low priority)
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Thanks for the update.
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They are here!
I'll start shipping them out to the buyers on Monday.
(https://i.imgur.com/NdCf4vB.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YTYbvZK.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/R7ee0Gd.jpg)
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I've received my order. I didn't get a tracking number first. It looks like they got sent out on 5/1, and arrived here on 5/8. Thanks -- this buy went pretty smoothly.
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Anyone got a review/sound test? I'm curious how these sound/feel.
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Anyone got a review/sound test? I'm curious how these sound/feel.
Typing on them right now in a 60% plastic case. They are loud, pingy, and very tactile (which are all good IMO.) The downside is they aren't factory lubed. I'll do a typing test video.