i've heard pretty mixed things overall

i think it might be a bit overrated, hence some people's initial disappointment

personally haven't gotten a chance to use one yet, so can't cast judgement

Its kinda reminded me of Topre where people seen a name and heard hype just went wild. This just happened to have Input club and Halo Switches ((which hearing are all over the board. I got a feeling The Box versions we will see the same response. Where everyone has to have them.. then some people just hate them and others can't live with out them.))

I don't have any doubt that the K-Type is a good hot swap TKL w/rgb lighting. That is reasonably good quality for the price ((Minus the Stabilizers)). Its not some mythical creature that suddenly going to make you type 100-150 wpm.. while being completely silent..

Just as Topre is a well made Tactile keyboard offering a unique feeling switch. That some people might prefer. Topre isn't going to be magical fluffy clouds of fluff that you type on. That message your fingers and sing your favorite songs. As some people might hype ..

I am typing this on a Topre board so its not like don't like topre just realistic about expectations.

Backlighting often means that the switches are oriented with the LED window up -- which unfortunately means that QMX clips or Zealencios are not compatible.

Quote from: Findecanor on Mon, 20 November 2017, 06:17:33

Backlighting often means that the switches are oriented with the LED window up -- which unfortunately means that QMX clips or Zealencios are not compatible.

not forgetting cherry profile caps from ePBT and GMK. They hit the switch housing just before bottoming out at least when using cherry or gateron switches, I haven't tried box switches yet.

Yeah this is such a rarely-discussed topic in the community for some reason. It bothers me to no end that I can't comfortably use cherry profile on north facing boards and as such I've pretty much sworn off buying them anymore and use SA exclusively on the ones I do have.

The difference is so noticeable if you ever get the chance to try them side by side.

K-type is back up on Massdrop- ugh, so conflicted. Fully programmable + hot-swap TKL is really compelling to me (hotswap whitefox would be even better), but the whole dustup over the Halos gives me pause. And since they have them in stock, I'm assuming no stabilizer fix, right?

Is buying a K-type via MD still giving $ to I:C? Is there another way to get this PCB?

Sure there is some type of royalty quota... they wouldn't not pay I:C if there is. Thats about the only way at present to get the board short of just waiting to see if it I:C releases it directly. Most likely these will have he bad Stabilizers but then again.. over 3000 where sold in the first drop.. we seen maybe 100 people total with stab issues so it could be isolated incident.

Quote from: llisandro on Mon, 20 November 2017, 13:51:54

K-type is back up on Massdrop- ugh, so conflicted. Fully programmable + hot-swap TKL is really compelling to me (hotswap whitefox would be even better), but the whole dustup over the Halos gives me pause. And since they have them in stock, I'm assuming no stabilizer fix, right?

Is buying a K-type via MD still giving $ to I:C? Is there another way to get this PCB?

Sure there is some type of royalty quota... they wouldn't not pay I:C if there is. Thats about the only way at present to get the board short of just waiting to see if it I:C releases it directly. Most likely these will have he bad Stabilizers but then again.. over 3000 where sold in the first drop.. we seen maybe 100 people total with stab issues so it could be isolated incident.

3000 is such a small order that I find it extremely unlikely that they would have sourced stabs from multiple manufacturers, also I:C have stated that MD specifically went with the ****ty stabs against their opinion, making a ’isolated incident’ scenario very unlikely. Most people just don’t write to forums or are maybe so dazzled by the R G B that they just don’t notice.
Good thing that they did not offer ISO, or I’d be in this mess as well. Saved by a superior layout

Quote from: llisandro on Mon, 20 November 2017, 14:48:03

I'm okay with fixing the stabs myself, I guess I'm actually more concerned with the state of the KLL configurator. I really want unicode keymapping support for a special characters layer. If the configurator were a finished product, I wouldn't be waffling. 

i don't think people should accept bad stabilizers even if it is easily replaceable since it's touted as a high end product (and it is in many aspects!)

rattling is perhaps the most distracting and un-premium sound you can listen to while typing.

I can't even understand what cherry was thinking when they did their own stabilizers..

Such an over complication for crap-tacular performance.

Quote from: pomk on Mon, 20 November 2017, 08:55:09

Quote from: Findecanor on Mon, 20 November 2017, 06:17:33

Backlighting often means that the switches are oriented with the LED window up -- which unfortunately means that QMX clips or Zealencios are not compatible.

not forgetting cherry profile caps from ePBT and GMK. They hit the switch housing just before bottoming out at least when using cherry or gateron switches, I haven't tried box switches yet.

i'm using GMK classic retro on my k-type and have not noticed any kind of problems. i have a batch of gateron silent reds coming in this week, will check them.

Silent switches might work ok due to the slightly reduced travel.
Try flipping some keys on the shift and capslock rows and try to hear the difference in sound. If the switches are leds south, the bottoming out happens inside the switch, if the other way around the bottoming out is between the switch housing and the front inside lip of the keycaps. This results in a mushier feeling similar to what happens if you use too large leds as well as in a difference in sound.

So I bought one these from massdrop's surprise we have more stock sale.

I have a can of genuine cherry plate stabilizers from long ago when i was building phantom's, is the stabilizer thing the only thing I should be concerned about?

Its hard to tell when people are angry at massdrop for being massdrop or when there is a defect these days--I know some of you guys have serious issues but the comments section on there sometimes becomes cancer; I only saw the stabilizer thing and issues with flashing firmware.

So a quick review

1. Stab inserts are garbage and replacing them with cherry ones along with cherry bars is EZ, the milk stab holder can still be used just fine

2. Large amount of features makes this board very impressive and sad that we pretty much will never see a revision 2
which leads me to 3

3.  The board is impressive, and from a hobbyist perspective it is great board, easy to repair, scratch resistant, hot swap, programmable, etc etc. But if I was someone who was new to all this and wanted a "cool keyboard", this is not that keyboard. You are on the hook for all programming and repair. The no soldering part does not mean this is not a enthusiast board.

4. HALO clear switches are not worth all the fuss that went into the IC/MD drama. They are not terrible and the typing experience feels vintage. Already I can say that if heavy tactile switches are your thing, Kaihua Speed burnt orange (not BOX, though those are also good and hard to get) are super cheap and provide a better experience; they are hiding in plain sight. though this is only my opinion.

I have some HALO True's coming in also so maybe those are the god like switches the community put pitch forks out for.

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2017-11-27_07-04-51 by almightyglod, on Flickr

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2017-11-27_07-04-36 by almightyglod, on Flickr

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2017-11-27_07-04-24 by almightyglod, on Flickr

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KTypeLED by Philip Glod, on Flickr

Honestly I think the switch thing is the sheep mentality... someone popular said they where good are they where created by someone special in the community. They must be amazing and beyond words perfect. Subjectively there no good are bad switch and I really don't think there is any true magic bullet switch. I think 99% of switches are over hyped and people just buy into that hype thus sheep mentality.

Personally I have my first set of Zealio coming in to try. I am going in subjectively. I don't expect them to be the best thing to ever exist nor end game. I do expect higher quality of manufacture that should translate into a better quality switch but quality is only one part of the full equation.

Same goes for Topre I got my first topre switches are amazing. There the best feeling tactile switch that I have felt. Why did I get a Topre curious got a good deal and could have flipped it made a tiny bit of profit. I like my FC660C to the point where going back to a non topre tactile will most likely be impossible. Thats just me I don't think Topre is for everyone nor a one shot wonder switch that anyone who comes in contact with will fall in love. I don't think people are wrong if they don't like topre. 

I got a set of Halo True's I am planning on selling the switches! after I try the board.. honestly expect will hate them. I don't understand how there suppose to be Topre like since Topre can't really compare to the feel of a MX switch. One feels like it has manufactured Tactile feedback the other is Organic. Its like comparing Apples and Oranges.. there both fruits but that where the similarity ends.