geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: russm on Wed, 15 January 2014, 12:28:25
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Good Day All
Being new to the keyboard world I wanted to do some in depth research with people who know so much more than I do about where you go besides this wonderful site to get information on your specific keyboard interest and what sources and web sites you use to purchase your new keyboards?
What are any of you looking for in a new keyboard that you haven't seen yet?
Thank You for any input you have!!
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I do most of my shopping here in the classifieds or at mechanicalkeyboards.com and also ebay
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What sources and web sites you use to purchase your new keyboards?
I've bought keyboards from:
- Amazon
- GH Classifieds
- MechanicalKeyboards.com
- eBay
What are any of you looking for in a new keyboard that you haven't seen yet?
60% or 75% layout Alps compatible PCB with a metal case.
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What sources and web sites you use to purchase your new keyboards?
I've bought keyboards from:
- Amazon
- GH Classifieds
- MechanicalKeyboards.com
- eBay
What are any of you looking for in a new keyboard that you haven't seen yet?
60% or 75% layout Alps compatible PCB with a metal case.
^^ I believe sprit will fullfill that need sooonish
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keyboardco.com
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You guys are too promiscuous.. just buying up keyboards all over the place... (http://www.cute-factor.com/images/smilies/onion/8c460310.gif)
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Thanks so far, please keep the feed back going.
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I've only bought 1 keyboard new, and that was from feng here on GH!
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I've been all over; got K60 and TK from a Fry's store (probably not the best idea, but I hadn't found this site by then), a Green QFR Stealth from some random site, and a Ducky from mechanicalkeyboards. The last seems like one of the best sources to get any mechanical, though.
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Funnily enough I've only ever bought two boards new and they were both bought locally. Sold them off and wound up with the setup in my signature from the classifieds here and at DT.
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Ebay and here. I do not think that I have bought a keyboard new.
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PCCG (2 Ducky Shine)
AusPCMarket (nearly got a Filco from there - they cancelled the order at the last minute due to supply problems)
mechanicalkeyboards.com (Ducky Shine Yellow Edition)
eBay (Model M * 2)
Geekhack (CM Trigger, QFS)
CPL (QFR)
qtan (KeyCool 87)
Is that all of my keyboards?
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I have only a few noteworthy keyboards to mention:
- APC Clicker F-21 :- Family inheritence.
- Northgate Omnikey 101 :- Snagged from a computer that virtually went into the trash.
- HHKB Pro JP Type-S :- Ebay (Japanese proxy).
- Cherry G80-5000 HAMDE [coming soon - I hope] :- Deskthority marketplace.
Most of the sources of my knowledge comes from various places, by forums like these, IRC channels and getting caught into random "wikipedia loop". Also I must admit that deskthority's wiki is also pretty handy, it is by no means complete but it is still useful for some random curious sake cross-referencings.
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Qtan, banggood are places to buy.
And also myself where keycool keyboards can be purchased from ( for limited versions like the snake year version with mx clear switches),
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Classifieds and Ebay.
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Great replys folks, shows members use just about any source out there for there keyboard needs, looks like the old brick and morter store arn't so popular ?
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Great replys folks, shows members use just about any source out there for there keyboard needs, looks like the old brick and morter store arn't so popular ?
About the only things I buy at brick and morter stores is groceries and the occasional item that's not available online. Electronics especially are rarely priced very well in a physical store.
And there are not that many mechanical keyboards sold in retail stores.
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Looks like the old brick and mortar store aren't so popular ?
In the USA, at least, the only widespread options for buying a mechanical keyboard in store are at Frys, Microcenter, and Best Buy. People have had success finding vintage boards in flea markets or like a Goodwill but that's not a consistent product that they carry.
From what I've seen, Best Buy only carries Razor Blackwidows (and maybe the Logitech G710+ now). My local Microcenter has really scaled back their mechanical keyboard selection; they've got Razor products, the G710+, Ducky Zero, and Corsair stuff. I no longer see any CoolerMaster stuff at my Microcenter. And Fry's had a similar selection to Microcenter from what I saw and they had some CoolerMaster stuff.
Things like Filcos, Leopolds, customs, and other keyboards we see and enjoy on GeekHack just aren't found outside of online retailers.
That being said, if you're lucky enough to live in Southern California (http://elitekeyboards.com/support.php?lang=en#10), you now can go to EliteKeyboard's storefront. Or if you're near Nashville, MechanicalKeyboards.com has a storefront (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=38767.0) too. But obviously you have to be relatively close by.
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elitekeyboards.com because Brian is awesome. Domestic shipping costs aren't that bad, but if you're out of the country fogettaboutit.
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elitekeyboards.com because Brian is awesome. Domestic shipping costs aren't that bad, but if you're out of the country fogettaboutit.
Shipping costs aren't bad but the shipping speed seems really slow.
Ordered a keyboard on Wednesday and it did ship out Wednesday which was great, but tracking hasn't updated since Thursday and its 'estimated' for delivery tomorrow.
Granted I'm used to Amazon shipping speeds but still, I ordered another keyboard off Ebay (free shipping) and it shipped Wednesday and I got it Friday. :-\
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elitekeyboards.com because Brian is awesome. Domestic shipping costs aren't that bad, but if you're out of the country fogettaboutit.
Shipping costs aren't bad but the shipping speed seems really slow.
Ordered a keyboard on Wednesday and it did ship out Wednesday which was great, but tracking hasn't updated since Thursday and its 'estimated' for delivery tomorrow.
Granted I'm used to Amazon shipping speeds but still, I ordered another keyboard off Ebay (free shipping) and it shipped Wednesday and I got it Friday. :-\
For a small shop I'd say they're doing just fine. Other then Keyboardco's Amazon store front which didn't come till long after, you have to admit they've been integral in bringing certain keyboards to the states, and making them available for the majority of us.
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elitekeyboards.com because Brian is awesome. Domestic shipping costs aren't that bad, but if you're out of the country fogettaboutit.
Shipping costs aren't bad but the shipping speed seems really slow.
Ordered a keyboard on Wednesday and it did ship out Wednesday which was great, but tracking hasn't updated since Thursday and its 'estimated' for delivery tomorrow.
Granted I'm used to Amazon shipping speeds but still, I ordered another keyboard off Ebay (free shipping) and it shipped Wednesday and I got it Friday. :-\
For a small shop I'd say they're doing just fine. Other then Keyboardco's Amazon store front which didn't come till long after, you have to admit they've been integral in bringing certain keyboards to the states, and making them available for the majority of us.
No doubt and I'll take a week's wait for that any day!!
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Qtang's store. Fast shipment. Same or a little lower prices. Most of the boards are in stock.
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All places I have bought mechanical keyboards from:
- GH classifieds
- DT Poker GB
- Newegg
- eBay
- Goodwill
Overall I'd say the most pleasing buying experiences for me have come from the classifieds. The majority of boards I own/have owned went through GH classifieds. Newegg is a close second; eBay and Goodwill are VERY much hit & miss (for obvious reasons).
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EliteKeyboards.com
GeekHack.org (Here)
NewEgg.com
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gh
dt
mechanicalkeyboards.com
ebay
thriftstores; goodwill, etc.
freebies no longer wanted at the office.......
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The topic title states "new" keyboards. But, it appears that many uderstand new as new for the the purchaser, even if it is used. If that were the actual topic intention I should add GH, ebay, and the junk of the university.
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My first mech was a IBM Model M i bought off ebay like 6 years ago.
My second mech was a custom poker with plate and aluminum case that i bought off our site's founder imav.
My third mech was a CM QFR i bought off amazon.
My Fourth mech were 2 GH60 boards i purchased from this site (i have yet to receive them, NOT COMPLAINING JD)
My sixth mech was a g80-8113 POS board with browns i bought off ebay for $19.99
The last board i bought was an ergodox off of massdrop (i have not received this yet)
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In order: Mechcanicalkeyboards.com, geekhack, geekhack, geekhack, geekhack, & the deep web (hehe)
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Elite Keyboards
geekhack Classifieds
ebay
Amazon
Keyboard manufacturers
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In order: Mechcanicalkeyboards.com, geekhack, geekhack, geekhack, geekhack, & the deep web (hehe)
Let me guess – the G80-5000? ;)
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Great Information, thanks so much for all the replies.
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http://massdrop.com can be a pretty good place to buy keyboards. it's a site that coordinates group buys at discounted rates. they even had a Realforce keyboard on sale for a pretty good price just recently.
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I've bought from multiple online stores as mentioned in other posts. If you are looking to buy a Filco I recommend buying it straight from Diatec: http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/kobo/
When you arrive at one of the last steps you will see the product ID or similar. You can send an email to them with this product ID and request an invoice including international shipping. They speak English very well and the price for shipping is surprisingly cheap. I paid ~20 USD for shipping to the Netherlands.
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I've bought from multiple online stores as mentioned in other posts. If you are looking to buy a Filco I recommend buying it straight from Diatec: http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/kobo/
When you arrive at one of the last steps you will see the product ID or similar. You can send an email to them with this product ID and request an invoice including international shipping. They speak English very well and the price for shipping is surprisingly cheap. I paid ~20 USD for shipping to the Netherlands.
Is it me or they don't have much choice in ISO/88 keys TKL though ?
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I've bought from multiple online stores as mentioned in other posts. If you are looking to buy a Filco I recommend buying it straight from Diatec: http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/kobo/
When you arrive at one of the last steps you will see the product ID or similar. You can send an email to them with this product ID and request an invoice including international shipping. They speak English very well and the price for shipping is surprisingly cheap. I paid ~20 USD for shipping to the Netherlands.
Is it me or they don't have much choice in ISO/88 keys TKL though ?
Hmm I can't seem to find them either. However, I know for a fact that Diatec does manufacture ISO boards. I suggest just sending an email to them (sales@diatec.co.jp) and ask if they can offer an ISO board.
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For anyone in Canada, NCIX has a pretty good selection now, Filco, Ducky, Topre etc...
Most of my keyboards are used though... Geekhack, Taobao, Yahoo Auctions etc...
Now for what I want, I want an actual 45g weighted Topre Short Throw
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For anyone in Canada, NCIX has a pretty good selection now, Filco, Ducky, Topre etc...
Most of my keyboards are used though... Geekhack, Taobao, Yahoo Auctions etc...
Now for what I want, I want an actual 45g weighted Topre Short Throw
Thanks nar! I was just going to ask about Canadian customers. Just bought some Topre keycaps at EK and I nearly cried over the shipping costs.
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I actually haven't bought too many brand new keyboards. I've bought two EnduraPros and various spare parts direct from Unicomp (pckeyboard.com) and they've always been great. Other than that, I bought a Rosewill RK-9000 from Newegg when they went on sale for Black Friday to try a Cherry MX board, and while I like the keyboard fine and Newegg shipped reasonably fast I still haven't gotten my mail-in rebate which I'm less than pleased about.
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MassDrop. Too lazy to source all the ErgoDox components myself.
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I've bought from multiple online stores as mentioned in other posts. If you are looking to buy a Filco I recommend buying it straight from Diatec: http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/kobo/
When you arrive at one of the last steps you will see the product ID or similar. You can send an email to them with this product ID and request an invoice including international shipping. They speak English very well and the price for shipping is surprisingly cheap. I paid ~20 USD for shipping to the Netherlands.
Is it me or they don't have much choice in ISO/88 keys TKL though ?
Hmm I can't seem to find them either. However, I know for a fact that Diatec does manufacture ISO boards. I suggest just sending an email to them (sales@diatec.co.jp) and ask if they can offer an ISO board.
Sent them an e-mail thanks!
You said shipping fees were $20 from Japan to Netherlands ? What about the custom fees ?
Man WASD asked me $50 to ship from the US to Switzerland, and the Swiss custom fees were around $40 QQ
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Sent them an e-mail thanks!
You said shipping fees were $20 from Japan to Netherlands ? What about the custom fees ?
Man WASD asked me $50 to ship from the US to Switzerland, and the Swiss custom fees were around $40 QQ
I find most north american businesses use courier companies like Fedex, UPS etc... because they are usually faster and more reliable and they cost about the same for domestic parcel shipping.
The moment you go international though, couriers can quickly become multiple times more expensive than national post agencies using stuff like EMS and Surface Airlift. For example over here shipping something to Japan yesterday cost me $5 through SAL, about $25-50 through EMS and over $100 for courier even though if I was shipping it domestically it would have all been roughly the same price at around $20.
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Great replys folks, shows members use just about any source out there for there keyboard needs, looks like the old brick and morter store arn't so popular ?
Sadly most of my local brick and mortar store doesn't stock either of the keyboards that I have purchased within the two years. One is because they are either expensive or rare. (one is new but I am sure nobody locally would know much about it, the other one is second hand as it is no longer in production). Second is because they are two customised layouts that one would not find them in a store in general. Heck elitekeyboard would not stock the HHKB Pro JP that I have.
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Mostly from Amazon, got my (now sold) Corsair k60 red switch that way. Got a Quickfire XT from Amazon too.
Although i'm eagerly awaiting my KeyCool 108 Year of the Snake Edition board with Clear Switches from AliExpress (Chinese Amazon)
It's not that it's Snake or Keycool, it's that Clears keyboard are so hard to get. Apparently all Clears boards is hoarded up in China somehow.
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mechanicalkeyboards.com, elitekeyboards.com, and in the classifieds here!
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Mostly from Amazon, got my (now sold) Corsair k60 red switch that way. Got a Quickfire XT from Amazon too.
Although i'm eagerly awaiting my KeyCool 108 Year of the Snake Edition board with Clear Switches from AliExpress (Chinese Amazon)
<snip>
There was a reseller posting here and on DT, who was selling those YotS Keycool's with MX Clears. I got one a couple of months ago, pretty sweet keyboard. Amazing attention to detail, although it's a bit lighter than a 104-key Ducky.
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My experiences mirror what most here have said:
amazon.com
keyboardco.com
mechanicalkeyboards.com
gh classified
elitekeyboards.com
Between these 5, I've been able to find anything/everything that I've wanted so far.
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In Portugal the only mechanical keyboards available in stores are the Steelseries, Ozone, Razer and perhaps the CMStorm brands.
Everything else that is top-notch quality just isn't available physically, you would have to order from somewhere else (and it is always a risk). And there's also the fact that manufacturers couldn't care less about making every layout possible available...
I had to get a Steelseries 6GV2 (thankfully they released a portuguese layout version last summer, lol) because there was really nothing else available apart from the Steelseries 7G (a bit more expensive, has some features most people couldn't care less) and the Ozone Strike (it's the same as a 7G but made with cheaper plastics, has better connection options, USB2.0 vs USB1.1, etc.). This in itself limits me in choosing a keyboard, imagine not having the same number of keys in a keyboard and having 20+ years of computer use with those available everytime :) (also writing in portuguese and hoping that the Ç key/letter isn't used is just nuts). and mechanical keyboards are expensive, not the entry level (they cost more than a rubber dome, but they're also infinitely better), but if you want ducky's, filco's and what not you gotta prepare your wallet!
Hopefully when I get the money, and get to know this tech a bit better I'll buy some other boards or even mod the s**t out of my 6GV2 :P
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In Portugal the only mechanical keyboards available in stores are the Steelseries, Ozone, Razer and perhaps the CMStorm brands.
Everything else that is top-notch quality just isn't available physically, you would have to order from somewhere else (and it is always a risk). And there's also the fact that manufacturers couldn't care less about making every layout possible available...
I had to get a Steelseries 6GV2 (thankfully they released a portuguese layout version last summer, lol) because there was really nothing else available apart from the Steelseries 7G (a bit more expensive, has some features most people couldn't care less) and the Ozone Strike (it's the same as a 7G but made with cheaper plastics, has better connection options, USB2.0 vs USB1.1, etc.). This in itself limits me in choosing a keyboard, imagine not having the same number of keys in a keyboard and having 20+ years of computer use with those available everytime :) (also writing in portuguese and hoping that the Ç key/letter isn't used is just nuts). and mechanical keyboards are expensive, not the entry level (they cost more than a rubber dome, but they're also infinitely better), but if you want ducky's, filco's and what not you gotta prepare your wallet!
Hopefully when I get the money, and get to know this tech a bit better I'll buy some other boards or even mod the s**t out of my 6GV2 :P
I know your pain.
I live in a 500'000 inhabitants city in Switzerland - so not EXACTLY a ****hole - and all you can find is a couple Corsair, Razer and CMStorm boards.
Believe it or not, after a couple weeks making phone calls and sending emails everywhere, i couldn't find a SINGLE MX Blue keyboard available in a shop. Order and buy it, or gtfo.
Yay.
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amazon & newegg are top tier retailers.
Fast shipping and easy returns.
elitekeyboards.com offers unique products
I haven't tried mechanicalkeyboards.com but will soon if I can find a steel plate for my custom phantom build.
By far my favorite place is gh classified
I mean it must be the demographic composition of this forum - mostly working adults with stable income (read: nerds ;)
Where else on the internet would you send someone paypal $$$ as gift especially it's the first time you dealt with said person? My Type-S is in the mail btw :)
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I guess it all depends on what I'm looking for really, I use amazon/qtan and her mainly.