13 years ago i bought these keycaps here from a group buy

[tapk69]

I only used the Portal ones, the others were kept in a bag. At that time i had a steelseries 6vg2 keyboard that started registering multiple key presses after 10 months so i basically returned it and started using a cheap Logitech K120 thats been in use ever since.

In 2025 for some reason i decided to buy a keyboard to use these keycaps and found out things are out of control now.

Hundreds of keyboards brands, hot swap boards, keycaps with anything you desire or colors and like an absurd amount of different switches from many brands instead of only Cherry. Those days the only thing people talked about here was Filco keyboards.

Because everything has RGB and wireless it was hard to find a new keyboard but i found one. Neo80cu wired and no RBG, full metal. Also bought 108 switches called Gateron oil king that i hope are good, i have no clue basically i never tried any other switch other than mx black that was in the steelseries.

Sorry for this little story i just want to thank you people for creating this little keyboard hobby, this is gonna be my first time actually building a keyboard so wish me luck. I hope this time i can actually enjoy a mechanical keyboard.

[basilkeys]

What a nice story. Welcome back to the hobby! Best of luck with your build if it's not already finished.

[HungerMechanic]

Haha, you got lucky. Or good taste, I guess. Neo80 is probably very good. And Oil Kings are well-liked. I tested samples of the tactile version, Oil Mini i.

But yeah, Oil King linears are the next-next generation MX Black for some.

[TheSoulhunter]

Oh! A fellow old-timer... :3
Greetings, and welcome back!

Things really went out of control...
I was surprised myself after returning 2 months ago:

- Cherry MX patent ran out -> Over 9000 different variants of MX-style switches from China
- These little switch quick-swap thingies on PCBs (what to do with my solder iron now!?)
- Transition to gasket-mount keyboards (no more resonance PING! like in the old days...)
- Having more mech-keyboard brands than Filco, Topre, Cherry, IBM, KBC and Razer
- We still can't decide if LEDs should be mounted north or south facing
- Mech-keyboards became mainstream (are we still Geeks?)
- CNC-milled metal keyboard-cases became affordable
- MassDrop became keyboard-centric and bought GH
- You can get custom dye-sub printed keycaps (YUZU)
- Ripster selling his keyboard-collection
- People collecting artisan-keycaps

Oil-Kings are a great choice I think...
I have tested a heap-load of switches recently to catch-up.
For linear ones, Oil-Kings were my favorites. I also liked the Zjmehty ones. Both are superior to vintage MX-Blacks imo.
Finding a superior replacement for Ergo-Clears and Zealios V2 ended up much more complicated. Still not done testing.

[tapk69]

Oh! A fellow old-timer... :3
Greetings, and welcome back!

Things really went out of control...
I was surprised myself after returning 2 months ago:

- Cherry MX patent ran out -> Over 9000 different variants of MX-style switches from China
- These little switch quick-swap thingies on PCBs (what to do with my solder iron now!?)
- Transition to gasket-mount keyboards (no more resonance PING! like in the old days...)
- Having more mech-keyboard brands than Filco, Topre, Cherry, IBM, KBC and Razer
- We still can't decide if LEDs should be mounted north or south facing
- Mech-keyboards became mainstream (are we still Geeks?)
- CNC-milled metal keyboard-cases became affordable
- MassDrop became keyboard-centric and bought GH
- You can get custom dye-sub printed keycaps (YUZU)
- Ripster selling his keyboard-collection
- People collecting artisan-keycaps

Oil-Kings are a great choice I think...
I have tested a heap-load of switches recently to catch-up.
For linear ones, Oil-Kings were my favorites. I also liked the Zjmehty ones. Both are superior to vintage MX-Blacks imo.
Finding a superior replacement for Ergo-Clears and Zealios V2 ended up much more complicated. Still not done testing.

Old timer yes but i was not that dedicated. This place was super lively years ago, now theres too much competitition.
Like you i was blown away by the amount of choice and affordability of 2025 compared to 2010.
Canīt wait to receive my keyboard, i miss the clack and funny colors.