Thinking about buying a noppoo choc mini (new guy)

[tobo]

I'm thinking of buying a noppoo choc mini as my first mechanical keyboard. I'm located in Europe (Netherlands) and this http://www.ebay.nl/itm/Noppoo-Choc-Mini-84-Mechanical-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Black-/250856182331? is the cheapest one I could find. As I understand it the black switches are more geared for gaming and my main use of the keyboard will be for typing, but as my current keyboard is a rubber dome (G15) I think it should still be an improvement. Any suggestions or input would be welcome. My budget is very limited, so I don't want to make a bad buy. Also does anyone know what the chances are that I will have to pay import VAT (the price of the noppoo exceeds VAT exclusion)?

Thanks

[IvanIvanovich]

Blacks are fine for typing too, my first MX was blacks. However I did discover I prefer lighter switch, specifically red. If I hadn't tried reds I would have gone along most happily with blacks though and still like them to a degree.
I've always liked mini boards over larger ones. I looked at the Choc mini for awhile, and had a domes board with almost the same layout, but I never liked it 100%. Lucky for me the Poker came along and I found near perfection there.
I'm not from Europe, but it will depend completely with how the seller marks the customs form if you have to pay VAT and / or additional customs fee, assume you will.

[Aranair]

mmm,  i prefer something with a tactile bump when typing.... (cherry browns or cherry blues). If you do more typing than gaming, I'll recommend those two switches or even reds first

Seems like Choc Mini is available in blue switches if you ship from China. (ebay too)

Its about 10 euros more expensive though.

EDIT: lawl, its from a Geekhack member (qtan) too (you can buy it from his vendio store for cheaper)

[tobo]

Yeah, the one with blue switches on qtan's site is the same price as the ebay link and the one with the black is even cheaper, but his shipping fee is higher. Though in his shipping info he does state that he can ship the package through UK, which would avoid the VAT fee. Maybe I should consider something cheaper, though I like the barebone look of the choc mini .

[stingrae]

Yeah, the one with blue switches on qtan's site is the same price as the ebay link and the one with the black is even cheaper, but his shipping fee is higher. Though in his shipping info he does state that he can ship the package through UK, which would avoid the VAT fee. Maybe I should consider something cheaper, though I like the barebone look of the choc mini .

It's a nice board but I say going for a CM Storm quick fire is a better deal since the media keys include stop play/pause and you get a closer to standard layout. I'd suggest keycool but from what I can see the spacebar is leopold sized...

On the other hand the keycaps on the mini are much nicer so i'd say best buy a set of pbts with the quickfire...(which I don't think you can get from qtan but you can get it from pchome just dunno how much duty dutch people may have to pay. Qtan is a pretty nice seller though and there's nothing too wrong with the noppoo it's a nice feeling very close to filco feel but just slightly worse quallity (e.g. a few people with switches that needed to be repositioned/replaced or the like).

Saying all this I am bloody tempted by a Keycool 87 it is pretty cheap Oo....

Edit: It's possible I could sell you my noppoo but I don't know if I can get it back to the UK and shipped fast enough and it has that broken fn key which is pretty sucky. I suggest checking classifieds though there might be a second hand deal closer to home!

[kikkobots]

i have both. the only gripe with choch mini is page up down delete etc. i use a lot of those keys and some of them req an additional key to perform. the thick pbt on white is so nice tho..... i think i might just buy thick pbt for cm storm

[tobo]

Thanks for your input guys. I might go with the noppoo choc mini with the blue switches from qtan's site, since I probably won't have to pay import fees and it isn't much more expensive than the black switches. I'm currently trying to free some cash to make this happen, will see if it pans out. I'll post back if I get one .