I haven't built or bought anything keyboard related in 6 years

[noisyturtle]

Thank goodness for Off-Topic 

[tp4tissue]

Because nothing has surpassed the Ergodox. There was simply no need for any more keyboards.  The circle is complete.

[fohat.digs]

Once in a blue moon I buy something that is an exceptionally good deal, but I continue to use my 40-year-old F-122.

I need to sell a dozen keyboards (or more).

[Sniping]

Most folks here are retired. My most recent purchase is the Rainy 75 (really solid product), before that was HHKB Hybrid, and that's about it for the past 5ish years.

[Findecanor]

Most folks here are retired. My most recent purchase is the Rainy 75 (really solid product), before that was HHKB Hybrid, and that's about it for the past 5ish years.

"Retired"?   ¿Que?

Many people have settled for their favourite keyboard, perhaps. And never jumped on the bandwagon for collecting expensive customs with colourful key sets.

[tp4tissue]

The expensive customs scene is really just people who don't understand how trivially simple those customs are.

There's nothing high tech / advanced about 2.5D milling. I've tried to explain this to the keyboard section in the past, but the average consumer is too poorly educated to understand the lack of value proposition.

2.5D keyboards are the machining equivalent of nailing 2by4s together in your basement.


In many ways, advances in PCB / induction switches / rgb  far outstrips the utility of expensive cases people spend most of their money on.


It's the same crowd that spends $500 on case/fan/rgb/psu, when $100 will do the same thing, w/ a +$400 GPU almost doubling the performance. 



You take your $600 custom keyboard,  put it in a cheap plastic case, $580 into pcb, switches,  That's like, a freaking computer in the keyboard with its own CPU RAM GPU,  Runs Crysis at 1080p 60fps.

[TomahawkLabs]

No way! A keyboard thread on Geekhack in 2025?

I bought a new keyboard for my son for his bday. GMMK 2 Compact barebones. I already had some switches they liked and I ordered a set of GMMK pudding caps since he will love the RGB. Gonna spend some time lubing the Gateron Reds, bandaid mod the stabs and relube the stabs. Should be a fun keyboard to put together. I personally have shifted 100% to the vintage market and spent the majority of my bonus on Alps keyboards. Only missing SKCM green, SKCM cream (non-damped), SKCL Brown, and SCKL Cream. I am too old for Reddit/discord hypebeast keyboards and could care less about the newest advancements in MX style switches.

[noisyturtle]

Yeah. I used to be obsessed with trying out every single switch type, but it got way outta hand once the hobby became more popular and folks started manufacturing their own switch types. It's a good thing, but overwhelming. How can anyone be sure they found the perfect match with so many options now?

[TomahawkLabs]

Also why buy X swtich, when the group buy for Y switch, which is gonna to be "totally" better is dropping in 2 weeks, etc. There is always something newer/better coming out, and so many keyboard group buys end up being scams anyway.

[Sniping]

Most folks here are retired. My most recent purchase is the Rainy 75 (really solid product), before that was HHKB Hybrid, and that's about it for the past 5ish years.

"Retired"?   ¿Que?

Many people have settled for their favourite keyboard, perhaps. And never jumped on the bandwagon for collecting expensive customs with colourful key sets.

You make it sound so unsatisfactory, but to me it's that many have arrived at their endgame, or simply lost the majority of their interest for the hobby, or a combination.


To expand a bit on the Rainy 75 I got recently, it's an excellent value keyboard that's part of the new wave of mass produced keyboards that feel perfect out of the box. It's crazy what you can get for $100 now. Lubed and tuned stabilizers, lubed switches, CNC case, a bunch of layers of foams and isolating materials, gasket mount, hotswap, bluetooth, wireless, USB-C, battery that lasts months. It's perfect out of the box aside from the keycaps, which are fine and I replaced with a GMK set. It feels better than most custom kits from pre-2020, and still feels as good as keyboard kits that are twice the price today. Would recommend trying a variation of this keyboard if you've been out of the game for a while if you're curious what the products are like now.

[noisyturtle]

Man, you are really selling me on buying a new board. My 'endgame' custom board cost me nearly $600 when all was said and done about 9 years ago. Things have certinally progressed, the technology is better and cheaper now.

[Sniping]

I'd recommend it! I did just check the Rainy75 and looks like the price is more like $130-$140 now with shipping. The ND75 is a similar and probably a better value keyboard, it's closer to $105 shipped, so that's what I'd rec.

[tp4tissue]

Aesco A83  the only flat board worth talking about.

Induction + rapid trigger.

https://www.rapoo.com/revolutionizing-wireless-gaming-introducing-the-aesco-keyboards-with-inductive-switches-for-unmatched-stability-and-performance/

[fohat.digs]

I'd recommend it! I did just check the Rainy75

That might even make me interested if it was available in a 122 form factor.

[iri]

To expand a bit on the Rainy 75 I got recently, it's an excellent value keyboard that's part of the new wave of mass produced keyboards that feel perfect out of the box. It's crazy what you can get for $100 now. Lubed and tuned stabilizers, lubed switches, CNC case, a bunch of layers of foams and isolating materials, gasket mount, hotswap, bluetooth, wireless, USB-C, battery that lasts months. It's perfect out of the box aside from the keycaps, which are fine and I replaced with a GMK set. It feels better than most custom kits from pre-2020, and still feels as good as keyboard kits that are twice the price today. Would recommend trying a variation of this keyboard if you've been out of the game for a while if you're curious what the products are like now.

Where were you when I asked my only keyboard related question in 10 years 

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=124086