Which one to go for?

[Humvee]

Hi all,

I'm new here and am looking for some help!

Currently, I own an Alienware TactX keyboard, and want to move into the world of mechanical keyboards, however, I am a bit stuck on choice.

I live in the UK, so shipping is expensive, and it is hard to find keyboards / keycaps. I have decided on Cherry MX black switches, but not the keyboard itself. I have found a Ducky Shine 4 for sale in the UK for about £140, which is at the top of end of my budget. I will probably buy this if I don't find anything better. As of now, I am looking for a keyboard which I can buy, and then replace the Keycaps to make it personal, so what I'm asking is:

Where is a good place to buy Keycaps in the UK?
What is a good Keyboard to do this on? (Prefer not TKL as I sometimes use num pad for my binds, but if TKL is better, then I'll go for it)


Thanks,


-Humvee

[azhdar]

The ducky shine is a good option, probably one of the best stock keyboard you'll find in UK layout.

[Humvee]

The ducky shine is a good option, probably one of the best stock keyboard you'll find in UK layout.

Yea, was gonna buy it, till I saw someone build this in the UK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathewteague/18524283162/

[azhdar]

The ducky shine is a good option, probably one of the best stock keyboard you'll find in UK layout.

Yea, was gonna buy it, till I saw someone build this in the UK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathewteague/18524283162/

This won't be same budget (at least double the price of the Ducky, also several months of waiting.

[Humvee]

The ducky shine is a good option, probably one of the best stock keyboard you'll find in UK layout.

Yea, was gonna buy it, till I saw someone build this in the UK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mathewteague/18524283162/

This won't be same budget (at least double the price of the Ducky, also several months of waiting.

Yea, that's the only problem

[unipsykal]

I have a couple of Duckies with the Shine3 being my first mech. Case has a nice weight to it, no fancy logos or weird bezel which makes it compatible with almost any set of keycaps. It is well built and after over two years of usage (no internal modifications), it has never had any part of it fail yet.

[rowdy]

A Ducky would be a good choice

http://www.keyboardco.com/ is often quoted as a good place in the UK to buy keyboards.

As for keycaps, most manufacturers are in the US or in China.  However [CTRL]ALT have many extremely nice sets for sale from time to time ... https://ctrlalt.io