Merry xmas from the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

[Galactic]

Hi Guys,

I'm from Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. Great to meet you all. Seems like a great little community here and I'm keen on jumping into a few group buys and such. I'm new to the world of mechanical keyboards and after hearing + feeling a few of my friends new purchases, I've finally decided I need one myself. I've gathered all the information I could and have decided that browns are the best switches for me as I play a fair bit of games (mainly Dota2) and then spend the rest of my time on the keyboard for uni work, I feel as though the physical actuation point is an important thing to me as well.

I've picked out the CM Storm Quickfire Stealth as my first purchase - will probably be picking it up off Amazon as its the cheapest outlet I've found. Additionally, I want to pick up a Poker 2 as well - this would be ideal for lugging around with my laptop and using when I'm out and about for study. I plan on customizing the  stealth with keycaps using white blanks for the alphanumerical keys and blue blanks for the modifiers. I'll probably pick up a custom usb cord as well. This board will be on my desk 24/7 so want it to look quite appealing. Plan on customising the Poker 2 with a group buy or something down the track as well, [uni student wages permitting, ha].

Does anyone have any thoughts/recommendations on the above, specifically in relation as to best places to go about picking up the custom keycaps/usb cord, I've seen a few sites but wondering if I've missed out on any secrets? Open to all criticisms and advice as this is my first mech keyboard purchase. Being Australian basically makes online shopping the only option.

Look forward to getting to know a number of you and being apart of the community.

Cheers guys,
Dylan.

[1pq]

Hi Guys,

I'm from Cairns, North Queensland, Australia. Great to meet you all. Seems like a great little community here and I'm keen on jumping into a few group buys and such. I'm new to the world of mechanical keyboards and after hearing + feeling a few of my friends new purchases, I've finally decided I need one myself. I've gathered all the information I could and have decided that browns are the best switches for me as I play a fair bit of games (mainly Dota2) and then spend the rest of my time on the keyboard for uni work, I feel as though the physical actuation point is an important thing to me as well.

I've picked out the CM Storm Quickfire Stealth as my first purchase - will probably be picking it up off Amazon as its the cheapest outlet I've found. Additionally, I want to pick up a Poker 2 as well - this would be ideal for lugging around with my laptop and using when I'm out and about for study. I plan on customizing the  stealth with keycaps using white blanks for the alphanumerical keys and blue blanks for the modifiers. I'll probably pick up a custom usb cord as well. This board will be on my desk 24/7 so want it to look quite appealing. Plan on customising the Poker 2 with a group buy or something down the track as well, [uni student wages permitting, ha].

Does anyone have any thoughts/recommendations on the above, specifically in relation as to best places to go about picking up the custom keycaps/usb cord, I've seen a few sites but wondering if I've missed out on any secrets? Open to all criticisms and advice as this is my first mech keyboard purchase. Being Australian basically makes online shopping the only option.

Look forward to getting to know a number of you and being apart of the community.

Cheers guys,
Dylan.

Welcome to GH! Good choice on a first board Browns are a great switch to start out with.

As far as your question, there's a lot of different options for MX keycaps. Most are made out of ABS plastic, which feels OK, but many prefer a different materials, such as POM and PBT. You can find out a lot more about these different types of caps by searching around. That way you'll be able to find a lot more info than I could ever give you in this post. I personally prefer my PBT caps over any ABS I've used.
If you want to get some really great caps off the bat, I encourage you to try Ivan's group buy. There's a link to the thread down below. Although these might seem a little pricy, they're actually a very good price for what they are. These are some of the highest quality keycaps available.

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=50935.0

About the custom cables, I'm not sure; I've never looked into one. You could search the forum or post a thread about it if you really can't find anything/have any further questions.

Good luck!

[lcs]

Welcome to GH

I do a fair bit of gaming and typing too and I must say I hate browns for both. Switches are preference. Those things you read that 'blues are for typing', 'blacks / red for gaming' and browns for the between is just a poor generalization.

Hope you like it though

For keycaps, you can get singles and some sets at techkeys and keypop. Also, waiting on a GB you like (there are some going now right now, the Raindrop specially is likely to be of your interest, as it has white alphas and light blue mods, although not blank).

As for cables, you have lots of choices too. The keysets GBs organized by BunnyLake have an option for a matching cable made my TheFlyingRaccoon. Nubbinator and Paranoid also make custom cables. Also, pexon and techkeys offer them.

Enjoy your stay!

[1pq]

Switches are preference. Those things you read that 'blues are for typing', 'blacks / red for gaming' and browns for the between is just a poor generalization.

Very true! Unfortunately for our wallets it often comes down to trial and error to find the perfect switch for you
Also if you try a new switch you may want to give it some time. Took me more than a month to appreciate topre...

[Galactic]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Yeah figured I'd just give the browns a go and hopefully I dig them. Cheers for the heads up on the GB's available atm, how often do decent GB's come around? I really like those raindrops and if I had the money I'd buy some for a Poker 2 keyboard right now but alas my funds can not cater for that at the moment.

What boards do you own lcs?

[lcs]

GBs have a very very weird time frame XD The raindrop one is probably gonna run until the end of January. Some GBs, like the GMK one that 1pq mentioned, take a *long* time to reach the minimum quantities, if they ever do. You can always get the set later from the classifieds, hopefully for GB prices.

I have an IBM SSK, a KMAC Happy with 62g clears, a GON NS38 with 55g blacks, a ghpad with blues and an Ergodox with nothing as I have yet to assemble it.

I also have phantom and leeku pcbs that I will eventually use

[eth0s]

Welcome to GH.  Browns are fine.  They are a good, general purpose switch.  Nobody can say you made a bad choice.

Poker is also an excellent choice.  Customizing never ends though.  There is always something else you can add.  In fact, there are these things called Clacks.  But you don't want to start a bad habit like Clacks.  So nvm about those.

[Galactic]

Quite the variety you have there lcs. What is your main?

Ha eth, I just had a look at Clacks and may be hooked on some already. The Oktoberfest (The beer looking one) would make for an awesome ESC key... How does one go about acquiring these mystical things...

[Chau]

Do not start down the clack road until u finish uni,got a job,paid back loan,travel the world,get married,buy a house,have some runts,buy a dog,buy a cat, more boards then maybe a clack.

[lcs]

Quite the variety you have there lcs. What is your main?

Ha eth, I just had a look at Clacks and may be hooked on some already. The Oktoberfest (The beer looking one) would make for an awesome ESC key... How does one go about acquiring these mystical things...

It changes. Right now is the GON.

You be patient if you want clacks and have not a lot of money. EK has sales sometimes and wait for 4grabs in the clack factory subforum