Looking for a 5-pin/PCB mount, hot-swap, TKL or full size keyboarL

[macmountaingoat]

Hey everyone! I've been looking for a 5-pin/PCB mount, hot-swap, TKL or full size keyboard.

So far I have found:

-Womier K87 - TKL

-Keychron K8 - TKL

-Keychron K10 - Full-size (not sure when this will release)

-Mostergear Alu XO V2 - TKL (sold out)

Anyone know of any other options?

Thanks in advance!

[pewpewnii]

Hey everyone! I've been looking for a 5-pin/PCB mount, hot-swap, TKL or full size keyboard.

So far I have found:

-Womier K87 - TKL

-Keychron K8 - TKL

-Keychron K10 - Full-size (not sure when this will release)

-Mostergear Alu XO V2 - TKL (sold out)

Anyone know of any other options?

Thanks in advance!

I have found one in aliexpress called, "XM87"

[Leslieann]

Pretty sure you mean XD87 from krepublic.
Anything from China is going to be EXTREMELY slow boated, if you don't mind waiting 4 maybe even 5 months, go for it. Krepublic isn't bad, just that Covid has decimated China shipping

Wormier..  I don't trust any sales listing that links to software in a Google drive.  This is often a Chinese manufacturer trying to sell direct but not wanting to offer post sales support. Even if that is what it is, you have no idea who's Google drive that is or what you're downloading.  I mean seriously, how hard and expensive is it to setup a website these days? Doubly bad is it's from Banggood and some of the people promoting them have been known to do some questionable things with keyboards. Everything about this screams backdoor Chinese offering from a company you will never see or hear from ever again.

Monstagear... good luck getting ahold of one.

Keychron - Some people complain about these being too tall in front (35mm) making for horrible ergonomics and the "aluminum case" is just a skin.
For comparison the GMMK is 28mm, even my big heavy Filco is only 31.


Unfortunately, I don't know of any others.
I still say the best hot swap is the GMMK despite the drawbacks.

[pewpewnii]

Pretty sure you mean XD87 from krepublic.
Anything from China is going to be EXTREMELY slow boated, if you don't mind waiting 4 maybe even 5 months, go for it. Krepublic isn't bad, just that Covid has decimated China shipping

Yup it since like took really a long time for you all, but for me is kinda fast. Mostly i receive around 2-3 weeks because im from southeast asia xd

[macmountaingoat]

Pretty sure you mean XD87 from krepublic.
Anything from China is going to be EXTREMELY slow boated, if you don't mind waiting 4 maybe even 5 months, go for it. Krepublic isn't bad, just that Covid has decimated China shipping

Wormier..  I don't trust any sales listing that links to software in a Google drive.  This is often a Chinese manufacturer trying to sell direct but not wanting to offer post sales support. Even if that is what it is, you have no idea who's Google drive that is or what you're downloading.  I mean seriously, how hard and expensive is it to setup a website these days? Doubly bad is it's from Banggood and some of the people promoting them have been known to do some questionable things with keyboards. Everything about this screams backdoor Chinese offering from a company you will never see or hear from ever again.

Monstagear... good luck getting ahold of one.

Keychron - Some people complain about these being too tall in front (35mm) making for horrible ergonomics and the "aluminum case" is just a skin.
For comparison the GMMK is 28mm, even my big heavy Filco is only 31.


Unfortunately, I don't know of any others.
I still say the best hot swap is the GMMK despite the drawbacks.

Thank you for the information! As far as I can tell I can not find a hot swappable configuration for the XD87 from krepublic.

I just have a hard time justifying clipping the stabilizing pins off of my new expensive switches.... but I assume this is just growing pains and I will get over it.

I've heard a lot of good things about GMMK, why do you recommend it over the Drop CTRL?

[Leslieann]

Thank you for the information! As far as I can tell I can not find a hot swappable configuration for the XD87 from krepublic.

I just have a hard time justifying clipping the stabilizing pins off of my new expensive switches.... but I assume this is just growing pains and I will get over it.

I've heard a lot of good things about GMMK, why do you recommend it over the Drop CTRL?

Hot swap XD87

I've only seen some people discussing it but apparently some have board issues. However the biggest problem I have with it is that Hot Swap sockets have a limited lifespan. The most common socket is Kailh, which GMMK and Drop use have only 100 insertions lifespan. While you think wow 100, swapping caps can pull the switch on accident. Put it in and decide to swap springs there's another swap... 100 isn't really a lot when you start playing with switches which you likely will. Keep in mind, that's the average, some will not last that long, and you can have connection issues with them far sooner. Hot swap adds 2 joints that are not soldered, that's two massive fail points. I'm not trying to bash Kailh, they had to work within the limitations of nearly 40 year old switches never designed for this but the design is bad, it's a hack. Besides 2 extra contact points, a bent pin can rip the hotswap off the board taking the pad with it (one of two reasons clipping the extra legs annoyed me with the design). Trying to repair a torn pad on a PCB is bad, trying to repair a torn off hotswap is worse. Remember the swap is the connection, you need to add jumper wires and find a way to reattach the swap, mostly likely glue. Now when that swap goes bad again, good luck repairing or replacing it. Don't forget, it's already compromised so it mostly will be an issue again.

All of this is to say I don't consider hot swap a long lifespan keyboard, I look at them as disposable.
I don't know about you, but I'm not spending $200+ on what I consider to be a disposable keyboard. By comparison, the GMMK is like $60 barebones. Not only can you build an entire board with it for less than the Drop lineup a few mods make it pretty darn nice (Better stabs, bandaid mod and a magnetic cable).

[LeTheory]

Hello!

I know I'm a bit late to respond to this, but these are some that I found when on my search for a 5 pin hotswap TKL.

Hansung x Archon TFG Art
Archon AK87
EverGlide SK87 (either through DROP when it's available or just Taobao/AliExpress)
MKB87 from KPRepublic
Smart Duck XS87 but it's low profile
Keycool KC87 (Not sure if this is 5 pin, the board looks the same as the MKB87)

And there is also one on some AliExpress stores that has a red PCB and a black or white board, 5 pin support, with LEDs being south mounted.

I don't have all the links for them right off the bat but I can definitely provide them if you want.