Just want to start off by thanking everyone for taking the time to checkout the 160. We're really proud of it. And thanks to bigdonnerz for covering many of the questions we'll inevitably get along the way. Extremely thorough
This a bit more like a pre-GB annoucement than an IC as there's a lot of details missing for the community to give feedback on.
I would disagree. The IRON series' design has been long established but we're actively looking for feedback on options, configurations, accessories, etc. We're also trying gauge how many are actually interested. We've even added two forms to the IC looking for direct feedback from the community.
- What layouts does the PCB support?
Ideally we'd like to cover all the layouts we've covered previously, but that may change depending on feedback in regards to hotswap. It's a question that wasn't asked all that often when we made our first board, but has probably become the most asked question we receive these days. Hopefully the forms we've posted provide us some better insight into making this decision.
- What are the internals of the board like? Should we assume it uses the same system as previous boards? Were there any changes made?
The internals of the board are extremely similar to the most recent IRON165 and we should be including more of that information on this IC as well. We've made some additional tweaks in regards to the gaskets and pressure applied to the plate. We'll be adding more of this info shortly. Good questions.
- The post mentions analysis on plate consistency, can we see this somewhere?
Merely an oversight on our part not including this. Good catch and I'll be adding this shortly. In the meantime you can check out a more in-depth analysis in the IRON165 round 2 IC.
- Do you have an idea of what the adjusted front height is?
It is ever-so-slightly less than 17.25mm. The original iron was a bit shorter than this at the front, but the actual switches sit roughly at the same height. It allows keycaps that appear to sit up higher like ePBT to appear to sit a bit lower in the frame.
- Will alu be the only option for the weight or will there be other material options as extras like the 165?
This is a great question we're keen to get more feedback on. This is covered in the IC forms at the top of the post. We're hoping for tons of interest and we're definitely up for expanding our offerings and trying out new materials or finishes if there is enough interest.
- What changes were made to WKL blockers to address the feedback on the 180?
The 180 blockers weren't exactly popular as I'm sure many of you know. The feedback we received ranged from neutral to don't care to very negative with very few opinions falling into the positive category. Definitely not where we'd like it to be, so we completely changed our approach to blockers. We thought a redesign was more appropriate, one more in line with what the community wants to see from us.
We knew renders wouldn't be good enough this time around so this is why we've had all of our final revision prototypes (included multiples of the WKL version) professionally photographed. We chose to feature these in the IC so everyone can judge for themselves how we did this time around.
- Can we hear a sound test of the prototype?
- Will any streamers/reviewers be receiving units?
We're working on getting one up shortly. The feedback we've received from those who got to test out the protos has been outstanding.
We're also working on getting the boards out to more content creators for builds and sound tests.
- Is there a reason to not include even a target price range for the board? As there's been multiple prototypes made you must have at least a rough idea of price
We no longer share ballpark pricing or target ranges. We made this mistake early on and unfortunately no matter how many times you say ballpark or estimate people get that price stuck in their head. This presents many problems, one being that the final price will rarely ever match the estimate exactly. If the price is more than the estimate people feel disappointed. If the price is less, that'd be a win, but that means the estimate was likely too high and people might be disappointed before true pricing information is ever known.
I think it's safe to say a target range could be derived from all of our previous pricing. The IRON160 is physically the smallest board we've made, which means less raw material, which saves cost, but the cost of raw materials (and basically everything else) has risen substantially since the last time we've run a board. We're hoping there is enough interest so we can use sheer quantity as a negotiating tool to keep costs down as much as possible.
Even if we had ALL the info we'd need to price everything appropriately right now, that could still change between now and when the group buy happens. Materials cost has been all over the place unfortunately.
