Your recommendations? [solved and happy]

[theanzelm]

Hi everyone!

After spilling water in my G15, then buying the Corsair K90 (my first mechanical keyboard) and spilling water in that one again, I will now only drink water from bottles at the PC and I will buy a new keyboard!

Requirements:
- large wrist rest that actually supports my hand (I have long fingers)
- ISO layout (ANSI would be ok, if necessary), US labeling (for coding)
- Red or blue switches should be fine (K90 was red, a friend has blues), maybe black?
- backlighting would be nice
- cost + shipping to Germany should be under 150€ if possible
- must have tenkeys
- 6KRO ok, NKRO nice
- shouldn't have macro or media keys that take up a lot of space
(Fn key solution or something is ok and good)
- USB and microphone plugs not needed
- design: not too generic (Arial font), not too funky (wierd shapes or military) or overbranded

My use case: gaming and coding

Plan A:
- get the German CM Storm Trigger (for ISO layout and easy shipping)
- maybe get custom keycaps from WASD Keyboards (for US labeling and awesomeness)

Problems:
- Rubber coating could be crap
- I don't like the military design (custom keycaps would help there)
- a little too expensive
- keycap design and ordering hassle (design could be fun though)

Plan B:
- get the US-ISO QPad Mk 85

Problems:
- Rubber coating could be crap
- overbranded (leave the damn Q-key alone!)
- a little too expensive

What do you guys think?
Any alternatives?

Thanks for your help!

[vun]

The SteelSeries 7G might be worth a look, it doesn't have ugly branding and comes with a pretty large wrist rest, although it is rather costly. You could contact SteelSeries and see if you can get a 6Gv2 with the wrist rest. Or buy a separate wrist rest, if you can find one you like.
Although from what I remember the SS boards have a funky layout that makes it hard to get custom caps for.

You could also look at some of the old Cherry boards, they should be cheap and easy to get a hold of in Germany, although you might not like the design. You'll probably still have to get custom caps for it.

If the CM Storm Trigger is the one made by Costar then it's a solid board and the rubber coating is good.
The QPad is made by IOne, which is one of the shoddier OEMs, and is both overbranded and expensive.

[theanzelm]

CM Storm Trigger's OEM is iOne as well :/
The SteelSeries 7G looks very ugly to me, because of the wrist rest.
The 6GV2 looks fine, but has a non-standard enter key, no backlighting or wrist rest.
(Buying a seperate wrist rest would be ok as well, can you recommend one?)

Are there perhaps some more obscure keyboards that would fit my needs?
Ducky or other asian brands? Shipping time is not that important as long as it arrives and is not way too expensive.

Thanks so far!

[wetto]

CM Storm Trigger's OEM is iOne as well :/

Sorry, but that's Wrong. Only the Quickfire Pro is iOne. The other two keyboards (Quickfire Rapid and Trigger) are Costar.

God knows who makes the Quickfire TK, but it's not iOne, Costar or i-rocks.

Ducky or other asian brands? Shipping time is not that important as long as it arrives and is not way too expensive.

Thanks so far!

Problem is, most of those don't make ISO keyboards... 

Though... What about taking a look at the PLUM 96? 

[theanzelm]

CM Storm Trigger's OEM is iOne as well :/

Sorry, but that's Wrong. Only the Quickfire Pro is iOne. The other two keyboards (Quickfire Rapid and Trigger) are Costar.

God knows who makes the Quickfire TK, but it's not iOne, Costar or i-rocks.

Oh, good to know, may have misred something.

ISO is not a strong requirement, only a preference!

Hmm I don't like the PLUM 96's layout and design, or am I missing something special about it?
Thanks, though.

[wetto]

Oh, good to know, may have misred something.

ISO is not a strong requirement, only a preference!

Hmm I don't like the PLUM 96's layout and design, or am I missing something special about it?
Thanks, though.

POM keycaps (on the black model), you can choose between Red, Black, Blue or Brown switches models, wireless/wired modes with NKRO, compact layout, low weight (since it's PCB mounted), one of the easiest keyboards to mod (since it's PCB mounted and has LED holes on it) and best of all, cheap (around US$ 100 with world-wide shipping).

PLUM is the OEM itself, they make Noppoo keyboards too and the quality is great.

[theanzelm]

Well good build quality and POM caps are nice, but I don't care about weight, wireless or moddability (if it looks good by itself, which it doesn't for me).
And although it has tenkeys, I'd also like to have dedicated arrows and the block above it (although they may be in another position, like on the Raptor K1).

[theanzelm]

Alright, after some more thinking, I got myself a plain old QFR now, it arrived this morning.
- I guess I don't really need tenkeys
- The mouse seems much closer now!
- I really don't need backlighting
- ANSI is fine as well
- The font is a bit ugly, but better than generic. I think I will get custom keycaps sooner or later anyways.
- I really like the minimalistic case and its color.
- Cherry Blacks are fine as someone who only used Reds
- It was really cheap!
- Wrist rest might not be needed, as I learned I am supposed to hover my wrists while typing anyways!

So I pretty much contradicted all of my initial requirements, but I'm happy with it.
Thanks for your help, I fear I'm infected now as well (spent yesterday evening reading the post your keycaps topic and stuff).

[absyrd]

I think you summed up the QFR pretty well in one shot!

[rowdy]

I was surprised how much I liked my QFR (also with MX blacks, and also very cheap).

I have already replaced all the keycaps except the spacebar.