I had a good Model M during the 1980s that finally died. Got a Dell AT101 with a Dell system in the 1990s and used it until Windows XP came out.
Then I bought a Compaq system that came with an SK-2800 (excellent rubber dome with media keys, I still think those are pretty good boards) and used that for several years (~ 2003-09). Then one day I was helping a ex-co-worker upgrade his computer gear and found another AT101 in his closet, which he gave me.
Shortly after, I got a Northgate Omnikey (with a couple of dead keys) at a salvage store and really liked it. Finally gave up on it and sold it for parts on ebay (today I would have known to transplant a couple of switches from the AT101!) and started researching mechanical keyboards, which landed me here. Surprise!
Reading various things convinced me that I needed a Model M. After getting it and reading other things here, I wanted to try a Model F. At that time XTs were dirt cheap ($10 + shipping) and it took a $50 Hagstrom converter to make them run. I did that but could not abide the layout, so I sold the XT with the Hagstrom on ebay for over $100 to an Apple employee in California to use at work! Eventually I acquired a really nice Model F AT but it mostly stays stored away.
Starting during this period, and continuing until the present day, I have bought dozens of keyboards at various ebay/salvage/yard sale/thrift store/dumpster diving and other venues, with a wide variety of switches. I really like Alps, and the Apple Extended keyboard is nice, Focus 2001, etc. I had a cool Alps branded board that I sold to jdcarpe so it found a good home. White Alps are just too heavy for me.
I have had a few Monterey blue keyboards and I LOVE those switches. SMK switches are great although I do not currently own them. Just today I got a black space invaders board and it seems much better than the white space invaders I tried a couple of years ago. I have had 2 different weird buckling spring knock-offs that were strange and basically sucked.
Cherry switches have never turned me on, although I keep a couple of G80-11900s around and my teenage son loves to game on them. I would like to have a TKL lightweight board with reds or browns and O-rings just for giggles. I was lucky to get in on the tours, and jailhouse blues and ergo clears really appeal to me, especially jailhouse blues. One day I may build one.
Sometime later (mid-2011?) Soarer revealed his magic and I pounced on the Model F 122-key terminal modified to near-ANSI with the Teensy and I have never left it for any substantial length of time since, although I will move it aside for a few minutes/hours/days at a time to test drive something else.
I have 3 prime F-122s which should last a lifetime (I am 61.5 after all) and my "permanent vintage collection" stored away in the basement consists of 3 Model Ms (a heavily modded and upgraded 1390131 and a dead stock 1390131 from 1986, and an unmodified 1391401 from 1991), an un-modded F AT (which I want to ANSI mod and add Alt keys), G80-11900 with O-rings, AEK and AEK2, Chicony 5181, and soon to include the black space invaders DTK and a Dell AT101 with blue and orange Alps transplanted into it.
Plus a box of at least half a dozen really good rubber domes and a super-tiny Logitech that fits in a laptop bag.
