[HELP] I want to get my bf a keyboard for his birthday...

[wonyungho]

In the last year or so my bf's been obsessed with mechanical keyboards. He once showed me a keyboard that he wanted and I secretly wrote down in my notes "leopold fc660c, with granite key cap set, happy hacking professional keyboard 2"

It was a while ago and I remember him saying something about he wanted a particular keyboard but with different keys. Can anyone advise me on this please? Thanks!!

[Jokrik]

Well first thing first, from what you said I think he likes keyboard with topre switch
If you live in the US, you can get
Leopold FC660c here: https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1323
Happy Hacking Professional 2 / HHKB here : https://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=pfu_keyboards,hhkbpro2

The Granite Keycap set is https://www.massdrop.com/buy/granite-keycap-set , run through Massdrop recently,
It's a sort of Group Buy unfortunately it has MX type stem which only fit MX style switch (different than topre)

Any idea how that "particular keyboard with different keys" look?

[heedpantsnow]

Is he a member here? Or on other forums?

Both the ones you listed are available.

[wonyungho]

Thanks for the responses!

I live in the UK but I had a look and I can get hold of both leopold and happy hacking keyboards on ebay.

He basically showed me one of the leopold or happy hacking keyboards and then said "but I want this with a different set of keys" and then showed me the keys (to which I wrote down granite key cap set)

Which keyboard would you recommend personally? And since he showed me this a few months ago, has there been any new keyboards that have come out that he might prefer? Thank you!!

P.S. He usually browse the reddit mechanical keyboard sub... as far as I know he's not a member here, I hope...

[Jokrik]

Well, I'm not sure where in the UK you can source those keyboards other than eBay

I cant say much which is better than the others, that thing does not apply in our (keyboard)  world
Its more of a personal taste and habit

Maybe hinting your bf in a way to know which he prefer would be better, both keyboards are not cheap and you wanna spot on

Both boards can be considered high end keyboards for topre lover, you dont have to worry

A lot of topre lover here dedicated their life to HHKB , so if at the end of the day he didnt get the hint, you might wanna consider HHKB

[TastaturenAuslese]

Thanks for the responses!

I live in the UK but I had a look and I can get hold of both leopold and happy hacking keyboards on ebay.

He basically showed me one of the leopold or happy hacking keyboards and then said "but I want this with a different set of keys" and then showed me the keys (to which I wrote down granite key cap set)

Which keyboard would you recommend personally? And since he showed me this a few months ago, has there been any new keyboards that have come out that he might prefer? Thank you!!

P.S. He usually browse the reddit mechanical keyboard sub... as far as I know he's not a member here, I hope...

But unfortunately, I don't think the Granite key set comes in Topre stems. In other words, those keys aren't compatible with that keyboard. There are ways to make them compatible, but that a lot of $$$ and also opening up the keyboard to replace their stems.

[wonyungho]

Would you be able to recommend some similar but cheaper alternatives? I get the impression that these keyboards are pretty high end, he's never owned a mechanical keyboard before so perhaps I should get him a "starter" board first if there is such things?

[Invaderevan]

A Novatouch would be similar, its the same switch type, only $160, and has MX compatible stems so if you wanted to, you could put Granite on it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-SGK-5000-GKCT1-UK-Capacitive-Professional/dp/B00O3JPLJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437328008&sr=8-1&keywords=novatouch

But, only comes in black.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/3duffp/usky_h_granite_dsa_w_paypal/

Here is a sale for Granite, see if the guy will ship to the UK, $100 isn't a bad price.

[TastaturenAuslese]

A Novatouch would be similar, its the same switch type, only $160, and has MX compatible stems so if you wanted to, you could put Granite on it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-SGK-5000-GKCT1-UK-Capacitive-Professional/dp/B00O3JPLJY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437328008&sr=8-1&keywords=novatouch

But, only comes in black.

Yup! If he's never had one of these boards, these should be good. But mind you, the Novatouch is known for "feeling cheaper" than the other two. The switches feel looser, and such. But I'm fairly certain he won't know the difference since this'll be his first an MK.

And if you get him the Novatouch, like Invaderevan said, you can get him the Granite set. (Those would be easier to look around for on the subreddit, which means he might be there, too)

[uJalled]

A user is selling a Granite set on /r/mechmarket . It's not cheap, but maybe you can work out a deal with him

https://www.reddit.com/r/mechmarket/comments/3duffp/usky_h_granite_dsa_w_paypal/

[Oobly]

A Novatouch is definitely a good starting point, considering:

1. It has genuine Topre switches, just like the FC660C and HHKB (Happy Hacking KeyBoard).
2. It has MX compatible stems, so if you find a Granite set for sale you can put them on it.
3. If he later gets an FC660C or HHKB he can do a stem swap from the Novatouch so he can put many different types of keycaps on including the Granite set.
4. It's not much bigger than the FC660C, but has all the keys in standard places and with standard sizes, so any keycap set will fit. AND with some software (AutoHotKey I think can do it) he can program it to be like a compact board to see if the layout works for him before getting one of the more compact boards.