I need some help...

[Vox_PT]

With all the posts of the backlit Pok3rs incoming... and with one particular post from a fellow portuguese enthusiast in Deskthority (darn you..!) I am now contemplating ordering a backlit Pok3r with Clears from Amazon.co.uk. since I really (really) wanna get a hold of a 60% with Cherry MX Clears.

But... I already have a Magicforce 68 ordered (Massdrop), 3 artisans (my 1st artisans, yay!) and a pack of Esc keycaps from GMK (UKKeycaps group-buy) incoming... Why would I need 4 mechs..?

So here's the thing... I need you to convince me that I don't need a new mech! You must be extremely persuasive. Go!

[MagicSauce]

Well I am sorry but I am not going to talk you out of getting a nice new board.

[1swt2gs]

Who are we all kidding.... You need it.

If it helps I'll be willing to take off some of those artisans off your hands

[mobbo]

As someone who bought a KBP v60 Mini, Pok3r, Royal Kludge, and Filco before purchasing my Realforce, I can help.

Skip it all and turn to Topre for guidance.

[inanis]

I dunno how persuasive this is, but I ordered a non backlit Poker 3 when they first came out and I was astonished at what crappy QC they did on it. If I could do it all over again I probably would have bought something else.

[dgneo]

As someone who bought a KBP v60 Mini, Pok3r, Royal Kludge, and Filco before purchasing my Realforce, I can help.

Skip it all and turn to Topre for guidance.

Praise be to Topre!

[Steezus]

I dunno how persuasive this is, but I ordered a non backlit Poker 3 when they first came out and I was astonished at what crappy QC they did on it. If I could do it all over again I probably would have bought something else.

I agree, I enjoyed it at first but after typing on my RS96 for a few months and then going back I realized how ****ty they were. I saved a few bucks and added LEDs myself but they have some sticky switches at times and constant pinging.

[Vox_PT]

Who are we all kidding.... You need it.

If it helps I'll be willing to take off some of those artisans off your hands

You're not helping...

Well I am sorry but I am not going to talk you out of getting a nice new board.

See my previous reply. 

I dunno how persuasive this is, but I ordered a non backlit Poker 3 when they first came out and I was astonished at what crappy QC they did on it. If I could do it all over again I probably would have bought something else.

What do you mean with "crappy QC" exactly? You got me worried right there.
I've seen one or two posts in r/mk where people said that their Pok3r came with a slightly bent case... but I haven't seen many complains quality wise besides that.

As someone who bought a KBP v60 Mini, Pok3r, Royal Kludge, and Filco before purchasing my Realforce, I can help.

Skip it all and turn to Topre for guidance.

I don't have the money for a Topre board... they're too expensive for me right now. 
I would like to try Topre one day though.

[inanis]

Mine had a plate that was the wrong size. It was actually a few mm to long on one side. It would not fit in an aftermarket case at all. The plate literally hung over the edge. I had to grind it down to fix this. Also, there were two screws that had the heads sheared clean off. The body of the screw is still stuck in the original case.  I was not impressed one bit. 

[Oobly]

You've got a full size, a TKL and will get a 65-ish%... So you need a 60% to complete your collection.

But ... I'd rather get a GON NerD60 PCB (as it's much more versatile), some Purple Zealios (as they're much smoother than MX Clears, don't grab caps so hard, have better casings and already have better strength springs installed), a GON universal 60% plate and a Tex low profile case or whichever case design really catches your attention. It'll probably end up a hair more expensive, but not by too much and you'll have a custom 60% which feels great to type on.

Hope I've convinced you not to get the Pok3r

[Vox_PT]

Mine had a plate that was the wrong size. It was actually a few mm to long on one side. It would not fit in an aftermarket case at all. The plate literally hung over the edge. I had to grind it down to fix this. Also, there were two screws that had the heads sheared clean off. The body of the screw is still stuck in the original case.  I was not impressed one bit. 

Wow that's a bummer for sure... did you try to get in contact with the vendor/store at the time?
I would be a little pissed to find that out myself tbh even though I wasn't planning in changing the case.

But besides those issues, did you found anything else worth mentioning? Any problem with the switches?

You've got a full size, a TKL and will get a 65-ish%... So you need a 60% to complete your collection.

But ... I'd rather get a GON NerD60 PCB (as it's much more versatile), some Purple Zealios (as they're much smoother than MX Clears, don't grab caps so hard, have better casings and already have better strength springs installed), a GON universal 60% plate and a Tex low profile case or whichever case design really catches your attention. It'll probably end up a hair more expensive, but not by too much and you'll have a custom 60% which feels great to type on.

Hope I've convinced you not to get the Pok3r

Well, I would love to have a custom 60% keyboard... that would be almost a dream come true to me. And I am sure I would really like the Zealios too.
But sadly I have 0 experience in soldering etc... so I would have to spend a lot of time designing this thing and I would need help from someone with experience in building mechs.

Plus, I am sure this would cost me considerably more than the stock Pok3r.  )
So this isn't a viable option for me right now.

But thanks for the idea anyway. 

[inanis]

Mine had a plate that was the wrong size. It was actually a few mm to long on one side. It would not fit in an aftermarket case at all. The plate literally hung over the edge. I had to grind it down to fix this. Also, there were two screws that had the heads sheared clean off. The body of the screw is still stuck in the original case.  I was not impressed one bit. 

Wow that's a bummer for sure... did you try to get in contact with the vendor/store at the time?
I would be a little pissed to find that out myself tbh even though I wasn't planning in changing the case.

But besides those issues, did you found anything else worth mentioning? Any problem with the switches?

I knew I could fix it myself, so I did. I'm not prone to returning something unless it is really egregious. Hindsight though, I should have saved the $$ and put it towards a HHKB. Or another custom board. If you are going to do MX that would be recommendation...build one yourself. 

[Vox_PT]

Mine had a plate that was the wrong size. It was actually a few mm to long on one side. It would not fit in an aftermarket case at all. The plate literally hung over the edge. I had to grind it down to fix this. Also, there were two screws that had the heads sheared clean off. The body of the screw is still stuck in the original case.  I was not impressed one bit. 

Wow that's a bummer for sure... did you try to get in contact with the vendor/store at the time?
I would be a little pissed to find that out myself tbh even though I wasn't planning in changing the case.

But besides those issues, did you found anything else worth mentioning? Any problem with the switches?

I knew I could fix it myself, so I did. I'm not prone to returning something unless it is really egregious. Hindsight though, I should have saved the $$ and put it towards a HHKB. Or another custom board. If you are going to do MX that would be recommendation...build one yourself. 

Yes, I wanna go MX again since I like the switches. I know I wanna go for MX Clears for my next purchase (or something similiar to Cherry Clears). While I would really like to try Topre someday I don't have the money Topre right now and to be honest since I've never had the opportunity to type on a Topre board (haven't even tried it in a switch tester, though I know that CM have one with Topre now), I don't really know if I would like it or not... 
and as you can probably understand I don't wanna purchase a mech over that price range only to find out later that it isn't really my thing and then force myself to sell it.

Building my own 60% Cherry MX board would be a nice idea, but tbh like I've said on the previous post, I have no experience in welding, the skill or the right tools to pull it off.
So, the only other option that I can think off is to buy a pre-built keyboard.

[jdcarpe]

Let's be honest. No one NEEDS another mechanical keyboard. This is coming from a guy who owns probably 100 of them, or close to it. You may WANT another one, but you definitely don't NEED it. Will it make your life complete? No. Trust me on this one. It wont. You will just want another, and another, and on and on. Now, it may be inevitable that you will purchase another. But it doesn't have to be right now. I went several months without really buying anything keyboard related. So it can be done. If there are other things in your life that you would rather have at this moment, don't feel like you are going to miss out just because you don't have that Poker you've been eyeing. It will still be around later, or there might be something even better that catches your eye. You already knew the answer to your question before you asked it.

[Vox_PT]

Let's be honest. No one NEEDS another mechanical keyboard. This is coming from a guy who owns probably 100 of them, or close to it. You may WANT another one, but you definitely don't NEED it. Will it make your life complete? No. Trust me on this one. It wont. You will just want another, and another, and on and on. Now, it may be inevitable that you will purchase another. But it doesn't have to be right now. I went several months without really buying anything keyboard related. So it can be done. If there are other things in your life that you would rather have at this moment, don't feel like you are going to miss out just because you don't have that Poker you've been eyeing. It will still be around later, or there might be something even better that catches your eye. You already knew the answer to your question before you asked it.

Wow, thanks for the reply. I feel that I needed to read something along these lines.
You are completely right, spot on actually.

I'll have to think this through...

[phosphoric]

Let's be honest. No one NEEDS another mechanical keyboard. This is coming from a guy who owns probably 100 of them, or close to it. You may WANT another one, but you definitely don't NEED it. Will it make your life complete? No. Trust me on this one. It wont. You will just want another, and another, and on and on. Now, it may be inevitable that you will purchase another. But it doesn't have to be right now. I went several months without really buying anything keyboard related. So it can be done. If there are other things in your life that you would rather have at this moment, don't feel like you are going to miss out just because you don't have that Poker you've been eyeing. It will still be around later, or there might be something even better that catches your eye. You already knew the answer to your question before you asked it.

Wow, thanks for the reply. I feel that I needed to read something along these lines.
You are completely right, spot on actually.

I'll have to think this through...

yeah, save the money... so you can buy a topre board

[Oobly]

Let's be honest. No one NEEDS another mechanical keyboard. This is coming from a guy who owns probably 100 of them, or close to it. You may WANT another one, but you definitely don't NEED it. Will it make your life complete? No. Trust me on this one. It wont. You will just want another, and another, and on and on. Now, it may be inevitable that you will purchase another. But it doesn't have to be right now. I went several months without really buying anything keyboard related. So it can be done. If there are other things in your life that you would rather have at this moment, don't feel like you are going to miss out just because you don't have that Poker you've been eyeing. It will still be around later, or there might be something even better that catches your eye. You already knew the answer to your question before you asked it.

Wow, thanks for the reply. I feel that I needed to read something along these lines.
You are completely right, spot on actually.

I'll have to think this through...

My "serious" advice is to use the Magicforce for a while first. I also bought that on Massdrop and I find on my 60% boards that the arrows and edits on a FN layer is a bit slower for me, even now that I'm used to it, than dedicated arrows. If after a while you still want to try 60% then I still recommend build rather than buy, in order to get the true customisation / flexibility, since IMHO even the Pok3r is not quite flexible enough to really give all the options a 60% needs.

Learning to solder is a great life skill, IMO, and a big help in this hobby.

[rowdy]

Lesbihonest you've going to buy another keyboard at some stage anyway.  What's wrong with getting it now?