I
posted not too long ago requesting what folks are planning on picking up in the 2nd half of 2016.
Now that 2017 approaches how has this changed?
While I'm going into year 7 of the "Endgame" journey here is what I know:Topre/clones are off the table. I find the "thock" annoying and the key travel much too long. Some have complained that silencing rings reduce the travel too much while I feel they don't reduce it enough. If Topre releases a thin Realforce 87U with their short throw switches I'll definitely take a look at it however I'm not exactly sure if those are discontinued.
Alps/clones are
mostly off the table. I'll likely pick up a set of evangs LightCycle set and pray to the baby Jesus BlueNalgene releases his SMK compatible tenkeyless. SMK White's are for sure my #1 personal "Alps" choice. That said if Hasu offers a SMK option I would take a look at that as well. However it must be strongly stated that if it weren't for LightCycle I wouldn't give Alps a second thought.
I'm no longer pursuing the Ellipse F77. I decided that I didn't care for the layout and will stick around to see if Ellipse releases a F SSK. While I understand there are kits popping up to convert existing SSK's to F SSK's I'm not in love with it enough to get involved with the procedure.
matt3o is currently working on a keyboard using Cherry ML clones made by Kailh. Depending on the layout and how thick the board is (hopefully ultra thin) I definitely will be looking into this.
MX... To be honest I was ready to pull out of the MX/clone world. In fact I have zero MX boards currently. I was dissatisfied with the "reliability", the thickness of the boards, and quite frankly the switches in general.
Then three crucial things happened:
1. Hot-swap became a reality. So now when a switch dies it takes nothing at all to pull the switch out and replace it. So for 2017 the first two keyboards I'll likely purchase are the Input Club K-Type and/or Glorious Modular Tenkeyless.
2. evangs released JSpacers to JailHouse Blues mod a board quickly and consistently. I have yet to try these but given the feedback I think this "is the one." High actuation/tactility, no click, and with O-Rings should feel like scissor switches - which is my preferred key switch mechanism.
3. Mechsupply/UKKeycaps are running a group buy for Devlin Q-Series profile key caps. I believe these are the absolute lowest profile key caps you can buy - even lower than DSA while simultaneously being thicker as well. I have a set on order and really hope they take off.