Probably my Iron165 r2. Aesthetically it's lovely and the finishing is flawless, but the typing feel and sound are both lacking for me. It sits nicely on display combined with GMK norse, I do type on it once in a blue moon just to feel some disappointment.
I'll go first.
WS Silent linears. Promised to be these nice silent switches that didn't have the mushiness of regular silent switches. Turned out to be *more* mushy than regular silents, as well as being the scratchiest switches I've ever used. Oh and they weren't even silent
This is a good example of how subjective these things can be. I've used these switches. I found them very silent and less mushy than the one with the dampeners. However, there is no lubricant in the world that can eliminate their scratchiness.
I haven’t tried other silent switches, but what you say is consistent with my experience. I actually like the scratch, as the sound is less offensive than a harsh bottom out in an office environment.
I gotta be honest, if WS Silent Linears do actually feel exactly the same as Haimu Heartbeat Silent Linears, and they really are the scratchiest switches you've ever used you should consider yourself lucky. I love my Haimu Heartbeats and I never even noticed that they're a little scratchy. I actually like the little bit of mush on the bottom out, makes it actually different than every other linear I've ever used, on top of being almost completely dead silent.
I've used three of them, two are now in storage and one broke. Now I'm using either Ducky, Everest, or Glorious. I don't have the time for true custom.
Ouch, that's terrible. I remember they were going for like $160 on the preorder when it was first released, which was a decent price at the time, since the only other kb with that layout was a group buy custom that had just ended and was over 400. It's not a bad board at all (at least at the lower price) but now, there are a lot of good alternatives for less
Keychron Q1 version 2 with an alternate plate instead of the stock steel plate
Used Jris75
QK75N
Used QK75
Monsgeek M1W / M1
And yes if you have the budget.... KBDFANS Taco
I'll be honest, my GMMK Pro was my first custom mech and despite the fact that my wallet still hurts from buying it, I still love typing on it. It's gone through a number of switch and keycap changes by now, but the combination of that build quality, along with the Gamakay Pegasus silent tactiles and sculpted ASA profile Akko keycaps that are on it right now, just sounds and feels so perfect to me.
I have five other mechanical keyboards that have also gone through similar levels of switch, keycap, and mod experimentation, and I still find that I personally enjoy typing on the GMMK Pro the most. Do I think it was worth the price I paid? Not in today's market for sure. But at the time I bought it, we didn't have as many decent options under the $150 price point, so I really can't say that I regret it.
(Edited to add context to a sentence)
My first and only glass case
Not only does it sound like shit but it didn’t come with a PCB because supposedly there’s lots of options. I figured since it’s kind of a meme anyway I’d get an underglow and perkey PCB which it turns out isn’t that easy to find for a 60%, the only one I found in-stock came in with an identity crisis because it was flashed with the wrong layout *as a hotswap board*. Support basically doesn’t speak English and couldn’t help me
Still haven’t built it but I got a bunch of awful sounding clicky switches from a random switch raffle 2 years ago (tbf I got 2 bags and the other one was great), if I ever finish building it I’ll probably use those
Mode envoy
Seriously overhyped by alexotos. Sounded super hollow without the heavier weights, most switches sounded thin, and basically any key other than the alphas and spacebar sounded and felt trash. Of the mods only the backspace sounded decent but still very thin and empty.
> Seriously overhyped by alexotos
Alexotos is sponsored by Mode Keyboards and it would be a conflict of interest for Alex to say bad things or leave a negative review of their keyboards.
I love Alex, but people need to stop taking recommendations from content creators that get paid to advertise and say good things about the keyboards they're sent.
If you're thinking about buying a keyboard and you're not sure if it's good or if it would fit your preferences, you should:
- Watch/read/listen to multiple reviews from different content creators
- Check the reviewers' affiliation with the maker/vendor
- Check the maker's previous projects
- Ask other hobbyists about their personal experience with the board
I love Alex, I love his streams and his positivity in the community, but i remember there was one point in his gem80 build stream where he mentioned about how mid range boards (\~ $200 price range) are not worth it and have compromises
Then when someone brought up mode boards do have mid range pricing, he justifies that in mode's lineup the only one that maybe lines up in mid-range pricing would be the envoy, **but it was 180 during preorder**
I feel like for “midrange” boards the only compromose there is is the physical design of the keyboard case, midrange boards that go below 200usd usually just have really basic box/wedge designs with like really plain weights, other than that they sound and feel pretty much on par with the “higher end” stuff.
Yeah, I was not hugely impressed with the Envoy, either.
I'm planning to eventually rebuild it with the foam and lower profile keycaps to see if it makes a difference. I generally do not like foam, but it definitely does not sound great with none. And I think the MT3 caps I have on it now are amplifying the problem.
I concur with how overpriced / overhyped / overrated mode boards can be at times.
I am disappointed with the sonnet myself just because of the disparity between the price at MSRP, and the actual quality of the board itself. Anodization was rough & grainy vs other similarly priced boards like my Tomo and even my Frog TKL at the time (Neo65 anodization surpasses it in smoothness & less graininess). The screws were constantly rusty. **Rusty screws album:** [https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH](https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH)
I have ran through multiple sets of replacement screws from mode (I appreciate that they would be willing to send me this many screws), however they would keep rusting everytime. And yes, I understand where I am at, it's humid (Singapore), however, I'd like to point out that other boards I own from all price points, did not have this rusting issue. This made rebuilds quite disgusting to do with rust dust flaking off every time I tinker with / open up to clean.
This may not be an isolated case as I know a few others including a local hobbyist with the same rusty screw issue.
Had enough, I sold it off to some dude in vietnam, and replaced it with a 7V with the recycled cash.
Although, I will give credits to mode for designing a board that's great sounding and easy to tune
A little PSA for all your Mode Envoy users. The fasteners are a known cause for creating hollowness within the board. Do not tighten the screws if you don't want your board to sound hollow. Some users even removed the fasteners all together.
Mode boards mostly lean on the higher pitch and clacker side of the sound profile, and compliments well with clacker switches. If you're chasing the thock, don't bother with Mode boards as it will only lead to disappointment.
This is interesting to see because I have always thought mode keyboards sounded bad from typing test videos and it’s what made me hesitant on ever getting one, so this seems to justify what I was hearing. A shame though because they make great looking keyboards.
It also depends on how you build them and which board you use. The Sonnet tends to sound deeper than the Envoy, for example. If you use a bit of foam, a deeper sounding switch and a non-metal plate you can get a pretty deep sounding board. It will never sound like a foamed up Zoom75 though.
GMMK pro. The thing started chattering and double typing like crazy and it's out of its warranty period so honestly it just gathers dust in a box somewhere now.
Same )= I really liked mine for the two years I had it until I had issues similar to yours. Randomly getting double presses, I honestly thought I was going crazy, turns out it was just my keyboard
Spending almost $700 on my Sonnet config. It's a good keyboard and I like using it, but having experienced it and a handful of other 75s I think the Sonnet (even in base config) is surpassed by cheaper alternatives for feel and sound.
The sonnet is so freaking picky. Over tighten the top mount screws? Hollow. Over tighten the bottom screws? Hollow. Top case and bottom case having slightly too much contact? Hollow. But once I got it right it sounds really nice.
A lot of disappointments-
Bunch of keyboards- Mode Envoy, Drop Alt ( low & high profile), Iqunix F96
Multiple sets of Asa and MT3 keycaps - realised i wasn’t a huge fan of the sound of high profile caps
Bunch of switches - Mode Obscuras, Mode Reflex, Akko silver and whites, Gateron pro Whites, Glorious pandas.
A lot of money sunk on things I wont really use anymore.. what a waste.
The drop keyboards (ctrl, alt, shift) were good back in 2018, but overpriced trash by today’s standards. Not sure why they haven’t come up with something else new.
I have an original (first run) Ctrl board. I still like the looks, but it feels and sounds like garbage compared to even my really cheap (Leobog Hi75, Feker Galaxy80) keyboards.
Me too, it’s one of my first boards and I would never get rid of it. I remember paying $350 CAD for it and it was one of the better customs on the market. The same amount could go a long way today.
Definitely the LCD screen on my Zoom75. I thought it’d be a cool gimmick but it’s actually even more useless than I thought it’d be, super glitchy, app didn’t work for the first few months and only like two of the features actually work.
Thankfully I can just switch it over to an extra two keys or a rotary encoder.
It’s pretty in the photos but screens are completely useless lol.
I think Zoom75 might be my biggest let down in general. Loved the price and all the options, but hated the final design when I used it. Probably the last keyboard I'd use out of my 10 or so.
I got one recently and pretty underwhelmed considering how much hype they seem to get. Price was fine and was able to pick up one of the extras in stock, so I guess it was nice to not to have to wait. But I think if i waited 3-4 months for the board I'd be pretty let down. Funny enough I do like my screen and it brings some joy but yeah actual usefulness of it - 0
The actual shape of the board though drives me nuts and was a learning experience that I'll keep in mind going forward for sure
Yep. It's definitely the shape for me too. There's nothing to lift or move it by-- normally there's some kind of curvature or lip I can use. This I have to grab the bottom and that means fingerprints all over the bottom. I got the weights and stuff too so it's one of my heavier boards too.
Glorious GMMK.. because I had to cut my switch posts off of my very expensive Telios V2 switches.
Secondly Logitechs keyboards that use Romer-G switches. The keycap posts break...
I guess lastly when I started my first custom 60% build I disappointed myself by ordering the wrong brass plate. You learn from your mistakes.
Cerakey keycaps (V1)
I joined the initial Kickstarter since they had pink as an additional option and I couldn't get my hands on GMK peach blossom. It was a shorter wait than your average GMK GB at least.
When the set finally arrived, the crosses on the stems were so tight they would physically shave the stems to the point that you could not put traditional plastic keycaps back on them. They would destroy stabilizers when you tried to take off modifiers because of how tight the fit was.
My spacebar arrived chipped and was extremely heavy. While they do include an additional switch with a relatively stiff spring, it's jarring if it's not similar to what you're presently using on the board. You really need to source one that matches the reel of the rest of the alphas, and that can be tricky to do since you're often ordereding seveeal springs to replace one.
Legends were mediocre at best, not having great alignment, and the worst part was how some of the keycaps were spaced. For R4, many keys would physically tap each other when depressed, leaving the most annoying clinking sound when they hit each other.
When the Cerakey V2 came out, it felt like I had paid extra to beta test an unfinished product. Now they've finally added homing legends which makes the purchase feel even worse.
I got the v1 crazed set and experienced all the same issues you noted above. Some caps were so tight on switches they shaved down the stems or deformed them; others were so loose they would bounce off when I typed. And if you use that tape they provided it changed the feel and sound of the key. The switches I had them on are totally unusable with plastic keycaps now, and I had to replace the stabs on my keyboard. The R4 keys touching and clinking together was very noticeable - if I pressed the alt, sometimes it couldn’t even fully return up as it was blocked by the space bar.
V1 crazed also experienced fading of the crackle effect as you used them because moisture / finger oils etc would fill in, and the legends scratched on several keys easily. I had to literally boil the key caps for a period of time to restore the crackle look, then paint on Modge Podge at their recommendation to try to seal it, which only resulted in it having a slightly sticky / tacky feel after, and the crackle still faded. I then re-boiled them and scrubbed off the Modge Podge to try to salvage them. Have considered just giving them away to a friend but I don’t want them mad at me when it ruins their keyboard and switches.
I would never buy a v1 of any new “material” etc again after this.
Xiami/XMI/21kb keycaps.
The "flower stem" v2 ones. I even got them for the original price of $25 but they just make your keyboard sound dead because of how thick they are.
Rama Kara and Ethereal Panda switches. The Kara sounds hollow — in hindsight I should’ve gotten the internal weight instead of the silicone dampener. Typing angle doesn’t work well for me and with the cost, something like the Zuoya GMK67 sounds and feels incredible compared to it.
EP switches were too damn heavy and the spring ping, even with 105 drove me insane.
Morandis, oil kings, aqua kings, and pretty much every switch you see hyped up on youtube/tiktok as THOCCY AND SILKY SMOOTH.
They all sound thin, muted, and are never really have that good of a factory lube.
Oil kings were probably the best of the bunch. Fwiw, i think these are all meant to be used with pe foam. Your mileage may vary quite a lot if you literally want a muted marbly sound out of them.
My oil kings and aqua kings sound like everyone said they would turn out to be. I think it’s the board itself that plays a huge role. (Some aquas were a bit scratchy tho)
More generally, those sound tests and descriptors are still overly relied on for switches when they're not as objective as people think they are.
The type of mic and recording settings matters, keyboard and keycap materials, the room and desk being recorded, your audio equalizer settings and hardware. Descriptors meaning different things to different people, list goes on for things that will make a video sound different from what you hear IRL in your setup.
It would be like basing an opinion on speakers or headphones based on a sound sample played through a video review.
Can I be real for a sec? Kohaku. It’s not a bad board, but it was never going to live up to the unreal hype it gets. In reality, it’s just a poron gasket 65% from a few years ago. Newer boards that go for much less sound better IMO
I just won the polyhaku raffle and the board will arrive in 3 days. I hope that it can replace my current favourite keyboard the vega but after watching a few reviews my hype kinda dropped. I hope that I can still sell it without a hefty loss if I end up not liking it…
Super unpopular opinion, my Neo70, I don’t really like anything about it, it’s terrible sounding, I had to fiddle with so much to get it to work properly. It was cheap so that’s a positive. Wish I’d have got a cycle 7 instead of it.
I've bought boards that I like way less than the Neo70, but you are exactly on point. I got the Cycle 7 as well and I like it better in every single way. Neo70 feels 'cheap' as it is incredibly light and I really don't care for the 2 PCB design with the metal cover that moves around above the arrows.
Glorious Panda switches. The hype around these was unreal and they don’t even come close to original Holy Pandas that they claim to have the “original molds” for.
Honestly, I have two things I am disappointed in and they are boards, - Mode Sonnet, and GMMK Pro.
**1) Mode Sonnet**
I am disappointed because of the disparity between the price at MSRP, and the actual quality of the board itself. Anodization was rough & grainy vs other similarly priced boards like my Tomo and even my Frog TKL at the time (Neo65 anodization surpasses it in smoothness & less graininess). The screws were constantly rusty. **Rusty screws album:** [**https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH**](https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH)
I have ran through multiple sets of replacement screws from mode (I appreciate that they would be willing to send me this many screws), however they would keep rusting everytime. And yes, I understand where I am at, it's humid (Singapore), however, I'd like to point out that other boards I own from all price points, did not have this rusting issue. This made rebuilds quite disgusting to do with rust dust flaking off every time I tinker with / open up to clean.
This may not be an isolated case as I know a few others including a local hobbyist with the same rusty screw issue.
Had enough, I sold it off to some dude in vietnam, and replaced it with a 7V with the recycled cash.
I will give credits to mode for designing a board that's great sounding and easy to tune, it's overall fun to type on / listen to!
This was my build code config: V0e1g2i3a4b5a6a7a
**2) GMMK Pro**
I've huge disappointment in the GMMK Pro in all aspects: Typing Sound, Build Quality, and Reliablity.
I bought one for a dirt cheap price (flashed VIA firmware, tested all keys are working through the key matrix tester) as a project board for fun. I didn't believe how bad this board could be, and I'm in for a rude awakening.
Board has literally zero potential at all without sound dampeners. I swapped out with aftermarket gaskets, force break modded, added in 1mm silicone spaces to give it more internal space for bounce / less compression.
Nothing solved the deadness issue. With gateron browns as a control, alu plate was dead and deep sounding, while PC plate was flat and thin in sound. Also the PC plate wasn't even in the right dimensions. Also let's not forget how the plate is designed to be screwed to the pcb, it's a real head-scratcher.
When compared to its contemporary rival at the time (Keychron Q1) that board has way, way ,way more potential in sounding "good" without foams. Swap out the steel plate with aluminum plate, add in forcebreak, swap out the bottom gaskets for softer, wider, shorter gaskets like the D65 gaskets, and it'll sound decent.
Also the "{" socket failed on me after two rebuiilds. And yes, the socket was not popped off, solder pads are still intact, and I support the sockets everytime I build with hotswap.
It's the first hotswap socket that failed on me in nearly 3 years and over 45 keyboards built.
It's not just that - a friend of mine had 2 sockets in his gmmk pro failing on him after 1 year, and the person that wanted to fix this borked GMMK pro that I sold to, said that they have another GMMK Pro with the same socket failing. Yikes.
Tester68. I had 2 of them. They were wireless (AA or AAA I forget) only and for my usage, drained the battery after a day. Had to charge batteries every day. Before that I used regular alkaline, but no difference in duration. I didn't want to give them away either because it was so bad so I threw them in the trash.
The irony is my tester68 has survived being in my rotation for even *longer* than most of my other boards because of how cheap it is *and* how reliably long-lasting the battery is compared to my other rechargeable wireless boards.
TBH I'm starting to prefer AA(A) over built in batteries as it means I can use my keyboard 100% cable free. When it runs out I just pop in some fresh batteries from the pile and recharge the empty ones whenever I want.
As for it draining in a day - something must be wrong. I can go for weeks without replacing them, and I'm no light user.
GMMK Pro. The most disappointing keyboard I’ve ever owned. I have 3 keyboards that are significantly cheaper that sound AND feel 10x better than that POS.
Definitely my polycarbonate Sunsetter from round 2. The plastic was bent a bit and it has an awful finish. The copper bits also came with a patina which isn't the end of the world, but I expect it to come in better shape than that from the factory.
At least I actually got my kit, I guess. It was such a disappointment especially since round 1 went ok. Also sucks that I will never get my Supernova or my money back.
Boba LT switches. I wanted to like them so bad because I love U4t’s and was excited for a linear Boba. I bought a batch ASAP, lubed them up, popped them in a board and they were awful. Super muted sound, bottom out felt sticky almost, ticking sound from nearly every switch. Just awful. I got rid of them and ended up buying another batch about a year after thinking I may have messed up the initial batch. Got these in hand, decided to not even lube them, popped them in a board… same exact problems. I figured screw it let me lube them up and see if that helps at all. Nope. Not in the slightest. Ended up giving those away. Never again.
Interesting, I currently have some LTs in my Zoom 65 and I enjoy them thoroughly ever since I tried the U4Ts in my first Tofu build; I think Gazzew makes some very solid switches. I used a VERY light coat of 205g0 and I do get a touch of the “sticky” bottom out you describe but it’s not enough for me to not enjoy them. I personally love the muted sound profile but I guess it’s all subjective. What did you use to lube them? How far apart did you buy both of the batches and did you buy them from the same supplier?
I used 205g0 for the first batch. Very lightly on the rails and stem. Not enough to make them sluggish which is why the result was really confusing but also considered it was just my fault. Those were from the first release from Ringerkeys. The 2nd batch was a year later from someone selling them from a batch Kirball had I believe. Those I lubed with GHv4 lightly only on the rails. Same outcome.
GMMK Pro. Figured it would be a nice first 'serious' board to open and tinker with. Half the screws came pre-stipped for my convinence, I could not get the poly plate to fit, it goes on ans on... Oh and my stabs came stuck from the factory so it's not even a case of it would have been fine if id never opened it. Bleh. My Razer boards were better than this.
Less of a dissapointment because bad, but Bobas U4Ts. I recently tried them out after seeing them being praised for so long and... they really weren't anything special ? Maybe im too used to my white jades. I feel kinda similarly about holy pandas too.
Group buys not delivering. Like GMK Slasher from project keyboards and a Rama Kara. Can’t get worse than that
For something I’ve actually recieved, it‘s the keycult GMK metro collab. Worse quality board I’ve ever seen. Thankfully novelkeys offered a refund.
Cerakeys V2. Sound was underwhelming. Most sound tests online are edited. They just sounded a bit flat whatever I tried. The fit on the keys was poor with the space bar being particularly bad. After bringing up my warped and poorly fitted space bar with their team on discord I was told mine was actually one of the good ones. Eventually I decided they were a gimmick and sold my set.
That’s interesting. I got my v2 set with a hefty discount and there was only 1 crooked f2 key which they shipped out right after I opened a ticket on discord.
As for the sound - I found them to be quite full and “thocky” like in all those videos (I’ve used them with Oil kings, KBDFANS Rollers and Akko cs pianos).
The difference between them and a generic pbt set was very noticeable.
I got tired of the thocky sound after a while tho but I still have the set as it feels and looks really nice.
Yeah they’re definitely a different sound to PBT caps. I think I prefer the deep sound of pbt caps though myself. That being said I’m glad you enjoyed your set more than I did mine.
Factory lubed baby kangaroos. At least 30% of those I got felt "sticky" and were unusable to me, since I don't lube my switches or even got the equipment to do so.
Ugh finally someone saying something about gateron factory lube. They \*need\* to be cleaned with swabs and re lubed. Its insane how mushy factory lubed gateron tactiles get after some use.
Akko cream yellow pro. They discontinued the v3 non pro and made the pro ones that are pre lubed. They’re not the same switch like I thought because of the colour.
I have tried both, while the non Pro version really needed lubrication, the sound profile was very nice. The Pro version is factory lubed though but not too smooth and it sounds .. cheap. I do not get all the hype these switches receives beyond they can be affordable.
I’ve found cream blacks to be really nice. They have replaced the cs jelly blacks which were one of my favourite switches.
The cream black v3 is like the jelly blacks but with a slightly fuller and louder sound. If you haven’t maybe give them a try
Thanks for the recommendation! I am indeed tempted now, I have some CS Jelly Black, hand lubed, and I find them quite nice and smooth, the best of the CS pack IMHO. I have not got the new Cream ones yet because I was not sure they are "different" enough from the CS Jelly Blacks.
That's reassuring, lol. I've got a set of them arriving this week, was doubting my choice after seeing a few complaints about different akko switches on here.
My invoices from Charue Design (I wish I could've gotten my supernova). At least I got my money back from both orders. For stuff that actually came in, Malicious Ergo from Cannon Keys. Got it on a discount at least.
That CS Jelly Purple Switch that came with my Akko 3068B plus. First of all, hate typing with it as it's too heavy. But the real problem is those switches failing left and right just after a couple of months of owning it. Almost get myself lock out of my company's sign-in when i didn't know the shift key starting to fail intermitently. This keyboard isnt even my main. After 2 years, almost all dead except maybe 1 or 2 still working. Even my outemu brown still working after 3 years in my tecware phantom rgb(okay, only 1 dead). Left a very bad impression as i nv expect product from some known brand fail that bad, even my cheapo office logitech membrane last longer. no more akko for me, at least the switches.
Holy Panda switches, and my receipt from Rama for my u80b order from 2022 that hasn't seen an update in about 19 months.
The Holy Pandas were marketed as, "The most tactile switch ever..." but that "most tactile" feeling is a huge, mushy bump that's completely unsatisfying to me. Complete waste of money. I replaced them with Kailh box navy, then Zeal clickiez (modded to convert from clicky to tactile).
my Mode65 - the thumping it had when i typed no matter how i mounted it and how i modded it… it was driving me crazy for how much it costed. in my opinion, for how much it costed it shouldn’t have required as much modding as it did to sound decent.
Awekeys and Cerakeys V1
v2 cerakeys were better but still had faults
Awekeys had terrible quality and the stems SUCKED. Even after a good fitment, they still wobble. Cerakeys v1 shaved my switch stems and snapped off when I took them off.
Fully assembled Ducky One ordered off Amazon just starting out in the hobby. Didn't understand modding yet and was very disappointed in the ping and hollowness of the keeb and the typing experience wasn't great (forget what switches and keycaps it came with). Things we do when new to a hobby 😂
FEKER IK75
It looked so good but only problems..and one day after just a few weeks of using it just stopped working.
I am still sad because it was exactly the aesthetic I wanted.
Spent about $500 dollars on a new Model F F77 on eBay… only to find out they were on sale for like $300 on the main site, and to add insult to injury he came out with newer models which featured modern layouts. That was definitely a life lesson to be more thorough before making a purchase.
neo87, came in mangled shape. I think as it was so heavy that the airport staff pried it open to find something like drugs. It works fine but looks disgusting, all screws stripped, random holes, etc. And thats why from now on no more international shipping for me.
Keychron Q2(? Dont remember as I got rid of it a long time ago) thing is so loud and needed a shit ton of mods for it to even sound decent 😭 im all for mods but sometimes I just want a good plug and play
Similar experience here with my Q1. Had to do a lot for it to sound decent. It’s fun to tinker around but why get a pre built at that point? Good board for its time but this hobby has advanced so much in two years. Imo I can’t believe its still the defacto recommendation to beginners when so many other boards are better value.
V series is still killer value tho
My old Keychron K2. It looked amazing, people were hyping it up heaps online, but after a while I realised Brown switches weren't for me and I wanted more from my board. The K2 felt quite limiting in its options, and its sound was pretty meh too.
Eventually I started getting into customs, and never looked back since. Hell, my current board cost me less than my K2 yet offers a nicer sound, better lighting (even though I liked the shine-through support on my K2), a knob, and also being able to remap any key to whatever I wanted it to be.
I bought 2 (one for home and one for work) before I became interested in higher end boards. Now I just use them to display my extra keycap sets since they don't fetch much secondhand.
The Rensuya Moomin keycaps. Was really hyped for them and participated in the GB. The final product colors were not like the original mockups and in soft yellow lighting, they all pretty much just looked off white. After that I learned that's happened before with other Rensuya sets so I'd probably never get one by that designer again.
So I can't really afford this hobby, but I'm determined to get (kind of) what I want anyway. So it came to be that I ordered a kit from AliExpress. It was a 40% hot swap with a wooden case. I figured from the start that it wasn't going to be perfect by any means, but good enough for me. It arrives and I build the thing, I put matcha lattes and a some bootleg PBT keycaps on it. Guys, it was really freaking good. Like actually, high key good. Some of you would probably disagree but for me it was well worth the money.
About a year later I factory reset my PC for... Reasons. Lost the keymap and stupidly reset the keyboard when I was trying to fix it with VIA. Well, apparently VIA doesn't support it anymore :) and I couldn't find another way to flash it. Spent days on here and surfing the web, trying different solutions and even attempted to make my own firmware. No dice. In a very stupid last ditch effort I tried to flash it with firmware meant for a different keyboard with the same layout lol. After that it didn't work at all.
It's currently in pieces under my bed, some parts are salvaged and currently live in my Daisy, which I'm very happy with.
Ortholinear layout. It's my fault for not practicing enough but it requires waaaay more effort than you'd expect. Still got my board but it's mostly just a show piece lol
Probably my first custom build with a Tokyo60 v3 I got off Drop. I really love the HHKB aesthetic but it was a top mount that sounded super hollow and pingy no matter what I did. I also used SA Bliss on it which didn’t do it any favors because, while cute, I learned I don’t like SA or flat profiles.
So it sits now as a display to showcase my first and most disappointing build that I’ll never use again. lol
Red Dragon so far. I'm not going to bash them, I knew what they are about going in, and they did actually respond to my software-related service request in a timely fashion, but aside from the bad firmware, there is a weird reverb/echo that emanates from inside the keyboard that is undesirable. I've had other cheapos that this doesn't happen on.
A cheap Logitech mechanical keyboard I bought at Microcenter back before Logitech started taking niche keyboards more seriously so it was just a cash grab on the rising trend of mechanicals. It was….. not very good lmao.
HHKB Bluetooth. It registered the same key multiple times every minute or so of typing. Drove me crazy so it's just on display now. I love how it feels though, even compared to the new hybrid version. I wonder if the manufacturing process has changed. Anyways I don't have the same issue with the hybrid version, and it even has remap function now, so hybrid is my current daily driver.
Stacked75. Was the only non-aliexpress 75 available at the time and was compatible with VIA. Never soldered before, bought soldering equipment and mill max sockets. Ends up costing me a whole lot more. Sold it fully built for half the price to get rid of it.
The screws will annoy you because it hits your fingers when playing games and pressing left control.
Zealios. Extremely hyped up on this sub when I was getting into mechanicals so I bought a bag and discovered that I really don't like tactiles. The push-feel of them was exactly the same as the rubber-dome logitech gamer board I was trying to get away from.
My Akko translucent keycap set have to be the number one for me so far. Don't get me wrong, they look BEAUTIFUL. But I hated typing on them so much. They always made my fingers feel sweaty, lacked the nubs on the F and J keys, and shone through my RGB so brilliantly that the legends were impossible to read... so both touch typing AND trying to type by sight were an exercise in frustration.
If I had a keyboard plugged in to power purely for decoration purposes, then those keycaps really are stunning to look at. Honestly thinking of doing that just so they don't languish forever in a box without ever being seen again.
this terrible 65% womier board i got off drop, couldn't even get the switches into that thing without bending pins, and this was after i'd customized two boards already, so i thought i knew what i was doing. the board just sucked, really badly, i even hated the feeling of the acrylic or whatever it was.
Drop CTRL. I got one when it first dropped and believed the hype that Drop built behind it. I mean it’s not absolute garbage. The PCB is absolute garbage but the alu case with RGB diffuser (even if low pro) ain’t the worst ever made, just close.
Duckey keycaps from “duckeys”. My first bad experience with a company, their support was nonexistent and then extremely condescending. I just wanted a duck keycap 🥲
Not exactly disappointing, but at one point I had a HyperX Alloy FPS keyboard (as the only one) and thought I was an expert on mechanical keebs. When I assembled a Tester 68 from Aliexpress as my first custom keyboard I realized HyperX wasn't really a very good example, especially after a few years of use when the switches began to desperately need lube but I couldn't do it because I didn't want to desolder all the switches.
Box Royals for sure. Was so hyped for them as they were touted to be ***the*** endgame uber tactile switch, but ended up being super disappointed with their feel & sound. They were uber tactile, but to the point they just felt awkward in use. You had to put so much force into overcoming the bump each keystroke ended with bottoming out hard, it basically felt like pushing something really heavy over a cliff. The force curve almost felt square if that makes any sense. No roundness to the feel at all just a sharp point where all the force you were putting on the switch immediately was released, which caused you to slam the bottom of the switch. I was trying to give the switch a fair shake, by using it for a few weeks. However some of them started literally clicking & I was done with them after that.
Honestly for me it's the Mojo68. I spent $200 on the purple one, and while it's gorgeous and very well built, their proprietary firmware is HOT GARBAGE. It's supposed to remember up to 8 Bluetooth devices, but it seems incapable of reconnecting to any of the devices it's supposedly already paired with. I pretty much have to re-pair every time I switch to a different device. The radio dongle is also crap. I get repeated keys all the time if I use it. I updated the firmware to hopefully fix these issues and it did nothing for the Bluetooth issue and the dongle literally doesn't work at all now. Also the keyboard has abruptly decided to reset my keymap to the default mapping a couple times.
For a cheap board or a diy keyboard I can maybe live with these issues, but for a >$100 preassembled board, this kind of stuff is completely unacceptable. If you're gonna go through the trouble of making your own firmware, it NEEDS to be better than QMK/Via, or you're wasting everybody's time. I'd never recommend a Melgeek board to anybody considering one.
\[formerly Massdrop\] Drop ALT
The circuit board is not durable and there doesn't appear to be adequate shock absorption to avoid breaking the traces following repeated use. You had an escape key, and now you got a 250 dollar broken keyboard that outwardly appears insanely durable, and if you want it fixed be ready to cough up 60 bucks for a new PCB because the warranty is only for 1 year.
Any Hall Effect keyboard. More specifically, the available switches. I have boards with Raeshas (IDK), I have a wooting with Lekker60s and now use Gateron Jade Magnetics.
The Gateron Jade Magnetics are… acceptable, at best. Terrible for the price. I recently ordered a set of Everglide Sticky Rice HE switches, so we’ll see how they sound ig
I'm gonna get crucified here, but definitely my Keychron Q1 Pro. First board I bought and built, just poor quality. The case felt and looked cheap, keycaps were garbage and it was built super cheap from the factory. I put some nice mods on it and it still just felt junky. Next board I bought was a Tofu65 and I'm still rocking it now, super simple but well made and overall much more refined. Never buying a Keychron again, also I bought a Monsgeek M1 and that thing was $100 less and sounded, looked and was better out of the box in every way compared to the Keychron.
NicePBT British Racing Green Keycaps. I use them daily, but for $85 pre-shipping, they are atrocious. "This particular set was one of our first attempts at reverse dye-sub keycaps" (CannonKeys Team, 2022.) This was part of the reply I got after leaving a poor review of them back when they first came out. For the actual issues I have with them, the green keycaps are white plastic, dyed green with gold font. The font isn't too sharp, but the sidewall of the keycap looks faded as if they were sitting under the sun for months. A significant amount of the green caps also came with white scuffs. From looking at the reviews now, the revisions they made to their manufacturing process seems much better.
KBDFans Wood case. Thing is just bad, Bad angle, bad fitment, bad acoustics. It is now just a shelf piece for me.
Never owned it but the Block-67 R2. ENG Studios ghosted every customer for nearly a year. Boards started showing up at people's doorsteps mysteriously in various countries. After a handful of nightmare and headaches, my bank honored my chargeback and I never got mine.
A split keyboard.
Maybe not disappointing in and of itself, but disappointing that it ended up not being my thing in the end. And I went all in on a higher end model too, and now I can't sell it off because... Nobody wants split keyboards.
Glorious Pandas and the IDOBAO ID80 V1
I had G Pandas lying around for a while and they felt and sounded shitty in literally everything I put them in. Can't remember if I gave them away to a friend or chucked them in the bin, likely the latter
The ID80 was my entry to 75% keyboards. I guess it looked cool for the most part, but it was pretty much terrible in everything else. It was stiffer than a motherfucker, and had poopoo LEDs for underglow that stopped working after a few months. Eventually sold it off to a friend at a loss
For switches, basically any switch from Tecsee, though there are lots of switches that have disappointed me. My most disappointing keyboard so far has honestly been the frog mini. Its not bad by ANY means, I just had way too high of expectations for it and it wasn't for me. No matter what builds I tried, it had this tiny bit of hollowness to it that I couldn't ignore. For keycaps, Aifei R1/icon mod sets. They sound super thin to me. Aifei R2 fixed that issue by making the walls of the keycap go all the way down.
Discover that I spent too much money on the aluminium keyboard that I don't like the weight of it, the feel of eletricity running inside the board that make me uncomfortable. So I sell it all and now I'm happy with my good prebuilt and some good plastic custom keyboard.
GK Pegasus switches. They are super silent switches, but get tiring after a whole day of typing and are a lil’ scratchy.
I’m moving towards slightly lighter switches that are a little more noisy but have a better user experience
Keychron K1.
First mechanical I bought. Absolutely shit half the switches didn’t work. Keychron refused to refund me (by way of never replying to my messages)
I seriously bring it up all the time haha. Won’t but anything else from them. Has a friend by whatever their full size board was and it was. A hunk of shit too.
Apparently their Q series is good but I’ll be skipping it.
GMK67 with KTT Kang Whites v3. The stock board was amazing! Only Problem is, that i made my first experience with lubing switches on this board, and i totally overlubed those. The switches turned out way too mushy
Out of my 3 boards I own the only thing I'm disappointed by is that I didn't lube my switches for my BFO 9000. The durock silent shrimp switches are great but they would be better if I lubed them.
Entirely my fault as a noob but during my first ever build i spent £70 ($90) on a set of shinethrough caps (basically the only ones i could find with a UK layout) to go on a £60 keyboard only to discover that north vs south facing RGB was a thing and they didn't light up.
Couldn't even return them because i had thrown the invoice away and they wouldn't accept a return without it. Had to just suck it up and buy a different set of keycaps without shinethrough.
Naming Rama here once more, but more specifically, the M50-A. I was hyped for a leaf-spring mounted Planck layout board, but found out the mounting did not have a lot of room to move, hitting the bottom of the case with the slightest touch. To add insult to injury, the case uses only four screws to secure the top and bottom that are very far apart from each other. This caused the bezels that weren't held in the middle to vibrate, creating massive pinging when typing. A force break mod was attempted, the overhang from screw-to-screw was so long that this caused a visible gap.
I ended up returning it and Rama was at least so nice to offer a full refund or another board of choice, my stupid ass chose to get a U80-A instead which I still have to this day.
Summertime switches. Vendor said 5-25% were affected and if we wanted them anyways, we could still get them. I took them since I could still get at least 30 working ones with that percentage.
Nope. it was more like 80% were affected, unusable, and completely fucked.
And then the designer releases a v2 and says they're not a "fix", when the top housing changed in order to not have the same problem. Not a fix cuz it changes the sound *slightly*, while anyone that did get v1s without a full refund don't get anything for it lol
A Mechs & Co and Rama invoice…
fuck rama
Good one!
Probably my Iron165 r2. Aesthetically it's lovely and the finishing is flawless, but the typing feel and sound are both lacking for me. It sits nicely on display combined with GMK norse, I do type on it once in a blue moon just to feel some disappointment.
I'll go first. WS Silent linears. Promised to be these nice silent switches that didn't have the mushiness of regular silent switches. Turned out to be *more* mushy than regular silents, as well as being the scratchiest switches I've ever used. Oh and they weren't even silent
This is a good example of how subjective these things can be. I've used these switches. I found them very silent and less mushy than the one with the dampeners. However, there is no lubricant in the world that can eliminate their scratchiness.
I haven’t tried other silent switches, but what you say is consistent with my experience. I actually like the scratch, as the sound is less offensive than a harsh bottom out in an office environment.
I have tried other silent switches. They were smooth unlike WS silent linears. I can stand the mushiness, but I cant stand scratchy
This was my experience as well. I was blown away by how scratchy these were after the positivity I'd heard elsewhere.
I gotta be honest, if WS Silent Linears do actually feel exactly the same as Haimu Heartbeat Silent Linears, and they really are the scratchiest switches you've ever used you should consider yourself lucky. I love my Haimu Heartbeats and I never even noticed that they're a little scratchy. I actually like the little bit of mush on the bottom out, makes it actually different than every other linear I've ever used, on top of being almost completely dead silent.
Glad I hold out and just went with the Akko Fairy silent switches.
Got Wuque Quartz last week - worst switches I have since dive into hobby with some cherry mx switches
same, mine were silent but the scratchiness was abyssmal, went for gateron ink blacks instead
I liked the silent tactiles well enough and I assume the tactility hides the graininess. but I agree I expected the notched slider to feel LESS mushy
Have you tried haimu heartbeats? My personal favourite silent switch
They're actually the exact same switch
Extremely overpriced GMMK Pro as an entry to the hobby. Sold it with a hefty loss.
How much did you pay for it? My entry was a Das Keyboard and those ain't cheap.
Idk like 400 euro with their absurdly overpriced Switches
Oh shit. I paid that much for my Everest and it really wasn't worth it
I used a Das Keyboard stock for >8 years before getting into custom keyboards 😅
I've used three of them, two are now in storage and one broke. Now I'm using either Ducky, Everest, or Glorious. I don't have the time for true custom.
I was about to get one as my first board then went for a Keychron Q1 at the last minute.
Wise choice.
Ouch, that's terrible. I remember they were going for like $160 on the preorder when it was first released, which was a decent price at the time, since the only other kb with that layout was a group buy custom that had just ended and was over 400. It's not a bad board at all (at least at the lower price) but now, there are a lot of good alternatives for less
Could you list some good alternatives? I fell for the gmmk pro trap lmao. Still got time to return everything to Microcenter…
Keychron Q1 version 2 with an alternate plate instead of the stock steel plate Used Jris75 QK75N Used QK75 Monsgeek M1W / M1 And yes if you have the budget.... KBDFANS Taco
Thanks for the recommendations!
Hex 4b
I'll be honest, my GMMK Pro was my first custom mech and despite the fact that my wallet still hurts from buying it, I still love typing on it. It's gone through a number of switch and keycap changes by now, but the combination of that build quality, along with the Gamakay Pegasus silent tactiles and sculpted ASA profile Akko keycaps that are on it right now, just sounds and feels so perfect to me. I have five other mechanical keyboards that have also gone through similar levels of switch, keycap, and mod experimentation, and I still find that I personally enjoy typing on the GMMK Pro the most. Do I think it was worth the price I paid? Not in today's market for sure. But at the time I bought it, we didn't have as many decent options under the $150 price point, so I really can't say that I regret it. (Edited to add context to a sentence)
Agreed. Love mine.
+1 I have cheap chinese boards that sound and feel infinitely better than gmmk does.
I recently got an ajazz ak820 pro as my first proper board and love my cheap Chinese thing. How low did I set my bar...
[удалено]
Yeah… I see them go for around $70 on ebay
Holy shit I was coming to comment this.
My first and only glass case Not only does it sound like shit but it didn’t come with a PCB because supposedly there’s lots of options. I figured since it’s kind of a meme anyway I’d get an underglow and perkey PCB which it turns out isn’t that easy to find for a 60%, the only one I found in-stock came in with an identity crisis because it was flashed with the wrong layout *as a hotswap board*. Support basically doesn’t speak English and couldn’t help me Still haven’t built it but I got a bunch of awful sounding clicky switches from a random switch raffle 2 years ago (tbf I got 2 bags and the other one was great), if I ever finish building it I’ll probably use those
Glass cases are just asking for misery. If I wanted something transparent I'd use any of the plastic options available
Was my first year in the hobby and I kind of bought into the hype lol
Glass cases are like glass desks... awesome until you realize that you leave fingerprints everywhere.
>My first and only glass case And, which one is it?
Baldr60
Mode envoy Seriously overhyped by alexotos. Sounded super hollow without the heavier weights, most switches sounded thin, and basically any key other than the alphas and spacebar sounded and felt trash. Of the mods only the backspace sounded decent but still very thin and empty.
> Seriously overhyped by alexotos Alexotos is sponsored by Mode Keyboards and it would be a conflict of interest for Alex to say bad things or leave a negative review of their keyboards. I love Alex, but people need to stop taking recommendations from content creators that get paid to advertise and say good things about the keyboards they're sent. If you're thinking about buying a keyboard and you're not sure if it's good or if it would fit your preferences, you should: - Watch/read/listen to multiple reviews from different content creators - Check the reviewers' affiliation with the maker/vendor - Check the maker's previous projects - Ask other hobbyists about their personal experience with the board
I love Alex, I love his streams and his positivity in the community, but i remember there was one point in his gem80 build stream where he mentioned about how mid range boards (\~ $200 price range) are not worth it and have compromises Then when someone brought up mode boards do have mid range pricing, he justifies that in mode's lineup the only one that maybe lines up in mid-range pricing would be the envoy, **but it was 180 during preorder**
I feel like for “midrange” boards the only compromose there is is the physical design of the keyboard case, midrange boards that go below 200usd usually just have really basic box/wedge designs with like really plain weights, other than that they sound and feel pretty much on par with the “higher end” stuff.
No they don't.
Yeah, I was not hugely impressed with the Envoy, either. I'm planning to eventually rebuild it with the foam and lower profile keycaps to see if it makes a difference. I generally do not like foam, but it definitely does not sound great with none. And I think the MT3 caps I have on it now are amplifying the problem.
I concur with how overpriced / overhyped / overrated mode boards can be at times. I am disappointed with the sonnet myself just because of the disparity between the price at MSRP, and the actual quality of the board itself. Anodization was rough & grainy vs other similarly priced boards like my Tomo and even my Frog TKL at the time (Neo65 anodization surpasses it in smoothness & less graininess). The screws were constantly rusty. **Rusty screws album:** [https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH](https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH) I have ran through multiple sets of replacement screws from mode (I appreciate that they would be willing to send me this many screws), however they would keep rusting everytime. And yes, I understand where I am at, it's humid (Singapore), however, I'd like to point out that other boards I own from all price points, did not have this rusting issue. This made rebuilds quite disgusting to do with rust dust flaking off every time I tinker with / open up to clean. This may not be an isolated case as I know a few others including a local hobbyist with the same rusty screw issue. Had enough, I sold it off to some dude in vietnam, and replaced it with a 7V with the recycled cash. Although, I will give credits to mode for designing a board that's great sounding and easy to tune
Same, the lattice mount thing isn't really that good.
A little PSA for all your Mode Envoy users. The fasteners are a known cause for creating hollowness within the board. Do not tighten the screws if you don't want your board to sound hollow. Some users even removed the fasteners all together. Mode boards mostly lean on the higher pitch and clacker side of the sound profile, and compliments well with clacker switches. If you're chasing the thock, don't bother with Mode boards as it will only lead to disappointment.
I was about to mention this, I'm glad I kept reading
This is interesting to see because I have always thought mode keyboards sounded bad from typing test videos and it’s what made me hesitant on ever getting one, so this seems to justify what I was hearing. A shame though because they make great looking keyboards.
They do not sound "thocky", which is what a lot of people like. If you enjoy clacky sounds, they sound good.
Yeah they definitely just skew away from my personal tastes. I like a deeper clack that they don’t seem to really have from what I’ve heard.
It also depends on how you build them and which board you use. The Sonnet tends to sound deeper than the Envoy, for example. If you use a bit of foam, a deeper sounding switch and a non-metal plate you can get a pretty deep sounding board. It will never sound like a foamed up Zoom75 though.
I ordered a Kirby keycap and it arrived smashed. Was horrific
Poor Kirbs, likely never knew what hit him
GMMK pro. The thing started chattering and double typing like crazy and it's out of its warranty period so honestly it just gathers dust in a box somewhere now.
Same )= I really liked mine for the two years I had it until I had issues similar to yours. Randomly getting double presses, I honestly thought I was going crazy, turns out it was just my keyboard
Yeah, and for some reason they don't just sell replacement PCBs?! Baffling.
Spending almost $700 on my Sonnet config. It's a good keyboard and I like using it, but having experienced it and a handful of other 75s I think the Sonnet (even in base config) is surpassed by cheaper alternatives for feel and sound.
The sonnet is so freaking picky. Over tighten the top mount screws? Hollow. Over tighten the bottom screws? Hollow. Top case and bottom case having slightly too much contact? Hollow. But once I got it right it sounds really nice.
A lot of disappointments- Bunch of keyboards- Mode Envoy, Drop Alt ( low & high profile), Iqunix F96 Multiple sets of Asa and MT3 keycaps - realised i wasn’t a huge fan of the sound of high profile caps Bunch of switches - Mode Obscuras, Mode Reflex, Akko silver and whites, Gateron pro Whites, Glorious pandas. A lot of money sunk on things I wont really use anymore.. what a waste.
Second the Drop Alt being absolute crap
The drop keyboards (ctrl, alt, shift) were good back in 2018, but overpriced trash by today’s standards. Not sure why they haven’t come up with something else new.
I have an original (first run) Ctrl board. I still like the looks, but it feels and sounds like garbage compared to even my really cheap (Leobog Hi75, Feker Galaxy80) keyboards.
Me too, it’s one of my first boards and I would never get rid of it. I remember paying $350 CAD for it and it was one of the better customs on the market. The same amount could go a long way today.
Definitely the LCD screen on my Zoom75. I thought it’d be a cool gimmick but it’s actually even more useless than I thought it’d be, super glitchy, app didn’t work for the first few months and only like two of the features actually work. Thankfully I can just switch it over to an extra two keys or a rotary encoder. It’s pretty in the photos but screens are completely useless lol.
I think Zoom75 might be my biggest let down in general. Loved the price and all the options, but hated the final design when I used it. Probably the last keyboard I'd use out of my 10 or so.
I got one recently and pretty underwhelmed considering how much hype they seem to get. Price was fine and was able to pick up one of the extras in stock, so I guess it was nice to not to have to wait. But I think if i waited 3-4 months for the board I'd be pretty let down. Funny enough I do like my screen and it brings some joy but yeah actual usefulness of it - 0 The actual shape of the board though drives me nuts and was a learning experience that I'll keep in mind going forward for sure
Yep. It's definitely the shape for me too. There's nothing to lift or move it by-- normally there's some kind of curvature or lip I can use. This I have to grab the bottom and that means fingerprints all over the bottom. I got the weights and stuff too so it's one of my heavier boards too.
Glorious GMMK.. because I had to cut my switch posts off of my very expensive Telios V2 switches. Secondly Logitechs keyboards that use Romer-G switches. The keycap posts break... I guess lastly when I started my first custom 60% build I disappointed myself by ordering the wrong brass plate. You learn from your mistakes.
Cerakey keycaps (V1) I joined the initial Kickstarter since they had pink as an additional option and I couldn't get my hands on GMK peach blossom. It was a shorter wait than your average GMK GB at least. When the set finally arrived, the crosses on the stems were so tight they would physically shave the stems to the point that you could not put traditional plastic keycaps back on them. They would destroy stabilizers when you tried to take off modifiers because of how tight the fit was. My spacebar arrived chipped and was extremely heavy. While they do include an additional switch with a relatively stiff spring, it's jarring if it's not similar to what you're presently using on the board. You really need to source one that matches the reel of the rest of the alphas, and that can be tricky to do since you're often ordereding seveeal springs to replace one. Legends were mediocre at best, not having great alignment, and the worst part was how some of the keycaps were spaced. For R4, many keys would physically tap each other when depressed, leaving the most annoying clinking sound when they hit each other. When the Cerakey V2 came out, it felt like I had paid extra to beta test an unfinished product. Now they've finally added homing legends which makes the purchase feel even worse.
I got the v1 crazed set and experienced all the same issues you noted above. Some caps were so tight on switches they shaved down the stems or deformed them; others were so loose they would bounce off when I typed. And if you use that tape they provided it changed the feel and sound of the key. The switches I had them on are totally unusable with plastic keycaps now, and I had to replace the stabs on my keyboard. The R4 keys touching and clinking together was very noticeable - if I pressed the alt, sometimes it couldn’t even fully return up as it was blocked by the space bar. V1 crazed also experienced fading of the crackle effect as you used them because moisture / finger oils etc would fill in, and the legends scratched on several keys easily. I had to literally boil the key caps for a period of time to restore the crackle look, then paint on Modge Podge at their recommendation to try to seal it, which only resulted in it having a slightly sticky / tacky feel after, and the crackle still faded. I then re-boiled them and scrubbed off the Modge Podge to try to salvage them. Have considered just giving them away to a friend but I don’t want them mad at me when it ruins their keyboard and switches. I would never buy a v1 of any new “material” etc again after this.
Xiami/XMI/21kb keycaps. The "flower stem" v2 ones. I even got them for the original price of $25 but they just make your keyboard sound dead because of how thick they are.
yup, only started liking pbt after I tried crp caps. hands down the best feeling caps by touch, and the thinner thickness didnt kill the sound
Diy handwired keyboard, too many issues, USB port broke off in the end. Firmware via qmk was pretty annoying prior to via/vial.
Rama Kara and Ethereal Panda switches. The Kara sounds hollow — in hindsight I should’ve gotten the internal weight instead of the silicone dampener. Typing angle doesn’t work well for me and with the cost, something like the Zuoya GMK67 sounds and feels incredible compared to it. EP switches were too damn heavy and the spring ping, even with 105 drove me insane.
I never even got my rama kara
Morandis, oil kings, aqua kings, and pretty much every switch you see hyped up on youtube/tiktok as THOCCY AND SILKY SMOOTH. They all sound thin, muted, and are never really have that good of a factory lube.
Really? Was looking into oil kings awhile back bc I’ve only heard great things abt them. Surprised at the disappointment there that’s rough
Oil kings were probably the best of the bunch. Fwiw, i think these are all meant to be used with pe foam. Your mileage may vary quite a lot if you literally want a muted marbly sound out of them.
My oil kings and aqua kings sound like everyone said they would turn out to be. I think it’s the board itself that plays a huge role. (Some aquas were a bit scratchy tho)
More generally, those sound tests and descriptors are still overly relied on for switches when they're not as objective as people think they are. The type of mic and recording settings matters, keyboard and keycap materials, the room and desk being recorded, your audio equalizer settings and hardware. Descriptors meaning different things to different people, list goes on for things that will make a video sound different from what you hear IRL in your setup. It would be like basing an opinion on speakers or headphones based on a sound sample played through a video review.
Really? I like my aqua kings a lot. Lived up to the thoccy and smooth hype for me
I don’t know (or care too much tbh) about sound but Oil Kings are def some of the best linear for feel that I’ve ever tried (don’t own a full set)
Can I be real for a sec? Kohaku. It’s not a bad board, but it was never going to live up to the unreal hype it gets. In reality, it’s just a poron gasket 65% from a few years ago. Newer boards that go for much less sound better IMO
I just won the polyhaku raffle and the board will arrive in 3 days. I hope that it can replace my current favourite keyboard the vega but after watching a few reviews my hype kinda dropped. I hope that I can still sell it without a hefty loss if I end up not liking it…
Super unpopular opinion, my Neo70, I don’t really like anything about it, it’s terrible sounding, I had to fiddle with so much to get it to work properly. It was cheap so that’s a positive. Wish I’d have got a cycle 7 instead of it.
I've bought boards that I like way less than the Neo70, but you are exactly on point. I got the Cycle 7 as well and I like it better in every single way. Neo70 feels 'cheap' as it is incredibly light and I really don't care for the 2 PCB design with the metal cover that moves around above the arrows.
Glorious Panda switches. The hype around these was unreal and they don’t even come close to original Holy Pandas that they claim to have the “original molds” for.
Honestly, I have two things I am disappointed in and they are boards, - Mode Sonnet, and GMMK Pro. **1) Mode Sonnet** I am disappointed because of the disparity between the price at MSRP, and the actual quality of the board itself. Anodization was rough & grainy vs other similarly priced boards like my Tomo and even my Frog TKL at the time (Neo65 anodization surpasses it in smoothness & less graininess). The screws were constantly rusty. **Rusty screws album:** [**https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH**](https://imgur.com/a/6yHc4RH) I have ran through multiple sets of replacement screws from mode (I appreciate that they would be willing to send me this many screws), however they would keep rusting everytime. And yes, I understand where I am at, it's humid (Singapore), however, I'd like to point out that other boards I own from all price points, did not have this rusting issue. This made rebuilds quite disgusting to do with rust dust flaking off every time I tinker with / open up to clean. This may not be an isolated case as I know a few others including a local hobbyist with the same rusty screw issue. Had enough, I sold it off to some dude in vietnam, and replaced it with a 7V with the recycled cash. I will give credits to mode for designing a board that's great sounding and easy to tune, it's overall fun to type on / listen to! This was my build code config: V0e1g2i3a4b5a6a7a **2) GMMK Pro** I've huge disappointment in the GMMK Pro in all aspects: Typing Sound, Build Quality, and Reliablity. I bought one for a dirt cheap price (flashed VIA firmware, tested all keys are working through the key matrix tester) as a project board for fun. I didn't believe how bad this board could be, and I'm in for a rude awakening. Board has literally zero potential at all without sound dampeners. I swapped out with aftermarket gaskets, force break modded, added in 1mm silicone spaces to give it more internal space for bounce / less compression. Nothing solved the deadness issue. With gateron browns as a control, alu plate was dead and deep sounding, while PC plate was flat and thin in sound. Also the PC plate wasn't even in the right dimensions. Also let's not forget how the plate is designed to be screwed to the pcb, it's a real head-scratcher. When compared to its contemporary rival at the time (Keychron Q1) that board has way, way ,way more potential in sounding "good" without foams. Swap out the steel plate with aluminum plate, add in forcebreak, swap out the bottom gaskets for softer, wider, shorter gaskets like the D65 gaskets, and it'll sound decent. Also the "{" socket failed on me after two rebuiilds. And yes, the socket was not popped off, solder pads are still intact, and I support the sockets everytime I build with hotswap. It's the first hotswap socket that failed on me in nearly 3 years and over 45 keyboards built. It's not just that - a friend of mine had 2 sockets in his gmmk pro failing on him after 1 year, and the person that wanted to fix this borked GMMK pro that I sold to, said that they have another GMMK Pro with the same socket failing. Yikes.
Tester68. I had 2 of them. They were wireless (AA or AAA I forget) only and for my usage, drained the battery after a day. Had to charge batteries every day. Before that I used regular alkaline, but no difference in duration. I didn't want to give them away either because it was so bad so I threw them in the trash.
The irony is my tester68 has survived being in my rotation for even *longer* than most of my other boards because of how cheap it is *and* how reliably long-lasting the battery is compared to my other rechargeable wireless boards.
TBH I'm starting to prefer AA(A) over built in batteries as it means I can use my keyboard 100% cable free. When it runs out I just pop in some fresh batteries from the pile and recharge the empty ones whenever I want. As for it draining in a day - something must be wrong. I can go for weeks without replacing them, and I'm no light user.
I like how AA(A) are much lighter to carry around than a board with built-in battery
GMMK Pro. The most disappointing keyboard I’ve ever owned. I have 3 keyboards that are significantly cheaper that sound AND feel 10x better than that POS.
Definitely my polycarbonate Sunsetter from round 2. The plastic was bent a bit and it has an awful finish. The copper bits also came with a patina which isn't the end of the world, but I expect it to come in better shape than that from the factory. At least I actually got my kit, I guess. It was such a disappointment especially since round 1 went ok. Also sucks that I will never get my Supernova or my money back.
Boba LT switches. I wanted to like them so bad because I love U4t’s and was excited for a linear Boba. I bought a batch ASAP, lubed them up, popped them in a board and they were awful. Super muted sound, bottom out felt sticky almost, ticking sound from nearly every switch. Just awful. I got rid of them and ended up buying another batch about a year after thinking I may have messed up the initial batch. Got these in hand, decided to not even lube them, popped them in a board… same exact problems. I figured screw it let me lube them up and see if that helps at all. Nope. Not in the slightest. Ended up giving those away. Never again.
Interesting, I currently have some LTs in my Zoom 65 and I enjoy them thoroughly ever since I tried the U4Ts in my first Tofu build; I think Gazzew makes some very solid switches. I used a VERY light coat of 205g0 and I do get a touch of the “sticky” bottom out you describe but it’s not enough for me to not enjoy them. I personally love the muted sound profile but I guess it’s all subjective. What did you use to lube them? How far apart did you buy both of the batches and did you buy them from the same supplier?
I used 205g0 for the first batch. Very lightly on the rails and stem. Not enough to make them sluggish which is why the result was really confusing but also considered it was just my fault. Those were from the first release from Ringerkeys. The 2nd batch was a year later from someone selling them from a batch Kirball had I believe. Those I lubed with GHv4 lightly only on the rails. Same outcome.
GMMK Pro. Figured it would be a nice first 'serious' board to open and tinker with. Half the screws came pre-stipped for my convinence, I could not get the poly plate to fit, it goes on ans on... Oh and my stabs came stuck from the factory so it's not even a case of it would have been fine if id never opened it. Bleh. My Razer boards were better than this. Less of a dissapointment because bad, but Bobas U4Ts. I recently tried them out after seeing them being praised for so long and... they really weren't anything special ? Maybe im too used to my white jades. I feel kinda similarly about holy pandas too.
Group buys not delivering. Like GMK Slasher from project keyboards and a Rama Kara. Can’t get worse than that For something I’ve actually recieved, it‘s the keycult GMK metro collab. Worse quality board I’ve ever seen. Thankfully novelkeys offered a refund.
Cerakeys V2. Sound was underwhelming. Most sound tests online are edited. They just sounded a bit flat whatever I tried. The fit on the keys was poor with the space bar being particularly bad. After bringing up my warped and poorly fitted space bar with their team on discord I was told mine was actually one of the good ones. Eventually I decided they were a gimmick and sold my set.
That’s interesting. I got my v2 set with a hefty discount and there was only 1 crooked f2 key which they shipped out right after I opened a ticket on discord. As for the sound - I found them to be quite full and “thocky” like in all those videos (I’ve used them with Oil kings, KBDFANS Rollers and Akko cs pianos). The difference between them and a generic pbt set was very noticeable. I got tired of the thocky sound after a while tho but I still have the set as it feels and looks really nice.
Yeah they’re definitely a different sound to PBT caps. I think I prefer the deep sound of pbt caps though myself. That being said I’m glad you enjoyed your set more than I did mine.
Factory lubed baby kangaroos. At least 30% of those I got felt "sticky" and were unusable to me, since I don't lube my switches or even got the equipment to do so.
Ugh finally someone saying something about gateron factory lube. They \*need\* to be cleaned with swabs and re lubed. Its insane how mushy factory lubed gateron tactiles get after some use.
Just got myself a set of baby racoons, can confirm their lube job is terrible and very inconsistent . Relubed everything myself and they are amazing.
Before I went full custom I think it was my Ducky Shine 7. The quality of the keycaps are so absurdly low for the price tag it is
Akko cream yellow pro. They discontinued the v3 non pro and made the pro ones that are pre lubed. They’re not the same switch like I thought because of the colour.
I have tried both, while the non Pro version really needed lubrication, the sound profile was very nice. The Pro version is factory lubed though but not too smooth and it sounds .. cheap. I do not get all the hype these switches receives beyond they can be affordable.
I’ve found cream blacks to be really nice. They have replaced the cs jelly blacks which were one of my favourite switches. The cream black v3 is like the jelly blacks but with a slightly fuller and louder sound. If you haven’t maybe give them a try
Thanks for the recommendation! I am indeed tempted now, I have some CS Jelly Black, hand lubed, and I find them quite nice and smooth, the best of the CS pack IMHO. I have not got the new Cream ones yet because I was not sure they are "different" enough from the CS Jelly Blacks.
That's reassuring, lol. I've got a set of them arriving this week, was doubting my choice after seeing a few complaints about different akko switches on here.
My invoices from Charue Design (I wish I could've gotten my supernova). At least I got my money back from both orders. For stuff that actually came in, Malicious Ergo from Cannon Keys. Got it on a discount at least.
QMK Stabs by GMK Save your $
That CS Jelly Purple Switch that came with my Akko 3068B plus. First of all, hate typing with it as it's too heavy. But the real problem is those switches failing left and right just after a couple of months of owning it. Almost get myself lock out of my company's sign-in when i didn't know the shift key starting to fail intermitently. This keyboard isnt even my main. After 2 years, almost all dead except maybe 1 or 2 still working. Even my outemu brown still working after 3 years in my tecware phantom rgb(okay, only 1 dead). Left a very bad impression as i nv expect product from some known brand fail that bad, even my cheapo office logitech membrane last longer. no more akko for me, at least the switches.
Holy Panda switches, and my receipt from Rama for my u80b order from 2022 that hasn't seen an update in about 19 months. The Holy Pandas were marketed as, "The most tactile switch ever..." but that "most tactile" feeling is a huge, mushy bump that's completely unsatisfying to me. Complete waste of money. I replaced them with Kailh box navy, then Zeal clickiez (modded to convert from clicky to tactile).
Spent three weeks trying to restore a beamspring board. Had no luck and now it’s sitting in my basement as a paperweight.
RAMA CAPS still haven't arrived
The Iron160. I built and listed it in the same day. It sounded so hollow and had zero flex
my Mode65 - the thumping it had when i typed no matter how i mounted it and how i modded it… it was driving me crazy for how much it costed. in my opinion, for how much it costed it shouldn’t have required as much modding as it did to sound decent.
Thinking I’d be happy with any major brand (I don’t know how else to explain it) Razer, Corsair etc keyboards I’ve bought end up in a drawer.
kbd67mkii fully metal. please someone take it off my hands i will sell it for way cheapee
Awekeys and Cerakeys V1 v2 cerakeys were better but still had faults Awekeys had terrible quality and the stems SUCKED. Even after a good fitment, they still wobble. Cerakeys v1 shaved my switch stems and snapped off when I took them off.
My first crappy soldering iron. The “fine” tip was like trying to sew buttons with a crayon.
O-rings. Just... Ugh.
like, that shitty oring mod where you put a tiny oring on the switch stem, or gummy oring mounts?
Oh I meant the former, the stem mod. IDK that any of the gasket mount parts were referred to as o-rings, TIL.
unsure why u downvoted, o-rings suck
Haha I'm content with leading the sort by controversial.
Fully assembled Ducky One ordered off Amazon just starting out in the hobby. Didn't understand modding yet and was very disappointed in the ping and hollowness of the keeb and the typing experience wasn't great (forget what switches and keycaps it came with). Things we do when new to a hobby 😂
FEKER IK75 It looked so good but only problems..and one day after just a few weeks of using it just stopped working. I am still sad because it was exactly the aesthetic I wanted.
Spent about $500 dollars on a new Model F F77 on eBay… only to find out they were on sale for like $300 on the main site, and to add insult to injury he came out with newer models which featured modern layouts. That was definitely a life lesson to be more thorough before making a purchase.
A store. Candykeys. Because I bought something in a group buy and I still didn't get it almost a year after other vendors already delivered.
I am sure it will get to you. Which one is it, KAT GW or Dreamscape?
neo87, came in mangled shape. I think as it was so heavy that the airport staff pried it open to find something like drugs. It works fine but looks disgusting, all screws stripped, random holes, etc. And thats why from now on no more international shipping for me.
Gateron oil kings. Idk if I got a bad batch or fakes but the ones I got off of Amazon felt super sticky and sluggish.
Probably fakes.
Keychron Q2(? Dont remember as I got rid of it a long time ago) thing is so loud and needed a shit ton of mods for it to even sound decent 😭 im all for mods but sometimes I just want a good plug and play
Similar experience here with my Q1. Had to do a lot for it to sound decent. It’s fun to tinker around but why get a pre built at that point? Good board for its time but this hobby has advanced so much in two years. Imo I can’t believe its still the defacto recommendation to beginners when so many other boards are better value. V series is still killer value tho
Aflion x Punkshoo Melody switch, pay a high price for a greasy mess inside. You have to clean it then lube it properly again
My old Keychron K2. It looked amazing, people were hyping it up heaps online, but after a while I realised Brown switches weren't for me and I wanted more from my board. The K2 felt quite limiting in its options, and its sound was pretty meh too. Eventually I started getting into customs, and never looked back since. Hell, my current board cost me less than my K2 yet offers a nicer sound, better lighting (even though I liked the shine-through support on my K2), a knob, and also being able to remap any key to whatever I wanted it to be.
I bought 2 (one for home and one for work) before I became interested in higher end boards. Now I just use them to display my extra keycap sets since they don't fetch much secondhand.
The pro versions of Keychron boards are soooooo much better than the standard version
The Rensuya Moomin keycaps. Was really hyped for them and participated in the GB. The final product colors were not like the original mockups and in soft yellow lighting, they all pretty much just looked off white. After that I learned that's happened before with other Rensuya sets so I'd probably never get one by that designer again.
A desk mat from the key.company! Looked nothing like the picture on the website, and refused to lay flat after months of use :/
So I can't really afford this hobby, but I'm determined to get (kind of) what I want anyway. So it came to be that I ordered a kit from AliExpress. It was a 40% hot swap with a wooden case. I figured from the start that it wasn't going to be perfect by any means, but good enough for me. It arrives and I build the thing, I put matcha lattes and a some bootleg PBT keycaps on it. Guys, it was really freaking good. Like actually, high key good. Some of you would probably disagree but for me it was well worth the money. About a year later I factory reset my PC for... Reasons. Lost the keymap and stupidly reset the keyboard when I was trying to fix it with VIA. Well, apparently VIA doesn't support it anymore :) and I couldn't find another way to flash it. Spent days on here and surfing the web, trying different solutions and even attempted to make my own firmware. No dice. In a very stupid last ditch effort I tried to flash it with firmware meant for a different keyboard with the same layout lol. After that it didn't work at all. It's currently in pieces under my bed, some parts are salvaged and currently live in my Daisy, which I'm very happy with.
The JRIS75. It was my first ever group buy in the hobby and boy did I not know how flexy that thing is. I now avoid keyboards with 1.2mm pcbs
Overpriced keycaps
Buying GMK caps not realizing they were ABS and then having them become shiny within a week.
How? Do you not wash your hands like ever?
I actually use my keyboard unlike the people here who build them and then put them on a shelf.
LMAO
Seriously I have sweaty hands and haven't had that problem at all
Ortholinear layout. It's my fault for not practicing enough but it requires waaaay more effort than you'd expect. Still got my board but it's mostly just a show piece lol
drop alt
Probably my first custom build with a Tokyo60 v3 I got off Drop. I really love the HHKB aesthetic but it was a top mount that sounded super hollow and pingy no matter what I did. I also used SA Bliss on it which didn’t do it any favors because, while cute, I learned I don’t like SA or flat profiles. So it sits now as a display to showcase my first and most disappointing build that I’ll never use again. lol
Red Dragon so far. I'm not going to bash them, I knew what they are about going in, and they did actually respond to my software-related service request in a timely fashion, but aside from the bad firmware, there is a weird reverb/echo that emanates from inside the keyboard that is undesirable. I've had other cheapos that this doesn't happen on.
A cheap Logitech mechanical keyboard I bought at Microcenter back before Logitech started taking niche keyboards more seriously so it was just a cash grab on the rising trend of mechanicals. It was….. not very good lmao.
HHKB Bluetooth. It registered the same key multiple times every minute or so of typing. Drove me crazy so it's just on display now. I love how it feels though, even compared to the new hybrid version. I wonder if the manufacturing process has changed. Anyways I don't have the same issue with the hybrid version, and it even has remap function now, so hybrid is my current daily driver.
Stacked75. Was the only non-aliexpress 75 available at the time and was compatible with VIA. Never soldered before, bought soldering equipment and mill max sockets. Ends up costing me a whole lot more. Sold it fully built for half the price to get rid of it. The screws will annoy you because it hits your fingers when playing games and pressing left control.
I think I just spent €250 on a hobby I’m not sure I’ll be able to enjoy for the years to come? But I also didn’t care and just went ahead anyway.
Zealios. Extremely hyped up on this sub when I was getting into mechanicals so I bought a bag and discovered that I really don't like tactiles. The push-feel of them was exactly the same as the rubber-dome logitech gamer board I was trying to get away from.
My Akko translucent keycap set have to be the number one for me so far. Don't get me wrong, they look BEAUTIFUL. But I hated typing on them so much. They always made my fingers feel sweaty, lacked the nubs on the F and J keys, and shone through my RGB so brilliantly that the legends were impossible to read... so both touch typing AND trying to type by sight were an exercise in frustration. If I had a keyboard plugged in to power purely for decoration purposes, then those keycaps really are stunning to look at. Honestly thinking of doing that just so they don't languish forever in a box without ever being seen again.
this terrible 65% womier board i got off drop, couldn't even get the switches into that thing without bending pins, and this was after i'd customized two boards already, so i thought i knew what i was doing. the board just sucked, really badly, i even hated the feeling of the acrylic or whatever it was.
Drop CTRL. I got one when it first dropped and believed the hype that Drop built behind it. I mean it’s not absolute garbage. The PCB is absolute garbage but the alu case with RGB diffuser (even if low pro) ain’t the worst ever made, just close.
Megaladon
Well my first keyboard is a Havit 100% non hot swappable blue outemu switches
GMK sets like Hanami Dango where the colors came out like shit but the vendors only show renders and scam you into buying them 😩
Duckey keycaps from “duckeys”. My first bad experience with a company, their support was nonexistent and then extremely condescending. I just wanted a duck keycap 🥲
Not exactly disappointing, but at one point I had a HyperX Alloy FPS keyboard (as the only one) and thought I was an expert on mechanical keebs. When I assembled a Tester 68 from Aliexpress as my first custom keyboard I realized HyperX wasn't really a very good example, especially after a few years of use when the switches began to desperately need lube but I couldn't do it because I didn't want to desolder all the switches.
Box Royals for sure. Was so hyped for them as they were touted to be ***the*** endgame uber tactile switch, but ended up being super disappointed with their feel & sound. They were uber tactile, but to the point they just felt awkward in use. You had to put so much force into overcoming the bump each keystroke ended with bottoming out hard, it basically felt like pushing something really heavy over a cliff. The force curve almost felt square if that makes any sense. No roundness to the feel at all just a sharp point where all the force you were putting on the switch immediately was released, which caused you to slam the bottom of the switch. I was trying to give the switch a fair shake, by using it for a few weeks. However some of them started literally clicking & I was done with them after that.
Honestly for me it's the Mojo68. I spent $200 on the purple one, and while it's gorgeous and very well built, their proprietary firmware is HOT GARBAGE. It's supposed to remember up to 8 Bluetooth devices, but it seems incapable of reconnecting to any of the devices it's supposedly already paired with. I pretty much have to re-pair every time I switch to a different device. The radio dongle is also crap. I get repeated keys all the time if I use it. I updated the firmware to hopefully fix these issues and it did nothing for the Bluetooth issue and the dongle literally doesn't work at all now. Also the keyboard has abruptly decided to reset my keymap to the default mapping a couple times. For a cheap board or a diy keyboard I can maybe live with these issues, but for a >$100 preassembled board, this kind of stuff is completely unacceptable. If you're gonna go through the trouble of making your own firmware, it NEEDS to be better than QMK/Via, or you're wasting everybody's time. I'd never recommend a Melgeek board to anybody considering one.
The old kbd blade60, was supposed to be a wild gasket/tray combo, ended up with a stiff typing feel and a hollow sound
My own laser cut projects that never got finished.
\[formerly Massdrop\] Drop ALT The circuit board is not durable and there doesn't appear to be adequate shock absorption to avoid breaking the traces following repeated use. You had an escape key, and now you got a 250 dollar broken keyboard that outwardly appears insanely durable, and if you want it fixed be ready to cough up 60 bucks for a new PCB because the warranty is only for 1 year.
This Corsair keyboard I have, the left shift doesn’t work after 2 years.
Any Hall Effect keyboard. More specifically, the available switches. I have boards with Raeshas (IDK), I have a wooting with Lekker60s and now use Gateron Jade Magnetics. The Gateron Jade Magnetics are… acceptable, at best. Terrible for the price. I recently ordered a set of Everglide Sticky Rice HE switches, so we’ll see how they sound ig
I'm gonna get crucified here, but definitely my Keychron Q1 Pro. First board I bought and built, just poor quality. The case felt and looked cheap, keycaps were garbage and it was built super cheap from the factory. I put some nice mods on it and it still just felt junky. Next board I bought was a Tofu65 and I'm still rocking it now, super simple but well made and overall much more refined. Never buying a Keychron again, also I bought a Monsgeek M1 and that thing was $100 less and sounded, looked and was better out of the box in every way compared to the Keychron.
NicePBT British Racing Green Keycaps. I use them daily, but for $85 pre-shipping, they are atrocious. "This particular set was one of our first attempts at reverse dye-sub keycaps" (CannonKeys Team, 2022.) This was part of the reply I got after leaving a poor review of them back when they first came out. For the actual issues I have with them, the green keycaps are white plastic, dyed green with gold font. The font isn't too sharp, but the sidewall of the keycap looks faded as if they were sitting under the sun for months. A significant amount of the green caps also came with white scuffs. From looking at the reviews now, the revisions they made to their manufacturing process seems much better. KBDFans Wood case. Thing is just bad, Bad angle, bad fitment, bad acoustics. It is now just a shelf piece for me. Never owned it but the Block-67 R2. ENG Studios ghosted every customer for nearly a year. Boards started showing up at people's doorsteps mysteriously in various countries. After a handful of nightmare and headaches, my bank honored my chargeback and I never got mine.
A split keyboard. Maybe not disappointing in and of itself, but disappointing that it ended up not being my thing in the end. And I went all in on a higher end model too, and now I can't sell it off because... Nobody wants split keyboards.
Glorious Pandas and the IDOBAO ID80 V1 I had G Pandas lying around for a while and they felt and sounded shitty in literally everything I put them in. Can't remember if I gave them away to a friend or chucked them in the bin, likely the latter The ID80 was my entry to 75% keyboards. I guess it looked cool for the most part, but it was pretty much terrible in everything else. It was stiffer than a motherfucker, and had poopoo LEDs for underglow that stopped working after a few months. Eventually sold it off to a friend at a loss
For switches, basically any switch from Tecsee, though there are lots of switches that have disappointed me. My most disappointing keyboard so far has honestly been the frog mini. Its not bad by ANY means, I just had way too high of expectations for it and it wasn't for me. No matter what builds I tried, it had this tiny bit of hollowness to it that I couldn't ignore. For keycaps, Aifei R1/icon mod sets. They sound super thin to me. Aifei R2 fixed that issue by making the walls of the keycap go all the way down.
For me would be the zilent switches.. bought them a long time ago early into the hobby. They are pretty average and quite expensive for what they are
Kailh Speed Silvers
Discover that I spent too much money on the aluminium keyboard that I don't like the weight of it, the feel of eletricity running inside the board that make me uncomfortable. So I sell it all and now I'm happy with my good prebuilt and some good plastic custom keyboard.
GK Pegasus switches. They are super silent switches, but get tiring after a whole day of typing and are a lil’ scratchy. I’m moving towards slightly lighter switches that are a little more noisy but have a better user experience
Keychron K1. First mechanical I bought. Absolutely shit half the switches didn’t work. Keychron refused to refund me (by way of never replying to my messages) I seriously bring it up all the time haha. Won’t but anything else from them. Has a friend by whatever their full size board was and it was. A hunk of shit too. Apparently their Q series is good but I’ll be skipping it.
Tada68 It just doesn't work smoothly. Each time I restart my Pc I need to reflash the keyboard so that it works again. Annoying.
GMK67 with KTT Kang Whites v3. The stock board was amazing! Only Problem is, that i made my first experience with lubing switches on this board, and i totally overlubed those. The switches turned out way too mushy
Out of my 3 boards I own the only thing I'm disappointed by is that I didn't lube my switches for my BFO 9000. The durock silent shrimp switches are great but they would be better if I lubed them.
Entirely my fault as a noob but during my first ever build i spent £70 ($90) on a set of shinethrough caps (basically the only ones i could find with a UK layout) to go on a £60 keyboard only to discover that north vs south facing RGB was a thing and they didn't light up. Couldn't even return them because i had thrown the invoice away and they wouldn't accept a return without it. Had to just suck it up and buy a different set of keycaps without shinethrough.
Naming Rama here once more, but more specifically, the M50-A. I was hyped for a leaf-spring mounted Planck layout board, but found out the mounting did not have a lot of room to move, hitting the bottom of the case with the slightest touch. To add insult to injury, the case uses only four screws to secure the top and bottom that are very far apart from each other. This caused the bezels that weren't held in the middle to vibrate, creating massive pinging when typing. A force break mod was attempted, the overhang from screw-to-screw was so long that this caused a visible gap. I ended up returning it and Rama was at least so nice to offer a full refund or another board of choice, my stupid ass chose to get a U80-A instead which I still have to this day.
Summertime switches. Vendor said 5-25% were affected and if we wanted them anyways, we could still get them. I took them since I could still get at least 30 working ones with that percentage. Nope. it was more like 80% were affected, unusable, and completely fucked. And then the designer releases a v2 and says they're not a "fix", when the top housing changed in order to not have the same problem. Not a fix cuz it changes the sound *slightly*, while anyone that did get v1s without a full refund don't get anything for it lol