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Redpill me on cheap (20-40 dollar) mechanical keyboards
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Pov: You are a 12year old with poor family and you want keep up with your "friends"
No… just don’t buy a cheap one-
why?
Aren’t they basically the same?-
They suck. I own that board and the ones I am about to suggest.
No, they really aren’t comparable.
That board uses Oetemu hotswap sockets, so it can only be swapped with 1 single brand of switches. It uses proprietary chink firmware. The stabilizers are bad too. And the entire board comes unlubed. It costs more to mod it to be OKAY than buying a decent budget board, and you’ll never have decent firmware. There’s no fix for that.Cheapest good keyboard:
Buy a BM60 kit on aliexpress. Get the kit 8 option it includes everything you need except keycaps and a usb cable for $80. Message the seller to choose your case color and request gateron yellows for the switches.
Here’s what you need:
Kit: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001329750229.htm Select Kit 8, leave note to seller asking for Gateron Yellows.
Keycaps: Find some chink keycaps you like. This PCB is compatible with anything.
Switch Lube: My usual chink jacked up the prices, click around related and find one for $5 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001968325430.html
Stabilizer Lube: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32891283751.html
Everything else: Find one of those $2 switch puller and switch opener combo packs, all you need to assemble. I like the metal openers.
Suggested upgrades: Durock/Everglide screw in stabs. You can get the cheaper v1’s you only need v2 for soldered keyboards.
Poor: Goes on sale all the time 15% off, wait.This is the absolute cheapest route to have an acceptable mech keyboard unless you either live in China or are savvy enough to direct buy from Taobao. In which case I recommend the MW65 kit instead. It doesn’t come with switches so I recommend Gateron Yellows or Pro Yellows with it.
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cont.
The advantages to this route over buying a dog shit prebuilt:
– Open source firmware, unlimited customization, no relying on chinks
– Better stabs, better stab upgrade path
(Note: pcb mount stabs alone justifies the cost)
– Switch upgrade path exists
– Case upgrade path exists
– Better stock switches
– Better case, better plate
– In general, upgrade path to mid tier or even high tier board. BM## pcb’s are popular in all budgets for a reason.
Redragon is a garbage brand. There are decent Chinese keyboards for around 40 bucks, just get one of those.
$200 keyboards don’t squeak like dying mice every time you use them and live longer than a few weeks.
GK707 is acceptable but if you’re not extremely poor it’d be worth it to spring the extra $20 for a BM60 or BM68 (bm68 is the same form factor as the GK707 and Redragon board, if that is a factor) to get decent non chink firmware alone.
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Lube your poopyhole scrote
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Reminder this guy bought a shitty $80 prebuilt on amazon against /mkg/’s advice and eternally spams the board about how it’s a "onions hobby" to buy a decent keyboard for $80 because he’s too much of a dim wit to take apart a few switches and lube them lmbo.
The brain damage alone should be testament to how bad his advice is.
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Hey thanks for suggestion, could you please suggest some cheap chink kit that comes with numpad ?
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Full sizes don’t really exist in the budget segment because budget mechs are largely geared towards FPS players, and full sizes are terrible for gaming. I’m assuming you don’t play video games if you don’t already know that, which is fine, but just know you’re in a budget segment catering to that market. Full sizes are niche, only really make sense for accountants and retro pc’s that are new enough to be ps/2 or usb. Kind of a boomer/grandpa meme these days.
If you’re on a budget get a TKL (GK68 or Hexgears GK707) and a cheapo $10 numpad.
Otherwise you’re looking at the cheapest half decent full size prebuilt being like a Leopold or something, which run $150.Here’s the plebbit scrote link for basically all your choices in that form factor. It’s pretty grim. https://www.mechmap.tech/keyboard-picker-100
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Pshhhhh
Whaaaaa?
Guuhhhhh
Huuuhhhh?
Pshhhhhh
Aren’t they all the same he says.
This guy right here -
Yes, but we can’t be admitting here we prefer our laptop keyboard after expending 200 bucks on a stupid keyboard.
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If you know a laptop with a keyboard that can compete with a 200$ mechanical keyboard, I’ll be glad to know.
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compete in what? I don’t play vydia, but for coding my ThinkPad keyboard works fine.
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There are a few laptops with mechanical keyboards out there now.
XPG XENIA 15 KC is one of the latest for example.
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Bought a cheap one for the hell of it. Cheaper than the standard HP rubberdome I had before. Fullsize, because fuck those gay compact things. Usually I like to make fun of those mechanical keyboards geeks, because those guys are nuts, although I’ve always liked those things. Cheap one I bought turns out to be great. 25 bucks and it hasn’t let me down in 2 years. Sure, 2 leds stopped working and it’s noisy as hell, but that’s only a nuisance to other people, I love the auditory and tactile feedback. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.
OP, don’t listen to /mkg/ autists. Even audiophiles deserve more respect for their madness than those guys.
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That guy is obviously an /mkg/ scrote, why would you think I’m him.
Christ, he’s lubing switches. I bet he gets all the ladies wet with that talk.-
I’m not a MKG scrote I’m an esports scrote get it right. Avoiding carpal tunnel is my income and 99% of the time I have headphones on. When have I said a single thing about sound? My posts are entirely about how the rattly stabilizers on a redragon, and unlubed oetemu budget switches FEEL like shit.
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>it’s noisy as hell, but that’s only a nuisance to other people
The woman doesn’t like how my old boards sounded so I got one that’s quieter with a nicer sound profile. She says it’s actually a pleasant background noise. It’s good because the old boards put her in a bad mood and sometimes she wouldn’t immediately suck my dick when I took it out. New board and she’s back to her old dick slobbering self.So yeah some of us actually care what the board sounds like beyond being autistic or audiophiles.
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everything about it is shit. the switches and keys suck. get a good one or just use what you have now.
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It’s nearly the same as the $200 keyboards soiboy consoomers consoom to feel better about themselves.
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Redragon is a garbage brand. There are decent Chinese keyboards for around 40 bucks, just get one of those.
$200 keyboards don’t squeak like dying mice every time you use them and live longer than a few weeks.
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>40
Fuck, I mean 50 bucks. -
not everyone lives in the US, we need our own national layouts on our keyboards and prebuilts are the only way.
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$200 is overkill, get a $100 Unicomp.
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best post in bread.
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Dont listen to the soiboys who felate themselves over their $300 custom keyboards. The reddragons are cheap and just work, its a keyboard, you cant really screw it up in anyway as long as it has mech switches.
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– Chink firmware
– Garbage stabs
– Garbage keycaps
– Can’t swap to other switches, even with soldering
It’s at best a toy emulating a mech that serves to turn people away from mechs. If your budget is $20 buy a freaking rubber dome keyboard it’s better than some scratchy ass oetemu blues and a rattly ass spacebar. -
How poor are you? Every keyboard mentioned in this thread are models popular in third world countries. I have a friend who works on a rice paddy who has a GK707.
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Switches are garbage and you can’t just easily take them out. Eventually you’ll have some of those switches not work for whatever reason or you’ll need to press them harder. At that point you could just grab a decent membrane keyboard.
But if you go for 60 dollar keyboards you can grab something that’s already decent enough. Hexgears GK707 for instance has decent switches that won’t give you shit and you can swap them down the line.
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If you need a cheap keyboard that will just work – go for it. They are serviceable but don’t think about them as something good.
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I don’t know about other switch types but don’t ever buy a blue switch cheap keyboard. their springs get noisy after a week and it drills your brain every time you press a key. it was awful. I gave it away to a gypsy kid on the street
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Noticeably worse than more expensive ones (build quality is going to suck compared to a Filco or a Leopold), but still far better than any generic rubber dome over membrane.
If you’re curious about mechanical keyboard and want to try one out without destroying your wallet, they can be a good idea. Just bear in mind that there are better options out there. -
flip more burgers and buy buckling spring.
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And no I’m not telling you to buy a leopold, I’m telling you to buy a rubber dome keyboard if you’re on a budget and want a full size. Only choice unless you live in china and have taobao without international shipping costs available.
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>ABS wearing down like butter
>hell knows what OEM made switches
>debouncing can be bonked up
>plastic shell
>soldering quality
probably won’t be terrible but there is a fuckton of ways to cut costs and hurt the quality -
I’ve had mine for 5 years and it still works superbly
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I’ve owned mechanical keyboards between $40-$120.
There is no difference between them.Currently using a $40 chinkshit keyboard that must be 4 years old. I don’t think there is any reason to spend more than that unless you are a chud.
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The Kumara is really solid if you can life with the gaymer keycaps. RGB is a non issue because you can just turn it off, or leave it on in a single color.
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just buy a good logitech keyboard instead of wasting your money on a cheap mechanical keyboard. if you want a mechanical keyboard then you should at least spend $100-300. if you just want to look cool then go ahead and waste your money.
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magicforce boards are best if going cheap
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I have the tecware 87 one. I’m lucky because I’ve had it for about 6 months now and have had 0 issues. A lot of people have had random keys stop working. Here is a modded one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUGCC3jSLo&ab_channel=AndreDavi
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Just buy a K120, it’s literally all the keyboard you need.
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Not horrible, not great. Better than nothing , but you get what you pay for.
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Most are crap, the red dragon shit might be ok but I haven’t tried them out. The keychron C1 and C2 are like 40-50 bucks and are genuinely very good, but they’re the only ones I can recommend for certain from that price range (and even those have some issues, but relatively minor ones).
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As I type on a keychron k2 I have to say FUCK keychron. It’s shit from a shit company.
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What don’t you like about it? Because I agree that they make some scrotebrained design decisions like the double windows key, but overall they’re much better than anything in their price range.
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Keys register if you even breath on them, bluetooth is wonky on everything I pair it to, it won’t always turn off when I sleep/hibernate, and sometimes it locks up and needs to be reset. This is after a few firmware updates to fix other issues like repeating keys, random uppercase input, and bluetooth just not working.
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I’ve had my c2 for around a year I think and have had no problems with switch detection, maybe it has yet to happen or you got a defective one. And I can’t comment on the bluetooth thing either since it’s wired. Have you tried cleaning out they keys? Maybe something is freaking with them I dunno.
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I am not a keyboard expert but 20-40 bucks for a mech keyboard is dogshit unlike a mouse like Viper Mini for 20 and it’s probably good enough and comparable to 60$ ones.
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I have used authentic expensive keyboards and I currently have a cheapo chinese one.
Anything with the caps mounted to a steel plate will feel perfectly fine, anyone claiming they can feel the difference between chink caps and cherry caps is a smooth brain consoomer. The only appreciable difference is longevity – chinko caps and LEDs die way sooner.-
I meant switches, I can’t brain today
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You can definitely feel the cheapness of caps, did you mean switches?
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I’ve been using a redragon k556 for 6 years without issue. I got it for like $30 on sale.
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I bought 3 different $30-40 mechanical keyboards.(blue/brown/red) They’ve been fine except for the brown switches, some keys in particular are kinda scratchy.
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[…]
Explain
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>Redragon
freaking trash, keys stopped functioning after 6 months. my shitty AUKEY lasted me 2 years. splash a bit and get some Gateron Reds from a nice brand in the $60+ range -
I had a red dragon before, the spacebar broke in a week. It started to double and triple space. This Havit with the weird numpad is the best cheap mechanical keyboard I’ve used. Feels really good for 40 something dollars.
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you get diminishing returns at about $70
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For $40 you can get something really respectable. They probably won’t have Cherry switches at that price, but clones are usually just as good. The switches are also usually hot swappable if you have on die on you so don’t worry about having to solder if you get burned. If you want programmability, I can vouch for Kemove. Their software is ass but there’s an open source project out there called GK6X iirc.
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get the ONN. one from walmart, unironically good shit
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