keyboards
Contents
Owned Keyboards
This table is listed from first owned to most recent.
| Brand | Model | Layout | Color | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generic | TM680 | 68 | White | Sold |
| Yunzii | IF98 | 1800 | White | Sold |
| Yunzii | KC68 | 68 | White | Unused |
| CK | Bakeneko65 | 65 | Grey | Unused |
| CK | Brutal V2 1800 | 1800 | Purple | Daily Driver |
| Meletrix | Zoom65 V3 | 65 | SE-White | Secondary |
| Akko | Mineral 02 | 1800 | White | Alternate Daily |
Owned Switches
I prefer tactiles and value silent typing, so I run silent tactiles (Akko Penguin) in my daily drivers.
| Brand | Name | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akko | Matcha Green | Lin | Started out on these, they are fine |
| Akko | Penguin | Sil. Tac | Personal favorite and in daily drivers |
| TTC | Bluish White | Tac | Good switches |
| Ajazz | Kiwi | Tac | Decent value switches |
| Durock | Coral | Sil. Lin | Decent switches |
| Outemu | Mute Lime | Sil. Tac |
My Thoughts
My first mechanical keyboard was a Corsair Strafe. After having some of the keys stop working and with cleaning being so annoying, I became much more interested in custom keyboards. Since then, I haven’t even considered any typical consumer keyboards.
Generic Chinese Brands
I started custom keyboards in 2021, which I feel is when Chinese brands started the race to the bottom for low priced, decent/good boards. My TM680 was $84 barebones, you could get a much better kit for ~$50 fully built now.
The biggest downside is a lot of cheap kits don’t have QMK/VIA. I didn’t really care about this until I got my Bakeneko65, my first board with VIA compatibility. It really is a game changer.
TM680
The TM680 was my first custom board. I bought it when I went to college, because all I had at the time was a Surface Pro 6 with the crappy keyboard cover.
Looking back, it wasn’t really that good, but it was still better than most gaming keyboards of the time (which have improved a lot).
Original Specs:
- Akko Matcha Greens and a set of Miku keycaps from Aliexpress
Yunzii
IF98
My first upgrade from the TM680, and my first 1800 layout (which is now my favorite layout). Amazing keyboard for $100 fully built. Stock is fine, but I ended up swapping keycaps and switches. After upgrading to the Brutal V2 1800, I ended up selling this to a friend.
- Downside of this purchase is that a 3-mode pro version came out right after I bought it.
Spec History:
- Stock
- TTC Bluish Whites + NicePBT Galaxy
KC68
I obtained from a mystery box sale on Yunzii’s site. I haven’t really used it much.
- Cheap, small, and 3-mode so it’s useful for testing on other machines
Spec History:
- Outemu Mute Limes + CannonCaps Minty
CannonKeys
My go-to store. Great keyboard, keycap, and deskmat quality. Frequent sales with good mystery boxes and high discounts.
Bakeneko65
I purchased via mystery box and recieved gray B-stock. Nice keyboard that just works. It’s small and portable, so I often brought this to work.
Mods:
- Tape mod (decrease noise)
Spec History:
- Akko Penguin + PBT Salt Lakes clones
Brutal V2 1800
My current daily driver. Sturdy and heavy premium keyboard. No unnecessary bells and whistles, just a keyboard that works.
- Purple finish looks great paired with NicePBT Galaxy keycaps
- Not so much with others, but I bought this to use with the keycaps I already owned
- The rubber feet that come with the board are terrible
- They tear off easily from sliding the board around on my deskmat. The board is very heavy, so it makes sense why.
- I added some leftover feet from my Zoom65 V3, which are much larger and stay on.
Spec History:
- Akko Penguin + NicePBT Galaxy
Meletrix
One and done, not impressed with the Zoom65 V3.
Zoom65 V3
Purchased through CannonKeys. I was interested due to its unique features, such as the different mounting options.
Cons:
- Somehow easy and hard to disassemble at the same time
- Poor design choices and durability
- Power/mode switch in a braindead position (under the plate, under the right shift? Really?)
- Ribbon cables make modules fragile, hard to install, and get in the way of putting the top cover back on
- Crappy web software for controlling modules
Pros:
- PCB offers regular and split space on the same board
- Overall aesthetics are premium
- Mount choice is cool. I use the magnetic mount option.
TL;DR: Keyboard with premium looks and cool gimmicks, but the internal design is shit.
Akko
My favorite brand for switches. They have my personal favorite, the Penguin Silent Tactiles.
- I’m so happy with these that I don’t really consider trying any others
Mineral 02
Purchased for use at my new job. I now swap between this and the Brutal V2 depending on the week. Long-term thoughts TBD.
- I really like the cutouts with transparent parts for LED shine-through.
- I wish the badge light was customizable easily.
- I like the layout, giving me the same 1800 as my Brutal V2 but with a few extra keys and a full-size 0 on the numpad.
- Very easy to disassemble and do maintenance on.
Spec History:
- Akko Penguin + PBT Salt Lakes clones