Project Keyboard restocked the Mauve. No doubt these will sell out pretty fast.
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Yes, I just saw the e-mail! So tempted, as I got burned not getting them in the winter.
But with Novelkeys Silk / Dry now part of the equation, I donât know if I still need these. A 65 gr Alpaca (i.e. the Mauve) is great, but now you can get the 63.5 ones factory-lubed or perfectly dry.
Still, 65 gr is a good weight for this switch.
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Update: I just added some to my cart and was going to purchase them.
However, for Canadians, it is âWorldwide shippingâ and $36.70.
So that turns $60 for 110 into $100 for 110. Almost Zeal prices!
US residents might want to jump on this deal, but itâs not so competitive for Canadians.
Wow, thatâs a bit. Yeah, I noticed that too. I live in California and they got me for $11.54 to ship a 110 pack. The struggle is real.
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Iâm moving back to Canada early 2021 and am dreading how that will impact the prices I pay for this hobby lol.
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Sold out 
Another L for now.
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Some tips:
-Canadian vendors are getting more stock in, these days. Apex Keyboards and DeskHero.ca bring in keycaps, switches, springs, and lube. Lots of GBs for the good stuff.
-GBoards.ca seems to regularly bring in Spirit switches, and may be expanding their selection.
-There are a number of assembly services, mainly clustered around the major population centres. Some of them are starting to offer switches, springs, and lube as well.
-AliExpress is still a friendly option, and kind of our Amazon. For the lower-tier keycaps and parts. Shipping is long but cheap. I think the worst of the COVID disruption is over, for now at least.
-KBDFans doesnât always get their orders through, but mine have been 100%. There is a stupidly-high minimum order cost to get automatic good shipping, last time I checked.
-Mechmarket works almost as well in Canada as it does in the U.S., except for all the people who ship âCONUS only.â
-You should join the Canadian mechanical keyboards Discord if youâre not already there. There is an internal market for Canada.
-Novelkeys shipping is killer and should be avoided, unless your order doesnât require pre-paid customs. Then itâs pretty fast, and kind of reasonable.
-MechanicalKeyboards.com shipping is expensive, as they use FedEx, which will call you up later and give you customs charges.
-There is a site that has fairly reasonable shipping to Canada, Iâll have to go back and check what it was.
-TheKeyDotCo actually has good shipping rates for its stabilizer GBs. And if the shipping situation cools down, Project Keyboard switches may become affordable again. [It was like $15 shipping for an order in the winter, now they want $36 via priority international shipping for 100 switches.]
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Novelkeys intl shipping is brutal right now, the shipping/duty cost alone is more than the cost of 90x cherry blacks
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Yeah, you have to be very âstrategicâ with Novelkeys purchases if you are living outside of the U.S. right now.
One of the things I like about living in central Tennessee is being super close to the MechanicalKeyboards warehouse. On the other hand, when the only folks who have [ thing x ] in stock are across the pond the duties can hurt! Still, it sounds like we folk of the hills have it easy, relatively speaking.
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Have you run across any storefronts (US/CA) that offer free shipping if you spend over a certain amount? Divinikey does this for US orders over $99. Not too shabby.
The closest I can think of off-hand is that some GBs have offered free shipping with a certain order quantity.
For example, I think Apex Keyboards was offering free shipping for Alpacas and/or Silent Alpacas with a qty of at least 200.
The biggest example used to be KBDFans. It would offer free shipping with orders starting at 40 USD. That number went drastically up after COVID.
MecKeyAlpha [which ships to Canada and the US] offers free shipping at $120. [You could pick up a lot of discounted Gaterons at that price ahaha.]
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does mauves / h1 / alpaca come factory lubed?
Alpacas can come factory lubed not always tho Iâve heard, H1s are dry, not sure about Mauves.
My H1s have a lot of oil in them.