HHKB for the last two years for me. No intention of buying anything else.
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re-visiting this post after sometime of not hanging around keebtalk. It’s really cool to see how much I have journeyed in this hobby.
Feel like my take on endgame has not changed much since my original post! Quite cool…
I still find joy “designing” my own board rather than want to buy boards now - though now I have gotten better in the time spent on fusion.
I still love them good old MX blacks on alu - that lil scratch and imperfection, and that unique pop/clack sound on alu plate, which these are what I still like in a board and build config.
Just that now I also like plateless boards with gat cap browns…Really lovely 
I still really love beige keycaps and WoB…lol
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Dang I didnt know what the quietkey is until I searched it! really cool looking board!
Well, i now have my E8.5 and it is easily the best keyboard i have owned/typed on.
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wow this one is tough…because everyone has different taste and values for the boards they are looking for!
Wow really happy for you!! I think this feeling is the best when you own a board that you really like!
For myself, my current daily driver is the Jer1800 and my 2nd prototype of the 60 that I have designed.
Saw an orthopedic surgeon for removal of a ganglion cyst recently because I thought it was causing numbness and tingling.
He said, “nah, that’s early stages of carpal tunnel.”
I switched to a kinesis advantage 2 immediately. Happy to report, numbness and tingling are gone and no surgery was done. Soo… I got to keep my lumpy wrist.
My body has changed my end game from HHKB to an advantage 2 for me. Thanks body.
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Always good to be able to avoid surgery.
I will have been in the hobby for a year later this month. I don’t think I have figured out what my endgame board would look like, but I am definitely starting to develop some preferences.
- Tactiles: I haven’t necessarily found my favorite tactile, but I do know I prefer tactiles to linears. White Jades are my current favorite, but I finally grabbed some U4ts to try.
- Heavier springs: I am currently typing on 100g springs which I have almost concluded are too heavy. I am getting more and more used to them, but I don’t think 100g is ideal. I have 75g springs coming with my U4ts to try out.
- I need arrows: I love my 60% but it isn’t ideal for work. So I only look for boards with arrow keys now. I just can’t get enough flow with using a layer and arrow keys.
- No need for function keys: I almost never use function keys. I use a few nav keys for some programs I use, but I don’t need all the function keys. So 65% feels like my sweet spot. FRL TKL probably fits as well.
- Southpaw: I am right handed, but after using WASD for so long in video games I feel like arrow keys and nav keys on the left are going to work better for me. That way I can keep one hand on my mouse and still use the arrows and nav keys. I just bought a Monokei Hidari to give this a try.
- Aluminum: I bought an Ikki68 but the PC case doesn’t do much for me. The layout (if the arrows and nav keys were on the left) is probably my favorite so far, but I couldn’t get past the PC case.
- Stiffer typing feel: I am not sure exactly what plate material is my favorite but I know I enjoy a stiffer typing feel. I have only tried aluminum, PC, and POM so far. I think I enjoy a stiff PC plate a bit more than aluminum, but still have to experiment a bit.
- Keycaps: no real preference yet as I haven’t tried enough. I know I like cherry profile more than MT3. PBT versus ABS depends on the sound I am trying to get from the board.
I am looking forward to trying the Hidari. I have a plateless 65% coming in a few months which I am excited to try.
Who knows if all of this will change over time, but if I was looking for an endgame board right now it would probably be an aluminum southpaw 65% or FRL TKL.
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aww dayummm…100g springs.
I am curious to use southpaw boards too…just abit scared to jump on them. I like the hidari but was kind deterred by not having a full left shift and left control (in the usual area where my pinkie hits it)
I tested myself typing before buying it, and I only hit the very right side of my left shift key when I use it, so I think it will be ok for me. Probably a bit of getting used to, but it will hopefully work out.
I don’t use my Ctrl key much, if at all, when touch typing. I mostly use it in “hunt and peck” mode so I don’t think that will be a problem. If I am playing a video game that needs Ctrl, I have another keyboard to use if the Ctrl is a problem.
So, I think it will all be good, but we will see.
Now I wonder if this is also foreshadowing my transition from the HHKB 
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I was HHKB only for like two good years and only liked the HHKB layout. Honestly, I’m already adjusted to the advantage 2 and couldn’t imagine not using one now.
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hehehe time to try it out to see if you like it!
I have tried it but I think I still prefer the typing feel of MX switches…
Endgame? That’s like a sultan giving up his harem.
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Coincidently, I too thought about ‘Endgame’ the other day. And like @donpark I can’t image in there’s such a thing for me in mechanical keyboards.
It’s only been two years for me into mechanical keyboards, yet it turned into my first real hobby in ages. If curiosity drives you like me, you never run out of interesting thing to try or understand.
And with the breath of creativity and products showing up, I hope it stays that way.
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When I first got into the hobby I went all out with an HHKB Pro 1 as my first board. It was fantastic even stock (no such things as silencing rings etc. back then). I ended up moving to other boards in the process but I found that none could beat the HHKB (and Topre in general) in terms of feel and sound.
I bought an HHKB Pro 2 a few years ago but all those years of using premium metal boards made me completely intolerant to plastic cases, and the creaking and flexing of the Pro 2 case didn’t help with that either. The stock sound wasn’t that bad but the upstroke clack started becoming annoying (which, coincidentally, wasn’t a problem with the Pro 1). I also prefer heavier typing so the stock 45g domes were a bit too light for me.
I eventually bought a bespoke Enigma Black Heavy Grail and started planning my endgame build. As aforementioned I wanted a quieter board with a heavier typing feel, so I gutted one of my RFs for the 55g domes and purple sliders. I usually tend to prefer sculpted keycaps so I also bought an 108UW (and an 104UK for the Enter key and spacebar 
) for the venerable Hi-Pro keycaps. Once I built the board it never left my desk. It’s that good.
I also came to the realization that it’s more satisfying to mod an OEM keyboard to my preference instead of building a custom one from scratch, and I had much more fun playing around with my RFs and HHKBs compared to just building a regular MX keyboard.
My only gripe with metal cases is that they’re impossible to carry around, and even if I end up doing so I get insecure about it being exposed to the outside world. 
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“Endgame” for me is the 67-key layout itself.
There’s the rare occasion I need (or feel like using) others, but for my use cases, 67s are the sweet spot.
Turns out, my endgame is a rotating stable-full of 67s with the odd 68 here and there, most of which are hot-swap, and about half of which I rotate the switches in.
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Recently I have gotten a Realforce R2…Oh man, I really like it. Preference wise, I feel like the Realforce is by far has the best typing experience for me when it comes to Topre. The typing feel is solidly nice, and the case is quite well made with less creaky sound as compared to the HHKB pro 2 that I owned one previously.
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I can relate to you, almost all of my Pro 2s have creaking, some barely audible, others incredibly annoying. RFs are some incredible boards and I really like their typing feel, although I really wish they used a different plate material than steel. Steel almost never works with Topre and needs sound dampening to sound good from what I’ve found, but YMMV.
Good to hear you’re liking your RF R2, have yet to try that one but it looks really neat.