I got started in spring 2020. Unemployed. So I finally had some time to explore the hobby like I had wanted to for some time. The more I read the deeper the rabbit hole got. Demand for boards was high. I ended up on KBDFans with no clue if it was legit or if I would like it. I ordered a built KBD75v2 alum case with cherry red switches. Then I found SA Laser set on r/mm and it was the best first board I could’ve imagined. I immediately fell in love and never looked back.
Later I found keebtalk, and now I’m happy in my hobby.
I had a Leopold with browns, a Pok3r with browns, and at Realforce 87u. All really interesting boards, but I wouldn’t say I really dove into the deep end until I got a aluminum Tada68 with Zeal V2s. Having QMK solved my issues with the previous boards, and the Zeal switches solved my problem with browns.
Topre modding had not really popped off when I had the Realforce. If I could have programmed it, I would likely still have it around.
A Ducky one full size w/ cherry browns, I bought back in 2017 after getting a desktop for the first time since high school.
My friend suggested I get a mechanical keyboard from Ducky. Once I looked into it, I saw the wide variety of mechanical keyboards to be had.
“TOMOKO Water Resistant Mechanical Keyboard” - also known as the EasternTimes Tech I-500, according to the label on it. I think the logo on the top is associated with VictSing.
I got this on Amazon for ~$35 IIRC - since then I’ve seen them as low as $26, though lately I haven’t seen the model for sale at all - not that there’s any shortage of similar ones. Anyway - I first decided to get a mechanical keyboard and see what the fuss was all about after purchasing a dome keyboard so bad I couldn’t tolerate it for daily use. Mind you I’d pretty much always been using dome boards - this was was especially bad.
Anyway. Some youtuber led me to this board, touting it as one of the cheapest on the market at the time while still being decent. Five seconds with the thing and I knew it was leagues better than any keyboard I’d ever owned, and I immediately appreciated that floppy hot garbage mucous-membrane for setting me down this path.
As for the actual board, it’s a pretty thick sheet of aluminum with two short bends making the front and back of the case. The sides and underside are plastic. Thanks to the thickness and bends that run the length, the top-shell / plate is super-duper rigid, meaning the keyboard has near zero flex. It’s got flip-out feet and stays planted on the desk with a decent weight.
My original example shipped with SwitchMaster blues - that particular keyboard has gone on to inspire at least two other subsequent owners to get on the mechanical keeb train, and has gone from one coast to the other in the process.
I got a second one that came with Outemu blues, which I customized with blue and yellow TaiHao caps and donated to the Best Buy where I was working at the time. I later decided I wanted one in my collection for nostalgia, and so that’s what you see in the photo. That one shipped with Jixian blues and much, much better keycaps than the first one, which were extra bad.
One last thing I’ll say about this great value little TKL - it’s crazy loud even among clicky keebs. The extra-rigid outboard style plate makes this board a veritable cacophony all but guaranteed to destroy work and personal relationships alike… but boy is it satisfying to clack away on.
Leopold FC750R (gray and blue) with Cherry MX Blues. I live in Nashville, so it was a short trip to Fairview to visit MechanicalKeyboards store to try out different switches. I eventually settled on the Blues, because I thought I liked the clickiness. I think a part of me still does.
Filco Majestouch TKL with MX Blues, those keycaps were disgusting once I was done with MMOs, like half melted. At least it’s enjoying a nice retirement in a TEX case, zeal v2’s and actual caps now. I really hate costar stabs and fiddling with tape.
A Ducky One TKL with MX blues I found in a pile of returned merchandise at microcenter. The nearest employee saw me dig it out and exclaimed “wow we sell those?!?!”.
I feel like I had started in a weird spot, doing a bunch of research on what I had wanted from a keyboard.
I had ended up looking around Originative CO. in 2017 and found the Saber68 and settled on MOD-Ms, and let me tell you that I absolutely loved that board and it worked great for me. To this day I still love 65% and I miss selling it so much. Though I know that the guy that I had sold it to is using it great for his kids to get better with and that makes me more than happy.
Well I started off with a Razor Blackwidow around 2014 and I hated everything about it. MX Blues sounded terrible and it really turned me off to mechanical keyboards.
Fast forward several years and I was looking for a compact keyboard for my desktop and I ordered a decent one by accident - a MagicForce68 with Brown clones. It was loud, but not obnoxious like the Blues and I instantly loved it.
That was quickly gifted to someone else and I got a Kono Kira with Box Violet switches. That was quickly gifted to my wife so I could get into real customs.
My wallet has never recovered (actually this hobby just replaced another expensive hobby I was previously involved in, so it isn’t too bad).
I know there’s little love for Drop among some on Keebtalk, so I’ll say the following at the risk of earning some ire: Since my introduction to mechanical keyboards was a concomitant of buying audio gear on Drop, I’m glad Drop exists; otherwise, I likely wouldn’t have tried a mechanical keyboard as soon as I did.
Even though I have other keyboards now, I still do like my Alt. It’s a fun, easy keyboard for what it is, and I do intermittently like typing on an integrated plate.
A Coolermaster Quickfire TK with MX Browns was my first, back in early 2013 i think. I remember doing research on geekhack to get aftermarket keycaps for it, and that board stayed with me for a while. It’s still here, on my wall, looking majestic and ancient, with a chipped keycap. After moving to more tactile switches however i finally realised how damn mushy those MX Browns were.
Ducky Shine 3 TKL with cherry reds, back in 2014 (I think).
Coming from Logitech UltraX I loved my Ducky used it for a few years.
And after that… well, here we are…
But years before that and my first true love was Cherry G80-1000 HAD (cherry black switches).
My first board was a Steelseries 6g2v that had blacks that I disliked.
The second board that I consider the gateway drug was a Ganss GS87 with mx clears. The board is a Filco clone, so it can be used in alu cases made for Filco MJ’s. From there I started with modding, trying keycap sets and profiles and that was it. Was a big fan of novelties so the board ended up like this Ganss TKL GS87 + Red YMDK Alu case
I think my first actual mechanical keyboard was a Corsair K90 with mx reds which I purchased back in 2011. Used it daily for almost 5 years until curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try out a cheapo EC board from massdrop, the Royal Kludge RC930.
This was the true gateway drug. Going from stock mx reds to a topre-clone was an eye opener. That change from a fairly unremarkable feeling board to something that actually offered tactility, which was a new experience for me, cemented an idea in my head: tactile > linear.
I think from that point on, everything I purchased has essentially either come with tactiles, or was built with tactiles up until this year when I discovered the joy (or pain) of lubing switches and just how a good a well lubed linear can feel.
It’s funny, I worked at best buy around that time and I remember seeing those gamer keyboards in the PC gaming section and thinking ‘hey that’s cool, it’s a modern take on old keyboards’. But I always thought they were too gaudy to put on a desk so I kept my Logitech whatever.
It’s a good thing too because I had no money back then so the addiction would have put me on the street.
Since I grew up in the 80’ & 90’s I can probably get away with saying Model F/Ms & old Apple boards with ALPS SKCC to SKCM/L switches were my true first experience & gateway into mechs. Although I’d be being a little disingenuous in saying that, as mechs were just the norm back then & I thought nothing of it when the PC world moved from mechs to rubber dome boards. It wasn’t until early 2014 I finally got back into PC gaming & around late 2014 I built myself a decent gaming PC, that I really started thinking about keyboards as something more than just a way to interact with a PC. I figured I spent all this money making my PC the best it can be, why wouldn’t I want the best KB & mouse I can get for it. So I started looking.
The mouse wasn’t hard for me as I was cool with any half decent mouse that worked properly & had some extra buttons for gaming. Keyboards on the other hand were a sticking point for me. After hearing how Razer, Corsair, insert gaming peripheral company here were the best KBs for gaming I started looking at them & honestly was super underwhelmed by what was on offer. To me they were all very cheaply made, ultra garish with all the RGB, & way overpriced for what you get. Sometime in Feb. 2015 I finally settled on a Rosewill Apollo (RK-9100xRBR) with Cherry browns. Rosewill products never let me down, the price was much better than other “gaming KBs” on offer, & it didn’t look like a spaceship so I went with it.
Once I got it I did notice it was much nicer typing experience than anything I had used since I was in school & really fell in love with that board. Then I heard whispers of better keycaps, mods to improve MKBs, etc & wound up coming across r/mk. Needless to say I feel headfirst down the rabbit hole. A couple KBP V60s, a MK Disco, & a Pok3r later it was time to build my own. From there to here has been a fun filled whirlwind of trying new things, meeting new people, & collecting metal chunks + plastic bits LOL! Definitely the hobby that has stuck closest to me since then. So yeah I guess that Rosewill Apollo was much more of a “gateway drug” than I ever expected!
I immediately fell in love and never looked back.
