What was your biggest FOMO or Hype keyboard purchase?

Learning and discussion
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I will be in the keyboard hobby for one year this week. On April 24, 2021 I purchased a Tofu65 and everything I needed to get started. Since then it has been an expensive year as I figure out preference, but also as I learn my lessons about FOMO (fear of missing out) and falling for the hype around different boards.

I thought I would share a couple of my own FOMO/Hype stories, and then I would really like to hear stories from other people so that I can relate, commiserate, or celebrate these keyboard purchases.

The Ikki68 is probably my biggest FOMO/Hype purchase so far in the hobby. I learned about it shortly after I bought my Tofu65, and read a lot of posts of people in the group by waiting for their boards to arrive. These messages were filled with excitement about the best board ever that I couldn’t get. I ended up watching videos about it, reading more posts, and getting excited.

The Ikki68 Dreamscape collaboration was released, and, even though I wasn’t amazingly in love with the color scheme, I didn’t want to not get an Ikki, so just in case the Ikki never ran again (oops…) I bought into the group buy.

Then I waited.

Then the R1 Ikki68s arrived, and I saw a charcoal version on sale for cost in one of the discords, so, BAM, the hype kicked in and I bought it. Less than 2 weeks later I had the board I had been waiting months for (and am still waiting for the Dreamscape) in my hands.

I built it, and used it. Rebuilt it, and used it. Went for a third round of rebuilding, and…

I don’t really like it. It is a great value. It is fun to try different configurations. But, end of the day, it wasn’t really what I was looking for in a keyboard.

Now that the hype has passed, I have not one, but two Ikki68s that I need to sell.

Hype lesson #1 learned…but not really, because I have two more hype stories in my first year of keyboards.

So, what was your biggest FOMO/Hype keyboard purchase? How did it turn out? And for those of you who have “beaten” the hype machine, how do you avoid these purchases?

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The Saturn-60. I got into mechanical keyboards trying to recreate the aesthetic of my childhood Commodore 64. I had no experience with building kits or soldering, but knew I had to have it. I bought in just before the group buy ended, then experienced my very first lengthy wait. I eventually opted out of receiving the PCB alongside the rest of my order, to speed the shipment along.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. It’s my all-time favorite board. I wound up building several others during my 10-month wait for it, and then afterwards. But I’m still very glad I bought in for the Saturn; I’d have regretted it immensely if I hadn’t jumped the gun and went for it.

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This is a very interesting topic because I’ve sometimes had this as well.

I really have had FOMO before, and one of the main reasons why I can’t find myself pulling the trigger on GMK is just because of that. The nature of GBs is being limited, and limited = once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Jamon R2, for example. Right now, it’s on GB and I’ve seen WTB posts saying they’ll pay 500+ for it. The thought is, that the “FOMO” around it gives it more assumed “value”, but I don’t like the colorway. I’ve never made a purchase directly because of FOMO, and think it’s the classic “you like what you like” that stopped me from doing so. Of course, I feel I’m going to eat my words on this one because it’s almost inevitable that I’ll make a purchase in the future violating everything I said above.

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I can think of three off-hand, one of which is also the Ikki68 Aurora in charcoal after the initial GB. Hugely overpaid, but at least I do like the board enough to be happy with it.

I think the first real FOMO purchase I made in the keeb hobby would be the bunch of YOK Pandas I bought from NovelKeys when they were clearing them out - I had the impression that was it for those, but it was actually just that NovelKeys wouldn’t be re-stocking - they showed back up in other vendors, and with 5 pins instead of three! Well. Now I have a collection of colorful Holy Pandas. Would that I’d held-out for 5-pin versions, but I’m happy to have the switches.

The other that immediately came to mind has to be when I bought SA Chocolatier on the aftermarket. While that was indeed one of the last times I saw it pop up, I can’t say I think it was worth it. Again I massively overpaid, and was then underwhelmed by the set itself. By no means is it a bad or even not good set - but it’s definitely not worth to me what I paid for it. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I bought a Realforce 23U 10-key at market price.

Yeah. sigh

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MSRP was what, $114 on mk.com? I got mine used for $125 with a set of HiPro and a custom coiled cable.

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Yes, but they weren’t, and still aren’t available there. So I got to pay eBay prices. Yay.

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kek

no but really import prices be holding at 160+ship

private sales goated

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Biggest Hype (but not fomo), purchase would probably be heavy grail veracity I think. It feels like the culmination of a long arduous adventure

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Legendary artifact

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My fomo board was the hyper 7 v3 and i havent even built it and im thinking of selling it

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That is cool that your hype purchase ended up being your favorite board. I hadn’t thought about that, as, at the moment, I associate the hyped decisions I have made with mistakes, or almost mistakes (sometimes it is good to not win a raffle in retrospect).

Luckily, in this hobby, selling boards you don’t like doesn’t seem to be a huge issue, and I can “restock” my keyboard budget to buy something new.

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Purchasing the Ikki68 was definitely FOMO that went against me reminding myself of “I like what I like”. I knew before I bought it, that I was interested in aluminum boards and not buying something plastic. Even as I looked at it on the website I thought “I don’t really want a PC board”, but everyone was so pumped I gave in.

On the plus side, I love the Ikki68 layout (without the badge) so now I keep my eye open for aluminum boards that have that layout. So, not a complete loss.

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Glad you like the Ikki68. It is definitely a fun board.

Never knowing if something is leaving forever or just not being restocked is definitely something that still gets me. I have a list of switches I want to try, and am always worried that they might not show up again. Which results in me buying switches without waiting for a bigger purchase from a vendor, so I buy switches one week, then buy something else a few days later from the same vendor.

My shipping costs in year one of the keyboard hobby have been ridiculous :slight_smile:

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I just started looking at Topre boards and have been researching buying new versus second hand. It is a whole different world from the regular keyboard hobby, so I am being cautious :slight_smile:

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I had to look that up. That is a LOT of keyboard!

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I do kind of wish they’d do another run (or better yet an update) of the original Ikki68, which was aluminum.

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lol the first fomo board I picked up was the Whitefox…more recently it was the Heavy Grail. I have a lot of boards but those in particular come to mind.

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I bought gmk WoB katakana for $320 (shipping price was mad). Literally a week after i paid i got an offer for $250 shipped. Did help me trade up for an e8.5 which i am pretty happy with though.

Edit: also got a kara off the aftermarket which I ended up hating, and aeboard raeds (the raeds turned out great though, 33 cents a piece cos cannonkeys clearing sale.)