ok got it; lemme try out other profiles first

maybe i'm bad luck, but my ducky wobbles a lot for modifiers, strangely not so much for space bar :/ (the same happens to my masterkeys pro s also) this is why i don't like ducky and cm that much. (i don't have that with filco, varrmilo, or iKBC)

coincidentally i just swapped the dark grey+blue caps on this ducky zero tkl/red (these caps reached today lol)

lol yes to me they are not bad too

no wonder :/ actually this zero was the main reason why i didn't go for ducky boards anymore. maybe i should try out another new ducky later, but this time i will do more research, instead of getting one without any clue.

yes, qc is actually very important. i have a few filco, varmilo and ikbc. their respective qc standards are pretty consistent. (i got them at different points of time, from different sources)

finally found the key things that i need to repair the switch hotswapping part in gk64, in case they failed. (it might, because different manufacturers produce switches with legs/pins of different sizes)

the part is actually produced by kaihua (kailh), and it is readily available. alternatively you can just get gk64 pcb with everything soldered. so with that cleared, now i have no worries to play with it anymore lol (please forgive me for my noobness; i realized that this kind of boards already exist for a long time; it's the first time ever i have a custom board that i want, so tolong bear with me)

the board arrived just now.



- it feels heavy for a 60%. (actually it's a lot heavier than pok3r)
- the build quality is solid in general. there is no apparent defects externally.
- the presence of arrow keys is good to me because i use it a lot. however due to differences in board layout, it might need some time to adapt to it.
- the caps are nice cherry profile pbt dye subbed. no complaint. the non-standard shifts, ctrl, and fn are not an issue now.
- about switches, the stock switches on mine are 3-pin cherry mx rgb. from the looks of holes at the pcb, it also supports 5-pin switches without mods. at first glance, all switches sit flush to the plate.
- hot swapping is damn easy. the switches are very easy to be pulled out, with only gentle force. they stay relatively secured when plugged back in. they don't come out when you pull the caps.
- the cable is braided usb type-c.
- there is a driver kit that can be downloaded and used for further customization. however the board works fine out-of-box without driver.
- this board has a built-in mic. by default, its light will reacts accordingly based on the loudness of typing sound.
- the rgb lights are the same as those boards, with, well, rgb lighting.

the main downside for me is the wobbling modifiers, especially space bar. (need to find out a way to fix this one :/) not as bad as my ducky zero, or master keys pro s; but it's not close to filco, varmilo or iKBC. i will try to swap modifiers with heavier silent switches to see if they help.

hopefully in near future i can find a tkl with this set of features that i want. hopefully

yes, a detachable cable. the board is available since last may iinm. just noticed it recently.

for now it looks fine. let's see after a few weeks or months lol

thanks man

to me it's really an enjoyable journey haha; along the way i picked up a lot of useful stuff for other purposes also, not just for mkbs. initially this budget was for something else. i was so curious about mkbs (especially unique characteristics of each board from different brands) so i used it to learn something about mkbs instead.

so far, from what i have learned about prebuilt with cherry mx style switches in the market, it's actually true that some cheaper boards are better built than expensive ones. for a typical user, there is no need to spend more than myr 350.00 to get a good quality mkb (all the excess beyond that are just paying for brand name, or features that you don't use, or something that are not relevant to quality)

of course, for enthusiasts, it's a different story.

yes costar stabilizers are better compared to cherry stabs in many prebuilts. however the ones in varmilo is imo equally good. (when i have time i will take a look also; maybe i can use the same tricks to fix those wobbling stabs)

hahaha that's a really nice collection! again, just play with own pace. it's actually better in the long run; at least you get to play with each of them.

hm true it's a good idea to find out how to make good stabilizers. maybe there are more than sponge and lubrication with grease.

if you checked md frequently, you will find that varmilo is always associated with leopold in that they are manufactured in the same factory; some said varmilo manufactures leopold, or so i've read. as for floating design, it's a preference i guess. i personally like it. it doesn't cause key caps to wobble. (at least it's not in varmilo's case) not sure if it's about stems.

when good deals come, we should embrace them lol (cheap or not, if they're damn good deals, with decent quality, why not?) i have few used ones too. (i'm sure some of them are not second-hand lol) the main point is that they are still better than some of my new boards in terms of build quality

i like topre only for its typing accuracy, and its unique deep 'thock' sound. (i have some topre boards also; not really a fan. but, i will try out one with heavier springs next time) for fun and rich choices, i still prefer cherry mx and friends, including the newer optical switches.

if you're looking for rare switches, yes they are more expensive. however imo alternatives like gat are ok too, and relatively cheaper, or so i've read hehe

say, why not you convert your cm qfr-i to hotswappable? you can give it a try if you want.

This post has been edited by horns: Sep 29 2017, 03:00 AM

hehe all those poisons lol

yes topre is kind of boring if you wanna play with it :/

i have shared something about hotswapping in pm; take a look haha

edit: .. and realforce just announced their rgb tkl! god likes to play jokes with me sometimes :/
edit.2: trying to lubricate a red. well, it does feel better. it's true that less is more. (basically it just means a thin coat of lube is painted on those surface and spring with brush) do not put more or the switch will feels 'sticky'

This post has been edited by horns: Sep 30 2017, 03:53 AM

for those who ordered Ducky X Varmilo MIYA Pro (limited edition), you can actually couple it with a nice pink desktop mat (originally from varmilo).



.. damn that's enough pink for me for today.

This post has been edited by horns: Sep 30 2017, 06:55 PM

give girlfriend? lol ok i support so i found all the complementing items for you



edit: the pad's price is like around myr 45 without shipping; yes the side is not stitched but i don't think it's a problem, it's a large pad, unless you sengaja cabut hehe

This post has been edited by horns: Oct 1 2017, 02:33 AM

.. ok lol

yeah it's a good size to prevent boards from sliding. i use hard mouse pad so i just put it on top of the large pad.

i think so; i have some va87m, they use cherry stabs. however, their implementation of cherry stabs feels like filco's costar stabs, which are sturdy.

.. many are really not aware of this brand. they don't even know how good a varmilo board is. too bad :/

ducky? 2 years back? i hope it's not a duck zero

there are boards with much better implementations of cherry stabs. varmilo is one of the brands.

oh. what's the issue about?

oh that sounded like more than 2 years

ok; that's one of the most common things about cherry stabs.

it's better to bring your mx speed or brown to office; blue is noisy.

the better option for office use is silent red/black imo.

there are addon key cap sets from tai-hao that include cherry board's capslock key cap. however in general it's true that the options are relatively limited.

anything mkb, welcome

did you try places like amazon or ebay?

your budget might not be quite enough for a custom board. however you can get a good prebuilt from filco and ikbc.

it really depends on the item. sometimes it's more expensive to get it from taobao, especially very rare stuff.