Niche Economy: The rise and fall of the group buy model in mechanical keyboards
Niche Economy: The rise and fall of the group buy model in mechanical keyboards
Group buys are still used as a business model, but its popularity is dwindling quickly. Why is that, and is that justified?
Thomas Baart (of splitkb.com fame) dives into group buys:
Group buys are still used as a business model, but its popularity is dwindling quickly. Why is that, and is that justified?
Interesting read!
My guess would be because it takes years for the actual product to get sent out. No one's got patience for that.
Ain’t nobody got time for that!
I joined one group buy for keycaps. Took 3 years! Switched to Topre keyboards. Now I either need to buy new sliders or sell the keycaps.
Group buys are absolutely not for me.
I’m just disheartened on the number of otherwise beautiful keycap sets that fail to use symbology for special keys. I’m talking shift, tab, enter, backspace, caps lock, num lock, home, end, page up, page down…
I've even seen arrow keys that use Up, Down, Left, Right and it makes me sad.
That’s just wrong.
I got a "gamer" mechanical, it is decent but nothing special. Black Friday 140 bucks tho
I still don't get why people rave about them. I do like the "typey" feel but it is just a feel. Cheapo key boards do the job.
Can someone explain to me how this is not a fad?
It's a tool first and foremost. If you're professionally using a power drill all day everyday, you'll want a very good one that's powerful, reliable and comfortable to use. If you professionally type all day everyday, you're absolutely entitled to use a keyboard that perfectly fits your preferences in terms of feel, comfort, feedback and layout.
What switches does it have? Are they lubed? Are the stabilisers modded? Does it have case foam or other case mods? What type of mount is it? What about the plate? Swing weight and force curve? Linear, clicky or tactile? Silent, oring, ball bearing mod?
There are so many different variables and that's before you even get to layout changes it's perfectly possible to build your own keyboard that is perfect or close to it for you.
I have keyboards with different layouts and typing feel that I pick for how I want my typing to feel on any given day. It's no different from a guitarist having multiple different guitars chasing a different feel and sound.
Not everyone is going to appreciate it and that's perfectly fine, but there are significant differences with the right changes during a build.
If it's something that people are using a lot then anything that improves the experience can be seen as increasingly important/valuable.
From a practicality perspective, they offer precision, feedback and speed advantages over membrane/rubber dome types which can be valuable in different use cases.
I haven't used gamer brand mechanical keyboards in a while, but my previous impression was that they were overpriced and generally at the lower quality/poorer experience end of the spectrum. I think there are likely far better options out there at all price points.
There is a certain amount of wank factor in mechanical keyboards. But if you are a high volume typist or heavy keyboard user, a keyboard that suits your typing style (with regards to springiness and feedback) absolutely helps.
If you primarily just use the WASD keys a few hours a week with a bit of half assed sorta touch typing in between then they're not really needed.
I'm kinda the same. I got a ducky. I like it and all, but I'm not sure I would bother to replace it with another expensive keyboard.
My bad didn't notice the community I was just scrolling.
I'm looking for unix keycaps, I'll end up designing them myself and having them printed.
At about 150 dollars at most, it's probably the simplest way to get what I want. Must simpler than endlessly waiting for a group to come up with what I want.
I've done a couple of boards worth of lasering dye-sublimation markers into PBT keycaps. It comes out pretty nice, and blanks from Amazon or AliExpress are cheap.