Drop CRTL TKL hot-swap keyboard ($315-$330) before $50 off coupon

Sheet... a $400 keyboard? You know you made it when you buy a $400 keyboard.

I'm just wondering what makes this KB better than your average $150 mechanical keyboard from Logitech, Razer, etc.

Gold switches?

TruE SkiLLS wrote: ↑ Sheet... a $400 keyboard? You know you made it when you buy a $400 keyboard.

Wait till you see the price of high end switches and keycaps. This is a low-mid tier board for those in the hobby.

Not trying to dig at the custom keyboard community, but one of their biggest justification for knocking on brand names and going expensive custom builds are for quality, yet my cheap hp keyboard lasted me a decade before I got tired of it. In a matter of fact, I have never had any keyboards break down on me and only switched for functionality. True story

Wait til you guys hear what people pay for 30 year old IBM keyboards.

kimwoobingsu wrote: ↑ Wait till you see the price of high end switches and keycaps. This is a low-mid tier board for those in the hobby.

Obviously I'm not the one to say whether it's worth it or not, since I've never tried a $400+ keyboard.

If you're saying a $500 keyboard is the one and only keyboard you might need for the rest of your life, maybe it's justified?

I'll stick with my $50-80 keyboard that last a good 10+ years for now.

I hear the comments above, but what really is the benefit of a keyboard like this? Is the key action super good or something? Is it a collectable? I don't get the price-benefit.

Isn't it not cheaper on drop's website?

Dave510 wrote: ↑ Wait til you guys hear what people pay for 30 year old IBM keyboards.

There's a part of me that wants to keep collecting things like an FAT or a beamspring, but its even hard for me to justify any more, as I never use them lol.

calvados.boualrd wrote: ↑ I hear the comments above, but what really is the benefit of a keyboard like this? Is the key action super good or something? Is it a collectable? I don't get the price-benefit.

For this particular keyboard:

1. The case is metal. More sturdy and better sound.
2. It's hotswap, meaning you can change the switches to whatever you want
3. Fully programmable FN layers
4. This keyboard is seen as one of the best pre-built keyboard you can get before diving into the world of custom keyboards.
5. The keycaps are double shot PBT, meaning they won't feel greasy, take much longer to shine over time and the legends won't ever fade.
6. Brand name. Drop are considered one of the better mechanical keyboard manufacturers.

The downsides to this aside from the price is that the PCB only accepts 3-pin switches (unless they updated it). Some switches (especially premium switches) uses 5-pin meaning to use them you'll need to clip the extra pins off. The other negative thing is that the stabilizers (the mechanisms for the longer keys like the spacebar, backspace, shift, etc) are really, really bad and need to be replaced + lubed otherwise they have an awful pinging sound/rattle.

But is this board worth it?

Honestly, no. It's an enthusiast board, but only for those who don't want to build their own and want that 1% better typing experience. And even then it's more recommended to just buy the barebones version because if you're paying this much for a mechanical keyboard you're going to be using better switches and stabilizers than the ones that come with this board.

Just get yourself a cheaper board and use that money towards upgrading other PC parts.

kimwoobingsu wrote: ↑ There's a part of me that wants to keep collecting things like an FAT or a beamspring, but its even hard for me to justify any more, as I never use them lol.

Now you just need the industrial model m, and the compact model m (tkl).

kimwoobingsu wrote: ↑ There's a part of me that wants to keep collecting things like an FAT or a beamspring, but its even hard for me to justify any more, as I never use them lol.

Sometimes it's not about utility, it's about catchin' em all

Oppfor wrote: ↑ Isn't it not cheaper on drop's website?

After exchange and taxes the price should be similar.
Better to buy from Amazon all things being equal IMO for easier returns etc.

Edit: You might squeak by a little cheaper actually, assuming an extra $40 tax and brokerage fee

Reliability/durability and quality don’t necessarily mean the same thing. Toyota’s last forever but I don’t think anybody is going to argue that their quality is that of a luxury car. The board, switches, and keycaps on high end mechanical keyboards are much higher quality than that of a Razer / Logitech board. It’s hard to explain but if you hold one of these, you can feel the difference. But just like not everybody appreciates or cares for fancy cars, not everybody is going to want a $300+ keyboard. To each their own.

Gonna expire thread as it still may be cheaper on Drops website after Exchange + Tax

Comparing Chery MX Browns:
Amazon Price: 330 - 50 = 280 CAD
Drop Price: 185 USD + 15 USD Shipping = 256 CAD
Brokerage fee would probably be 10+ CAD?

calvados.boualrd wrote: ↑I hear the comments above, but what really is the benefit of a keyboard like this? Is the key action super good or something? Is it a collectable? I don't get the price-benefit.

It no different from other hobbies, like say high end audio. Most people will be fine with something simple like and cheap off of Amazon and spending hundreds of dollars on audio products wouldn't make sense for them at all since they're only looking for something to play audio. And even if you spend tons of money on a headphone, it wouldn't be necessarily better than another headphone that's cheaper since sound is pretty subjective, though you should come to expect things like nicer build quality if you're spending that much. But as you spend more, the price to perform ratio usually doesn't hold well.

In a sense, this keyboard is kind of like the Apple Airpod Max of keyboards. It's not great for value and most people shouldn't buy it, but it's built well and looks nice. You can find most of its features in some other keyboards at a fraction of its price, but it does do a couple of unique things that make it stand out. But even at its high price, there are even more expensive keyboards out there that are constantly sold out (due to limited supply).

But again, whether it's worth it is subjective. I'd imagine most people would be fine with a keyboard off of Amazon and might not even notice much of a difference in their typing if they were given this keyboard to try. I have a cheaper board (at least, the basic keyboard before any customizations is cheaper) that I wouldn't trade for this because it has more useful features for me, like splitting the long spacebar into 3 keys instead. So it depends on what you value.