Hey @Buckknife, welcome to KT! Honestly I would avoid both products. The Drop Shift V2 is the same chassis as the V1, it just comes with foam & a newer PCB that supports QMK/VIA. It’s very much overpriced for what it is. The KB itself is a unibody type that use an integrated plate (the plate is actually part of the top housing, not a seperate piece, widely considered the worst plate style by many enthusiasts). Which is gonna give you just about the stiffest & worst sounding (hence the foam for V2) typing experience you can find in a modern KB. Then the Holy Pandas Drop sells are very subpar as well, they definitely need spring swapped & hand lubed to get to even a decent point. On top of that the plastics used to create the housings is particularly bad, very brittle, which cause the legs that hold the top housing to the bottom housing to break off extremely easily. Also the price is just astronomical compared to much better designed budget Chinese custom KBs like the QK/Neo series & similar.
Integrated plate has come to be seen as very big no no on custom KBs since they make for an extremely unforgiving typing feel that is not good for even shorter typing or gaming sessions. They also have a much harsher sound than any other mounting style. Drop has also come out with Holy Panda X (basically HP V2s) manufactured by Gateron that is much higher quality than the BSUN manufactured Invyr branded V1s that are super brittle. Overall the IMHO the whole Drop made line up of KBs are very far behind the curve of what even budget custom KBs have become in the last two to three years. I suspect they’ve just invested too much money into their series to drop them & start from scratch, which would be fine if the didn’t try to advertise them as true high end custom KB with mid level pricing.
Since you are looking at the Shift which would be considered a 1800 layout I see that you are looking for a fullish sized KB. Given that, I would suggest a QK100. It is a traditional custom KB design (top case, top mounted or gasket mounted, a PCB programmed through QMK/VIA/VIAL which will give you access to media controls you can map to any key on any layer, then a bottom case with either a functional brass weight or decorative alum. weight. All for less than Shift V2. Pair them with Drop Holy Panda X switches & not only will you end up with a much better version of the type of KB you are looking for. It will also be a much more comfortable typing experience that can be tweaked with different plate materials & gasket hardness to be able to dial in a typing feel you are happy. While also remaining cheaper or just getting close to the price of the Shift V2 build pricing pricing.
Also addressing your worry about lack of physical media controls (I’m assuming you mean knobs & keys specifically dedicated to media controls). They both can be programmed to have you media control keys wherever you want them to be on the board itself & whether you want them on the top layer or secondary layer. If you need any help with this decision feel free to PM me on here or just ask in a appropriate thread. The community here will be more than happy to help steer you towards a KB that has all your requirements, many QOL improvements compared to a Drop Shift, & most importantly cheaper yet higher quality!
I finally ordered a storage shelf for some keyboard cases! I’ve been running out of space for a while now but this should really fix things up. I guess it’s a bit sad that I’m so excited about having a place to store keyboards.
Nah, it’s our hobby & collectors like us need space to store stuff (I’m facing the same issue of being almost completely out storage space myself right now). Nothing to feel bad about there IMHO!
I grabbed a couple of plastic bookshelf dividers from Daiso that seemed robust enough to hold up some keyboards. Not a magic bullet for my still-too-small shelves, and beyond useless for the pair of Model M’s, but it did let me add a few more to my shelves without making things look worse.
I ordered a whole bunch of DUROCK V3 plate mount stabilizers to rebuild my collection of Magicforce68 keyboards. In the end, only the housing will be original on these keyboards.
Super excited for Superuser!! I’ve also had my eye on Awaken for a long time, and Cherry Ember is just neat as well. Hopefully I can hide a few more caps in the closet and my spouse won’t find them…
I didn’t super love the texture on KAM Superuser, but after using it for a couple weeks, I’ve come to enjoy it. I absolutely love the look of the set and since it’s a flat profile, it works for a ton of different board layouts. At NK’s sale prices and delivery times, it’s a steal!
Just settled on my next build, and I finally decided to try my luck with PCB design… sort of. It’s so primitive that it’s little more than a matrix on a piece of fiberglass, but it’s off to manufacturing with JLCPCB for a batch of 5; love that new customer coupon, btw. I’m going to wire it to a full RP2040 board and use through-hole diodes, so I’m hoping it will be idiot-proof. No mounting holes, as I expect to use a “captive plate” variation on a sandwich mount.
I went with a slight tweak to the no-stabs 1800 derivatives I’ve been making and/or noodling around with on KLE. I like layouts with blockers reminiscent of the HHKB and its forebears; easy to use, hints of a retro sensibility, and it adds a touch of visual breathing room to what is inherently a very busy layout. The biggest compromise on the layout is the lack of stagger on the top row, which can obviously be set up for either numbers or F-keys. We’ll see how that goes. Otherwise, I’m optimistic that this layout will be a nice refinement to my previous hand-wires.
Plate will still be the hardboard from my laser, because they’re nice to type on and they seem to hold up fine. I just started noodling around in CAD, but the plan is to make a 3D printed case inspired by the Beamspring keyboards from certain IBM terminals. No secret troubleshooting manual compartment planned for mine, but that side profile leaves room for my MCU, even if I change the proportions rather dramatically, and seriously, a vintage board that prominently features seams and sheetmetal with an orange-peel textured paint job? That’s just begging for a 3D-printed derivative.
I agree with the QK100 recc, having just built one for a friend. Just a small additional note: only the wired-only PCB that does not have the little screen is QMK/VIA compatible.
The tri-mode PCB that has the screen is not and uses QK’s own firmware and their config software.That is only in beta on Mac and seems to be iffy there, but is good on Windows. The keyboard can be used on a Mac just fine once keys are assigned, ofc. I didn’t have any issue with it for a full-size board and honestly love the screen; you can load your own GIFs, and their Discord has a bunch.
However, it lacks the more advanced features of QMK like mod-tap and layer-tap. You’re stuck with a dedicated held or toggle function key.
That said, it’s not too hard to dedicate one on suich a large board, and you don’t really need layers for much. I set this one to grave/tilde and made Esc into Grave-Esc, which is supported. Problem solved.
If you’re comfortable with only relying on half the manufacturer’s designed mount points, I recommend top mount with the alu or CF plate using only the corner and center screws (6 total). The top mount option is way too stiff otherwise IMO, but is actually amazing with this config. I think it’s enough support for the plate with those stiff plates, but I wouldn’t do it with the flexier plates.
So, with PCB’s officially made and on their way from JLCPCB, a few switches and keycaps are on deck. Once I check the traces for continuity, Build 1 will be the Akko SA-L (mostly BOW, but a few black&yellow) and Box Navy already inhouse. Beyond that, wanted some more supplies:
AliExpress:
90x JWICK Yellow 65g. The only linear board I’ve ever liked had random black switches, so maybe it’s the lack of weight I dislike more than the lack of tactility.
Low profile PBT blank PBT keycaps. I haven’t been able to make myself commit to the pricetag to get proper keycaps in a kitting I can use, though maybe someday. In the meantime, the laser and I will get reacquainted and I’ll see how these take the ink. I don’t need a particularly generous set of nonsculpted blanks, as any set with 6x 1.25u and 2x 1.75u will do. Any suggestions on fonts for the legends?
Amazon “Resale”
Blank PBT in Cherry. It doesn’t have the 1.25u R3 that I’d need to build a set for my new boards, but I’ll be able to clean up the aesthetics on my southpaw build. I don’t think I’m going to fix everything, but I do want to have a blank spacebar area and Enter keys that are either correct or blank. Maybe I’ll do a novelty of some sort for the escape.
Set of no-name white-on-green PBT in Cherry, because it was 8 bucks.
Yeah I saw it pop up from a seller with a bunch of completed trades & jumped right on it LOL! It probably wouldn’t have sat for too long before someone else took him up on it.
I’m currently in the “silent” rabbit hole and have been looking at better alternatives to Cherry (scratchy, spring ping, leaf tick, yuck). I ordered some Outemu XCJZ Dopamine switches and Durock 65g regular springs to add weight if needed.
