Maybe an unpopular opinion, but Group Buys. I’m fine spending $129.00 for key caps, but also having to wait 9 months to a year? I get why. It hurts just the same.
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For me, it was coming across cool-looking sets and not being able to find out how to actually buy them. Turns out, they were limited group buys from four or more years prior, but their photos still turned up everywhere when I searched for keycaps. It was pretty demoralizing to find out everything I saw was no longer in stock or available anywhere, and likely never would be again.
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1.) Encountering the North-facing compatibility issue before it was widely understood
2.) Stabs
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Same, it’s the main cause I’m slowly getting out the hobby. Waiting more than a year for a bunch of caps, that’s ridiculous.
The worst part of all that is you already paid for the product but you have to wait months, years and you have to deal with lack of communication and reproaches when you dare to ask where is the production.
I have 3 GB on the run for caps, they will be the last. The hobby is great but the production delays, the lack of communication and the haughty side of certain fact that I’m just tired of all this circus.
If you’re not able to produce a product in reasonable delays, just do not produce it.
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I have two group buys left I’m waiting on, SA 8010 and SA Spectra. I’m out once those arrive. I don’t need any more boards, and don’t want extra caps laying around tempting me to build more boards for them. But mostly I’m sick of giving interest-free loans to Signature Plastics.
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Same. Ugh, just horrible. I had the worst time leaning how to tune them properly. It almost broke me.
BT was something I thought was important, then it wasn’t, but with ZMK – now it is again. Lol. Weird.
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I feel like this thread could also apply to
“What’s the most difficult aspect of staying into keebs actively”
Because waiting has been a buzzkill for all of us.
Rising prices with a worsening economy hasn’t been the best for our hobby budgets.
At least we have new switches… that are practically the same as the old switches just marginally better…
At least we have new keycaps… which we’ll see in person in about 1-2 years
at least we have new keyboards… which appear to have ended innovation at gasket mounted plates.
I know I’m being facetious and probably a bit “old man mean”-spirited. Yes I know that I should be trying to create the innovation I want to see in the hobby. I should try to encourage positive changes in the community to help expedite better practices and improve the flow of knowledge.
But I’m tired. I’ll get to it tomorrow 
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Old man yells at keyboards /s
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It’s been quite a while now, but looking back, I’m vaguely remember what must have been a phantom TKL build. I remember being overwhelmed by all the tedious work of soldering the through-hole diodes and then the switches. Funny b/c that’s seems like the easiest part of building a keyboard now.
The thing that makes it difficult to build a keyboard today would be the switches. Do I want to lube switches again? God help me.
I’m not looking for big innovation in the future of keyboards.
I mean, are sneaker-heads looking for innovation? Are watch collectors constantly looking for the next level of tech? What about coin collectors? Are they pushing for revolutionary materials?
Maybe an accessible way to make old rubber dome keyboards desirable/useful again? That might be cool. I love the crappy cheap look of the late 90s rubber domes.
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Yea, part of me gets excited when new ones are announced so I can add them to my collection. But I’ve also had people ask me for recommendations cause of it and im just like ¯\(ツ)/¯
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If it ain’t crappy in your heart, it ain’t crappy 
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I appreciate that this hobby requires you to put the thing you’re “collecting” together yourself versus just buying up stock from some store.
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Does anyone else find that sometimes a challenge in the hobby is their own carelessness?
I have damaged PCBs, expensive keycaps, switches, and maybe more by knowingly using the wrong equipment, not wanting to wait until I know what I’m doing, or taking to ultra-cheap route. Then of course I feel dumb.
One of the things I’ve appreciated about this hobby is that it frustrates me, but it teaches me patience and care. If I’m in it for the instant gratification, the hobby bites back at me — because you can’t solder, program the perfect layout in QMK, or find the right group buys with that attitude!
Yep, for me this is both the challenge and, as time goes on, the joy.
Feels great to learn.
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Same Ive damaged at least two or more boards and its mainly cause of my soldering. I just cant solder any of those elite c controllers. Which suck because theres some boards I want where you have to solder those and theres a difference between screwing up a 60-100 dollar board compared to like a 250 mochi40. Its also part of the reasons I’m selling my hyper 7 since im worried about messing up the jumpers you have to solder to connect the two pcbs >.>
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This 
ctrl+c from the bottom of my heart. The feeling always dwells in me. With every board that is ready to be operated.
To counter this, I’ve ordered some “butler gloves” which should be here way before the my QK65 arrives. As a precaution to finger prints and dust. And I want to take care of it while unboxing and assembling and soldering and such as much as possible. Like I do with every board.
But in the end… I will not have my desk cleaned up as much as I want to for the work. I will be too impacient to keep the soldering iron below 250°C since I never can wait long enough to let it heat up properly. So 400°C it’ll be. And the flux within the solder will condensate as quickly as butter in a volcano. And it will bless the PCBs underside with dozens of little hot sparkles. Impending messengers of the next horrible mutilations that will appear in a hurry. Misaligned gaskets that prevent the case from closing perfectly. Little scratches around the screw holes, fingerprints on the weight, bent switch pins, keycaps that are pressed onto the switches too hard. This rush, this urge for the new thing… it fogs my mind. It kills the steady hand. It flushes rationality out of the frontal lobe, like fresh, drinkable water wrenches the first steamer of the day into the ceramic abyss of our private restrooms on a ravishingly beautiful spring morning… sorry… where was I? Where am I? What are I?
I need to lube more switches to calm down. 
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Topre as a whole.
I love it, I hate it, wish I were in the hobby when [insert board or cap set] was somewhat available.
Die mad noob amirite? 
The absolute trashfire lack of selection for EC is disheartening.
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It seems like factory lubing is getting better on an almost monthly basis. Those samples I got from Switch Oddities include two or three of the smoothest factory linears I’ve tried yet. I don’t remember who, but I do remember someone making the prediction that good factory lubed switches will come to prominence here, apparently like they have in China.
Take it with a grain or two of salt because I currently only have one sample of the switches I mean, but I do have a set of one on the way. That second grain of salt is this; while I’m detail-oriented to an obsessive degree, I do also have reduced sensation in my fingertips - so I may not be the best judge here. Still - it’s all relative.
On to the switches!
FLCMMK Ice Mint - not the Tecsee one - all-POM & made by Kailh, but nothing at all like any Cream;
Jeez, these are smooth. Slick, even. Sharp and clacky with a touch of spring wiggle. Feels nice and stable throughout. I have some of these on the way and will share my thoughts of them in-practice when I get a feel for them, but so far the only negative I’ve experienced is a mild lack of cleanliness in both the plastic and metallic sound elements.
Samples:
Sets:
HaiMu Sea Salt Lemon - not the KTT one;
Might be the smoothest stock switch I’ve tried so far. (Remember the grain of salt - but I’m also not kidding.) Both plastic and metallic elements of the sound are more clean here than with the aforementioned Ice Mint. It’s also a hair more stable, except at bottom-out where it is a hair less. So far I haven’t found a place to get more than one or two at a time - if anybody does let me know! Here’s where to get samples:
Honorable mention: Outemu Transparent - everybody’s got one, but they’re not all the same;
Easily one of the best all-polycarb specimens I’ve tried so far, but consistency remains to be seen for me. Like (good examples of) the Aqua King before it, this switch enjoys incredible stability - even better than the HaiMus there. Smoothness is very good in normal pressing, just a touch of slip-stick if you try to make that happen. Unlike the Aqua Kings, though, these do have a very thin element to the top-out sound. Bottom-out might be deeper than the other two here.
@ajoflo, I think you’d probably dig these for how on-rails low-wobble they are.
Samples:
Sets (also on Ali if that’s your thing):
I’ve seen these around and been curious about them, but the other two I’d never even heard of.
All three of these are good enough that I wouldn’t consider opening and hand-lubing them worth it at all, with the possible exception of the Ice Mint springs in the form of donut-dipping.
Of course again this is an impression of individual samples - but I mention these to say that the gateway between fantastic smoothness and zero effort is on its way down for all but the most discerning users, and I see these three as good examples of that.
I don’t think the utility of keeping lube and brushes around will ever completely go away for lots of reasons, but the necessity of fooling with them just to have a great keyboard on your desk is quickly vanishing.
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Solid recommendation good sir, thank you. I’ve been really into box switches recently too – especially for taming looser fitting keycaps.
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