There’s a round 2 open

I agree, but I also don't envy the timeframe that they would need to push these enthusiast keeb videos out in to leave a reasonable amount of time before group buys end, to speak nothing of fitting that cleanly into their work pipeline. Not impossible, but I could see it being a fair bit of effort to prioritize these things over other videos.

He did mention in the video that it was sold out at 10:40

@@temp2421 pretty sure round 2 is also over? At least here in the UK it stopped at 1st OCT

I believe it’s more about the vendors getting their name out there with these showcases. All of these videos are sponsored.

I agree, there's a enough people in the comments here who don't realize/don't get that it's a hobby with enthusiast tiers, that a clarification of what the reference point for "budget" is would be helpful.

Agreed, I clicked because I just got a steam deck, a dock and thought "oh great maybe I will find my couch wireless cheap keyboard"...then I hear 160$ wrote this comment and went on another video xD

I think this whole "custom" thing is a misnomer though. What exactly is "custom" about these keyboards? They are manufactured in the 1000/10,000s. A custom keyboard would be a one off you either make or have made for yourself.

OK let me SEO the fk out of it: "The King of Budget Custom Mechanical 60% Keyboards"

@@user-lv6rn9cf8mYou are right it is a misnomer to a degree, but the reason this kit exists is because actual custom keyboards exist, and are much much much more expensive and can be far complex to assure compatibility and to assemble. It's not unlike RC cars, RC kits exists because people want a more involved experience than off the shelf less work than true custom enthusiast stuff. It's born out of the bespoke custom space and inspired by it. I do agree it's deserving of its own term.

The perspective is that of custom keyboards and fancy aesthetics. It's like saying a $100 watch is not budget because you don't like analog automatic watches and your $20 quartz watch works the same. It's just luxury items of different categories and perspectives

@@_ExTitus I know that, but the word “budget” with no context, to a public this big is just misleading and clickbaity. You can say “good price”, but budget is a different thing, and that’s not objective, not when you are talking about 200$ for a keyboard. I just don’t like these smarteries to get easy views

If I may, I recommend checking out Alexotos here on KZfaq or when he streams. He’s a keyboard content creator. VERY friendly to newcomers who would like to know more about the hobby, even if you don’t have your own custom board! It’s a great community to be a a part of!

Well said!

I recommend the Epomaker th80 or th66. Closest to enthusiast level acoustics out if the box. Recommend the gateron yellows for the stock switches but for 90 bucks you cant beat it either way.

Most custom keyboard kits that have full aluminum frames typically start at $200+ USD.

For a custom mechanical keyboard, this is actually a budget one, the premium boards cost 2-3x more than this board

@@randomyoutube21 then they should specify it in the title. “The King of Budget Artisanal Keyboards” or something This thing isn’t a budget keyboard at all lol

@@tiestofalljays yeah i agree, the term budget is used poorly in the mech keyb hobby

I couldn't agree more. Cheapest for its feature set does not equal budget.

Its budget considering new oem boards can cost over 300usd

More like, "Linus Rich Tips".

It's not that LTT has a definition for budget that's different. It's that in the custom machined keyboard market, this is a budget keyboard with a good value.

$180, gotta pay for shipping :))

These keyboard weirdos be spending up to 1000$ for one keyboard so yes 180 is budget

Considering the average for custom keyboards are 300-400 this is Def budget lol

@@pr33tu_ don't forget about taxes

average for a good keyboard is $250-500 in the enthusiast keyboard space

The US budget is trillions of dollars. People assuming budget means low budget is the issue.

@@WayStedYou lol trillions of dollars is low when were talking about an entire country. If you budget you limit yourself, you limit your purchases, the issue isnt thinking budget means low, its people not knowing how to budget anything, complaining about not getting paid enough, and thinking 100+ on a keyboard is reasonable in any way.

Coming from the same people that said the 3080 ti was good value I'm not surprised

$159 is nothing for a machined aluminum keyboard. You can get plastic boards for more than that.

@@heath3778 its not cheap for the uneducated if you really just wanted a 65 board the LTC Nimbleback is $60

@@heath3778 Got an aluminum one for 30 bucks

In the world of custom keyboards 100 dollars is basically the entry point with prices easily soaring into the thousands.

Agreed. It’s nice to see custom keyboard content on the channel but the information is off or just wrong.

This! 100% this.

Accurate statement

it is not though, someone is binning parts for you to achieve a certain level of quality and feel for the whole board and sells you a package deal. Also they have features to adapt them after the fact. As someone who bought many "normal" boards to try them i can see the appeal. Don't like MX Brown, get a a set of Reds or non Cherry ones altogether. Sneakers on the other hand are just expensive, because someone artificially decides they are. The you buy them and put the away and probably never wear them because they don't gain value or loose it. These keyboards on the other hand get used. So it is a bit oldschool in that sense, you buy premium but you buy once and i will last a good amount of time because of that.

@@DxCBuG Logitech K120 lasts 10years or so and does the same job. It just sounds like you're the perfect customer in this case, perhaps you should get some sneakers too ;)

@@Allexz listen, i provided some arguments why its not a comparison and you give a stupid snarky comment and throw in the cheapest keyboard that might be not shit. ... common... get real dude, you just dont value quality of feel for anything. You are cheap. That's okay. Still not comparable to buying sneakers. PS: the K120 does not do the same job for people interested in a hot swap board.. You can't change it, except throwing it in the bin.

GMK keycaps are like sneakers. The keyboards themselves actually cost a lot of money to produce and you can use them everyday for years and they'll keep the value (unlike worn sneakers and GMK keycaps)

In the custom keyboard space 100 dollars is basically the entry point with prices that can easily reach into the thousands.

@@spencerallen323 WELL, the Logitech k120 DELUXE keyboard is good enough for me. Sometimes I'll put stickers on my keyboard from other manufacturers!

In the custom market this is very cheap and you get a lot of quality stuff for the price.

I mean, it is budget for "custom" keyboards, it's a good video but I wished they had made that clarification. They aren't mainstream products. It's the same sense that $800 is "budget" for a new gaming pc build these days. If you don't care about gaming and just want something that works, why would spend $800 on a "budget" build when you can get a used Optiplex on facebook marketplace for less than $200 or a new desktop for $500 at Best Buy? It's just different standards, neither is wrong because they aren't talking about the same thing.

No, he compared it to the ridiculous prices of mainstream keyboards. Like Logitech keyboard with keys that break off in a year for $250.

Say you've never heard of custom mechanical keyboards without saying you've never heard of custom mechanical keyboards

And this video is out after they are already done taking pre-orders....so not very helpful even if it were truly a "budget" option...

It's "budget" for the elite only.

This is budget in the world of customs. You will not find many CNC aluminum keyboards within this price bracket.

Well it's a budget custom keyboard

You have not seen the mechanical keyboard community. 200 and below is budget. Literally not so long ago 200 was not enough to buy enough zealios switches for a 60%. Of course looking in it seems wild to spend that much on a keyboard, but context changes a lit of stuff.

These are budget comparatively to other keyboards in the custom keyboard space. Many custom keyboards exceed $300-$500.

get ur money up

I don't think there is anything objectively better, if you don't count that they feel and sound better and thus makes the user happier to use it. I like to compare it to musical instruments, sure you can make "music" with a cheap plasticky whatever from a toy store. But if you're going to use it everyday, you want something that looks good, is pleasant to use and so on. Perhaps reliability? Perhaps it feeling better makes you type faster/more productive. But again, subjective.

Well, I'm not the biggest keyboard nerd in the world - I own a paltry three customs - but I can try to give some kind of summary as to what sets a custom keyboard apart from a prebuilt. As you say, they are, objectively speaking, mostly the same. A prebuilt $50 keyboard from amazon will input characters just fine. However, the build quality can differ pretty broadly depending on what you buy. This difference isn't necessarily exclusive to the divide between custom and prebuilt keyboards but rather between cheap and flimsy keyboards and more premium and expensive keyboards, custom or prebuilt. Build quality is something enthusiasts often point to, as extremely cheap plastic cases are more prone to damage, cracking, yellowing, etc. over time. This is something that can happen to custom plastic cases, obviously, but the custom plastic cases are usually sturdier. To some extent the materials used can also matter. Many prebuilt keyboards use a steel plate as well as a tray mounting design which involves screwing the pcb directly into the bottom of the case. This might seem rather insignificant - as "feel" is also something that's classified as subjective in the keyboard world - but IMHO it's more important than some might think as fatigue from typing can be a real factor in productivity scenarios. Pounding away on a rock-solid assembly can be rather tiring. Custom keyboards usually address this by using plastic plates, having thinner or more flexible PCBs, and even different ways of assembling the keyboard altogether. Comfort for the typing feel is a big talking point when it comes to custom keyboards as well; the word "flex" is used very often in that kind of discourse.

They are better at cleaning your bank account

They are working on labs content exactly to answer these types of questions, ShortCircuit is supposed to be first impressions of stuff they like

@@lande.r1 yes, but this is really the only place they cover keyboards much at all.

Using mine since 2005.

the most budget keyboard is the membrane you find at a garage sale for 0.25

@@_ExTitus I stole mine from school works like a charm till date.

Legend

Absolutely true, cheap and reliable. I prefer mechanical keyboards for the feel, but certainly I could live with a K120

Keyboards of this caliber are basically for enthusiasts only, take a random guy and they'll barely feel the difference with a custom 150$ keyboard or a good comercial one

@@thunderarch5951 .. wouldn't that be something worth discussing though? That secondary perspective would make boards like this appeal to a wider demographic

Don't corsair and logitech keyboards also go for around $100 or more? Once you go up to the 200-300 range of corsair or logitech I would say that a comparable custom is better in almost every regard. I usually just buy kits and stuff that are under $200, but I buy almost all of my stuff on clearance or on sale. So that might effect my perspective

In the world of premium custom keyboards this is entry level. Try searching for Mammoth 75 or Satisfaction 75. The barebones kits start at $300 and go all the way to $800

it is quite budget in comparison to other custom keyboards in the market nowadays

How do you type double numbers then?

@@austindoestuff by pressing the number key twice. for it to count as a function key the key must be tapped twice within 100ms, afterwards it counts as a separate keystroke

In the custom keyboard world, this is a steal

$300 used to be a budget keyboard

And even it is not full keyboard. It is a joke.

@@redheadsg1 just because you somehow find use out of a numpad doesn't mean not having one is a "joke"

late?? why?

Do you notice the "I" in your comment? Budget is SUBJECTIVE.

What is it's purpose?

99% of LTT's videos are people with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, not the poor plebs sadly.

Budget is relative. This is budget in the world of customs.

@@samwads. you can build good custom keyboards for a few tens of $ (as low as 30$). go check Consumer Tech Review for keyboard reviews.

Compared to like a cheap office keyboard or bad "gaming" keyboards sure, compared to customs no

Absolutely love mine too! But yeah the backspace is so weird and takes a lot of work (have a different switch in mine to help even more with it)

they're doing the Supreme business model, limited run high prices. Don't bother. As Plouffe mentions, Keychron and Glorious makes pretty good KBs at decent prices and they're almost always in-stock. If you want to go even cheaper, there are a lot of good China or Asian brand mech KBs.

I'd recommend channels like Switch and Click, Glarses, Hipyo Tech, Keybored, and Taeha Types for more focused content like that. I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for among one of those channels.

@@BlackTearsYT Thanks!

The universe of custom keyboards where $400 is pretty middle of the road.

@@G3rain1 I feel like putting custom in the title would've made the video better. Omitting that is like saying the best "budget" alternative to gas cars is a car worth $110,000 just because it isn't gas

Big name brand keyboards are usually garbage for the price though. Glorious is the biggest brand that makes a good keyboard. Also they're usually ugly but again, Glorious has managed to avoid following in the bad steps of Logitech, Corsair and Razer.

@@coughfee_beans Keychron is also great, I have the aluminium chassis K2 and not only does it look smart, has bluetooth, a MAC/PC toggle, it also is built solid enough that you could beat a horse to death with it. It's $90 right now, no other company can match that value.

@@Eagle3302PL Of course but I consider Glorious bigger which is why I said that they were the biggest brand making good keyboards.

I wish he told us what it actually is.

You have to build it yourself so that depends. ;-)

They're in Canada, must be selling rare maple syrup.

No Knob, No Thanks!