I have been using a cheap TKL AliExpress hot swap board for a little while, and I want to upgrade because:
- I miss the numpad
- Build quality is better than the average membrane keyboard, but still not great
I’m planning to get the keychron V6 because it is is one of the few keyboards that are:
- Not ultra expensive
- Full size
- Has a knob for volume control
- Reasonable build quality
- Hot swap
- QMK/VIA support is nice
The only issue is that I am not sure what switches and keycaps to get. I was considering saving my money and going with stock switches (keychron k pro reds) and keycaps (in-house “OSA” profile), but I do not know if I will like this keycap profile. My current board has OEM profile keycaps, and those are fine, but I want to try more “spherical” rather than “cylindrical” profiles, and it doesn’t seem like the stock keychron keycaps are particularly spherical, at least in photos. If they are more spherical in person, I might go this route.
My other plan I was considering was to try keychron’s other in-house profile, “KSA”, which seems more spherical to me (https://www.keychron.com/products/double-shot-ksa-pbt-keycap-full-keycap-set), or maybe a mt3 set (but I’m not sure about getting an abs set, my current keycaps are getting shiny). For switches, I was thinking of buying the tried-and-true gateron milky yellows, but I am not sure if there are better bang for the buck options out there for smooth linear switches.
TL;DR: Should I go with stock switches and keycaps to start out? Or should I get the bare bones keychron V6, a spherical keycap set (KSA or mt3), and budget linears like gateron milky yellows?
What do you want out of your switches?
Switches are one of the things that you can get nearly any combination of. Are you looking for light, linear, fast? What about heavy and silent but still tactile?
Also with Key caps, what do you want? Do you prefer ABS or BPT plastic for your key caps? Are there shape/profile specifics you are looking for? I prefer OEM and Cherry to type on but the look of XDA is always appealing to me.
Unless you plan to keep the caps and switches and use them. I say get the bare-bones.
I don’t have much experience with switches other than the kalih box reds that shipped with my first mechanical keyboard. They feel fine to me I suppose. I don’t think I will like tactile switches, and I can’t have clicky switches because of how loud they are, so I guess that narrows me down to linears only. Beyond that, I have no idea what I would go with.
Same thing with keycaps to an extent, though I think I have a better idea of what I would like: double shot pbt (for durability/no abs shine) with a spherical profile. I have tried keyboards from old computers like the Atari 800 and I remember liking the feel of their spherical keycaps. I am mostly afraid of the spherical keycaps being too tall (especially after seeing how tall SA keycaps are), which is why I was considering MT3 until I realized that nearly all their sets were abs only… I was also considering Keychron’s “KSA” profile keycaps, but I don’t see them get mentioned much, and they might be too tall for me as well.