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Showing 1 of 39 conversations about:
dsullivan539
81
Jan 16, 2019
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Is it me or are companies taking advantage of the perceived high end market in this hobby by releasing insanely priced keyboards hoping that a few hobbiests that missed out on the original high end GBs will take the bait? Well over $300 for a keyboard kit is insane, unless you are coming in with a super high end name/rep already established. I understand Duck, Rama, Zeal etc. selling stuff at high prices they've been around and demonstrated the ability to satisfy and produce high quality products that match with the high end price.
Between this and the Punchy it seems like the sharks smell blood, I expect to see an increased surge in overpriced GB coming out. Which is too bad as price and exclusivity are two of the problems with this hobby, if someone new buys one of these and they find it to be disappointing and will probably see their purchase encounter some disdain from the community it will have negative effects on new people just getting into the hobby.
(Edited)
Tac_Tau
82
Jan 16, 2019
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dsullivan539Keycult No.1 60/65 retail price is $480, and they sold out less in a minute, dude. Sometimes people are irrational with fashion and trending stuff like this.
MumuMa
10
Jan 16, 2019
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dsullivan539this keyboard is not expensive with brass parts.the aluminum is also like this price
LevelSteam
Jan 16, 2019
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MumuMaYup. Chunky, full aluminum and brass parts will always be more expensive.
That said, I don't think the price on this is terrible personally, but I also don't have a problem with dropping $200-300 on custom boards. This stuff is targeted at enthusiasts and collectors, not someone that is just looking for a solid board for general use. If people think it's too expensive then by all means don't buy one.
dsullivan539
81
Jan 16, 2019
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LevelSteamI recently participated in a drop on here that had an aluminum case that contains enough nicely anodized aluminum to bludgeon a whole family of seals to death with. The kit included a set of DSA dye sub caps and switches along with the kit (pcb, plate, case, cable) all for about $140. So do a few ounces of brass add $200 to the value of those kit?
I think if this was $225 or even $275 I wouldn't have said anything but $330 is just insane, it's price gouging.
dsullivan539
81
Jan 16, 2019
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Tac_TauYou had the option of adding them, for $15 switches and $20 for the caps. They werent in the base price, but even adding those in it was only a $140 package. But enjoy this, it's just massively marked up even though it does look really cool.
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LevelSteam
Jan 17, 2019
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dsullivan539DSA dye-sub caps and switches arent expensive. The main reason these types of group buys ship without switches and caps is because the people buying into something like this already have their own or want to source something specific.
As for the brass, yeah, it's pretty much always at a premium. Personally I hate it and don't get into buys that feature it because (to me) the added weight (vs a non-brass weight) is unnecessary, and I'm not a fan of the gold accents at all.
Millie
33
Jan 17, 2019
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dsullivan539Thank you for posting this comment. I am new to the hobby, but both the comments on the Punchy and on this drop are helping me to discern what is a good purchase and what isn’t :) It’s very hard as everything is expensive and noobs can’t tell what is “good expensive” and what is “bad expensive”! You’ve pretty much summed up the situation!
dsullivan539
81
Jan 17, 2019
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MillieThanks, glad someone found this helpful. Makes up for the shills trying to invalidate my posts.
I'm not anti expensive board, I'm personally waiting till I can sling the big bucks for a Rama. It's just these $300+ drops are becoming the norm and not the exclusive outlier they used to be.
TeeAreEffedUp
8
Jan 19, 2019
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dsullivan539Idk man, I can’t think of many TKL GBs that are sub $250. The only one I’ve got coming to mind offhand is the KBD8x and some of the taobao boards. I worked in a machine shop for a few years and now do CAD/CAM work as a side business, so I like to think I can speak fairly accurately. With the NYM boards compared to this buy it’s important to consider two things in their construction. The intricacy, and the different materials. TKLs have to be made in two pieces generally as they have a top frame that goes over the plate/PCB. This means that a separate jig must be used to hold the stock in place while it’s milled as well as setup for that next part. On the NYM boards they’re tray mounted, this means that the entire case can be machined in one go with a good milling machine. The TKLs such as this one also have many more cutouts and general complexity compared to a champfer running the entire edge of the case like my NYM96 has. The complexities might require different bits, different angles, different setups more coolant and a longer machine time. Materials like brass and the PVD finishing on them cost more than 6063 also. Aluminum is relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things when manufacturing is involved. Making the entire case out of AL doesn’t involve as many bit changes and machine setup changes or extra jigs to mill the varying parts that you have on a multimaterial board. All things concerned this is a pretty good price for what it is in all reality. Go get a quote at a machine shop for this case and it’ll blow your mind on everything involved. The setup is the expensive part, running the machine is cheap. Needing that much more setup for the different parts is how things get spendy fast. While I’m not buying this as I’m already receiving a high end TKL this later this year, I think you’re really underestimating the difference in work between this board and other gb’s that at a glance seem similar.
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A community member
Jan 21, 2019
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dsullivan539Honestly, this keyboard isn’t marked up one bit, relative to other customs out there from Duck, TX, LZ, Rama, TGR, Fox Lab, etc. The keyboard you got, while I’m sure is very nice, isn’t just a couple pieces of brass short of this ALF keyboard. There are lots of contributing factors to why custom keyboards are so expensive. It’s definitely diminishing returns as you go up in price ($450 keyboard definitely isn’t 3x better than the one you got), but for people who look for the little details, it’s worth it. Now, I wouldn’t buy this either, but it’s certainly not because of the price.
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