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Drop ALT V1 Barebones Mechanical Keyboard

Drop ALT V1 Barebones Mechanical Keyboard

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Product Description
The Drop ALT mechanical keyboard is just like the CTRL, but with 67 keys instead of 87. Absent of function keys, it wastes no space—but it still has a full set of arrows and numerals Read More
Review Highlights:
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Amazing keyboard
Keyboard is hefty and feels very sturdy. I bought the barebones kit since I saw you could purchase it with the GMK Red Samurai keycaps and I also wanted to use different switches than the ones you could get with the pre-built set. It's very easy to get into the board if you want to band-aid and change the stabs. I went with sakurios from zeal pc and keyboard feels amazing. I love the look of the Red Samurai caps and I'm pretty fond of the mx profile. I haven't yet messed with flashing the board but I like the options that are preset on the board for RGB. I highly recommend this keyboard, definitely the best keyboard I've ever had.
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Would recommend to a friend.
Awesome quality! I love how it sounds, looks and feels. Top notch.
I've assambled mine with Zealios V2 and DROP + MATT3O MT3 /DEV/TTY KEYCAP SET. Its like driving a Bugatti - or at least what I can imagine it would be :)
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Would recommend to a friend.
See all 265 reviews
Q&A Highlights:
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What kind of switches can I use with this - PCB mount or plate mount?
Plate mount will work best, but if you happen to have PCB mount switches you can mod them to allow them to fit (involves clipping two plastic bits off the bottom of each switch).
See all 33 questions

Customer Reviews

4.2
(265 reviews)
5star
(134)
4star
(93)
3star
(14)
2star
(8)
1star
(16)
89% would recommend to a friend
By Feature
Sound
SilentLoud
Feel
StiffFlexible
Build Quality
4.6(5)
ActivitiesPopular among reviewers
Paired SwitchPopular among reviewers
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lancebramsay
13
Mar 5, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
My build includes Gateron Yellow switches, DSA profile PBT keycaps, and ThreeBulls o-rings.
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(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
SteadyWolf2000
20
Dec 8, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Amazing keyboard
Keyboard is hefty and feels very sturdy. I bought the barebones kit since I saw you could purchase it with the GMK Red Samurai keycaps and I also wanted to use different switches than the ones you could get with the pre-built set. It's very easy to get into the board if you want to band-aid and change the stabs. I went with sakurios from zeal pc and keyboard feels amazing. I love the look of the Red Samurai caps and I'm pretty fond of the mx profile. I haven't yet messed with flashing the board but I like the options that are preset on the board for RGB. I highly recommend this keyboard, definitely the best keyboard I've ever had.
Recommends this product? Yes
greenhelm
20
Dec 13, 2019
checkVerified Buyer
Very Good, Very Loud
This board looks amazing. I got the MT3/dev/tty keycaps with it, and they are a gamechanger. The 65% layout is really nice too. Pros: the RGB is very good looking, the board has a premium feel, the keys are mappable, and it is hotswappable. The feet work very well, the stock cable is awesome, and the extra USB port is really nice. Additionally, mapping the keys was very easy with the provided software (hopefully macro support is on the way. As of now, there are no macros). Cons: There are a few problems that leave a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The biggest issue is how loud and springy the board sounds. I looked into this and the MK community calls it "ping". To fix, there is a way to mod your board with 20$ foam, which I will look into. Second, the hot-swappability will allow me to buy some quieter switches. Finally, you can buy better stabilizers. I lubed the stock stabilizers and that helped a little bit (I don't know if that affects the warranty or not). However, as it stands the problem is distracting enough that it really takes away from the overall experience. To "fix" that problem you are looking at putting another 20$ foam, 10$ stabilizers, and 20-30$ switches into it. At that point, you are in a different price range and may be able to afford some of the other competitor boards. So, my suggestion for improvement would be to fix the ping problem. Maybe that means providing better stabilizers and foam out of the box. That may increase the price a little bit, but I think it would be worth it. Even changing future renditions to PCB mount stabs could help. I don't know. Just my ideas. Either way, finding a fix to that problem would make this a five star board, especially at its price point. Finally, this is just an idea I had: it would be really cool for Drop to offer different cases for the ALT/CTRL in the future. That way low-profile buyers could buy the high profile case and you leave the door open for even more interesting types of cases. Perhaps different materials, colors, etc.
(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
Pretzelfisch
4
Dec 18, 2019
greenhelmI have an issue with the ping on this board as well. would you mind posting the links to what resources you found for correcting the issue with lube and foam?
greenhelm
20
Dec 18, 2019
PretzelfischHey. I followed Taeha Types's lube guide on YouTube. That should be pretty straightforward to find, I think. The foam that most people suggest is from MKUltra.click -- they make a custom fit for the Drop ALT keyboard. It looks like it is backordered right now. I have not yet bought it. I bought some cheap foam from my local craft supply shop to hold me over. It is working ok. Best of all, it was one dollar.
PabloSanto
2
Feb 7, 2020
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Awesome quality! I love how it sounds, looks and feels. Top notch.
I've assambled mine with Zealios V2 and DROP + MATT3O MT3 /DEV/TTY KEYCAP SET. Its like driving a Bugatti - or at least what I can imagine it would be :)
Recommends this product? Yes
ceeloChamp
7
Jan 25, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
For the price you'd think they could test the switches
I order a lot from drop.com, usually things are fine, somtimes a keycap will be missing or somthing small won't fit, but I was really disappointed when 2 of the keys didn't work on my Alt keyboard. I spend the last 2-3 months finding my perfect switches and keycaps. Last night, when I finally installed all the switches I found that 2 of the switches weren't working, I replaced each of them with 3 different switches and still no luck. Customer Service said I would have to remove all the switches, keycaps etc. and pay to have it sent back to them before they would refund my money...seems like for the price they should have tested their boards a bit better.
Recommends this product? No
Scharfschutzen
48
Mar 12, 2020
ceeloChampI'd contact my card company and dispute the charges unless they are willing to provide a return label.
VelocityBandit
3
Dec 7, 2021
checkVerified Buyer
Decent board.
The build quality of the case is very nice and well built, I would of given it 5 stars if I haven't encounter these issues.
  • The stabs are awful I tried lubing them and it did make a difference but still would replace them with better quality ones.
  • My board came with a few of the keys nonfunctional, after opening the board to see what the issue might be it was quite apparent that the soldering job was very subpar, majority of my keys had very little solder on them, and the keys that weren't functional seems not to have any at all, to be fair It wasn't an issue to me as all I needed was to bust out the soldering iron and fix it, but to someone who might be new to the hobby and doesn't feel comfortable enough to start soldering yourself it might come to be an issue.
In conclusion the board works great now after my fixes and I would recommend it if they fixed the QA on the board.
ASC1I
3
Dec 9, 2021
checkVerified Buyer
Good Product, Poor QC
This keyboard came with dead switch ports a d it seems to be a consistent problem.
FracturedxClutch
3
May 10, 2021
checkVerified Buyer
DOA, MY ALT FEET CAME OUT DAMAGED
I had a terrible experience, I’m very upset and sad.... mainly because I spent a big chunk of money on a whole setup for my first time from Drop, and I was so excited to get it in the mail. When I opened the shipping package my alt keyboard box and key caps box were both on top of the box of my 70pk of MX CHERRY RED switches..... after removing the switches and starting the lube process I came to find that about 10 switches out fo the pack came with damaged unusable metal pins. After spending 6 hours carefully lubing 60 plus switches I was just utterly destroyed by the fact that I had 10 left I couldn’t take apart to lube or use. To top it off when I opened the ALT box and started putting what switches I did have in the board to test it, I found that one of the magnetic feet was also damaged out of the box. It was completely loose and not fixable. Now after a week of emailing back and forth with Drop customer service they want me to send the whole 70pack back and start all over. Or take a 15$ credit..... but I have no way of replacing the damaged ones only. As far as the feet they have blaintly ignored my email mentions of this issue completely. I am extremely upset, let down, and unimpressed by all this. I’ve been treated better by big box stock brand peripheral companies. I mean seriously, if you spend $300 or more on a keyboard setup I expect decent customer service. if this isn’t handled I’m going to send it all back, cut my losses and just buy a GMMK Pro.
Recommends this product? No
Twicky
3
Jul 16, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
Sturdy keyboard
I have been using it for 3 days now and I have gathered some positives and some negatives: PROS:
  • Feels solid
  • No flex at all
  • Bright RGB
  • Compact
  • QMK - this is probably the most important feature
CONS:
  • After unplugging and plugging it again, the last chosen setting for the LED's is lost
  • Randomly reboots itself - I have read that this is somewhat common problem and is caused by ESD
  • Stabs are complete garbage
Overall I am definitely happy with the keyboard. As far as I know all the described issues can be remedied somewhat easily, so I wouldn't consider them dealbreakers. Of course it would have been nice if there were none of them. I am not giving it 5 stars just because all of the cons are really annoying and they seem like a thing that shouldn't have passed quality control in the first place.
Recommends this product? Yes
VitamineD
3
May 23, 2022
checkVerified Buyer
The PCB doesn't have holes for the two lateral prongs that many switches have. I know, it was visible on the product photos, but seriously is that such a hard detail to think about? Frustrated that I have to amputate switches just for trying the board…
(Edited)
Recommends this product? No
A community member
May 23, 2022
VitamineDAll of Drop's boards are woefully out of date; they're designed for how things were circa 2017, when 3-pin switches were more prevalent. Updated versions have supposedly been on the way for years now, but it still hasn't happened.
VitamineD
3
May 24, 2022
Yeah… anyway, trimmed some switches, and all works fine. Now to find time to setup a proper firmware…
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