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Lucas_Jundt
94
Dec 2, 2020
checkVerified Buyer
I mean, yeah, if you like RGB this is it.
If you're an RGB fiend and you want to start branching towards custom keyboards, I'd say this it the one. Unlike previous drop keyboards, the hotswap sockets are 5 pin, which means you won't have to permanently modify any of your switches to use them in here. That's fantastic for trying out different switches and still being able to use them on a soldered board later. The 60% layout using standard keycap sizes also means you can use all the popular backlit sets with no worry about coverage, unlike the Alt. Being able to change the plate is a nice touch for trying out different stiffness levels. I hope more materials come out in the future, perhaps something really flexible like polycarbonate or FR4. The switch orientation is north facing LEDs (LEDs are away from you while you use it, and switch pins are towards you,) also just called north facing switches. This is good for backlit keycaps since most backlit legends are at the top of the switch. It's not great for non-backlit caps, since cherry profile, which most people like, has interference with this orientation that causes an early bottom out and a different sound that most people don't like. If you're not so into the RGB, I would recommend a different entry-level board that many custom keyboard vendors are coming out with now like the nk65, kbd67 lite, bauer lite, portico, etc... Since they'll have south facing switches that won't cause interference with cherry profile keycaps. Those cherry keycap sets are also much more likely to have coverage for layouts like 65%. Programming after using the drop configurator is also not too difficult, you can follow the instructions here: https://drop.com/talk/10343/how-to-configure-your-alt-keyboard and it works exactly the same way. Some useful links: https://www.massdrop.com/mechanical-keyboards/configurator for the layout configurator, https://github.com/Massdrop/mdloader/releases for the executable to flash the board, and https://github.com/Massdrop/mdloader for instructions on flashing specifically. My one complaint is that you can't change, add, or remove lighting "patterns." You can only change per-key lighting, though it can be changed per-layer too. I would like to be able to add more default patterns to switch between with the function commands for next and previous pattern. I believe there is a way to do that in QMK though, so if you want to dive into programming you can do that. The biggest downfall with this board out of the box is how bad the stock stabilizers (that go under the long keys) are. You definitely need to get a better set. Please make sure you get plate mount stabilizers, this board is not compatible with PCB mount, also called screw-in and clip-in. The community consensus on plate mount stabilizers is to get Genuine Cherry, but I'm interested to try out Durock ones that are supposed to come out soon since their PCB mount stabs are much better than Cherry. Edit: My brass plate is rather pretty, too!
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(Edited)
Recommends this product? Yes
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