Well, good news for you: Glorious now sells them stand-alone, so you can grab them at around 32 cents a switch to fill out more boards, if you like!

Yeah, their inventory has been getting gradually more and more spicy! Also, since this went live, my version of the SSK TKL went on super sale for, like $200. For THAT discount, I'd be able to more easily ignore the machining issues and just enjoy the board.

Agreed... BUT... if I go into the purchase KNOWING to expect some flaws in exchange for a reduced price, I'd have been totally fine with this tbh since the rest of the board is SO sick.

OH WOW, that really blows, I'm sorry to hear that! I hope Velocifire was able to help you out with that, that seems like something that should have been caught in QC checks.

There's no accounting for personal taste with a hobby like this, so that's fair.

​@@TheManicGeek But the keycaps I love 😍

Yeah I don't think anyone is surprised by what's on display here. Tale nearly as old as their company.

Now that I know they made full batches of thisexact color, I kinda want to track some down. Naturally deep sound with a silent return stroke is so nice.

For sure, this one was always gonna be pretty polarizing. Everything else about them was more problematic for me, though at least every set since this has come down in price.

Thanks for the kind words! I was a little uncertain since when I first built this, I was using MK Mictlán Silk switches, which sound like... not much, really, kinda boring. Moved the stems into Gateron KS-3 full Nylon housings with a TX polycarb switch film and a 55g Cannon Keys Slow Spring, and NOW we're cooking with gas! Also, I omitted the top-mount point located directly next to the spacebar; I find that using that mount kills the spacebar entirely. I do a similar thing with plate Gasket Mount, but interestingly, PCB Gasket Mount performs exceptionally well with all gaskets used. Much as I like this, and will likely keep it like this, I feel mounting style quality, from best to "least best" bc frankly they're all good: PCB Gasket, Top Mount, Plate Gasket.

That's the LED for an ISO enter, not strictly speaking out of place, but if you aren't using ISO enter, then you simply lack an LED for the pipe key. Not ideal if you're a Pudding or shine-through legends user, but most users of this board won't likely notice.

If I'm understanding those tabs correctly, Momentary means your custom key assignment is only done in the moment you hit the keys, whereas Toggle sets it so you're permanently changing the function of the assigned key/s until that function command happens again.

Doooooooood, poor color matching, too? That's not a great look for this lineup, thanks for the feedback! They have the chance to do something really special and awesome with this line, and it sound like instead they're opting to shit the bed. Not being able to formally return keycaps like these isn't ENTIRELY uncommon, but it's more seen with clearance items or B-stock (MW Heresy) than something like this. An inability to return these is actually heinous, and I'll have to follow up with my rep on that one. The more and more I hear about this product, the worse I feel about it. I don't like that.

@@TheManicGeek Yeah, I guess I was coming off like I was complaining about it, but it was really that there was no recourse on the fact that the colors were off. If you're not going to offer returns then the product you're advertising should accurately represent what you're selling, LOL

@ChrisJames024 no that's fair to complain about, the caps should ship as advertised, including accurate color matching per advertised images.

With either a contemporary Gateron switch, or something with an extended stem pole, you could still use these on a GMMK2-style board or the Numpad (assuming you stuck with the stock north-facing PCB), and the Glorious Pandas have a total travel of only 3.3mm total, so Cherry profile would work with just parts from their own product stack. Their GMMKM PRO audience, the more likely target for these sets, also has a board with south-facing sockets, so Cherry works no matter what, but you're right, there's a large section of their fanbase that likes shine-through legends with north-facing sockets. Yeah the style was always going to be sort of polarizing with this set, but for the people it really resonated with it'll remain among their favorites, even if they eventually move on to boards that won't support the set anymore... at which point they will see WHY this set kinda blows for overall value.

If you don't really bottom out then this shouldn't impact things one way or another. If you have an original V1, that's how you type, and you're happy with the board, I'd just stick with your original V1. There's not so much bounce in the assembly that it would provide any undesirable feedback in switch presses.

@@TheManicGeek thanks

For that price, it'd honestly be hard to beat this board. That said, I'm also not SUPER familiar with boards in that region or their selling price, and I do know there's some deals you find in SE Asia that are absolutely insane, so take my feedback with some skepticism.

I didn't get to test that, but I have boards in inventory that work without the battery plugged in just fine. Worst case, there's a battery indicator LED that stays lit.

@@TheManicGeek thanks for the quick reply It's good to know if there is ever a issue with the batterie and can't find a suitable replacement, that i can theoretically do without in worst case scenario. Wireless is not really my thing, It is mostly the gasket mount that interest me. I nerver have a gasket mount so i wonder how different it will feel. To bad they don't have frosted case thought.

@GolocheSupercaboche yea some more transparent options would be really nice for this board.

A T6 Torx or similar.

@@TheManicGeek thank you!! just got this keyboard and I'm a huge fan of how it sounds right out of the box. I'm trying to find a replacement for the knob cause I want a few different color options

I try my best to make sure my audience understands as much about these products as is reasonable within 10-12 min, tops. A more informed enthusiast provides better feedback, which can drive better products at all price points.

What if they are? They turned out great.

Oh, good catch... I'll have to look into that for the link. Jamesdonkey's links aren't the greatest at the best of times, sadly.

The only different features are inconsequentially different mounting systems (top mount MAYBE being an outlier based on observed typing tests from reputable sources), metal construction, and the LCD panel. Unless you own both boards, you can't actually qualify whether or not one feels better than the other, and even then it's still a preference thing. I don't, so I wont. ND75 presently also has issues with the case foam being adhered to the back of the PCB. Also, unlike ND75, this will likely offer plate options from Keychron eventually, something ND75 is fairly unlikely to have outside of third-party options assuming you get the plate file. Then there's a lack of QMK/VIA support, while the V1 MAX has it. While I haven't gotten hands on with ND75, I've seen enough on it that the decision between one or the other isn't immediately cut and dry, though certainly things lean in favor of ND75 if you do prefer metal construction and the LCD panel. The switches and keycaps are another unknown for the purposes of our content, but by and large, most pre-built boards tend to have at least decent quality caps. You are right on one thing tho, the decision on which keyboard you should spend your money on these days is more involved than it ever has been with tons of great quality products on the market.

TO BE FAIR, I'm also very much a tinkerer, which plays into my content heavily. It's not something I'd usually recommend as a "buy it all at once" scenario with mods at this price point, though having the more reasonable floor to entry with products like these means you can get into something properly good sooner, then tune and refine it later for less than the cost of a new board, even if you've otherwise moved on from it and want to breathe some new life into it or just tinker again. The main thing I try to impress upon products in this, or any, price point is there's nothing wrong with a board having foam, per se, but with the brand very firmly straddling the line between mainstream and enthusiast, being talked about in both spaces, it's still important to test how the case performs without the foams to understand the limitations of the construction so when the board DOES get modeed, youve got a better idea of what you'dwant to use. Especially with a barebones model being on offer, and Keychron providing you everythinf youd need to completely disassemble the board, that directly implies the possibility, and intent, of tuning the sound and feel to suit your personal parts selection, or at least servicing the board at some point.

Any time I reference a letter to describe the bump, it's a capital letter.

Yeah it's really a great place for the board to be since there's still gonna be folks who prefer cases that aren't metal for acoustic reasons. Despite my recommendations, it could still be a nice upgrade from the previous V1 if you're just not happy with tray mount anymore and want something familiar-feeling while still being a more modern overall experience.

Haven't built one, so I can't comment on that.

This board's spacebar just generally sounds pretty good regardless of the config. If I had to do anything special, it would have been noted.

Ya know, it took me a sec, but yeah, I suppose the texture of these switches would sort of remind me of the textured sound of leaves scratching against one another 🤔. Never heard that descriptor before, I like it!

LMFAO I mean, however behind the times the designs are, it's more about the price than anything else. If they could get these prices WAY down, I'd have taken a totally different tone with what's on offer, and NOT be getting emails from their marketing team expressing... concerns... over the video title...

Don't see why not, the board uses regular MX switches like any other MX-compatible keeb.

@@TheManicGeek yes but I mean maybe the caps are bigger and the spacing on a regular keyboard may not fit them?

So true! Haven't gotten hands on one, personally, but I've been seeing good things.

it doesn't "blow it out of the water", stop it with the ridiculous emphasis and just say it's better value

Chill out, people are allowed to emphasize a point if they're enthusiastic about something, even if people dont agree with the general take. I'm sure you do the same thing at times.

@@VeejayRampay this board doesn't need anything to blow it out of the water, it kind of just blows on its own

It's funny bc the concept of "value" in something like a hobby is hard to apply until it isn't with something as glaringly bad as this line. It's not irredeemable, but it needs some serious work.