The Budget TKL That I've Been Waiting For - Cycle 8 TKL Review

[@o0o0o_Meow]

Thanks for the extensive sound test. Another banger of a review🙏

[@AndyVNguyen]

glad you got value out of the sound testing!

[@CheeseManFuu]

11:45 Man this was such a fun moment for me to remember how e-white tofu was $220 in 2021, nowadays the redux is just over half that with a decently hefty brass weight and has o-ring standoffs

[@AndyVNguyen]

The tofu was the budget standard and people looked down on it for being so cheap. Now it looks expensive compared to todays options lol

[@NS10Fan]

Lol I cringe now at what I paid for a maker scarlet in the gb stage in 2021 ($239 base 😭)

[@AndyVNguyen]

i was never sold on the maker boards but they had a huge fanbase lol

[@NS10Fan]

@@AndyVNguyen ya, it's not a bad board or anything, just terrible value proposition compared to the offerings a few years later (as evidence by the blowout pricing currently offered for leftover b stock...which actually is a great deal). basic slab of aluminum with a PCB plopped inside. 😂

[@thuanphatchau1269]

In Vietnam, there are a lot of people who bought the Cycle8 from China. Although the board itself need some force - break to sound good though, it is truly a banger

[@vuoan9999]

could you show some force break tips on this board? much appreciate it

[@AndyVNguyen]

The scooped bar video shows how they force breaked it

[@ImOnMy116]

8:54 woah Andy, is this not the internet? I thought it was all about presenting our subjective opinions as fact. Jokes aside, great sounding board, definitely prefer the top w/out the accent, and exciting to see the return to nonflexcut plates with nonflexcut 1.6 mm PCBs!

[@D4VIDF]

Solid board, have to pick one up!

[@AndyVNguyen]

such an easy recommendation for a tkl

[@nadtz]

Grabbed one of these (got the brass and no accent) and still waiting on my Jris80, hopefully have them by the end of the year =D. It's crazy that boards as good as these can go for the prices they are selling for, just wish more of these vendors could follow QuertyKeys for 'budget' boards and do rolling production instead of GB's now a days, maybe someday (though probably not). Also worth noting there is an HE PCB option, it's not cheap but seems to be a point of interest for some.

[@AndyVNguyen]

Nice! And I have never tried a jris80 but I’ve heard good things. Qwertykeys def has an OP delivery model

[@Havesomepizza]

I def think the Neo80 beat this to the punch, but still good to see.

[@AndyVNguyen]

Yeah timing hasn’t been TKD’s strong suit. I have been waiting for this for a while

[@Havesomepizza]

@@AndyVNguyen still good to see competition in the market though. Budget boards are so bangin’ that GB boards only make sense if the design truly resonates with you

[@AndyVNguyen]

Yeah and every time a new drop comes.. it’s a few bucks cheaper or another feature is added lol

[@hamburger--fries]

I have been looking for this with the Hall Effect board but cant seem to find it anywhere.

[@owenyin7090]

got one with full brass and a pc plate, 230 is crazy for almost 3 kg

[@AndyVNguyen]

that's baller and heavy lmao

[@SevericK_BooM]

I’d have to say the Neo 80 is a better deal and setup imo

[@GSixFiveFourThreeFourDashTwo]

The main thing this has over the neo80 is internal weights

[@AndyVNguyen]

I like the aesthetic and weight of cycle 8 but if you’re talking purely budget, neo is hard to beat

[@datdang5042]

what thing could Neo beat Cycle?

[@acabreros]

Is it still budget when you order it with all the plush options (brass, PvD, brass internal). Mine was close to $300 with shipping.

[@AndyVNguyen]

You double brassed so no not really but $300 shipped is still like the starting price of aluminum only boards. I thought pvd was default too?

[@rudivandoornegat2371]

We need more "budget" keyboards with a 3 or 4 split space bar option

[@AndyVNguyen]

There’s just not a lot of demand for it. It’s more functional but it looks less aesthetic. You can find them in smaller run boards with cheaper materials like fr4 or acrylic. But I have not seen one with CNC anodized alu and weights

[@rudivandoornegat2371]

I see. :-( Thanks for the info.

[@poinggg]

Great video! Solely in terms of sound, how would you compare the cycle 8 in the config you have (SS internal weight and battery cover) again the geon f1-8x?

[@AndyVNguyen]

F1 wins for sure. But cycle8 doesn’t sound weaker, f1 is just a super dense board. If you want to go all brass upgrades then it’ll be a closer match

[@Loilipopl]

for the sound tests whats the board above it? that purple is insane

[@AndyVNguyen]

ironically it was the wrong color lol. just a one off a mod made. it was the failed proto so he gifted it to me lol. he calls it the ditto. chu.works

[@jackheng9712]

what's the name of that purple keyboard it looks fire dude

[@AndyVNguyen]

Custom keyboard my moderator designed. He gifted me the first scuffed prototype. It’s called ditto, my twitch vods feature it since it’s a recent stream

[@FluqioxoDresults]

How does this compare in terms of sound? Vs the neo80 and luminkey80

[@AndyVNguyen]

Unfortunately I don’t have those on hand. My neo65 was a banger so I don’t expect the neo80 to be worse. The neo65 IMO didn’t sound the fullest without foams but was totally serviceable.

[@thestreamreader]

They kind of burned me a little moving the deliver date. By the time they actually delivered the Cycle7 there was boards out just as good for faster delivery. I am thinking this same thing will happen with this one. They need to deliver faster than Q4 which moved farther out on the cycle7. The Mchose GX87 is already knocking on the door and is close enough to this board and for less. Already has the ball catch system.

[@AndyVNguyen]

valid. they were definitely figuring things out on cycle 7. even big dogs like cannonkeys had some growing pains early on, but with so many options out there you're not FORCED to rely on just one vendor like back then. i'm surprised that the ball catch system just moved into other boards. china do be copying each other lmao

[@thestreamreader]

@@AndyVNguyen Yeah they should do batch ordering I think that is more favorable to both buyers and seller. That way you aren't waiting 6+ months only to basically get what starts to come out from other vendors for cheaper. I think QwertyKeys has most favorable ordering. Got my Ergo in a month and half and other boards from them were a little quicker. Batching saves them from having to stock and is ordering on demand. They should copy this from each other :)

[@AndyVNguyen]

I think QK/Owlab starts manufacturing early before GB end or something, which is why they can get it out so fast. TKD is smaller and they're working with Clickclack so that's another layer that takes more time

[@riceshakes]

would you say the f1-8x is better enough to justify the price difference?

[@AndyVNguyen]

I have a hard time answering that because I personally find it SO boring looking. If you're ONLY a sound person, maybe. It's a high quality good sounding board but doesn't tick the aesthetic box for me.

[@riceshakes]

@@AndyVNguyen fair, I'm already in the v2 GB since I wanted another tkl but this cycle board looks like a great value even if I'm a sound guy RGB above arrows isn't really for me, other than that this board looks great.

[@punpun3765]

​@@riceshakes You can customize if you want the rgb accent or not :)

[@thuanphatchau1269]

@@riceshakes I would rate this keyboard 8/10 compare to F1v2 in term of sound. But the F1 also provides three different mounting styles: gasket, sandwich and plateless. While the Cycle8 only has gasket mount ( these oring and beans are just change the typing feel )

[@AndyVNguyen]

Gotta note you gotta buy extra stuff for plateless. I’ve never tried sandwich f1. But plateless f1 sounds meh and I’d go for the o ring every time lol

[@namvu1956]

There are many good keebs in the price range of cycle8, like the tb8 (techbear8) or neo80. Many people claim that the former is better than the cycle8 by a margin and cycle8 is somewhere between tb8 and neo80. It's pity that I only have the neo80 and I'd love to try the TB8, however the teal cycle8 is such a candy to my eyes that I can't decide to pick up the TB8 or the cycle8.

[@24kmetal99]

Gotta get them all. 😂

[@AndyVNguyen]

Honestly they’ve all reached the bar where it sounds good enough. What you’re gonna have to deal with more is the aesthetic. Pick the one that has your favorite look imo. I could have the best sounding tkl at a good price but if it’s just a black rectangle with no weight then I’d get bored, personally.

[@obsidianquill7949]

8:58 but I want a keyboard like a unikorn 🥲

[@AndyVNguyen]

Friction o ring 60s are a dime a dozen these days. Ciel60 comes to mind

[@obsidianquill7949]

@@AndyVNguyen all sold out. They also sound a little too dull for my liking. I was looking at the alas60 but it’s out as well even the b stock.

[@AndyVNguyen]

Ready to buy in stock today isn’t common in the hobby unfortunately. Most things are purchased secondhand

[@xJeremypspx]

There’s Kalam Unikorn nowadays too 😂

[@xyhroh]

do you think this board will benefit from some of the old mods like the tape mod?

[@AndyVNguyen]

Don’t need tape mod at all but you can do it if you like the sound it gives

[@Nuutt1]

Hey Andy, been thinking of buying used kbd8x mk3 with gmk metropolis keycaps and jerzzi tu switches. Would you think it's a good deal for 220€ in good condition? I want to get my first mechanical keyboard. How does that keyboard compare to this? Thanks!

[@AndyVNguyen]

Sounds like a good deal to me with a set of gmk and switches.

[@milanzeeman4454]

do you have the option to go wireless and also wired when you choose a wireless option?

[@AndyVNguyen]

Wireless can always go wired in my experience. You just plug it in

[@VectorLogics]

how does the sound profile fair against the TGR Jane V2 ME ?

[@AndyVNguyen]

Beats the v2 me for sure. V2 me needs force break to get close and even then the cycle 8 sounds more full. V2 me with force break and an upgraded back weight sounds better but that’s a few hundred dollars in upgrade on top of the v2 me lol

[@thefeel2261]

Its probably just me, but idk why all your switches sound like tactiles to me even though you’re using linears? Might be the mic?

[@AndyVNguyen]

This is the first time someone has said this. I’m using a shotgun mic currently. I also hit my switches harder than most.

[@mousepotato581]

For my broke ass, "budget" means maybe $50 or less😓

[@AndyVNguyen]

that's like.. JUST the shipping cost for an f1-8x v2 lmao

[@HOLY_FRIJOLES]

I totally agree with you. Don’t get me wrong I own a $600 keeb. But budget to me means less than $70

[@tylerm2784]

look into the transition lite TKL from swagkeys! it’s plastic and has flexcuts so you might have to rock some foams but it’s literally $50 (crazy for a TKL) and looks really cool visually imo

[@TehGlideEdits]

sounds really similar to my freebird tkl - would you say its worth the swap for the extra weight?

[@AndyVNguyen]

I’ve reviewed the freebird.. it sounds worse than the kbd8xmk iii and the kbd8x mkiii is outshined by this lol. Maybe ss battery cover upgrade. Def don’t need the internal weight for sure.

[@TehGlideEdits]

@@AndyVNguyen thanks for the rec! Fell out of the hobby over the last couple years so looking at this or the mchose gx87 to get me back in to it all

[@AndyVNguyen]

That gx87 looks pretty good tbh

[@Isutaki]

how does this compare to the qk80?

[@AndyVNguyen]

I would just pick the one that looks better to you. QK stuff is good, but it’s priced higher than cycle series.

[@avoboards]

i miss ur beard andy

[@AndyVNguyen]

maybe one day again

[@SuperKMao]

It's a good thing I only buy stupid expensive boards 😂 Seriously, crazy how far boards have come. Is this the new status quo? Would be nice!

[@AndyVNguyen]

sometimes we need to scratch that itch lmao

[@placeholder3863]

awesome

[@AndyVNguyen]

i agree!

[@irhamalifa]

crying in UK 😭😭

[@valkhori]

this or neo80

[@AndyVNguyen]

I like the internal weight and aesthetic of the back weight of cycle8 more

[@justin9494]

ONLY $155

[@Misfirem]

yyyyyyyyyyea this one is it

[@AndyVNguyen]

It bangs

[@dtwo31]

hey andy, you're really starting to make me mad!! 😠💢👿👿 I was eying this until I decided not to buy it, but with my birthday coming up and your video appearing on my feed, the world is telling me to buy it

[@AndyVNguyen]

ITS TIME TO BUY

[@dtwo31]

@@AndyVNguyenHAHAHAHA ill send soon on discord

[@reaper117nobody7]

i just cant justify the group buy model anymore. if the keeb, or keyset isnt in stock, to me it is a failure out the gate and I click away. this hobby needs to learn to be less about fomo.

[@AndyVNguyen]

I don’t think products like budget board GBs are about FOMO. It’s just the business model to get things made to meet the demand. There’s just not enough demand to in stock these keyboards. If there were, it’d cost more. I do imagine injection mold boards being instocked more often . Either way there’s still plenty of options to buy secondhand or extras of past GBs so you do not HAVE to enter a group buy to get something

[@Maxime-ho9iv]

Yea well it’s not « only » $155. Like at all.

[@AndyVNguyen]

Alu case, stock pvd weight, and solder pcb is $155. Then surprisingly cheap intl shipping at $20.