This budget board is INSANE. Owlab QK65

[@chrisdotdash5154]

Wow, this board looks really awesome! I love when companies innovate and make high quality budget boards.

[@halashao9415]

@@ClassicallyCommon wdym...

[@Jayden-tq6to]

Honestly, the flaws aren't that terrible for what it is since like you said, it is covered. And it looks SO much better than the Zoom65, sounds better with and without mods as well. Wouldn't get this board personally but would recommend to someone who's getting into this hobby for the first time.

[@Camronlaz]

Hearing you say that Stepped-Caps is objectively the best caps made my heart sing

[@actualglacier]

really great video, this might be the new keyboard i recommend people to get as far as budget 65%s go. looks real premium

[@lawrencetchen]

This is the future of this hobby. Great review, clean as always!

[@spxctreofficial]

It’s a great board and all but I really wished a lot more companies adopted new layouts such as the 96% or 1800 layout. The 65%, 75%, and TKL market is already quite saturated with tons of great options all around, but not much love for spacesaving layouts with a numpad. Believe it or not but numpads are still quite useful for passwords, calculators, and excel.

[@aygwm]

1800 layout is ideal for work. 65% is useless with regards to punching in lots of numbers into Excel.

[@hansennoah1]

@@aygwm I regret buying a 65% as my first custom board. My first board is a keychron 96% and man the compactness along with the numpad feels amazing.

[@ee1yd]

Have never used the num pad, but I rarely use excel so for a average user that just types and sometimes uses numbers, this is more than enough

[@ramr7051]

100% agree... Badly want an 1800 but there's not nearly enough options, and many of them make significant compromises. Instead you can find an endless number of smaller form factors. But guess what, 65% keyboards are terrible for work. Give us 1800s!

[@vexus1093]

finally, a review! thanks cel

[@rory6835]

Finally someone using their bloody stepped caps lock, most important key cap of all time.

[@whnkeys]

this

[@adrenalice7827]

New to the hobby and curious what is good about stepped caps lock and why you feel passionate about it. Is it an aesthetic thing for you or is there an actual practicality behind it?

[@nearLucid]

IM SAYING

[@whnkeys]

@@adrenalice7827 only aesthetic, but beautiful and the only way.

[@Camronlaz]

@@adrenalice7827 Primarily aesthetic, but it also helps to not accidentally press the caps-lock when pressing A, at least for me.

[@zander2076]

This will be my first board

[@tauntyyt]

obama's last name is location?

[@Pikachu123OP]

the button on feet is genius

[@SamBoga]

The 150-200 Dollar Segment is Heating up quite a bit with in stock drops making this hobby much more accessible and fun. Hope I will be able to get my hands on this, Zoom65 as well. There goes my paycheck.

[@jonathansmith4737]

Love love love this board and i for sure will be picking one up! Any idea on when the groupbuys will start?

[@Clackbait]

Good stuff homie. 👏

[@kayashkel3862]

Crazy value for just 150, probably going to have to pick one up!

[@ssbadmintongroup]

I am liking this page more and more. 😁

[@wetboards4979]

Babe wake up, nearLucid just dropped another banger

[@pekomsmink]

stepped caps is the best no cap, its the only reason i go with soldered because hotswap almost never offers the option to do so

[@lenguyenquangvinh2684]

Out of curiosity, why is it better than regular capslock?

[@pekomsmink]

@@lenguyenquangvinh2684 aesthetics

[@ai6455]

Great Video! What gray mousepad is that? Looks really clean

[@SomberP]

The keycaps tho 🤤

[@bobby3394]

Can you make a sound test of SOTC switches with this board if you have spare time? I'm on the fence about if I should put the Zakus in this board or the SOTCs

[@LupusinFabulaMusic]

now the keyboard is great and all but lets take a second to appreciate that typing speed bro types like a machine gun

[@mushybmb]

Honestly, there's a lot of budget keyboards that looks good rather than flashy expensive ones

[@y4gami1]

what a beautyful switches

[@Tulkas805]

In the case of your personal recommendation, would the case foam just sit at the bottom of the case? Seems like without the silicon dampener it would just fall away from the pcb. I'm struggling to remember the name of all the foams, so apologies if I'm thinking of the wrong one.

[@198Immortal]

Another awesome video! Might recommend this budget boards to my friends :D

[@NicksMind21]

was this a limited run? Where can one purchase? Sorry completely a noob to the mech keyboard game..

[@memistic2536]

Hey, i got mine today and i have an issue where when i assemble the board, the port sits too low in the hole which doesnt allow it to move enough. Got any ideas on how to fix it?

[@nftbandit9645]

I just got my QK65 stone age. I got the wrong PCB for it though so I have to wait for the hot swap one to come in :( Still exciting though I cannot WAIT!

[@giganiga2032]

Should I use the jackets or the socks for my pc plate?

[@bloodyjan999]

When is the groupbuy going online? And will this be limited or a unlimited groupbuy?

[@amizan8653]

Can't wait for the tkl that they release

[@anuraggandi4311]

The main drawback is the crazy shipping costs to CONUS and canda its 41 bucks EU its 42 plus if u want hotswap which most people this board is catering too wil its $160 so in the end 200 total. So the total build at the end of the day will probably be 300 ish depending on switches and keycaps which honestly isn't worth it in my opinion when you can get a very similar sound by modding a standard keyboard with pe foam and tape. Sounds too cookie cutter in my opinion, although if the price was 150 with shipping and taxes it would be crazy.

[@Steven-rw6zb]

I think the benefit of this is the ease of use along with feeling more premium. You don’t need to go out of your way to mod the keyboard, everything you need is there. Plus when you factor everything that’s included (really solid stabs, coiled cable, carrying case) it offsets that 41 dollar shipping price tag

[@IronCan88]

You can probably add a generic PE foam,. But you still need to buy and mod a set of durock V2 stabs, but then you only have plastic casing, and even if you got keychron q2, you don't have the stainless weight and the carry case.

[@IlanDavid]

Great video! I am in for one. What microphone do you use?

[@nearLucid]

Neat King Bee II

[@VyreYT]

I recently got the qk65 r1 and i have to say i love the design but the sound type is not for me. I feel like this board when u are typing, its like its automatically helps you in terms of bottom out when you are typing, making the board too low pitch in my opinion with any configs (foams, case foams etc). I was expecting a more premium poppier keyboard but for the price.. this is insane. @nearLucid , any recommendation for a little bit more higher pitch? i just like the sound between thock and clack, just high pops sound which i cant get with the qk65.. I highly would appreciate some keyboards suggestion now that you know what im i looking for. Ty in advance.

[@solaufein]

Use pom plate and use only case foam. You will get poppy high pitched. Do not use silicone, pe, plate foam.

[@SoulRebirth99]

clean clean clean clean clean video

[@enomele]

For 150 bucks I would not expect the inside of the weight to be colored.

[@changningxu9828]

Just spent 650 bucks on matrix 3.0…. Yes I’m addicted

[@atebit8805]

What's really crazy is that the key caps cost almost as much as the board 😅

[@nearLucid]

I bought space cadet extras, so actually they are quite a bit more lmao

[@atebit8805]

@@nearLucid picked up the black/gold QK65 tonight. First custom, thanks for the review.

[@Acrylcs]

how did you buy the black case? does it come with the $40 kit on the side?

[@bleu_onsp]

The silicone pad with a taller keycap profile is actually pretty good. But yeah it seems to mute the sound with Cherry keycaps a bit too much

[@simplyash5056]

Would you prefer this or the Mamoka zoo 65?

[@bruhhhhhh08]

i would go for this

[@acy9672]

How do I buy it? Link?

[@thechemtrailkid]

I've been in this hobby for a little more than four years now and have had more than a dozen boards ranging from $200 to over $1200 with various mounting options from tray, top, leaf spring, gasket, sandwich with various plate materials from a variety of designers (not to mention various vintage boards and switches) and have never, ever, ever noticed "bounce" while typing. Sure, I can press on my Thermal and watch the switches move but I think I would need to put in something like 20g springs to actually notice it in use. If you actually want a qualitatively different typing experience, I recommend to try something other than the hundreds of MX linear clones on the market.

[@nearLucid]

I dont know about you, but when I type on my glacier80 normally I can see it moving. The difference between something like the QK65 and a plateless board is night and day to me. As a pianist and percussionist, I am more sensitive to this kind of hands-on stuff. But I know that the changes here certainly aren't unnoticeable to someone with even a fair bit of experience.

[@thechemtrailkid]

@@nearLucid For sure man. I agree with your point about having no plate; that's obvious to me but it instead feels like a laptop chassis that has too much flex in it so I shy away from those. I guess my point is that if you want a different typing experience, some one should look towards a different switch design instead of chasing ever more esoteric (and expensive) mounting options.

[@huey9055]

Good take. It's a shame sound advice will fall on deaf ears.

[@txmits507]

190 dollars is a budget board?

[@Ben-eu8dp]

Well it was sold out in under 5minutes, I THINK i got an order in, but im not sure

[@Jhjh7724]

what keypcaps are these 1:31

[@bananaz642]

Its actually like $220 with shipping included.

[@heejungkim4246]

What is the material for the Housing? I assume that is aluminum but it’s never mentioned….

[@mirror3460]

Aluminium for the chassis and stainless steel for the back weight

[@neoxyl4036]

You mentioned that there's not a lot of flex. Isn't that because the gaskets and socks are out of some sort of silicone instead of foam? Is there any way one could improve the flex?

[@paklekj4429]

Use the most flex plate owlab offered use dacron or polyfill for case foam

[@unkkit151]

Do they have a 75% planned for the future?

[@kaking58]

Very nice video! May I ask about the brand of the interface?

[@nearLucid]

Audio and video specs are in the descriptions of sound tests!

[@riceoverwife]

tbh sounds hella better than the zoom without foam XD

[@juniorigorsozols9144]

Kind of new to mechanical keyboards and all the other stuff, does this comes without switches and keycaps?

[@nearLucid]

Yep

[@IhsanAmin]

Damn this new keycult is nice

[@lllatro]

should i get the banana splits or the c3 tangies with this? i just can’t rly choose which one to go with and i wanted your opinion

[@IronCan88]

Do you like deep thocky sound or high clacky sound? Tangies are smooth but sounds clacky.

[@potatavious]

In terms of sound, this vs the zoom65?

[@Yugiohfreak215]

didn't see this board until I bought the matrix lab 3.0, :( and now I wanna get it

[@mivit9285]

So if i'm being correct, this is basically a $150 Mode65, right?

[@rayabanid5418]

Yeah a budget Mode65 lol

[@TurdBomb]

How would you compare this board to the Bakeneko65?

[@neoxyl4036]

What's the weight of your build (without the silicone dampener)?

[@mattngo1924]

based on Jaeyou Park’s video, it’s under 1.8 kg

[@cl4ssic]

was just about to order a kbd67 lite… should i wait and get this instead?

[@khairulrijal6648]

definitely yes

[@IronCan88]

Definitely get qk65. If your dead set on getting kbd67lite..you can buy mine. :)

[@boardkey9670]

does cast metal impact the sound of the board

[@beariyy3872]

this going to be unlimited gb and do multiple reruns?

[@hbk20491]

make a batch sell a batch

[@quacker8046]

Damn that's so much that u get for the 150 dollar price, in comparison I have a 67 lite which is 30 dollar less and I got a regular cable, 2 types of foam and not that much customization out of it so this is definitely a killer to buy if u can and have the budget

[@Stoven591]

67 lite is also plastic where this board is aluminium

[@syrah5767]

@@Stoven591 + stainless steel weight

[@quacker8046]

@@Stoven591 plastic and acrylic has a deeper sound signature but the stainless steel weight is the thing

[@xmelloniax]

remember shipping is like 40+ dollars

[@quacker8046]

@@xmelloniax kbfansd shipping is 18 so yea

[@awatermelonplant]

Are they planning on keeping this board in stock?

[@blink182.]

it sold out in under 10 minutes. they are doing a round two in late april accoring to their discord.

[@ramenlc5360]

I am confused, is he using the pe foam that comes with the board?

[@beebal5406]

yes

[@akieu09]

damn I wish they had a ewhite chroma variant. still looks hella good for the price tho

[@CA-nb6nm]

It is rumored that the R2 drop may include e-white chroma.

[@AnteUjcic]

im getting this one

[@pingew]

40 usd shipping to usa/eu and 50 to oce btw

[@beariyy3872]

oh ouch

[@shahrs9815]

Keychron Q2 vs QK65. does the QK65 have rgb?

[@IronCan88]

Qk65 does Not have RGb. If that's important then get keychron for sure.

[@uncleenk]

it really is insane

[@SkibidiSmurf69]

is it better than ck62?

[@ewans.6525]

Looks great, but might as well be 200$ with the almost 50$ shipping... Might pass and just hope there's either another competitor with less shipping cost or another run without 50$ shipping.

[@IronCan88]

Considering you get owlslab stabs, stainless steel weight, and a carrying case...it's actually not bad.

[@TWJYILY]

Insane value for money at USD 150, and quality seems pretty good too, since it's from Owlabs. Might have to pick one up even though I just finished another build.

[@JenuelDevTutors]

is this available in the philippines?

[@iLuvCats]

My qk65 white/gold mirror weight/wireless pcb cost me 270 shipped. That isn't budget. I'm tired of people calling boards that are 200 dollars before switches/caps/stabs budget. It's not.

[@prestonvarner611]

in this hobby yes it is. and besides you chose the mirror weight and upgrades. a lot of good boards in this hobby are 500 plus.

[@iLuvCats]

@@prestonvarner611 The can be budget. I'm sorry bud but the word budget is pretty damn universal. I am in many other hobbies. Take mountain biking for instance. They call them ENTRY LEVEL. Not budget. Entry is a much better way to describe what you are buying.

[@prestonvarner611]

@@iLuvCats a 270 dollar custom keyboard is entry level or budget. its cheap. in this hobby. lol

[@thomas2684]

whats the knife u used ?

[@FliskerX]

Why do people prefer stepped caps lock ?

[@beebal5406]

looks cool

[@kayashkel3862]

"we don't like to exaggerate" okay bet "this board blew me away" *AYOOOOOOOOOOOO*

[@chanchunon812]

Are there any pricing differences for the different steel weight colors?

[@arethas6537]

No price difference for weight but there are for colors. E-White variants starts at $119 but $99 for the rest

[@tunezalt8968]

budget key cult 65

[@KingXF]

obama location

[@eggscrambled]

will this be an in stock or an unlimited gb?

[@nuntachotrattanametanon7384]

Unlimited GB, split into multible batches. 1st batch will be shipped around May.

[@lmagus]

Wow does it really come with all that? Two pcbs, two plates, lots of tools, case... :O

[@arethas6537]

He was sent a review unit, the retail unit will only be one plate and pcb of your choice but the rest are still included

[@shinyuta]

I just bought this board for under 200... That's crazy... considering that includes so much and also the shipping price. It will probably end up costing less than my tofu60 somehow.

[@Clackeeb]

The tofu 60 have good sound profile ?

[@freaknable]

why is machined aluminum better the casted aluminum?

[@nearLucid]

Overall quality, amt of scuffs. Feels much smoother and better to the touch. Consistency between units

[@Mista_Spicy]

Hey i cant find this keyboard ANYWHERE do u know a link from where you got it from please :)

[@SuperQuadfeed]

I have a group buy spot at ashkeebs I'm willing to give up. It has a black top, golden bottom, and a polycarb plate. It should hopefully arrive in November. It costs 260 CAD aka 200 USD.

[@BennedicktusPeter]

the only sad thing is that they do not ship to Southeast Asia, which is a bummer because I really like this keyboard Edit: they do ship here using local vendors. Exciting!

[@arethas6537]

Where are you from tho? You can check the sale info link in the description to see if they allocated a local vendor for your country

[@BennedicktusPeter]

@@arethas6537 corrected. They do sell it here. Thanks for notifying me

[@arethas6537]

@@BennedicktusPeter erm… FreshCake for Thailand, MOKB for Vietnam, Rebult for Malaysia, Zionstudios for Philippines, Qwertypop for Singapore, Mechaland for Indonesia and KeyB Imports for Bangladesh? I don’t see where is it stated that they aren’t shipping to SEA cuz the vendors are literally listed in the link

[@BennedicktusPeter]

@@arethas6537 yeah, last time I saw the post they still said they don't ship to SEA. Now that have local vendors which is very nice

[@adrianfoong1547]

Does anyone know what the difference between the case foam and plate foam?

[@arethas6537]

Case foam goes under the PCB, plate foam goes between the plate and PCB

[@shawntsou660]

Is this keyboard wireless?

[@IronCan88]

Not wireless. You can look at keychron k6, zoom65 wireless, ikki68, for wireless options.

[@JYYew]

This board is giving me buyer's remorse over preordering the zoom65...

[@joeaverage26]

This is really a great board for its price. but i am hoping that if people gonna recommending this as beginner/first custom keyboard it should be an in stock like tofu and not a group buy one. Great video as always cheers!

[@sebastianquattrocchio6484]

Sad that is hard to buy it un Europe

[@dedelabinouze5110]

40-50$ shipping though. That board is 200$ my dude

[@godlyenergy9121]

Yea I hate how they call it a 150 board

[@metrogrinch9316]

How would you compare this to the Zoo65?

[@anhtanghoang1293]

It not led?

[@MungareMike]

This is so good. 150 bucks? The flaws is minor at least for me, and can be fixed. I'll take it!

[@faiqsyahbani]

this vs ikki68 r2?

[@gerryramosftw]

welp.. let's see if it's obtainable..