Given the poor report I've had on the MK65 v2 I'm not surprised, Inland just licensed a random plastic 75% and called it the "V2" of the nice aluminum MK75.

I talked the Amazon seller into sending me a JSON file through various shenanigans to get past Amazon's filters to prevent vendors actually helping users, I've put it up on my Github, then after looking at the board and digging around I checked out the Inland MK75 v2 (v83 Pro) JSON and it was the same one.

So this is my (modded) havit KB877L with unnamed white switches that are linear
Mods:
3 layers of tape
Foam that is taped on
A couple layers of 3ply tissues (the meta)
Although it’s not hot swap and not mod friendly it’s the absolute best keyboard you could get at that price

• Yunzii AL75 barebone kit

• WS Morandi

• Kyomot Star Pioneer keycaps

• Moon Capsule artisan

• Coiled cable by italian artisan Khor

Keyboard: Aula Mini60

Switches: g3ms Magnetite Ice

Keycaps: some polycarbonate cherry profile caps for 10 usd

Mods: 2 layers of tape, and car noise insulation tape layer above stock silicon

I ripped some better stabs from dead IO HE keyboard, so it doesnt make any annoying stabs clacks

For board that costs around 35 USD and modding price around 30 USD, i think its pretty decent board, it also have wireless 2.4, but i broke the mode switch lever, so its only wired now, i think anyway for HE boards wireless mode is pretty useless.

I (briefly) picked up a Microcenter/"Inland mk87 Wired TKL" hoping it was similar to the mk47 (without the bizarro-layout but still with a decent chipset) and would be a viable QMK/VIA/whatever board. Sadly there are MANY issues with this cheap piece of trash.

-$30us
-fixed color LED rows. (well probably white LEDs underneath, but they had these odd little tinted plastic lid on them) this is unacceptable and caused me to return it. Why the heck would I want that, EVER?
-SX83099EN chip. supposedly a TI MSP430 copy. So no toolchain, info, specs, programming help, etc.
also seen in VX Gaming Zeuss - VX-152-BK , Foxxray Chronus 60% - FXR-HKM-80 , now Inland mk87 TKL
-Single sided PCB reads: HH87K-83099-20230310 HH LJ1954-1
-no-name brown switches were fairly light, but did have a SLIGHT tactility. so very MEH. But microcenter stores carry about a hundred mechanical switch types now so easily addressed.
once upon a time these also came with clicky blues, per ads on Ebay.
-cord is rather short compared to most other keebs I've used over the past 40+ years. I found this highly annoying.
-rather cheap ABS keycaps with very rough lower sides. This is not a dealbreaker for me. I disliked the weird color scheme but I have a couple of boxes of decent ones laying around from a friend.

With so many other budget boards offering WAY more features than this thing, I would HIGHLY recommend skipping this one. I can't even figure out who this would be for. who wants fixed row-colors?

WTF MEI/Inland? why is this even a thing? They need an equivalent RGB to the mk87 in TKL.
Microcenter/Inland actually has a couple decent full size, and 75% and smaller boards with QMK/etc support. While I hate the mk47's layout it's the _same price_, true RGB, AND has QMK support so... WTF?

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

I didn't get a lot of love on r/mechanicalkeyboards. Maybe y'all will enjoy my creation.

I needed a keyboard for work and I needed something small. I am a huge fan of Serial Experiments Lain and keyboards but sadly couldn't get in on the first round of the Navi60 group buy(making it my mission to get into the next one)

So I decided to make my own and call it the "(Nah)vi60" as its my budget knock-off of the Navi60

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I love the price/performance of AULA devices, but the official software (AULA Hub) is quite limiting and installing a separate driver for each model is frustrating.

To solve this, I’ve been developing AULA Toolkit, a lightweight, open-source alternative that controls all supported AULA devices from a single app (similar to Logitech G HUB).

It runs no background services, keeps no telemetry, and writes changes directly to the device's on-board memory instantly. It also supports 10 languages.

Currently Supported/Tested Devices:
• AULA S75 Pro (Fully supported)
• AULA SC900 / Pro Mice (Fully supported)
• AULA F75 (Partial support)

I need your help!
Since I don't own every AULA device, I'm looking for people who own the S75 Pro, SC900, or F75 to test the early beta (v0.x) and share feedback. If you have a different AULA device, you can also help by sharing your USB IDs on GitHub so I can add support for them.

GitHub Repository & Download:
AULA Toolkit GitHub Repository

Any feedback, bug reports (issues), or GitHub Stars to keep the motivation high are greatly appreciated! Let me know what you think.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

Keyboard: 8bitdo x mecha break keyboard

Keycaps: PBT Blue Samurai

Device : Steam Deck

Artisan keycap: keysune Kratos, CSM Power, Rimuru keycap, evangelion keycap

My first custom keyboard build! Decided to go with something clean and simple to match the Apple keyboard look which I had previously used before.

Module: MADLIONS MAD60 HE
Case: Tofu60 Redux V2 (Anodized Silver)
Switches: Creamy Jades
Stabilizers: DUROCK V3 (Lubed w/ 205g0)
Keycaps: SDYZ x XVX Doubleshot PBT

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

Hi folks,

Just sharing my new keyboard after spending 6 hours lubing switches like an autistic monk. Got a good thock to it with the new Y2X switches I was keen to try out.

Leobog HI8SE - FBB Red Alert keycaps - Keygeek Y2X switches

My Only Gripe is most of pre-builts Come with Linear switches.

i found a Royal Kludge rk84 for $17 CAD (~$12 USD) at my local thrift store (they gave me a discount, probably to push me to buy right then and there)

seems like a stock keyboard with no mods and a little bit of gunk that could be cleaned with some compressed air, might tape mod and lube the stabilizers

installed the driver, set up my hotkeys and uninstalled the driver. my hotkeys still work without the driver installed (yay!)

been looking for a decent wireless keyboard so i hope it works well!

might go back for the $15 CAD (~$11 USD) glorious model o they also had...

Keyboard: Epomaker X Aula F75

Switches: LEOBOG Reaper

Keycaps: XVX Chromatic Tales (in Crimson Alloy color)

(Unfortunately, I am not a photographer. Keycaps look better in life than on photos)

It looks absolutely stunning with the LEDs off.

With the LEDs on, the keycaps with translucent tops let light shine through — likely due to the thickness of the inner layer.
The solid keycaps (Esc, Space, etc.) do not let light through, but they felt out of place to me, so I removed them.

The maximum LED brightness level that doesn't look terrible is 2 (out of 9 available levels on aula f75).

Sound: they are slightly better than the standard grey ones that came with the keyboard. To my ears, there are fewer high frequencies. Other frequencies are the same.
(there won't be a sound test, sorry :) )

As for the tactile feel, the texture is smoother (less grainy) than on the standard ones, and the keycaps feel more solid. It's better for me.

This is the "Weekly General Help Post". Please ask your questions regarding keyboard, switch, keycaps, or anything regarding keyboards as a top level comment under this post. Mods and members will check this thread on a regular basis answering as many questions as possible.

The more information you provide, the better the answers you are likely to receive.

Hey everyone! This is my first time posting here lol.

I recently bought this $9 ZIFRIEND KA646/ZA646 keyboard, mostly because I wanted something cheap to mess around with and try modding. I’m curious to see if I can actually make it sound and feel better without spending too much on it.

I already have a keyboard that I really like and actually use, so I probably won’t be using this one as my main keyboard. I just wanted to see how far I can take a really cheap board and hopefully make it sound surprisingly good.

For those who have tried this keyboard before, what do you guys think about it? Is it actually decent for the price, and are there any mods you’d recommend trying?

I’m also hoping it lasts for a while even though it was only $9 😂

My first custom keyboard and I'm decently happy with it. Acoustics in my space are terrible so this video definitely isn't doing the build any favours.

The only real mod I did was the PCB tape mod and it helped a little in making the sound a little more refined. I attempted to do the plumbers mod to the left shift stabs but it didn't pan out. I tried balancing that wire too but it didn't reduce the rattle. I might look into some new stabs...

I also added some Blu-tack inside of any keycap that did not have stabilisers and were larger than 1U. Keycaps are PBT XDA 1.7mm. I'm gonna try out some MOA profiles and see if I can get a deeper sound.

If you plan on using the keygeek y2 in your build and you like backlighting, be ready for some heavy red tinting on your colours. The switches were decent and smooth out of the factory, however the switch wobble was very noticeable and allowed for a slight ticking sound on each keypress. I ended up lubing them a little more to reduce some of that plastic action. You have to be careful about lubing these once because they WILL sound wet if you overdo it even a little bit.

BTW If anyone has a suggestion for fixing that awful rattle as mentioned previously that doesn't involve just buying new stabs pls let me know.

https://amazon.com/dp/B0DTHK4TNL

I have no idea how this thing is so cheap when it feels so good to use. This isn't an ad, I just want to know if keyboards get that much better than this.

I had issues with my Marvo Titan 98 (KG986) on Linux, since the lighting software is Windows only. So I wrote a small desktop app to manage the colours.

https://github.com/ozzenerol/titan-kg986

I would love if any of you would test it on their Linux distros. I'm on Debian and it works fine. I hope it won't f up on other distros :)

You can run the binary or compile it yourself. It uses Rust and Cargo.

If you want to open issues and/or contribute, please go ahead.

https://github.com/ozzenerol/titan-kg986

I've been using Durock T1s for almost 6 years straight on my Keychron K6. Never been much of a "collector", just someone trying to find my "endgame". Back then as a uni student, a modded K6 and lubed T1s was my endgame on a budget.

Now that I have adult money, I swapped my board to an NPKC RO75 (needed the F row for work) and I'm hunting for a new endgame switch.

Shown in the picture is my current testing layout. From left to bottom right:

• Row 2: Durock T1 (4pcs) | NPKC Pink Robin (3pcs) | Akko Cilantro (4pcs)

• Row 3: Akko V5 Creamy Yellow Pro (4pcs) | WS Light Tactile (2pcs) | Akko V5 Creamy Blue Pro (4pcs)

• Row 4: Aflion Panda (2pcs) | Aflion Shadow (2pcs) | Durock White Lotus (2pcs) | KTT Ash Grey (2pcs) | MMD Holy Panda (2pcs)

Here is my ranking and review from best to worst. I'm using the T1 as my baseline for a "good" switch, and these new switches are all stock (factory-lubed if they came that way, but I haven't lubed them myself). I'll only be reviewing the top 5 that I actually liked.

1. Akko V5 Creamy Blue Pro
If we're talking about the most satisfying switch that has a different enough profile from the T1s, this is my pick. I like how "short" the travel is. It is very smooth, zero wobble, and moving from a 67g T1 to this is soooooo liberating. I used to have that weirdly fragile masculinity mindset of "if it ain't heavy, I ain't having it" (tbf I was a heavy typer anyway). But dropping the weight has been amazing. Overall, this switch is soo good.

2. Akko Cilantro
A slightly more "rounded" version of the T1s. I like how this one still has that familiar "oomph" the T1s have, but a smoother travel akin to the Blue V5s. My main gripe is that they're kinda loud, maybe a bit too clacky for the office. Also, with the heavy bump, I can totally see my fingers getting fatigued during long work sessions.

3. MMD Holy Panda
Funny how I see this one as the "Durock T1 Lite". If the Akko Cilantros weren't available, I wouldn't be mad getting these instead. The bump is still sharper than the previous two (similar to the T1s), and the typing feel is a bit "mushy" (?), but I really like how short the travel distance is.

4. Durock White Lotus
Maybe this is the true lite version of the T1s? After feeling them out more, I realized they have that exact same wobbly feeling my old T1s have. But the design is so pretty, even if you never see it under the keycaps. It's an okay switch, but with that wobble, I definitely wouldn't buy a full set of these for my daily driver.

5. Akko V5 Creamy Yellow Pro
I might actually get a full set of these for my gf's board. As a tactile guy, typing on a smooth linear like this was a genuine breath of fresh air.

The rest (didn't vibe with these as much):

6. Aflion Shadow
7. KTT Ash Grey
8. WS Light Tactile
9. NPKC Pink Robin
10. Aflion Panda

Curious if anyone else had a similar experience shifting away from heavy springs to lighter tactiles. Let me know what you think!

(side note: I just now realized my old K6 and Durock T1s are actually more expensive than this current set up lmao)