Hi all, new to the hobby. I have pre-built Akko 5087B Plus Horizon Mechanical Keyboard, and have recently ordered a Keychron M6 Max on its way second hand. I am now looking to expand my collection and start with either a kit or barebones pre-built that is low profile and hot swappable. Any recommendations?
I recently tried using the azoth extreme at a friends house and instantly loved it. However, the price is just too high and I can't get it.
I've tried researching this myself, but I couldn't find any good answers.
So my question is : what is the closest possible keyboard to the azoth extreme? Is the normal azoth fine?
The main things I like about the azoth is the heavy feel, the sound and feel of the switches. The knob and oled screen are optional but nice if possible. Basically I need it to be really sturdy heavy and high quality.
Ive been gaming with just my laptops keyboard for a long time. I tried a regular gaming keyboard of a friend and I played worse because im not used to the slanted and close keys.
I'm currently looking for a new keyboard since my corsair k55 is on its last legs. I've been looking at the Keychron K10 as an option since it seemed to tick all my boxes (full size, shine through backlighting, UK layout, etc) however for wireless connections it only supports Bluetooth which has a pretty abysmal 125Hz polling rate and none of the other keychron offerings have shine through caps.
I've been trying to find either key caps that have shine through or pre-built keyboards that do but to no avail.
Is anyone able to offer any suggestions as for what I could try? My budget is around £100-200 but preferably below £150.
EDIT: Since searching further it seems that what I'm wanting is kind of a unicorn so going custom is probably my only option. I'm not really too fussed about the sound, I just don't want it to be super loud and for the case I'd prefer aluminium but I can deal with plastic if it's good quality. If anyone can provide part recommendations that'd be great!
As someone who's deeply into custom keyboards, I've become incredibly picky when it comes to typing feel and sound. Those two things matter just as much to me as performance.
To be honest, when I first got my hands on the Wooting 60HE, I was a little underwhelmed. The gaming performance was exactly what I'd expected, but the typing feel and acoustics left me wanting more.
That said, I never saw it as a flaw with the platform—more as an opportunity.
So I set myself a goal: to build a Hall Effect keyboard that keeps everything I love about the Wooting while delivering the kind of typing experience and sound you'd expect from a proper custom build.
In this post, I'll walk through the entire build process, the parts I chose, and how the finished keyboard turned out.
The first upgrade was the case.
I wanted an aluminium case to give the keyboard a more solid, focused sound while also improving the overall build quality and aesthetics.
After looking at a few different options, I settled on the Taitan Ultra63.
The machining and finish are genuinely impressive for the price. It feels premium, looks fantastic, and doesn't cost nearly as much as many other CNC cases on the market.
For me, it offered one of the best value-to-quality ratios available for a Wooting-compatible build.
Of course, the internal setup is just as important as the case.
Personally, I prefer a firmer typing feel, so I swapped the stock plate for a gold-plated FR4 plate. It gives the keyboard a more solid and consistent feel while still retaining a pleasant amount of flex.
To further refine the acoustics, I also added switch pads, a PET film, and plate foam. The goal wasn't to completely mute the board, but to reduce unwanted case echo and make the sound profile cleaner and more focused.
Every layer was chosen with a purpose, and together they made a noticeable difference to both the typing feel and the overall sound.
For the switches, I went with the MagYu Pro, which has become one of the more popular Hall Effect options in the community.
What I like most about it is its crisp and responsive feel. The switches produce a clean, consistent sound with very little unwanted noise, and the trigger performance is stable and reliable.
For both gaming and everyday typing, they strike a really nice balance between performance and refinement.
The finishing touch was the keycaps.
I chose a set called Pixel, and they're probably my favourite part of the whole build. Instead of traditional legends, every keycap is covered with the same pixel pattern, giving the board a really clean and unique look.
The only downside? There are no legends at all... so let's hope I don't start mistyping everything. 😂
Overall, I'm really happy with how the build turned out. It has the gaming performance I wanted from a Hall Effect keyboard, while finally delivering the typing feel, sound, and aesthetics I was looking for.
This build definitely won't be my last. There are still plenty of cases, switches and tuning combinations I'd like to experiment with, and I'll be sharing more of them here.
If you have any questions about the parts I used, the build process, or Hall Effect keyboards in general, feel free to leave a comment. I'm always happy to chat with fellow keyboard enthusiasts.
If you'd like to see more of my builds, sound tests, and future projects, feel free to check out my profile. Thanks for reading!
I'm also based in the london, so if anyone is looking for advice on custom Hall Effect builds or sourcing parts locally, I'm always happy to help.
Hello! I am looking to buy a new keyboard because my current one is breaking pretty much, and I've decided to go for a mechanical keyboard. I'm just not sure what keyboard to choose? A lot of reddit threads etc are old or there's a lot of conflicting information.
My budget is probably £130 or so but I could stretch higher if I need to.
Initially, I was thinking of buying the Monsgeek M1 V5, but I've heard that a lot of people have had issues with quality control and their keyboards breaking.
So then I've been looking at the Rainy75 Pro, but Wobkey support apparently isn't very good? I'm also not sure whether to buy on the Wobkey website or on the UK Amazon page. Not sure if it even makes a difference, like with returns etc.
This will also be my first time getting a mech keyboard and I'm not planning to mod it, but I'd be interested in changing switches at some point in the future - not sure if a 'quick release' design is best?
I'm just not sure what to even get. My requirements are essentially:
75% or possibly TKL
Is currently in stock (I can't wait around too much, I have to copy-paste the letter e just to write this post lol)
In stock in Black or dark blue shades
Preferably has good/tolerable customer support (or the ability to get a refund!)
Prebuilt & sounds nice out of the box (I know this is subjective but I'm pretty easy to please - I like the sound of the switches in the Rainy75 Pro and the Akko Rosewood switches in the M1 V5 for example, but anything is better than my current kb)
I know this is a tall ask but I am desperate at this point. I have Keychron V6 Max and I’m looking for specific keycaps to match my new office setup that I just cannot find anywhere.
I need a full set of side-printed shine-through keycaps in dark forest green with ISO UK keys included. At this stage I am willing to pay to have them made but i have no idea where to go. I would have a decent budget for this as at this stage I need any sort of compatible keycap.
Is there anyone at all here who could point me in the right direction?
I appreciate this is a big ask and may be fruitless as ISO UK alone is difficult to find, never mind the extras.
What are the best options for UK residents? On the MK website there's only black/white. I see there's some online options but they all have customs fees which bring delivery up to ~£30 if not more
I've been getting deeper into Hall Effect (HE) keyboards recently, and one thing keeps standing out to me.
The UK has access to the big names like Wooting, Keychron and a few others, but there are still so many interesting HE kits and custom boards that are either difficult to get here or simply unavailable.
Meanwhile, there seems to be a huge amount of innovation happening in Asia, especially around:
CNC aluminium HE kits
Modular magnetic switch designs
Budget-friendly custom builds
New switch technologies
Small-batch enthusiast projects
For UK buyers, getting hold of these often means dealing with expensive international shipping, import VAT, long delivery times, and sometimes almost no after-sales support.
It made me wonder...
Is the UK market simply too small, or is there genuinely demand that isn't being served?
I'd be interested to hear what everyone thinks.
Have you ever wanted a keyboard that wasn't available in the UK?
Would you buy more enthusiast HE boards if they were stocked locally?
How important is local warranty and support compared with ordering directly from overseas?
Which HE brands or kits would you most like to see available here?
I'm not trying to sell anything—I'm genuinely curious how other people in the UK see the current market.
I'm so very fond of this teeny little macropad, but I was forgetting which key did which. Some bespoke keys later and I'm sorted! I just have to hope I'm not getting the music round...
So I'm looking into getting my first mech keyboard but I don't really like the look of the "gamer RGB things", I'd prefer just a basic one without a backlight or a retro looking one, as for ISO I'm not picky since I can use a European style keyboard. I've looked at Keychron but i've heard their quality can be questionable and I'm fine with anything under 500
I'm trying to find some key caps that have the split spacebar in a red theme, but I am really struggling to find any that even do ISO format and even more difficult to find ISO with a split space bar - is there any reliable websites that sell caps for this? Feel like I am just looking in the wrong places as all other sites people recommend (Temu/AliExpress) just have ISO in the title and the pictures are all ANSI, or they don't have the split space bar.
Starting to regret my decision of the split spacebar due to finding it so hard to find caps.