deskthority

Keycaps will last tens of years. That is not a problem. They will become shiny and legends may get worn but that does not matter for their functionality. They will work just fine for typing and if you are serious about keyboards you can (or will learn to) touch type. In such a case, nice legends do not matter as well.

The problem will be with the switches.
CherryMX brown switches on my Kinesis Advantage started to fail after about 9 years. I had also 3 failed Gateron white switches on my custom keyboard (two filed after about 2 years, one after about 4 years). These failures happened on keyboards which were/are used 8 hours daily.

Anyway, replacing a switch is easy if you can handle a solder iron and desoldering vacuum pump. If you cannot handle those then it is easy to learn

However, mechanical keyboards are more vulnerable to spilled liquids.
You often see forum posts about this - when people have drunk beverages while slouching over the keyboard. You shouldn't slouch over the desk anyway because that would be bad for the back in the long run.

kinshuk2 wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2020, 10:21

I'm currently seeing on Ducky Shine 6 SE.
<links deleted>

Why are there links in your post.....

Hi there,
I have my original mechanical keyboard I specifically bought maybe 8-9 years ago. I daily drove it for years. It's a Noppoo Lolita Spyder with Kailh blues. I finally retired it when some of the switches started chattering really bad. It lasted 7+ years of wear and tear. I type a huge amount so (well over 2K words per day) It goes to show how well they last. mine still has the original key caps and sure, they're shiny as all get out, but they still work just fine.

Sadly it seems that the switches themselves are to fault in my board simply due to re-soldering them didn't fix the issue. It could be the controller as well. The controller and it's reliability plays a big role in my decision on modern boards. Try and pick a company that has been around for quite a while and has good reviews. When I choose my Noppoo it was the best keyboard I could find in my price range so I completely understand the struggle.

Also, avoid Thermaltake. I have one of there Posiden Z series and it's miserable. It started chattering well before the ABS caps got shiny. I'm not sure what's wrong with that board. I do know it has Kailh switches as well. I paid next to nothing for it back in the day so it's not a huge lose, but take it as a cautionary tale. To be honest, I don't even know if thermaltake still makes keyboards and I'm far to lazy right now to google it LOL

Cheers, Keep us posted on what you end up getting!
--Given

Redmaus wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2020, 19:38

kinshuk2 wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2020, 10:21

I'm currently seeing on Ducky Shine 6 SE.
<links deleted>

Why are there links in your post.....

Because it's a spambot. DUH!

It copied a genuine post from here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... _lifetime/

Two years ago, I bought a Cougar PURI TKL with Cherry Red caps.
The keyboard was inexpensive, but reviews on it were very good and it appeared to be well built.

However, after a year of light use, the bottom row of keys failed and would not register keypresses. The rest of the keyboard was fine.
Of course the failure occurred just weeks after the warranty expired. Quite disappointed wrote to the company to request a repair. To their credit, they offered to replace the keyboard, but I would have to pay shipping costs from Canada to the USA. A quick calculation revealed the costs would exceed the price I paid for the keyboard. I gave up and am now selling the keyboard for parts.

The lesson I learnt: I no longer both with modern mechanical keyboards and rely exclusively now on an 1983 IBM Model F XT with Soarer's converter. It will likely never fail.
With new mechanical keyboards, the switches may last for decades, as well as the keycaps and case. But the control boards can be of questionable quality (like Cougar's boards) and fail quite easily. I posted a review on Amazon about its non-longevity https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... dctrvw_srp)
I took the Cougar PURI to a local electronics repair shop, showed him the problem, and he advised selling it for parts.

I particularly liked the PURI TKL, but it was not up to a simple task: Not breaking and providing years of reasonable service.

I have a silver badge Model M. I used this keyboard for years as my daily driver and it still works perfect. That keyboard is almost 35 years old.