Great/Interesting Finds

[alh84001]

Only if you take back the Kovac brothers

<offtopic>
Nah, we can't hoard them all for ourselves. They are people damn it, not keyboards!

If you're an Eintracht fan though, prepare to be blown away by an unimaginable lack of goals, creativity, vision. Basically everything. Except boredom. Plenty of boredom.
</offtopic>

[alh84001]

AHAHAHAHAHA keep bidding my pretties.

Edit: early bidders are hilarious. It's a 10 day auction, for Christ's sake.

Edit 2: moments later it's at $152.50

Hahahaha. This makes SSK auctions look like bidding for a grey piece of plastic. I'm on the watch list for this, just for the kicks of seeing where it ends.

[Tuntematon]

Do you actually have experience with the Tai Hao Aruz switch? How are they?

Yep, I have the one pictured in the Wiki. Unfortunately I double-wrecked it. First by pulling caps and breaking three switches. The caps were badly stuck and the switch housings are brittle and flimsy. Recipe for disaster. Then I tried lubing the cap stems to prevent future breakage and I over-lubed a few of them. Some of the excess lube squeezed out and dripped into the switch, lubing the click leaves and eliminating the click. Never should have touched it!

I haven't done extensive testing because of this but it's tentatively one of my favourites. Actuation right up top, no surprise here. The tactile bump is quite pronounced (stiffer than blue Alps) and the keypress is very smooth all the way through. Snappy and smooth is how I would describe it and it has to my ears a fantastic sound. Very nice! Tai-Hao clearly meant business with this switch. The metal bottom casing and thick doubleshot keycaps are further evidence of this. This was an attempt at a premium switch and they succeeded (crappy housing notwithstanding).

It makes my clicky switch top three along with blue Alps and SMK 2nd Gen (in third place). Really, they are all great switches, just with different personalities.

[ohaimark]

I second the love for SMK 2nd gen. Very satisfying. My only quibble is their relatively low activation point.

[Blaise170]

How the hell are you all getting so many bids on Blue Alps boards? I just got this POS offer on mine...

[ohaimark]

TL;DR = lots of reasons.

DC-3014s are moderately rare, especially rare in near-mint condition, which is why I'm getting such a good response. Damn pretty keyboards too. Lots of switches if folks want to harvest (but they'd be insane to do so with such a beaut). Standard layout, which appeals to a slightly wider demographic than 60%. It's also a vintage 'board, not a "new" one, which draws bids. There's also some spam bids coming in from GH, which I hope don't upset things too much.

I also put it up for auction with no reserve, which was guaranteed to get the attention of collectors.

If you want to sell yours I advise putting it up for auction at $0.99 with no reserve -- just wait until AFTER my auction is finished, please. That'll get both of us the best prices. Market manipulation FTW!

[Redmaus]

Oh wow that offer sucks ass. I don't even think that covers the keyset alone.

[snuci]

I was really tempted to offer Blaise170 $15

[Blaise170]

Oh wow that offer sucks ass. I don't even think that covers the keyset alone.

No it doesn't. And here was the offer:

"No proof it works, so I'm just going to assume nothing is working and I can just have it on my desk."

[ohaimark]

Obviously a troll. Speaking of trolls... There's some hilarious shenanigans going on in the GH Great Finds thread. They don't seem to know that the seller is watching. I'm getting my voyeuristic kicks.

[Chyros]

I'm glad you understand the struggle, Chyros. I used it two or three times after cleaning it... 2/3 of the uses were writing posts here.

Yeah... I'm painfully aware of every keystroke slightly damaging the keyboard, and every minute of use adding dust and other crap xD .

That said, I would NEVER get rid of my KB-101A for anything other than another brand-new blue Alps board xD . Ironically, the thing I like least about it is what everybody else loves about it; the ANSI layout, which is my least favourite fullsize layout. I much prefer a bigass enter with 2u backspace and the backslash in a split right shift or between the ctrl and alt keys (like on old Focus boards), which is nice and accessible (I use backslash a lot as is "|8" ). I genuinely don't understand why the bigass enter isn't more popular as it should suit both ANSI and ISO typists.

I'll trade you two big-ass enter blue alps boards for it

NIB? :p

[JesuswasaZombie]

Obviously a troll. Speaking of trolls... There's some hilarious shenanigans going on in the GH Great Finds thread. They don't seem to know that the seller is watching. I'm getting my voyeuristic kicks.

Oh you better believe this is the first thread I checked after posting that knowing there was a pretty good chance it was from someone on here.

Yeah, might be trolling a little bit but I can't help it when it's a combo of #bluealps and ebay early bidders

[ohaimark]

Obviously a troll. Speaking of trolls... There's some hilarious shenanigans going on in the GH Great Finds thread. They don't seem to know that the seller is watching. I'm getting my voyeuristic kicks.

Oh you better believe this is the first thread I checked after posting that knowing there was a pretty good chance it was from someone on here.

Yeah, might be trolling a little bit but I can't help it when it's a combo of #bluealps and ebay early bidders

Can't say I blame you. They deserve the harassment. I think most of the early bids were solely to piss off Pho, but I legitimately expect the 'board to go for over $225 so I can't say they've caused a final price increase. Yet.

[Tuntematon]

I will admit, I am an occasional early bid troll (not this time). I sometimes like to place non-competitive early bids on items I don't intend to win just to get things rolling and to get a rise out of people.

[E3E]

TL;DR = lots of reasons.

DC-3014s are moderately rare, especially rare in near-mint condition, which is why I'm getting such a good response. Damn pretty keyboards too. Lots of switches if folks want to harvest (but they'd be insane to do so with such a beaut). Standard layout, which appeals to a slightly wider demographic than 60%. It's also a vintage 'board, not a "new" one, which draws bids. There's also some spam bids coming in from GH, which I hope don't upset things too much.

I also put it up for auction with no reserve, which was guaranteed to get the attention of collectors.

If you want to sell yours I advise putting it up for auction at $0.99 with no reserve -- just wait until AFTER my auction is finished, please. That'll get both of us the best prices. Market manipulation FTW!

Any vintage board in mint condition is a rare sight. Any blue Alps board in mint condition is an exceptionally rare sight in general. When's the last time we've seen a mint any blue Alps board lately on eBay? The Keytrak? Can't think of anything else. Oh right, that DC-2014 that just sold.

It's definitely tempting, though I mean that in the sense of selling my boards. I could probably make well over 1k on them if not 2, hahaha.

But...

I will admit, I am an occasional early bid troll (not this time). I sometimes like to place non-competitive early bids on items I don't intend to win just to get things rolling and to get a rise out of people.

I think this might've sparked the Alps inflation in the first place. Haha. I remember joking around with people saying they should just bid a ton on the Keytrak, and well, it went for a ton--far more than other blue Alps boards had been going for.

Some joke bids might've been to blame.

[ohaimark]

Joke bids aside, I would have been willing to pay $300 for the Keytrak for a few reasons. I placed relatively high bids on it with complete sincerity while the listing was active.

1) It had a trackball. At the time I was interested in trying one, and that was a nice package.
2) The thick doubleshot keycaps.
3) It had Blue Alps.
4) The fact that it was NIB (though I heard after the fact that some of them had damage to the trackball internals).

[chiptea]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leading-Edge-DC ... 2518.l4276



Looks like ohaimark is letting go of his Leading Edge DC-3014!

What led you to selling this one, man?

Wow. The DC 3014 is my favorite looking blue alps boards, and probably one of my favorites in general. Something about the big logo and asymmetry. Still, as much as I want it, I'm not going to put up with all these early bidders. Also, why do we keep selling on ebay? =/

[photekq]

I still prefer the 2214

[E3E]

Yeah, the Keytrak was an interesting specimen, but even I don't consider it worth that much. Then again, I don't agree with the pricing on most blue Alps boards in general right now. What's even more interesting about the Keytrak is that the seller had several of those. I don't know, like what, three of them?

He also had one with white Alps, but no one really cared.

Wow. The DC 3014 is my favorite looking blue alps boards, and probably one of my favorites in general. Something about the big logo an asymmetry. Still, as much as I want it, I'm not going to put up with all these early bidders. Also, why do we keep selling on ebay? =/

I hear you man. After having gotten a KB101A, it's hard to say which I like more out of the two ANSI top dogs. I think I actually like the DC-3014 more, myself.

Then there's also that IBM Model M clone that has a socketed controller (like the DC-3014) and NKRO. Jeez.

I still prefer the 2214

That's like DC-3014 that got a haircut; I really don't like the odd Apple Desktop Bus keyboard style look. I mean, I get it, but...

Also the fact that it can also come with white Alps makes it more tricky to find a blue Alps model, haha.

[ohaimark]

I'm selling on eBay because Geekhack has prohibitive sales policies, mostly. Reddit and DT's are fine. I can also target any private collectors who don't spend time on forums.

The DC-3014's aesthetic reminds me of marine life. Lots of ocean-like smooth curves and organic edges.

[Blaise170]

I sell on ebay as well for several reasons:

[*] Cheap shipping
[*] Much broader audience
[*] Chance of reaching collectors or others who don't necessarily want a "mechanical" keyboard
[*] Chance of bidding wars

I don't sell on ebay 100% of the time though because of the bigger possibility of chargebacks, since most on a forum like DT won't do that (even though it is still a risk).

[E3E]

I'm selling on eBay because Geekhack has prohibitive sales policies, mostly. Reddit and DT's are fine. I can also target any private collectors who don't spend time on forums.

The DC-3014's aesthetic reminds me of marine life. Lots of ocean-like smooth curves and organic edges.

It's also undoubtably the place that will get you the most profit out of any other options, at least when it comes to blue Alps boards.

Yeah, the Acer KB101A has some smoothness, but it's mostly angular. The DC-3014 is a lot more rounded for sure and had a wedge shape on the profile end that's somewhat similar to the Model M. The folding legs on Leading Edge DC boards are very interesting.

To add to a negative of eBay: fees. Those always suck.

[webwit]

Ebay Schmebay. A parasite 3rd party, driven by the greed of their users.

[Blaise170]

Ebay Schmebay. A parasite 3rd party, driven by the greed of their users.

Can you really blame people for wanting to get as much as they can for a product? If people on DT were willing to buy everything I sell on ebay, I'd gladly sell for 10-15% less, but that's just not reasonable considering how small the marketplace is compared to ebay.

[webwit]

I'm particular. If I don't like a company, I don't give it my money.

[ohaimark]

Ebay Schmebay. A parasite 3rd party, driven by the greed of their users.

In a limited defense of eBay:

It's capitalism, man. "Parasites" and "middlemen" are everywhere. Do you buy all your meats and veggies directly from a farmer? Nope. You buy them from the supermarket at a markup. Sure, P2P sales are an option. But it's often more expensive in terms of time or money because you/the farmers must spend additional time to make purchases/sales.

Do you buy all your keyboards directly from e-cyclers, estate sales, or other common sources of vintage units? Probably not. Sure, P2P sales are an option on various forums. But "various" is the issue. Each has different policies, levels of involvement, etc. That means it's a doable, but sub-optimal way to reach ALL potential customers when a unified "supermarket" exists.

They charge you 13% of the sales price to market your product widely, index it in a search system (albiet a crummy one), protect their customers/sellers (minimally, but it's there -- it sucks most of the time, in fact), keep their servers running, and make a profit.

Do I think their fees are a bit over the top? Yep. But I can sell units for greater than or equal to what is possible in smaller marketplaces due to the wider target demographic.

[chiptea]

Ebay Schmebay. A parasite 3rd party, driven by the greed of their users.

Can you really blame people for wanting to get as much as they can for a product? If people on DT were willing to buy everything I sell on ebay, I'd gladly sell for 10-15% less, but that's just not reasonable considering how small the marketplace is compared to ebay.

I'd offer you something, but I guarantee the bid is going to reach something like $400. While it's understandable for sellers to want to get as much on merch as possible, it often turns things on end (kind of like the price of blue alps right now). Personally, I'd sell on the forums for cheap to keep the hobby easier to get into.

[ohaimark]

You're suggesting artificial price drops, which I'm fine with. Making the hobby cheap is well and good, but that's an unrealistic standard to hold everyone to. I would prefer fair, if painful, pragmatism over fluffy idealism any day of the week.

Yes, criminal scum that I am, I want to maximize my profits when selling the single most valuable keyboard I own.

It's not like I'm selling 43 other keyboards to the community at what I assume will be below "eBay" prices.

[chiptea]

You're suggesting artificial price drops, which I'm fine with. Making the hobby cheap is well and good, but that's an unrealistic standard to hold everyone to. I would prefer fair, if painful, pragmatism over fluffy idealism any day of the week.

Yes, criminal scum that I am, I want to maximize my profits when selling the single most valuable keyboard I own.

It's not like I'm selling 43 other keyboards to the community at what I assume will be below "eBay" prices.

Nah man, it's understandable. I can't blame people for selling something of value for what people are willing to pay. Still, early bidders, people with 7 Lamborghinis in their bidding account, ebay is a scaaary place.

[webwit]

Do you buy all your keyboards directly from e-cyclers, estate sales, or other common sources of vintage units? Probably not.

I don't have an ebay or paypal account. Can't complain about my collection. The real top items don't use those services anyway.

It's capitalism, man.

Yes, I vote with my wallet. And those companies don't get my vote.