Favorite cheap/budget keyboard(s)?

[timw4mail]

Not every decent mechanical board is really well built, or uses high quality chassis materials. Less expensive budget models certainly have their place.

Back when it was about the only mechanical keyboard you could get new for ~$50, I bought an iOne Scorpius M10, my first brand new mechanical board. It hasn't had a reputation for being a reliable board, but it certainly has been for me. The original keys I fairly quickly replaced with blank black caps, and then with transparent ones. It is still reliable, and even works with an old-fashioned PS/2 adapter.

scorpiusm2.jpg (150.98 KiB) Viewed 4905 times

[Palatino]

On the go, I often use a Royal Kludge RK61 bluetooth keyboard with red switches, which is built really very well for its price and has never failed me. I’m also quite fond of my Ajazz AK33 with black switches, which is flimsier in construction but has a lovely smooth-but-grippy texture to its caps, satisfying keyfeel, and a pleasant sound since I’ve fixed the stabiliser rattle.

[wobbled]

I'd have to go with Logitechs K120 & Lenovos Preferred Pro boards. They probably cost like £15 new from Amazon and last for years while not feeling as shit as some of the HP rubber dome boards out there.

[Lucid]

BTC dome with slider boards like the ones for packaged bell that can be had pretty cheap. They are so snappy and feel almost identical to BKE redux domes. I love em.

[stormcrash]

A few years ago I would have said the Keytronic E03600, but sadly Keytronic seems to have exited the keyboard market and it's impossible to find those boards new (used ones are always filthy too)

While not the best feeling rubber dome the Best Buy house brand wired keyboard (Insignia/Best Buy Essentials) is pretty ok and dirt cheap (~$10). It flexes a little but the keys are decently tactile and it has proper barrel sculpt keycaps instead of the island style keys that dominate basic rubber dome boards these days.

I'm not an MX fan so I haven't really played around with any of the cheap chinese clone boards

[hellothere]

I have a new, old stock Acer 63-something with Acer key switches. I bought it on ebay when some guy had 30 or so for sale. It's not my favorite keyboard, but it's OK. I think it was less than $35. I don't think it has Windows keys on it, so pre-1995. I'm also fond of my BTC 5300c, which was about equally inexpensive.

The question really is what would you consider cheap/budget? I went for under $50, including shipping, because that's about what the other keyboards, above, are under. If we move up to $70, there are a couple Dell keyboards with black Alps, a couple keyboards with Futaba MA switches, and a couple Focus keyboards with Alps clones, on ebay US right now. $104 snags you a new Model M from Unicomp. Of course, if you like MX switches, there are tons under $50 that are decent.

[hellothere]

BTC dome with slider boards like the ones for packaged bell that can be had pretty cheap. They are so snappy and feel almost identical to BKE redux domes. I love em.

a) I shall now always call it "Packaged Bell."
b) If they are similar to BKE redux domes for the Topre/nopre keyboards, I'll definitely never buy them. BTC dome with slider is nice and I can see why some people make a comparison between them and Topres, but a Topre's tons better than BTC dome with slider. Or maybe I just have really nice Topre and nopre keyboards. Hmm. I hadn't considered that ...

[Polecat]

ABS M1. Alps clones (black tactile - Forward/Fuhua), ANSI, USB, metal plate, nice case, easy to swap your favorite Alps switches if you don't like the ones it comes with. I paid 10 bucks for one, 25 for another, swapped some blue Tai Hao clones into the first one (keeping with the budget thing) and ended up with a very decent keyboard.

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[timw4mail]

The question really is what would you consider cheap/budget? I went for under $50, including shipping, because that's about what the other keyboards, above, are under. If we move up to $70, there are a couple Dell keyboards with black Alps, a couple keyboards with Futaba MA switches, and a couple Focus keyboards with Alps clones, on ebay US right now. $104 snags you a new Model M from Unicomp. Of course, if you like MX switches, there are tons under $50 that are decent.

I remember when it was easy to snag brand new Dell AT101W boards for about $40, but I think that was about 10 years ago... I couldn't really stand the switches, though.

As far as being a cheap/budget board, I'd say around $100 is a good cut-off.

[Muirium]

My $25 SSK was a nice budget buy. Most of my keyboards were for two figures. Highest I’ve ever paid was for my HHKB, which is fair as it’s by far my most active keyboard. Wasn’t all that much either, Type-S at regular Japanese price plus shipping to America.

Just never could afford to splurge on command! Kept the lid on my expenses.

Now, 7bit’s indefinitely long caps GBs were another matter. Oh brother. Did I really do that? A bit here, a bit there, and there, and here and here and remember to patch the there, and… it all adds up. Over several years, sneakily.

[Palatino]

My $25 SSK was a nice budget buy.

Stop it! It hurts! Like when houses were 5x annual salary. Ah, the good old days! when smoking wasn’t harmful and children didn’t need seat belts.

[Muirium]

…and children didn’t need seat belts.

"Don't undo that bloody thing! What else do you think is holding the seats in!?"

[Lucid]

BTC dome with slider boards like the ones for packaged bell that can be had pretty cheap. They are so snappy and feel almost identical to BKE redux domes. I love em.

a) I shall now always call it "Packaged Bell."
b) If they are similar to BKE redux domes for the Topre/nopre keyboards, I'll definitely never buy them. BTC dome with slider is nice and I can see why some people make a comparison between them and Topres, but a Topre's tons better than BTC dome with slider. Or maybe I just have really nice Topre and nopre keyboards. Hmm. I hadn't considered that ...

Purely in terms of key feel, I can barely distinguish the BTC domes from the BKE domes in side by side testing. Both are very snappy and non-mushy, so basically the opposite of Topre. Sound-wise they are completely different though.

I’m sure Topre boards have much better build quality than the BTC boards, which feel cheap even though they have a metal bottom cover. I have the BKE domes in a NiZ Plum 108 board instead of a Topre board.

[Muirium]

Both are very snappy and non-mushy, so basically the opposite of Topre.

Implicit burn! I see what you did there.

There's nothing "mushy" about Topre. You call that a mush? Now that's a mush! *Shudder*

I'm sure there's differences aplenty between quality domes, in subjective qualities like "snappy" and "crisp" versus "smooth" and "rounded". But did anyone ever actually desire mush inside their keyboard? C'mon.

[Polecat]

Stop it! It hurts! Like when houses were 5x annual salary. Ah, the good old days! when smoking wasn’t harmful and children didn’t need seat belts.

But it wasn't all lollipops and rainbows, they did have to walk to school shoeless in the snow, uphill and into the wind both ways.

[hellothere]

Stop it! It hurts! Like when houses were 5x annual salary. Ah, the good old days! when smoking wasn’t harmful and children didn’t need seat belts.

But it wasn't all lollipops and rainbows, they did have to walk to school shoeless in the snow, uphill and into the wind both ways.

Well, I at least had shoes. All the rest is about right, although I think you meant, "When houses weren't 5 times your annual salary."

$100 shipped can get you a lot of keyboard. You can get some decent Apple Extended Keyboard IIs (AEK), which usually have cream or white damped Alps. You can still buy pine white Alps keyboards for under that. I went past a Unicomp Model M that was something like $93, shipped. You might have to buy some adapters and do some cleaning on all of these, though.

I mentioned the Dell bigfoot keyboards with black Alps. Linear-izing these does make a good keyboard, if you're into linear. The keycaps aren't very high quality, unless you luck out and get a really early one. I've been saying that the AEK II is a great buy because everything's very high quality -- PBT dyesub caps, well constructed large case -- and the damped Alps switches are very good and very underrated. Plus, the Apple (command) key becomes the Windows key when connected by USB adapter to a Windows box.

I have rarely found Dell bigfoot keyboards under $70. I bought two that were in a package deal, which made each cost around $40, but they also needed a lot of repair. I bought a keyboard without case for around $30. I just bought a nice looking one for around $60, which should both look and feel really good after I've finished with it.

Polecat has told me a few times that he pays an average of only $50 for his keyboards. My average is way more than that. I do have a brown Alps OmniKey 102 and the aforementioned Topre.

Oh. The Topre I have is a Realforce with 55g switches all around. It's very snappy. However, if I can't get the keyboards I've recently bid on, I'll probably look for a Realforce or other Topre with 45g switches. 50 is really what I want, but that doesn't exist.

[Muirium]

Houses are a LOT more than 5X annual salary around here. Those were the good old days. Even I missed those! Wasn’t even born, let alone earning enough to sign a mortgage then!

How many $25 SSKs would I need to make up for the gains the generation ahead of me have made? Fifty to a hundred thousand. Homes are the ultimate unobtainium. Simply had to be there, boys.

[timw4mail]

$100 shipped can get you a lot of keyboard. You can get some decent Apple Extended Keyboard IIs (AEK), which usually have cream or white damped Alps. You can still buy pine white Alps keyboards for under that. I went past a Unicomp Model M that was something like $93, shipped. You might have to buy some adapters and do some cleaning on all of these, though.

As much as I appreciate the AEKII (I have two with the damped cream switches), I've never really been able to type on it without bottoming out. The typing sound and the overall construction are great, but I'm not super comfortable with the switch. It's also kind of interesting how the adapters used to be expensive compared to the boards, but now the opposite is almost true.

[Thorogrimm]

BTC 5140. Great rubber domes. Usually cheap as chips. MX mount

[Yasu0]

My favorite sandwich is also my favorite cheap skate keyboard.. the BLT. If this food inflation continues they will both be the same price soon.. I especially enjoy the backlit ones! Backlit keyboard, not backlit sandwich.

[hellothere]

Houses are a LOT more than 5X annual salary around here. Those were the good old days. Even I missed those! Wasn’t even born, let alone earning enough to sign a mortgage then!

How many $25 SSKs would I need to make up for the gains the generation ahead of me have made? Fifty to a hundred thousand. Homes are the ultimate unobtainium. Simply had to be there, boys.

There are definitely no homes in my area that are worth 5x my annual salary. Now, if I traveled a couple miles down the road, there are probably a few.

Mmmm. Glowy sandwich. I do live near that nuclear power plant. Hmmm. Might be why my home is under 5x my annual salary.

I was just answering a PM regarding adapters for the AEK and other ADB-based Apple keyboards. I use the Drakware converter, which is $25 on ebay. I don't remember if it was a TMK, QMK, Hasu or some other adapter, but you can build one yourself. I can almost guarantee that the Drakware will look nicer and, for about $10 more than the price of the parts for DIY, I really can't make a good argument not to get one. You do need an ADB or S-Video cable. S-Video cables are about $5 on Amazon. You also need a USB C cable, but you'd need that for any other adapter, anyway.

I see that there are a few SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Hall Effect keyboards for around $100 on ebay. Linear. Chyros even likes them. IMO, the best RGB of any keyboard available.

[Polecat]

But it wasn't all lollipops and rainbows, they did have to walk to school shoeless in the snow, uphill and into the wind both ways.

Well, I at least had shoes. All the rest is about right, although I think you meant, "When houses weren't 5 times your annual salary."
...

Polecat has told me a few times that he pays an average of only $50 for his keyboards. My average is way more than that. I do have a brown Alps OmniKey 102 and the aforementioned Topre.

Whoa Nellie! That was my *max* keyboard price, not average. The single exception being my gray whale, uh, gray Monterey, which took me thirty years to find. That one was a getting-old present to myself, and I'm sticking to that excuse.

In fairness, I got most of my keyboards twenty to thirty years ago, when I worked at a recycling shop, and most of those cost me nothing. I've bought a few online since I joined DT, and those probably drove the *average* up to 5 bucks or so.

I've had shoes most of my life, but only recently have they exceeded the cost of a (new) keyboard.

[Reimu64]

I have a few favourites:

1. Dell QuietKey with NMB dome with sliders. They feel very snappy and often go for less than BTC boards do, usually < £25.
2. Acer 6312 with Acer switches. It’s nowhere as good as a true Alps switch, but for the price usually <£30, it’s a sweet upgrade over standard rubber domes.
3. GK61 hotswap (not the optical one). I think these are still the cheapest hotswap keyboard you can buy. It’s a good base for MX switch experimentation. Can usually be had for <£40.

[timw4mail]

I was just answering a PM regarding adapters for the AEK and other ADB-based Apple keyboards. I use the Drakware converter, which is $25 on ebay. I don't remember if it was a TMK, QMK, Hasu or some other adapter, but you can build one yourself. I can almost guarantee that the Drakware will look nicer and, for about $10 more than the price of the parts for DIY, I really can't make a good argument not to get one. You do need an ADB or S-Video cable. S-Video cables are about $5 on Amazon. You also need a USB C cable, but you'd need that for any other adapter, anyway.

That's way better than whatever the increasingly rare iMate adapters are going for these days.

[tape_artist]

BTC 5140. Great rubber domes. Usually cheap as chips. MX mount

Everyone praises these and tells that they are cheap as chips. Can someone please show me where can they be bought cheap (EU) with shipping (because I haven't found any in my country)?

[Jan Pospisil]

BTC 5140. Great rubber domes. Usually cheap as chips. MX mount

Everyone praises these and tells that they are cheap as chips. Can someone please show me where can they be bought cheap (EU) with shipping (because I haven't found any in my country)?

Harder to get in good condition in the EU. There's a US ebay seller who has a bunch NIB and the prices for the boards themselves are fine, but the shipping is deadly and makes it not worth buying.

[Palatino]

BTC 5140. Great rubber domes. Usually cheap as chips. MX mount

Everyone praises these and tells that they are cheap as chips. Can someone please show me where can they be bought cheap (EU) with shipping (because I haven't found any in my country)?

I have a spare new-in-box BTC 5100C that I imported from the US that I could sell you. I actually imported 2, on the grounds that I could use one for spares if I damaged the other, but I'm very careful with my keyboards so it's just sitting unused. It has very snappy keys (having the DIN connector rather than the PS2, which is purported to be a less pleasant model). Let me know if you're interested.

[tape_artist]

Went out on a binge shopping spree (all used boards, for cheap). This was the first arrival: https://www.speedlink.com/RAPAX-Gaming- ... SL-6480-BK.

Although it looks atrocious, and the spacebar rattle will be hard to fix (springs are used as stabilizers) I am quite actually amazed how good it feels. Would certainly recommend it, if you can find it for cheap (mine was €7). Domes are individual for every key and look topre like (dunno about the feeling because I haven't tried an topre/topre clone board yet). Can type as fast as on alps (and that is saying alot).

[micmil]

Redragon K556. Metal housing, MX style switches, decent caps, full RGB, $60 to your door. Probably not going to be a popular answer, but it's the only correct one because it's mine.

Or the aforementioned BTC DWS boards. If it's clean and under $40, it's worth it. Gunked up or more expensive? Don't bother. They're not THAT good and you'd be getting dangerously close to used Type Heaven territory.

[timw4mail]

Redragon K556. Metal housing, MX style switches, decent caps, full RGB, $60 to your door. Probably not going to be a popular answer, but it's the only correct one because it's mine.

Or the aforementioned BTC DWS boards. If it's clean and under $40, it's worth it. Gunked up or more expensive? Don't bother. They're not THAT good and you'd be getting dangerously close to used Type Heaven territory.

The Redragon keyboards are surprisingly good, especially for the price. Likely a better deal than my Scorpius M10 was back in the day.