Budget 0-20k Mechanical TKL or 96% Keyboard dilemma

Which one is the best highly moddable mechanical keyboard

  • Total voters
    7
desiibond

desiibond

Skilled
Budget
Up to 10k for keyboard alone if it is coming with gateron or cherry mx red/brown switches.
7k max for keyboard alone if it is coming with cheap switches.

Preferred keys
Cherry/Gateron red/brown.

Mandatory features
  1. Highly moddable, support for wide range of keycaps.
  2. Switch between multiple devices using Bluetooth (minimum of three devices).
  3. Hot swappable keys.
  4. Thin bezels.
  5. Majority of keycaps must be of standard specs.
  6. Backlighting (RGB is not strictly required, prefer white light).
  7. Mac and windows compatibility.
2.4GHz dongle is a plus point but not mandatory.

Shortlisted candidates are in the poll. I am inclining towards the Keychron K8 but it has been out of stock for a while. Same is the case with Redragon Vishnu. I also liked RK100 but a bit put off by its build/look and that If I buy it, I have to change both the keycaps and the keys.
 
Keychron K8 if you dont need the numpad and K4 V2 if you need it. I am personally using the Keychron K2 V2 with brown switches, RGB, Hot swap but without aluminium frame. It has good build quality and everything functions as advertised
 
I also switched to same K2 V2 for ergonomics reason. Haven't missed numpad yet.

If you don't want the numpad then why not go for K2V2 directly?

I don't about the others but keychron supposed to have best mac compatibility.
 
vaibhavyagnik said:
Keychron K8 if you dont need the numpad and K4 V2 if you need it. I am personally using the Keychron K2 V2 with brown switches, RGB, Hot swap but without aluminium frame. It has good build quality and everything functions as advertised
Click to expand...
I got tempted to buy the K2 V2 but the layout seemed to be too compact. Have you had any issues switching to this layout from a full size keyboard? Also, how are the keycaps availability? Are all keycaps of standard size?
lockhrt999 said:
I also switched to same K2 V2 for ergonomics reason. Haven't missed numpad yet.

If you don't want the numpad then why not go for K2V2 directly?

I don't about the others but keychron supposed to have best mac compatibility.
Click to expand...
Ah. Added K2-V2 as well to the poll. I thought that the layout is too compact.
lockhrt999 said:
I also switched to same K2 V2 for ergonomics reason. Haven't missed numpad yet.

If you don't want the numpad then why not go for K2V2 directly?

I don't about the others but keychron supposed to have best mac compatibility.
Click to expand...
Ah. Added K2-V2 as well to the poll. I thought that the layout is too compact. Is there lot of difference between plastic and aluminum frame? Aluminum is OOS and plastic frame is available.
 
desiibond said:
I thought that the layout is too compact.
Click to expand...
Compact for what exactly? Right shift is little smaller but you don't need that big shift key anyway. I went for K2V2 because I wanted dedicated 'F' keys and arrow keys. Other than that I have 'autohotkey' mapped 'home/end' etc keys to qwerty so I don't use dedicated keys.

I went to this form because full size keyboard was going to cause me 'tennis elbow' as mouse was too away on the right.
 
lockhrt999 said:
Compact for what exactly? Right shift is little smaller but you don't need that big shift key anyway. I went for K2V2 because I wanted dedicated 'F' keys and arrow keys. Other than that I have 'autohotkey' mapped 'home/end' etc keys to qwerty so I don't use dedicated keys.

I went to this form because full size keyboard was going to cause me 'tennis elbow' as mouse was too away on the right.
Click to expand...
Compact was just my perception as I did not have a chance to look at it in person. If the layout is not compact, I would definitely go for K2 V2 as I do not really need the arrow keys and navigation keys in standard layout.
Which palmrest are you using?
 
desiibond said:
Is there lot of difference between plastic and aluminum frame? Aluminum is OOS and plastic frame is available.
Click to expand...
I dunno how plastic is supposed to feel like but aluminum does add a lot of weight to it and also makes it more rigid. Both of these things aren't important to keyboard functionality though. Base is still plastic on both models.

If you really want to make a switch to the compact form then I'd suggest you to remove all the numkeys of your full size keyboard and see if you are comfortable for a few days. I was not comfortable so I did the same and forced myself to use horizontal number row for a few months before purchasing k2. :p
desiibond said:
Compact was just my perception as I did not have a chance to look at it in person. If the layout is not compact, I would definitely go for K2 V2 as I do not really need the arrow keys and navigation keys in standard layout.
Which palmrest are you using?
Click to expand...
So for you, only difference between K8 and K2 is right shift is little smaller and right win key is missing. Other than that key size is same. Key caps should be interchangeable.

Keycaps on K2V2 are double shot so they may not wear out as fast as K8. Also the colour contrast is too stark on K2V2 whereas it's subtle and more elegant on K8.

Royal Kludge comes with its own dongle right? So you can use it to edit BIOS settings in wireless mode too. But keychrone bluetooth mode only works after whole OS has booted up.
 
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lockhrt999 said:
I dunno how plastic is supposed to feel like but aluminum does add a lot of weight to it and also makes it more rigid. Both of these things aren't important to keyboard functionality though. Base is still plastic on both models.

If you really want to make a switch to the compact form then I'd suggest you to remove all the numkeys of your full size keyboard and see if you are comfortable for a few days. I was not comfortable so I did the same and forced myself to use horizontal number row for a few months before purchasing k2. :p

So for you, only difference between K8 and K2 is right shift is little smaller and right win key is missing. Other than that key size is same. Key caps should be interchangeable.

Keycaps on K2V2 are double shot so they may not wear out as fast as K8. Also the colour contrast is too stark on K2V2 whereas it's subtle and more elegant on K8.

Royal Kludge comes with its own dongle right? So you can use it to edit BIOS settings in wireless mode too. But keychrone bluetooth mode only works after whole OS has booted up.
Click to expand...

Dongle is not really a priority. I can anyways connect Keychron using the cable if I have to access BIOS. I have never used right Win key. Are you using any wrist rest? TVSE Gold gives me wrist pain and I believe Keychron's keyboards are taller than TVSE Gold.

Almost locked on the K2 V2. K8 is anyways out of stock for a while.
 
desiibond said:
Are you using any wrist rest? TVSE Gold gives me wrist pain and I believe Keychron's keyboards are taller than TVSE Gold.
Click to expand...
Yup it's taller than TVS gold.

I'm not using wrist rest as I changed my posture to a typewriter. So I increased chair height to compensate for taller keyboard and stopped resting the wrist on anything and keeping it neutral.
 
I dont do a lot of numbers so don't miss the numpad. Having it is ofcourse, better. The aluminium frame of the keychron is just for show and screwed on to the plastic frame of the keyboard. It does add to the weight and overall feel of the keyboard but again, it is just for aesthetic purpose. You won't miss the aluminium frame unless you have actual seen both of them side by side. No idea about keycaps. the keyboard is costly as it is.
 
RK100 or 98 depending on what layout you prefer. I have the 65% version ala Rk68, the wireless dongle is a godsend. Absolutely flawless in a year's ownership and over 2 weeks of life once charged, without RGB. RK100/98 have a bigger battery so expect more life.
 
Just a question guys, what's the difference between RGB backlight and RGB backlight aluminum? Is the full frame aluminum or only the top?
 
mav2000 said:
Is the full frame aluminum or only the top?
Click to expand...
The side frame is made up of aluminium. Bottom is still plastic.

desiibond said:
Now, need to find a wireless BT/dongle
Click to expand...
I was using a generic bluetooth dongle and it was pain in bottom to get it perfectly working with the keyboard. Just a couple of days ago, bought a TP link BT dongle 5.0 and it's been working very good since.
Edit: spoke too soon. This BT dongle is crashing my computer when I hibernate/sleep.
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Battery life of k2v2 depends on the RGB backlight. If you use it full brightness with all keys glowing then it might last only a few days. But for a very light weight backlight theme it lasts over a few weeks.
 
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lockhrt999 said:
The side frame is made up of aluminium. Bottom is still plastic.


I was using a generic bluetooth dongle and it was pain in bottom to get it perfectly working with the keyboard. Just a couple of days ago, bought a TP link BT dongle 5.0 and it's been working very good since.

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Battery life of k2v2 depends on the RGB backlight. If you use it full brightness with all keys glowing then it might last only a few days. But for a very light weight backlight theme it lasts over a few weeks.
Click to expand...
I meant wireless or 2.4G dongle supported vertical mouse. Logi MX vertical mouse is out of stock everywhere.
lockhrt999 said:
The side frame is made up of aluminium. Bottom is still plastic.


I was using a generic bluetooth dongle and it was pain in bottom to get it perfectly working with the keyboard. Just a couple of days ago, bought a TP link BT dongle 5.0 and it's been working very good since.
Edit: spoke too soon. This BT dongle is crashing my computer when I hibernate/sleep.
----
Battery life of k2v2 depends on the RGB backlight. If you use it full brightness with all keys glowing then it might last only a few days. But for a very light weight backlight theme it lasts over a few weeks.
Click to expand...
Not a fan of having rgb on. Have rgb lighting in my pc but I rarely turn that on. Do use white backlight at night if kids sleep in same room.

BTW, how much time did they take to ship your keyboard. I ordered the keyboard yesterday and order is still in "processing" state.
 
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Got it about an hour ago. Thanks a lot folks for suggesting this one. It looks bloody tiny (in a good way) next to the Tvse Gold. Best part is how much more space I have to move my mouse around.
 
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