The one and onlyJul 12, 2023

Advice on how to start/test

https://sh.itjust.works/post/1017467

Advice on how to start/test - sh.itjust.works

I am someone who has not used mechanical keyboards before, but I am curious about them since I read everywhere that they are great. The issue I have is that I obviously don’t know which things I will like or not. For example the switches, there are a lot of brands, and they produce different switches. When I read about them, I see the familiar terms: “clicky”, “tactile”, but I have no idea what that actually means. However, just starting to buy stuff to test it out will become very expensive, very quickly. How do you start with this without spending hundreds and hundreds of Euro’s at the start (and without knowing if you like it or not)

Show threadSuperFolaJul 12, 2023

For the switches, you can buy switch testers for 10 bucks, with one switch of each brand/type/etc, to give you an idea of how they feel and sound.

Since you are posting in c/emk you might also be interested in ergonomics for keyboards? If you scroll here you will see a lot of different keyboards, many which are split (2 parts, one for each hand). A good idea would be to print the layout of ones you are interested in, to see how they feel with hand placement and movement.

Show threadThe one and onlyJul 12, 2023

I thought I was posting in the “regular” mechanical keyboard-community. That is my mistake (still new here…).

In terms of ergonomical layout, I will probably stick to a regular one since that is what I have used for decades already.

Do you have any hints on where to buy a switch tester?

Show threadSuperFola
Amazon has a bunch of them. If you want to try specific switches, you can create your own 9 keys switcher tester on keygem, they ship really fast (based in Europe).
Jul 12, 2023 at 1:37pmWeb
Show threadThe one and onlyJul 12, 2023

Oeh, that sound great!

Thank you!