I'm pretty happy with the keyboards I have, but I just ordered 8BitDo's new mechanical keyboard anyway. Some things distinguishing it from my other mechanical keyboards atm:
- wireless (both Bluetooth and with a dongle)
- hardware volume dial
- two giant, programmable, external buttons (maybe I can use these as Emacs pedals?)
It also has the kind of curvature I like on a keyboard, like the Model M, which none of my other keyboards with Cherry-compatible switches do.
It's only $100 and it looks very cute. Could be a good entrypoint for many!
Update! I'd actually pre-ordered the thing some time ago, and I was looking forward to its arrival today. I'm writing this message from it (incidentally, from my phone, which is where I usually use HN).
It's quite nice! The switches felt a bit light for me at first, but they're really quite good. I do find myself bottoming out the keys as I type, but the keyboard feels decently heavy, so the sound of bottoming out is quite pleasant.
The curvature of the keyboard is unfortunately achieved in the usual way for modular, Cherry-compatible keyboards, which means differently-shaped keycaps rather than a curved backplate as on a Model M. This basically achieves the effect, but it means the keycaps on the board are not interchangeable, and it makes finding alternative keycaps a bit trickier.
The amber power light is gorgeous!
Overall I am very happy with it and glad to have a wireless option among my mechanical keyboards. :)
It's only $100 and it looks very cute. Could be a good entrypoint for many!
https://shop.8bitdo.com/products/8bitdo-retro-mechanical-key...