I Tried Over 60 Keyboards... (So You Don't Have To.)

I tested over 60

keyboards

last year, so you don't

have

to, so you don't

have

to. Do you really want to be the guy who tested over 60

keyboards

? No, no, I know what you're thinking. If you looked at 60 keyboards, then which keyboard do I buy? Well, well, Hello, I'm Hippot Tech and you've come to the right place in my quest to find the best keyboards. I have made a lot of keyboard videos so I will show you my favorite keyboards of 2023 but not only that I will also show you my favorite switches and keycaps but wait I will also mention some things that are not worth it so stay around but first Start with some rules, all keyboards must be available right now or will soon be keyboards that I have

tried

, they must be hot swappable and they must be very interesting now, something worth noting is that with custom keyboards it's all about preference, so The keyboard I like may not be right for you, but you can also prioritize different features, so first I'll start with some basic recommendations and some things I find interesting, then I'll move on to the switches and keycaps and then I'll tell you about the super budget right after you focus on budgeting the subscribe button don't worry you will get an extra shout out hey yeah last year like every year I looked at some Keyron keyboards and normally Keyron keyboards are my go-to recommendation for anyone now Why is this?

You might ask yourself. It's actually a little more complicated because Keyron has been very busy over the last year. They are usually what I call the good enough keyboard because they are good enough for almost everyone, their keyboards are not spectacular, they won't blow you away, but they have some of the basic features that are good enough. Now I'm talking specifically about their Q series of keyboards because they have other weird stuff and so many different designs and options, oh god they also have a Q series of Pro and now a q Max series which we'll see later this year, but their Q series of boards They are just simple aluminum keyboards that start at 135 for barebones and like 150 for built now this is where it gets interesting because kyrons are keyboards that really need to be modified and with some simple tricks this can become this.

Now Keyron boards are hot swappable, they are compatible, which is really nice software to use and really the main downside. It's just that they are a little more expensive than other things that will be on this list now I know what you're thinking, you're thinking hippo which is still too expensive well then don't even get me started on their Mac series that they just released and that starts at $209 because you're not going to like talking about things you're not going to like, you know, I mentioned it before. I was going to talk about things I didn't like this year when I was making videos well the gmmk pro was definitely one of them don't get me wrong it's okay it's one of the all time keyboards however in 2023 they sold it for $350, which is a price you should never pay for it. gmmk pro right now is down to 234 for the fully built version but still not worth it honestly yes now many of the keyboards on this list have one thing in common they are in stock and available however this is the special one. additional section of the list where I'm going to mention things that would be really cool if they were available now.

It's undeniable that my favorite keyboard of 2023 was the zoom 75. It simply worked as well as if it had foam. it had foam it had stabilizers it had foam all jokes aside if you built this thing with the right switches like any other keyboard of course it sounded like heaven. I said it there, I said it now. Zoom boards are really elusive and are generally operated as Group B, however, at the time of filming this video, the Zoom 75 is technically in stock, either at a more expensive price. Now some people love to wait months for the product they want to buy, but that's not my thing personally, just listen to me.

Here are some honorable mentions of keyboards that could be available soon: the qk series and the Neo series of keyboards. They're pretty good, but they're often group purchases. Also, my second favorite keyboard of the year, the Rainy 75, is technically a pre-order right now, but if you're watching this video maybe in March or April it will be available in stock and the best part is it's $100 cheaper than the alternatives. Oh, and did I mention it's fully built? This keyboard just broke all the other keyboards for me and that it is wireless it has good latency it has foams but you don't need to use the foams it just doesn't have as many switch options or things like that but if you are very basic and like a 75% keyboard in linear switches, this keyboard is really crazy.

You can see my video below. Also, this is the only time I'm going to break my own rule. My friend Barrett Creative is running his wooden keyboard sale right now for the wooden K9s. The keyboards are incredibly unique and he's a guy who makes them himself in California, so it's kind of a real group buy, like the reason you would do a group buy, they're expensive, but just get this, yeah, it would be a year of hippot tech videos without some weird cheap keyboards and that keyboard was completely stuck dog, now remember earlier when I said keyboards are completely preferred, this is where it will come into play more.

I think the silver dust makes for some incredibly cute keyboards that start at like $79 or $80 now they're not premium Feeling in no way like they're completely plastic unapologetically they come in cute toy-like colors but they're really lovely and honestly pretty unique like me now, this keyboard like any other has a few flaws so I recommend you watch my full video before you go crazy and buy it but if you're going to buy it make sure you get the Switch version Gaton red, since it is the best Switch version in my video. I

tried

to modify it but you won't.

You will be able to notice a difference. Also, Dust Silver sells some really cheap keyboards on their website, but I recommend you stay away from anything that doesn't use the newer Gaton switches, like the otmu switches they use, which are pretty rubbish, and this keyboard in particular. it's terrible, yeah that's not good, you know what else was terrible when I tried to 3D print a keyboard. I started with the bakano 65 thinking, uh, this aluminum case is a bit boring. I just got a new 3D printer, let me try to 3D print something. It took a lot of Tri by mistake, but 3D printing my own keyboard was actually a lot of fun and could be an option if you're on a crazy budget because you only need to buy the PCB and board and then 3D print the case yourself. and it will save you a little money if you already have a 3D printer.

Now it was incredibly worn out. The case didn't look perfect, but I was very proud of it. This was definitely one of the most challenging and creative videos I've ever seen. I did it last year and I think you'll really enjoy watching it because some of my matches are crazy NOA, but what I didn't expect was how good it was going to be now something I didn't enjoy was building up. Lego however the keyboard I built was incredibly fun this is the kbd craft atom it starts at around 60 bucks for the Bare Bones and 100 bucks for the kit which I recommend I recommend getting the kit and it's a keyboard that you can use completely. build yourself honestly if you like lego this kind of thing is a unique experience and you should really check this out.

By the way, you can save 5% with Code Hippo. It's definitely not the most durable keyboard if you get mad and hit it it will break it's definitely a novelty however the included switches are pretty good and it's a cool Lego keyboard a cool Lego keyboard there you go oh yeah I don't, now the keys are a really divisive part. from the Hobby keyboard and I definitely looked at quite a few keycaps this year, as always my budget favorite is this set of B profile keycaps from oh you need gmk hm, over the last year gmk who make some of the best keycaps have become more available places like Drop do novelkeys and Omni type also carry gmk sets in stock.

There are also my classic favorites like idow. blue cat key caps a lot of different key cap sets you can get from AO, although be careful, some of them are clones and my personal favorites of 2023 were just cheap key caps I found on Amazon, especially from Su gazen in general. These keycap sets cost around $40 and are about the same quality as any of the other cheap keycap sets anyone will sell you. They're not perfect, but they get the job done. I mean, on that version of Zoom I was using. cheap sumazin keycaps, however, as I said before, it's all preference, so my favorites may not be your favorites, but you know what your favorite should be is the policaps hippo.

This is my own set of daub pvt keycaps so you can hear those sounds when you type. at $79.99, so they're not the most expensive or the cheapest, however, it does come with plenty of keycaps, like the full novelty set, for a little cheaper at $59.99. I have Hippoc Jungle caps, which is my very affordable plant-themed key cap. set it up like this, if you like plants like me, yes I have over 200 houseplants then that might be for you, but I think my general consensus for 2023 for keys is that there are a lot more things available, a lot of things They are for sale. so keep an eye out and look for sets that look interesting to you and look for them now for switches.

It's pretty much the same as keys, where it's totally preferential, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt or a grain of lubricant. I guess now I'll give you a couple of different ideas for switches and as always there's the standard ones like the Gaton case inks and you know the jwk switches are perfectly acceptable but the W switches are still my favorites throughout 2023 In the past we used to lubricate the switches, where we would take each switch apart by hand and lubricate them and make them feel smoother and, yes, that's a waste of time, now honestly the number one thing I'm totally fine with.

I agree with leaving lubrication in the past. switches with switches like the mandis and the moon V2 from kinetic Labs that are relatively affordable at around 45 to build a full board which is simply not necessary because the factory lube is very good and you will save a lot of money by not buying all the supplies. lubricant, now you can buy a more expensive switch. Overall I recommend the woe series of switches because they are so versatile having linear tactile silent switches etc. but I think the mandis are the best of all. their switches, but it's all preference so I recommend you buy a couple of switches, try them out and see if you like them and go from there if you're looking for some switches that are even cheaper, although hey, maybe go with AO and get some of their switches that say they are looped.

AO makes super consistent switches and overall I quite like them. There are also a ton of other different switches like jwks and Gaton box switch and Oil Kings and a lot of good switches in 2023. oh yeah but let's get back to the keyboards because this is weird and this is weird and this is weird now mikit makes some very weird and I honestly love their design language their keyboards are all relatively good they have some very interesting switch options And why does it look like a Game Boy? They are not necessarily the best value or the best quality or the best performance, but they are unique, so if you are someone who likes to have something unique on your desk, I recommend you grab it. a look at the mikit boards because i looked at them and enjoyed them.

An example is the mk72 which starts at $99 and is literally like a Game Boy. Their Holy Panda touch clones are pretty good and they all focus on the linear. switches lately, it's nice to appreciate a tactile switch every now and then, you know, but honestly, it's keyboards like these that make me enjoy the keyboard hobby because they don't exist for super practical reasons, they exist because they're fun now. I am a certified player. I've played thousands of hours of RuneScape, but I really like the games. And my goodness, last year was a good year for gaming and custom keyboards.

Well I do not. I'm still not good at playing. Now the number One question I always get asked is what is the best hippo keyboard for gaming and why is it so wooting and for most of last year that was technically true. Now if you are new to the world of keyboards, wooting is just like a normal keyboard except it is not because it uses magnetic switches, it also costs 175 dollars for a plastic keyboard, believe me when I tell you that the trend by 2024 will be the helmet effect orMagnetic switches like these, the main reason is that they can technically say that they are the best for gaming because of features like the rapid trigger that resets the switch actuation on the upward movement.

Now, this is a feature that is really dominated by games like OSU and games like OSU, but believe me when I tell you that most gaming keyboards are just marketing. Now I'm sure there may be some latency differences between a custom keyboard and a gaming keyboard, but nowadays we see custom keyboards really fix that and we also see a lot of people starting to make Hall switches. My biggest problem with courting is that it is Literally impossible to get it to sound good, I even built a wooden box for it and it still doesn't sound that good.

Yes, I made a whole video about that challenge that was very interesting, but With all the competition that's about to come out this year, it's going to get interesting and one of those competitors is the boo, now for $220. The boo is an all aluminum hall effect keyboard, available, it has one millisecond latency and these Gaton switches are way better than the Leer switches, holy shit it's actually from the same people who made the zoom 75 so if that gives you something to do this thing is very very good, it still has a bit of that characteristic magnetic switch chatter which I don't think will ever go away but it is by far the best sounding and feeling Hall effect keyboard that I've tried, although I may have some better ones coming later this year, stay tuned for those, but yeah, if you want a premium cut, this is probably the best.

It's true that the software won't be as good as Wooting and I haven't fully tested it yet, but there you have it, as far as other gaming keyboards go, most of them are a bit expensive like this Rog Scope 2. I want I mean, don't get me wrong, Asus has definitely started making good gaming keyboards, which is kind of crazy. I didn't think I'd say that, but you're still paying the player tax, yet it has a numeric keypad and uh. Some of you really like numeric keypads and can't give up the numeric keypad, so there you have it, last year something happened that I never thought would happen and that was Razer made a custom keyboard.

Can you believe they actually listened to me and made a custom keyboard now? had some issues but the tactile switches that come with them are very smooth and looped from the factory and were very impressive given that most gaming keyboards don't come with tactile switches so this was really refreshing now that It was a little expensive and it was a little lackluster, I mean, like a plastic box, basically, it's a little boring, but hey, they put gaskets and foam in it and, maybe in 2 years it will be really good, maybe all the jokes Leave it aside when you actually take this thing apart. and modify it completely by replacing the switches and keys with mandies and some Gaz of course you become a stealth player.

Beast, I also filled it with Kinetic Sand because I'm incredibly unhinged, but hey, that's the spirit of keyboards baby, this is the kind of thing we're having fun with, but it just means that with a little love you can make any keyboard be decent, except for the courtship, but get this now, most gaming keyboards are just bad custom keyboards and one that almost surpassed the fact that Gap was the Rog, had a much more interesting aesthetic, but the most What's important is that early last year they replaced it with the Snow switches as an option, which are some very, very good Factory Loop switches, so although it's a bit pricey if you prefer, you can now get the Razo and make it a nice keyboard.

I made one with plants, yeah here's an interesting one, it's a keyboard I really expected to hate, similar to how Nola eats this box. low frequency free flow and it's a 75% low profile keyboard, it starts at $159 so it's a little pricey but feels pretty premium. What really surprised me with this one was how really good it felt to type like the The switches they chose were well lubricated from the factory, the key caps felt good and weren't too tall or too rounded and by the way, I left me appreciating low profile keyboards the way I bought new keyboards because you guys kept asking, so a video on that later this year.

In fact, I found myself using this all year long as a mini travel keyboard. I placed it on top of my laptop and used it instead of the razor type laptop keyboard, it's also incredibly thin and light which is really nice. Yes over the last year something really amazing has happened, keyboards have become cheaper and an example of that is the c75 which originally sold for too much money but now you can get the Bare Bones for 99 bucks sometimes when it's in stock because it continues to sell. Because it's very popular, it's a keyboard that needs modification, but if you modify it it can sound really good, but that's not the best value because later in the year I had to try some pretty crazy things.

Now an example of this is the cuu v75 starting out. at $139 I know it's a little more expensive but they also have a 65% version and a numeric keypad but wait I told you they also come prebuilt ignoring this version with the blue keys because I made them myself they really come. Well, pre-lube, they are compatible via, they have a little screen option if you get the basic version or a knob if you get the non-basic version, they are also wireless which is a great touch, so if you like the retro aesthetic , I recommend that you check these out.

Speaking of testing, one of the first things I looked at in 2023 was the mons M1. This board needs a few basic things like a force breakout mod, but once you do, it looks incredibly premium and also sounds incredibly premium now it's $99 for the basics. version, so you'll end up spending a little more than something like a seu if you decide to build it yourself, but it's a great place to start if you want a little freedom. Hey, do you hear this? No, oh, that's because this keyboard is Silent now silent switches are also all the rage now that they have actually been wired well at the factory and some pre-built boards like the Bluebell varmo manilo definitely give you an easy way to achieve a silent keyboard.

This board is not mod compatible, but wow! An example of a silent preset is a bunch of stuff from epomaker with their silent sea salt switches and silent keyboards are definitely a great deal if you don't want to annoy everyone around you with how good your keyboard sounds because maybe it doesn't. they do it. I don't want to hear it, it's okay, you all have waited patiently. What are the best budget keyboards I looked at last year? Now this list is not completely complete. I'm not a keyboard guy, Jesus, but the Keyron V series is still a solid contender at the time of writing this, costing about $60-$70 for a pre-built version of the V series or about $50 for the basics, get this, they're not Perfect by no means, but you see what I mean by it's good.

Enough kind of stuff, like if you're on a Super Omega budget, you can start with a Keyron V series, then get some better switches, then get some better keycaps, and then upgrade your board, or what if you didn't because were you? on a crazier budget, well that's where the gmk 67 comes in and I built this board entirely with AliExpress. Now you have to source all the parts yourself, but if you're on a tight budget, building a keyboard like this completely on your own will be an easy task. better end result now has a much worse firmware but the gmk 67 is no slouch when modded this is good if you are incredibly lazy there are prebuilt versions of epomaker like the epomaker EK 68 but honestly this is a much worse value than just build it yourself or just go for a Keyron V series.

I mean come on yeah this is probably the moment you've been waiting for to know what the best budget keyboard is and that's totally subjective but this is the best what's in stock if you want. 65% and you have a crazy budget and you don't care about the firmware and there are a million caveats but whatever, whatever it is, this is the W sk71 or Jean mang sk71 or the yunzi al71, they are all the same keyboard and they are all amazing, it's an aluminum frame with a small RGB pass through window, it's wireless, it comes with key caps and foam and honestly this package is an amazing value at 90 bucks for the complete build, it kind of destroys everything the rest in its price. support, but that's okay because a good competition is very good, the linear switches that come with it are surprisingly smooth, the board performance is mediocre, but hey, it's there and if you shop around enough, there are a ton of color options different and you don't even understand me.

I started modifying it once you add a couple of layers of tape to it, it sounds absolutely poppy, lovely, glassy and yours, and I think I'm forgetting the words, oh yeah, now for all the certified broke guys, this one is for you and it's It's going to be a keyboard that's my least favorite that I looked at all last year and that's the Mage G60 starting at $25. This thing is disgustingly cheap and it definitely reflects that in its performance. Now I challenge to change and click to modify it and that. It ended up costing as much as a keyron fe one, so yeah, I guess the moral of the story is that there are a million keyboards that are interesting and there are a million more that I need to try, but hey, last year I tried 60 for you, so it is not necessary.

Maybe this year I'll try for a 100. If you need additional help or have any additional questions, join my Discord or post a super thank you on this video and I'll do my best to answer, bye.