Should I purchase a Leopold, Varmilo or Ducky Keyboard?

[TheGoldenCapser]

Hello there people of this community.

 

Between the Leopold FC750R, the Varmilo VA87M or the Ducky One 2 TKL white LED which one should I pick for me as a keyboard that is durable, lasting and comfortable to type on for months and months if not for years and years?

 

Personally, I care much more about the core experience of typing with satisfaction and reassurance it won't break by having a tough keyboard than buying a keyboard with tons of gimmicky features and totally BLEH keycaps, fragile case and feet, awful stabilizers, etc.

 

What are the strong suits of each model and brand I've written down and which should be considered for purchase in 2021?

 

Is there another brand and model you'd recommend over the ones I already mentioned?

[kelvinhall05]

They all make pretty good stuff though I personally prefer Leopold's boards. But if you want something to last a while and be just the way you like it, I'd seriously consider building a custom.

[Ominous]

Leopold also gets my vote, despite the fact I'm typing this on a Ducky. Personally never seen a Varmilo but most anecdotal reviews put them on par/just behind Leopold in terms of quality.

[TheGoldenCapser]

18 hours ago, kelvinhall05 said:

They all make pretty good stuff though I personally prefer Leopold's boards. But if you want something to last a while and be just the way you like it, I'd seriously consider building a custom.

The custom keyboard route, from what I've read, appears to require a vast amount of patience (in the form of staying in lots, lots of waiting lists) and costs will likely be immense once all the expenses are taken into account, I can only imagine the months it'll take to get everything I'd need (and I never soldered anything before, I'd probably ruin many of the needed parts in the process and getting the required tools won't be cheap and quick either /:).

 

I got to know there are hot swappable boards that really facilitate the process for beginners, with no need to solder anything, but getting everything together well for the 1st time sounds like a very daunting experience and I wanted a working keyboard before September 10th - MK have the Leopold models still in stock and I want to acquire the FC750R based on your positive feedback on the brand.

 

I was wondering though, I saw on Cherry's website that they updated 4 (Red, Brown, Black and Speed Silver, though this 4th isn't an option for Leopold) of their switches with 100 million actuations and faster registering speeds in 2019, however, Leopold's website doesn't mention anything about this - do you have any knowledge if Leopold is using the old MX Reds with 50 million actuations or the newer Red variants with 100 million actuations in the present?

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, TheGoldenCapser said:

The custom keyboard route, from what I've read, appears to require a vast amount of patience (in the form of staying in lots, lots of waiting lists) and costs will likely be immense once all the expenses are taken into account, I can only imagine the months it'll take to get everything I'd need (and I never soldered anything before, I'd probably ruin many of the needed parts in the process and getting the required tools won't be cheap and quick either /:).

 

I got to know there are hot swappable boards that really facilitate the process for beginners, with no need to solder anything, but getting everything together well for the 1st time sounds like a very daunting experience and I wanted a working keyboard before September 10th - MK have the Leopold models still in stock and I want to acquire the FC750R based on your positive feedback on the brand.

Yep, totally fair. Just wanted to mention it in case you weren't aware and were interested  

1 minute ago, TheGoldenCapser said:

do you have any knowledge if Leopold is using the old MX Reds with 50 million actuations or the newer Red variants with 100 million actuations in the present?

I have no idea, but I can tell you right now that as someone who pretty much exclusively uses 20, 30, sometimes nearly 40 year old keyboards daily, you are extremely unlikely to hit the 50 million presses when a switch might start to fail. Also remember that you can always just replace faulty switches if you somehow manage to wear them out.

[TheGoldenCapser]

@kelvinhall05I wanted to thank you again for the suggestion and I have ordered the FC750R PD Black with MX Silent Reds from MK (finally, yey).

 

However, I was looking at Leopold's Korean website and I found they have a silicone cover molded to fit over their keyboards, to prevent dust and all that nasty stuff from getting underneath the keycaps, the switches but MK doesn't sell official Leopold accessories.

 

Are Leopold's board accessories exclusive to South Korea or is there a place where I could buy them from on the web?

[kelvinhall05]

1 hour ago, TheGoldenCapser said:

Are Leopold's board accessories exclusive to South Korea or is there a place where I could buy them from on the web?

I have no idea. Dust and other crap will get in the keyboard anyway, most of it gets there while you're using it. Dust it once a week and "deep clean" (keycaps off and whatnot) once a month and you'll be good. If you're really concerned just throw a towel over it when you're not using it.