Money pit trap hobby: Mechanical keyboard
All hobbies bring you enjoyment. Some hobbies makes your health better, others makes you money. Some makes you feel relax, others gets you excite about life.
And some hobbies are money pit. You start by buying the basic tools and if you want to “experience” more, you need to continuously spend more money.
Mechanical keyboard:
Story: I was using an old gaming keyboard for work and felt that it was too bulky, so I looked into smaller size keyboard with numpad. Luckily some Chinese electronic store had an RBG black mechanical keyboard for $25 CAD. Clicky sound, very loud, very nice. Learned about mechanical keyboard on youtube randomly and watch a video about it. Discovered that my keyboard can change keycaps. Ordered a few cute keycaps on aliexpress and finally a whole new set. Added some superlube on the blue switches. Sound much better and much more enjoyable to use during work time. Unfortunately, the keyboard was not “hot-swappable”, so I couldn’t deep into the hobby. New keyboard were $120-150 CAD +. A bit too steep for my low commitment. So that was it for now. Unless keyboard hobby price were dropping, I decided to stop there.
Fast forward a few weeks and a few compliments from friends on my keyboard. I decided to look for fully built keyboard and see if prices have dropped. And they did. Wanted something hot-swappable to experiment with switches and modding to achieve nice thoccky sound. A white case would be nice too. I also felt the keyboard was a bit too loud with the clicky sound. Found a keyboard under $100 CAD and went for it.
Deep dive into reddit and videos on different kind of switches and possible mod and keycaps. Very exciting. Ordered some switches and returned some. Ordered some more. Sold my old keyboard and extra keycaps from the new keyboard which I didn’t need (declutter a bit + raise some funds for new switches). Very exciting getting into tape mod, foam dampening case mod. Keyboard went from sad black clicky keyboard into very nice sound and tactile feel and proud keyboard I can associate with.
As we speak, ordered a set of “MOA keycaps” and this should conclude the mechanical hobbies for now.
Comments:
I think it could’ve all ended with a cheap $20 keyboard to get the job done. But, I really enjoy “sound” and “physical” feel of things. Can I make it sound like that on a daily basis? What do they mean by “tactile bump”? In order to know, you had to try it. And this is where the money pit trap start.
I think my strong value system gives me lots of self-control.
“Live within your means.” -> Not going to drop crazy amount of stupid money
“minimalist” and “declutter” mindset -> Only need 1 keyboard, so sell the old one.
Final built for now:
-Keyboard: Redragon K668 RGB
- Switches: Gazzew U4T RGB
- Keycaps: Qx3 cherry keycaps (similar to MOA but smaller)
- Mod: tape mod blue tape 2090, super lube, Dampening sound EVA foam
SimpleLifeBalancing.