- This is one of the most popular
enthusiast gaming keyboards on Amazon.
But today, I have a simple question.
Is it better to buy the pre built,
or is it better to build it yourself?
Welcome to episode 1 of Buy vs Build, Keyboard Edition.
I have 30 minutes, starting now.
Now, I've built a lot of gaming PC's over the years,
and usually that is a smart move,
but as someone who's built
half a mechanical keyboard in my life,
I'm gonna need a lot of help.
So, I'm gonna use the AI to do my research for me.
Alright so, Bing is telling me I need a keyboard case,
PCB, switch mounting plate, mechanical switches,
stabilizers, key caps, USB cable, and a screwdriver.
I could just go with this now.
Alright so, lemme just look up the first one, here.
So, can I get the Epomaker?
Bing found it in literally one click.
Oh wait, is it in stock?
Oh, it's a pre-order!
No!
Okay, so this is what I was afraid of.
You don't just go and order what you need.
You will pre-order something, and it may take a month,
it may take 6 months, it may take 9 months
or 12 months before your components come in.
Now, Drop, previously known as Massdrop,
they're a little bit more I would say,
of a mainstream brand.
Mechanical keyboards.
Oh, DIY kits.
Okay, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
So, here's the thing.
I conceptually know what I'm doing,
which is a little different than actually knowing
what I'm doing.
So, I want tactile switches.
Okay, so, Bing was telling
that I would like the Holy Pandas.
Good Lord.
I'm over, like, $230
just by throwing enough key switches in.
Wow.
This is so much more complicated than I thought.
$105 just for my switches?
Maybe I don't need Holy Pandas.
Maybe I need crappy pandas.
Could I get cheap switches please?
What are cheap switches?
Yes, Speeds.
There we go.
How many is this?
35 unit.
Okay, Imma do this one instead.
I don't even know if these are good.
I'm just gonna do these instead.
Okay, I'm up to $175 dollars. (cries)
All right, all right, all right.
What do I still need?
So, I need key caps.
(screams)
Why are they so expensive?
Should I go to Etsy?
Okay, I'm gonna go to Etsy.
Oh, my god.
They've got Squirtle in a key cap.
Okay, one extra key cap is fine, right?
These are actually not terrible.
Oh, these are kinda nice, actually.
The only thing is they're white.
So, my keyboard is just gonna be black
with white key caps and a blue Squirtle.
(screams and cries)
All for $300.
Wait, I'm at $294 plus another...
How much for my Squirtle key cap?
Another $35.
Wow, this is so expensive.
This video is sponsored by Headphones.com.
A few months ago, we took a look at these, the Focal Bathys.
Holy (beep).
(laughs)
These are high-end audiophile headphones
that also rock active noise cancellation.
And, look, there are a ton of specs
but, ultimately, they sound incredible.
Focal are famous for their audiophile grade speaker drivers,
which deliver impressive clarity,
without sacrificing punchiness,
even when over Bluetooth.
But what makes the Bathys even more special
is the USB DAC mode,
which takes sound quality to another level.
Even beyond the 3.5mm jack which is, of course, on board.
Just plug into your device via USB C, and you get crispy,
high-res audio with minimal latency,
something that's really helpful for me when I use these
to edit video, like the video I'm editing right now.
The Bathys also has a slick design that takes inspiration
from Focal's Passive closed-back line
but with the addition of the logo that lights up.
The headband and yoke structure are made
out of light-weight, but sturdy, materials like magnesium.
Not to mention the incredible quality,
thanks to them being built in the Focal factory in France.
If you're ready for a serious audio upgrade, you're in luck
because the Bathys are currently on sale for 20% off
their regular price at Headphones.com.
I would act quick though.
The sale only runs through this Sunday, June 18th.
Definitely be sure to check them out
at the link in the description.
And, of course, huge thank you to Headphones.com
for sponsoring this video.
(elevator music)
So this is the Razer Huntsman V2,
which is currently available on Amazon for $200,
which is a lot of money for a keyboard.
But when you come to the high-end of this stuff,
$200 is a drop in the bucket
compared to what you can spend if you were really motivated.
So, there are a few things going for the Razer Huntsman V2.
So, you do have access to easily swap out your key caps.
So, if all you're looking for is to buy a nice,
pre-built keyboard, and maybe you wanna tweak it
with a couple of additional key caps,
you can do that very easily.
But the real advantage, in my opinion,
with building a keyboard is to fully make it your own.
The build quality, the fit and finish, the sound.
You can do so much to, not only change the switches
in the actual board,
but also every minute detail along the way
to make sure it's exactly the way you want.
Now, I'm not gonna lie to you
and say that this is an easy process.
And, again, I've only really built, like,
one keyboard in the past
but I also am very enthusiastic about using keyboards.
I love it and it's something that I want to learn more about
so, for this video, you can almost kind of treat me
as like the average enthusiast who wants to get into this
who's just trying to decide,
"Should I go out and buy the pre-built,
which is well-reviewed, is very solid,
that I'll be very happy with,
or should I strike out on my own?
Walk into the wild, dark abyss
of not knowing how to do it yourself
and come out the other side a changed man?"
Only one way to find out.
- This is where I get to judge your tastes.
- I'm not gonna be judged by anyone who is wearing that hat.
So, I'm just saying, if you're wearing that hat,
I am not gonna accept your judgment.
My base is, the tried and true, Drop CTRL.
I acknowledge that this is, maybe,
not the world's most impressive base but hear me out.
It was the only thing that I could actually get in stock
that was not months backordered.
Let's take a look at the keyboard that I have to work with.
Starting out with my Drop CTRL.
So, this is the base of my keyboard.
Now, importantly, this is exactly what I was looking for
when it comes to the TKL layout,
which is my preferred way of typing.
You'll see it's really, very, very basic.
So, it is all metal.
Sounds a little hollow.
- [Ken] That's my biggest complaint with it.
- So these are my Kailh Copper switches.
So, these are specifically the Speed copper.
Now, I ordered these
because, as a budding keyboard enthusiast,
I relied on my good buddy, Bing,
to tell me what would be good and Bing said these are great.
(Ken laughing)
- [Ken] Wait, hold on.
Hold on, hold on.
So, you, Austin Evans.
- Yep.
- [Ken] Tech YouTuber.
- Yes, that's me.
- [Ken] Who has a lot of friends.
- Lots of friends.
- [Ken] You know, in the creator space.
- I didn't call any of them.
- [Ken] Yes, that they've definitely built
a lot of keyboards before.
Did you not think to...
- No,
because, Ken, I'm trying to make this an informative video
and not everyone can just call up randomfrankp
and ask for his opinion.
- [Ken] But they can watch him.
- I'm not gonna watch videos.
You think I've been doing do research for this?
I used the power of AI to guide me to the promised land.
So, these are my switches.
- Oh, those actually sound pretty nice.
- It's pretty good, right?
- So, Speed switches?
- Speed.
- Yeah, yeah, Speed.
- I am Speed.
- Uh, actu-
- I'm Lightning McQueen.
I'm Speed.
- The actuation is higher up
so the press happens way higher.
Are you lubing any of these switches?
- Oh.
- Are you lubing switches?
- How funny you mentioned
that that is actually going to happen.
So I've got myself some Krytox 22,
I read it upside-down, 205.
The very famous lubricant that Bing told me was popular
and that I've heard of before so I know it must be good.
And I got an entire random kit of tools off of Amazon.
- [Ken] I'm surprised you're not using Vaseline.
- I...
That's the scuffed version of this video.
This is not building a keyboard on hard mode.
If I was doing that, I would be soldering
but soldering is scary
because hot and it smokes a little bit
and I don't like soldering
because I'm not very good at it.
But instead, if I wanted to, say, install this switch,
it'd be very straight forward.
All I would need to do is line it up
and then I just go.
(switch pops)
Boom.
And then, if I had a key cap, which I don't have here,
I just do this.
I've got my keyboard deck,
I have wide variety of Speed switches,
I also have my lubricant,
but what I'm missing is all the other accoutrement
to complete this set up.
Which is where the key caps come in.
These are black and white, super high-quality key caps.
Well, I would say, not a massive fan of the font.
It looked a little different online.
So, it's a very, sort of, complex shape
when you look at it from the top.
So, it's kind of scooped up
and then it's very much, sort of, like, a scoopy little boy
where, you know, you...
It captures your fingertip and it's just like.
So, I've got all of my key caps here,
but wait.
Oh, wait.
Oh, I'm stupid.
Oh, I don't have all my key caps 'cause there's one more.
The piece de resistance, my friend.
- [Ken] The piss?
- [Joanna] That's what I heard too. (laughs)
- The piece...
(Ken and Joanna laughing)
The piece.
Piece de resistance.
Behold, my friends, the one key cap
that is going to pull this entire build together.
Oh, okay.
- [Ken] Is this how you proposed to Karen?
- Yes, with a little Squirtle key cap.
Look how cute that is.
Now, is the most expensive single item in this video?
Oh, I think it was.
And did this take weeks and weeks to show up from Etsy?
It sure did.
But, this is such a cool thing.
So, you can see, if you get really close,
it is a full 3D little Squirtle
on, what looks to be, like, I don't know,
like, the ocean floor or something.
So, I believe it's all acrylic and oh my god.
- [Ken] Okay, so, how much did that cost you?
- Don't worry about it.
Let's try this guy out.
And now.
Oh, look at that.
I'm basically done.
But, one thing I'm missing, and as everyone knows,
if your keyboard is not on desk mat, you're not a gamer
and you're gonna be asked to leave,
which is why I have purchased this.
It is a Bitwit.
Bitwit.
Noted friend of the channel,
Kyle Bitwit.
(indistinct)
His name is Mr. Bitwit.
Fun fact, last time I hung out with Kyle
he had to give me a ride because I got my car towed.
So, I paid him back by buying one of his desk mats,
which are available at the link in the description
at Bitwit.tech.
He didn't give me a discount though.
I paid the full price for this.
In all seriousness though, if you're gonna go as in-depth
as building your own keyboard, you should try to put it
on some kind of slightly softer surface.
Ooh, that's nice.
Look at that.
Now, my friends, it's time to cue the music
and begin the keyboard building montage.
(intense music)
Let me show you how to properly lube a switch.
Take it from a guy who learnt how to do this 10 minutes ago.
So, I have this little jig, little form, little template
to pop my switch out.
So, I'm just gonna line it up
and then just push it
and it comes loose.
So, there are a few pieces inside of the switch.
So, there's the outer plastic piece,
there's the little stemmy guy,
there's a spring and then there is the base.
This is the actual where the metal touches
to form the actual connection.
So, gonna do this is I'm gonna get a little bit of lube
on my tiny brush.
So, I'm gonna just lube around that little center post.
Now, I'm going to lube the spring
'cause, obviously, I want it to be springy.
Got my spring, and next, I'm gonna do my little stem.
My stab, my, I don't, not sure what I'm supposed to call it.
Gonna reassemble this,
making sure that I don't do it backwards
'cause I did that the first time
and accidentally got my key stuck and it wouldn't open.
And then, the whole things goes together like this.
And now I will go ahead and insert it into my keyboard.
I am doing the less important keys first
so in case I learn that I want way more lube or something,
I can still tweak it and tune the ones
that are actually important.
But if I line this up, there we go.
Oh, that's not bad.
I've got six down and 81 to go.
Think what that means is I'll see tomorrow
when I'm done lubing all my switches.
(standby noise)
Behold, my friends.
The ultimate keyboard experience for ultimate aural bliss.
Let's plug this in
and see it come to life for the first time.
Woo-hoo.
All right, let's get started.
Okay, ready, and.
Woo.
I will say, man, that space bar sounds bad.
Ugh, okay.
I'm happy with how this went
but, if I were to do it again, or if I had some more time
and, maybe, a few extra bucks,
there's some changes I would make.
But I'm not gonna tell Ken any of that.
Oh, hello there.
Hi, friend.
Have you come to see what the future
of keyboard gaming is like?
So, I'm still preparing but if you'd like to take a look,
I can give you a tour right now.
- [Ken] Okay.
- So, here's the one-size-fits-all option.
It's a Razer thing.
You can try it, not important.
Or, you could experience the world's most unique keyboard,
specifically designed by a true artist
known as Austin Cornelius Evans.
- That's not my name. - [Ken] That's your middle-
(indistinct)
- I just made that up but it sounded funny
and I'm just gonna confidently continue
to talk directly into the camera.
- I haven't looked at the Huntsman in a long time,
and I certainly haven't tried the V2
but oh, that does sound pretty good.
- Yeah, if you're a pleb
who just wants to use a regular keyboard.
- That space bar is a little better than it was before too.
- You know what?
No, I don't think that's...
I think you just need more character in your space bar,
which is why I have engineered my space bar
to be full of character and-
- Okay, okay, okay.
- Yeah, go ahead.
- We're gonna go down.
- Okay.
(keyboard clicking)
- Oh, yeah.
It's creamy, I like it.
- It's the first time I've heard that.
- Very creamy.
(keyboard clicking)
(space bar clicking loudly)
- That's my character.
So, see, I'm, personally, a fan of when I hit the space bar,
I want you to know it.
I want everyone in the room to know it.
- You didn't work on the stabs.
- Go ahead, go ahead.
- When you try and compare these-
- I've got the Typings.gg up.
Feel free to type away and experience some aural bliss.
- I need a wrist rest.
(keyboard clicking)
No, no.
Okay.
The rattling reverberates so much
that it messes - Character.
- with my head a little bit.
Like, I think you did good with everything
that didn't have stab in it.
I'll give you that.
- Yeah, I didn't know what stabs were.
- I could tell.
But luckily enough, if you really did wanna go
and improve this to use it daily,
you actually can just go on Amazon.
Here, like, these are ones that I bought.
The Durock V2 because they were available
for next day shipping.
Literally, I mounted this to my board, which I,
to be fair, I don't know what kind of stabs are in here,
specifically because it's been a while
but I think you can actually put these in the control
or, at least, some kind of alternative stab.
- Yeah, you've experienced aural bliss.
Why don't you try the Razer
and give your thoughts on that?
- So, here's the thing.
There is some pinging but it's not as bad as yours.
While this might not be the best purchase for 200 bucks,
if this is cheaper than the board that you built,
I'd still get this one.
- Well, it's cheaper anyway (indistinct)
- Hold on, hold on.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
We have some added value.
You just doubled the value of that keyboard.
- With that super cool Squirtle switch.
If we were to have this conversation five,
maybe even three, years ago,
I think pre-built keyboards were decent
but the thing is, they've gotten so much better.
So speaking of-
- Like this one.
- Oh, dude.
- So, this is the Nuphy Halo 75.
I almost forgot the name of it 'cause I haven't-
- There's a lot of Nuphy keyboards.
- There are a lot of Nuphy keyboards
but this guy is absolutely nuts.
So, we spent about 150, 160 bucks on this.
It's pre-built.
This thing sounds amazing and it's all done in the factory.
Lubing, like, all of the stabs are perfect, like.
- Even the print quality of the key caps
of, like, the lettering and stuff looks so nice.
- Nuphy is on a whole other game with their keyboards.
Look, here, here.
Listen to this, right.
(keyboard clicking)
- It's so good.
So what's your opinion then?
Do you think it's better to buy or to build?
- If you're willing to commit to research
and really finding what your preference is
and, maybe, a little bit of trial and error.
- And thousands of dollars on buying random things
- Not necessarily. - On Kickstarter
that may or may ever show up.
- Not necessarily.
I think that you can built a pretty decent keyboard
for less than 200 bucks
but you have to make some compromises along the way
and you also need to do some research.
- Less than how much?
200 bucks?
- 200 bucks.
Is this more than 200 bucks?
300 bucks?