Hey everyone!
Planning to get into the custom mechanical keyboard hobby (after my logitech mx keys broke) and looking for sourcing advice for Europe and particularly Czech Republic.
Local retailers (Central European equivalents of Best Buy (alza, heureka...) have extremely limited selections - basically just pre-builts - which defeats the purpose of building something personalized.
What I'm looking for in my first keyboard:
- 100% layout or 96 if that is how it's called (basically with numpad)
- Backlighting
- Tactile, relatively quiet switches
- Nice-to-haves: Wireless (BT / 2.4GHz / wired combo), ISO Enter (large/L-shaped) - not a dealbreaker but preferred because I am used to it.
My budget is aroun €150–180 (roughly 4k CZK).
My main questions:
- Where do Europeans typically order custom keyboard parts? I've been searching through US vendors but I'm worried about shipping times, fees and no possibility of return policies.
- How do you handle iterating on a build, e.g. trying different switches, when shipping times and return policies can be painful?
Any tips appreciated! Thanks!