Definitely a some-areas-issue.
i live in the largest city on the west coast of the USA and the only stores i've found where i can press keyboards is Office Depot and the like, and at least in the stores that i have visited, they have not had mechanicals.
even when Frys was around, i don't remember them having keyboards out and about.
Frys predated the "mainstream" mechanical keyboard boom. If they were still around I'm sure they'd have even more (they were always larger stores).
The Fry’s that shut down was a shell of its former shelf.
If you’re in LA, Microcenter has mechanical keyboards.
They also have a whole rotating robotic wall of 3D filament that works like a physical jukebox.
Central EU here. We order a bunch of switches. A "starter pack" of sorts. We try them and then choose the favourite.
Physical shops rarely stock keyboards with removable switches.
My solution is to buy a mech keyboard from some well respected vendor and try it out. I return the vast majority.
yeah, that's what'd I want!
Note that in the area are quite a few other good shops. Tsukumo has various hardware across many floors and also keyboards, in b1 they also have a razer store. Then there is a shop across the street Galleria or something, more targeting esports, if you are into that.
That being said, the shop is located in a surprisingly quiet area, surrounded by other small enthusiast shops. I especially liked "High Beam" a few stores down, which specialises in handheld PCs.
but it definitely feels limited when compared with all of the options available online (that probably applies to most things)
there's a specialized store in Brooklyn for modular synths [0] - obviously they don't stock every module but still... I'd assume that a keyboard store would be... popular? maybe? haha
(((((((((should I start a keyboard store ahaha - I swear this was not market research)))))))
It's pretty wild the degree to which our lives and economy depend on cheap shipping/trucking. Why have a store when a truck can deliver a 100g trinket for someone three States over.
Delivery is actually more resource-efficient if the store isn't within walking distance of its customers. If instead of making 10 people get in their car and make a round trip to the store/warehouse, you put 10 packages in one vehicle and deliver to everyone in the same neighborhood with one trip, you're looking at an order of 90% less wasted emissions.
Tell me you’re in the US without telling me you’re in the US :)
Three states over and back would be a day or two minimum, but potentially nearly a week on the west coast. (Depends on start and stop locations obviously, but if you start from eg Portland, three states over could be the Dakotas).
Edit: Turns out, sadly, had one: https://geekboards.de/blogs/news/were-closing-our-berlin-sho...
I played around with different mechanical switches for a bit, getting a few switch testers and hemming and hawing about which would be my chosen one. Honestly most all of it will be better than your typical $20 rubber dome dell e-waste. I got a Leopold keyboard with tactile mx clears as my first “real” keyboard and it was definitely an improvement and enjoyed it for a few years.
However after my final xbox gamepad once again started getting stick drift, I moved one with Hall effect sticks (gamesir). It was so much better that it resulted in me wanting to try a hall effect keyboard with more customizability. Took a chance with a Keydous NJ98-CP V3 HE (pale green) because it was well reviewed and priced well enough to take a risk on. I love it so much I got my sister one.
It turns out what I truly loved about old IBM beamspring switches wasn’t so much the click, but the smoothness. Typical mechanical linear switches with electrical contacts feel scratchy to me which I find repellent. Oddly enough, having a tactile bump to overcome somehow hides that. But a lubed Hall effect switch is as low friction as you can get and I love them. It’s literally fun to type on, and works great for gaming. As a bonus, it’s pretty quiet too, making it less obnoxious for others to be around.
You’ll need to adjust the activation point to prevent accidental activation when resting your hands, but that’s basically it as far as doing things differently.
As a side note, my mouse is a keychron M5, a “vertical” mouse, which works quite well and supports the higher polling rates I’m looking for. Also highly recommended if you need to give your tendons a break. Personally I think Razer has slightly better algorithms for smoothing and accurately translating my movement intentions, but this is only something I notice when “playing” Excel, and it’s not enough that ergonomics don’t easily win out.
Then it’s a matter of choosing the style, so yes, many simply collect keyboards of their favorite switch type - and often don’t even return the ones they don’t use.
The elites don’t want you to know this but the keyboards are not free you can take them home I have 458 keyboards.
One of the fun type mix the various key switches to have different feel and different locations (easier/lighter switches at the edges for example).
any idea when the next one will be?
In an ideal world we could have something along the lines of a ca. 2002 era Fry's Electronics in size and concept of broad selection of products. But you'd need something the size of the largest Costco to have a really full array of every type of electronic gadget/product that's available online, and as we know, Fry's went famously bankrupt...