MonsGeek - M3

Those are all from gaming or mainstream office equipment companies and they tend to produce overpriced boards because they're not run by keyboard fans. TBH I don't know what Glorious damage is, but I regretted everything I bought from them. Even Microcenter does better (Inland is their house brand). 80%: Zouya GMK87, Monsgeek M3 v3, Keychron V4, because that's basically all the ones I know of with VIA, I really don't do anything over 75%. 75%: Gamakay SN75, Keychron K2 Pro/Max or V1 or V1 Max, Monsgeek M1[W] v3/v5 VIA, Akko 5075S VIA, Inland MK Pro (KB83) and MK Pro v2, YMDK YMD75, KPrepublic ID84 or CSTC75, Womier RD75, Ducky Tinker75, or Shortcut Studio Bridge75. 70%: Keychron V7, Yunzii AL71. Also Woot currently has the Keychron Q7 on special for like 1/3 list. 65%: XVX M67, Yunzii AL68, Keychron V2, Ducky Tinker65. 60%: Skyloong GK61 Pro/DS QMK/VIA, Royal Kludge RK61 QMK/VIA, CIDOO QK61 QMK/VIA. 40%/ortho: Inland MK47, KPRepublic CSTC40, Nuphy RS40, YMDK ID75 TKL/FRL/XT: Daring Run DR-70F

Keychron is not really "high end", it's basically the Oldsmobile and Pontiac of the keyboard business. And the Q and V series boards have been haunted by quality control problems lately. If you want a metal tank I would recommend the Monsgeek M series.

> no hotswap on keychrons pcbs is a bummer tho So much confusion. All keychron's Q and V series baords and most of the K Pro and Max boards are hotswap. All their magnetic boards are hotswap. The issue with everyone else's firmware is that it's not open source or compatible with VIA.

With few exceptions high end keyboards don't tend to be any better than moderately priced ones, they're just styled expensive. Some of them are worse because they have worse software. I can't say much about magnetic boards, to me they're worse because pretty much all magnetic "switches" are non-silent and linear, and they're not cross-compatible, and apart from Wooting and Keychron the supporting software is completely pants. There are a lot of high-end boards with proprietary firmware instead of QMK or ZMK, which I would call a deal-killer. I haven't used Wootility but I suspect it's got configuration limitations. All the closed-source drivers are like that. And there are very few that are wired-only because at that price level the extra hardware for wireless support is a drop in the bucket. If you're concerned, you can always remove the batteries and they should still work. Personally I find wooden cases better options than plastic or metal. They're as rigid as metal, sound great, and aren't huge heavy warhammers. * [Womier WD75](https://www.amazon.com/Womier-Mechanical-Swappable-Translucent-Keycaps-POM/dp/B0DT8SP79R) * ($96) * [Glencreag WK84](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYDM9N49) * ($95 w/ coupon) * YMDK [YMD75](https://ymdkey.com/collections/75-diy) ($64-$110 diy) and [YMD96](https://ymdkey.com/collections/96-diy) ($60-$142 diy) * [Sharkoon Skiller SGK50](https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Sharkoon-Skiller-Barebone-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B0F8HQFGVL) family (€130) None of these are gasket mount for obvious reasons, the only wooden gasket mounted board I know of is the Barret. I don't know if this is actually buyable. * [Barret Creative BC-75](https://barrettcreative.shop/bc75) ($280+) For gasket mounted boards, I don't think you can honestly do much better than the Monsgeek M series. * [Monsgeek M1 v5 VIA](https://www.monsgeek.com/product/m1-v5-via-rapid-disassembly/) Seriously, there's just so much you can do with a keyboard before you're just using weird materials or charging a markup for engraved plates you can't even see.

It typically costs over $200, though, for a board that's no better than a Monsgeek little more than half the price.

I think most of these are terrible recommendations. Why would you suggest random amazon boards in 2025 when boards like QK Neo or Cycle7/8 exist? I think monsgeek is fine but all the other boards you listed are kinda sus imo.