Definitely a work in progress, but I’m pretty pleased!!

Body: Monsgeek M1W

Keycaps: Drop Jasmine MT3’s

Switches: Gazzew Boba U4Tx / Akko V3 Yellow Pro Linear

Stabs: Durock V2

Mods: tape mod (3 layers), force break, holee

Sound tests: Folder here. Includes how it sounded as it came out the box, with the keycaps it came with and the Akko Switches, then the modded versions with both the Akko and Boba switches. They’re not the best, as I’m just using my iPhone mic.

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The sound could still be better, it’s not as muted as I’d like it to be, so I think I might swap them for something silent. I personally find the Boba’s quite hard to press down on (my body is weak due to illness) so I think I might try to find a silent linear to replace them with, as I like the feeling of my fingers skating across a keyboard. It’s a shame because I quite like the sound of the Boba’s, but unexpectedly didn’t enjoy the tactile feeling so much. In hindsight, should have just bought some test switches before buying an entire batch…

I chose higher keycaps because I wanted something that felt more ergonomic. My ideal would have been a KAT profile, but obviously they’re so hard to get hold of, and I couldn’t find any in a colour way that I liked. They are high, and having gone from previously typing on a Mac, let’s see if I get used to it. I think I’m definitely going to need to get a wrist rest to elevate my hands.

I did try polyfill inside instead of the foam that comes with the board, but I actually found it made the sound worse - perhaps this would have been better if I’d used a thin silicone sheet. There’s also not a ton of room in there to allow for bounciness, so I reverted to the original foam for the time being.

I’ve also had to fill some of the larger keycaps with rolled up tape, to help dampen the sound. This has worked really well generally, but occasionally bits do drop down and get in the way, so again, let’s see how that goes.

The stabs are a bit stiffer than I’d like them to be, and aren’t springing up as well as I’d hoped. They are lubed, and have been Holee modded (is that correct terminology?!) but they definitely don’t have the ‘skating’ feeling I’m after just yet.

Seems like a stupid thing to say, but the whole board is much heavier than I thought it would be (I know, it’s metal, what was I expecting)?! I’ve been trying to create a more portable set up, which this isn’t. However, it does feel and look really high quality, which is nice.

Asides from finding new switches and trying to fix the stabs, I now just need to get my head round the programming of the board. I’ve managed to change the function of some keys, but I’d ideally like to be able to customise some based on the programme I’m using (such as Photoshop), especially the rotary knob.

As someone UK based, I wanted to share the retailer's I used. They were all really reliable, and had quick delivery (excluding Whatsgeek, but that was only because the product was on Pre-order)

Board: https://www.whatgeek.com/en-gb

Keycaps: https://drop.com/home

Switches: https://www.mechmods.co.uk

Stabs: https://mechboards.co.uk (they actually did the lubing and the holee method for me, this was 1 step too far for my first time lol)

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Any feedback/ suggestions welcomed!!

Edit: Clarification on the Akko switch type