A total of 4 reviews of this product on Reddit.
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Another Magicforce 82, though that already comes with the same caps. This is pretty much a unique layout, in the already very niche category of 75% keyboards.
The caps are about as low end as they get, and as I said it’s real cheap to get a similar set that’ll fit either of the iKBCs you linked, so I’m not quite sure why you’re so set on the magicforce caps – but don’t expect to find any other board they’ll cover properly.
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Right you are – it isn’t a great experience compared to traditional online stores, especially so for a UK buyer.
Although I think the Alt is available immediately, usually they come in group buys (the typical format for the majority of hobbyist MK products) in which everyone signs up and pays, then the product is manufactured, and then eventually it’s shipped out (which usually takes a while for the UK as it’s usually from China on not the fastest method).
And then the import tax – can be quite hefty, not sure exactly but I’d guess 10-20% – sure you can look it up.
If you ask around, there will certainly be a lot of other options. I think most of what I’m talking about is more relevant as you get deeper into this hobby.
I personally started with a cheap MK from Amazon, to see what all the mechanical fuss was about. I swapped ctrl and cmd, got used to the ANSI layout, and realised I didn’t miss the ISO keys and was happy with how much better it was than a normal keyboard. From there I learnt more and weighed up my options and eventually settled on the alt (since I had my cheapo board I didn’t mind the weight, and for all the features it had I was happy to pay the price).
This is what I started with: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076M6KBN5
My point is that it’s very easy to go down the rabbit hole with these things, and they are great. That being said, you might be completely happy with the initial options you looked at, but also that a cheap option might be good to start with until you know more of what you want (if you want your “perfect” keyboard, as I did, since my work involves so much typing and it is a significant QoL booster as a result).
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I heard great things about this keyboard and ended up buying the 82 key one (slightly shorter, has an F row) here.
The first 3 I ordered didn’t work with the included USB cable (or any others I had) but the USB from a Magicforce 62 worked. So YMMV on the quality, although I have heard mostly good things outside of my experience.
Qisan ended up sending me a Magicforce 62 after I had ordered the 82.
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~~If you want something cheaper, but overall with a good build quality, there’s also the~~ ~~Magicforce lineup~~~~.~~
A lot of people seem to love them.
Edit: I didn’t see that the money isn’t an issue. In that case, I’d go for KBD75.
