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Keyboard Thread.

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Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
I like keyboards. Post your keyboards here and I will rank them from 1 to 10.
This is not in any way, shape or form sexual.
I just like keyboards very much and looking at my own keyboards isn't enough for me anymore.

My rating criteria would be based on:

- The overall aesthetic of the board. This includes, but is not limited to: The shape, material, keycaps, the cable and the layout of the keyboard.
- Build quality. It's gonna be hard to judge a board's build quality through just photos alone, so additional info regarding your keyboard such as how it is constructed, the materials and features that you think would benefit this category would help me rank it more accurately.
- The switches. Again, it's gonna be hard to tell from photos so additional info is much appreciated.
- Typing sounds. Though this requires a typing demonstration so I'm gonna need a video of you typing on your board to judge it properly.
- Additional special features. Basically extra features that might be useful in a keyboard. This includes but is not limited to: Macros, media keys, displays etc. Although anti features that are masked as an extra feature would affect the rating negatively instead.
- Pricing. Some keyboards might be pretty decent, but have a low ranking. That is because pricing is also a criteria I'd like to judge. If a keyboard isn't great, but is very cheap then I won't judge it too harsh. But if a keyboard is very expensive, but doesn't really seem to be worth it, then I'll be harsher while judging it.

I'd like to judge on key feel as well, however obviously I cannot come and feel your keyboard switches so I will only base this judgement on the switches I've tried only.
For the ones that I haven't felt before, I'll refrain from passing judgement on them.

I try to be as fair and accurate as possible with my ratings. However, the criterias in which I use to rate them are very subjective. So at the end of the day, it's just my opinion and yours maybe different than mine regarding the matter and a keyboard which I thought is shit might be to you, a very good keyboard. So don't be too bummed out if your keyboard, which you think is an excellent keyboard, gets a low rating. What matters is that you like it and it's very much up to taste. It's just that my taste is vastly superior.

Also, I don't rate touchscreen and laptop keyboards since they're almost all the same and I don't know enough about them nor am I interested enough in them to find out about them and give out ratings for them.
But generally, I think most of them are shit.
Lapizote
you already know what mine is.
Hydreigon
too lazy to take a pic but...

still the same keyboard that I'm using right now
ClevelandsMyBro
does laptop counts?
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Hydreigon wrote:

too lazy to take a pic but...

still the same keyboard that I'm using right now
From what I can see, it's just a normal office rubber dome keyboard that you can find anywhere.
Well, nothing wrong with it, but I wouldn't say it's a good keyboard.

Build quality wise, it's probably just a sandwich of 2 plastic pieces with a membrane in the middle. So, not very good.

You can see that some of the letters on the keycap is blurred. Which means the printing methods was either lasering or pad printing. So they're not very durable keycaps.

Overall, not a good keyboard but it works, Nothing outstanding about it.

Edit: One good thing that I suppose I forgot to mention is that it have a stepped capslock key. That's probably about it.

3/10.
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

does laptop counts?
Well, I don't think I'm qualified enough to rate laptop keyboards so no, sorry.
ninore


took one keycap off for switch showcasing purposes (it's a red switch)
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

nedd83 wrote:



took one keycap off for switch showcasing purposes (it's a red switch)
Aesthetics wise, I don't really like it since I don't like gamer looking keyboard overall.

For build quality, it looks to be pretty standard for modern gamer keyboard. Looks like it has a metal mounting plate, probably aluminum and a floating key design without any high bezels. The cable looks to be braided as well.
I don't really like how the floating key design looks, but again this is subjective. But not having bezels means that the key switches would be vulnerable to side knocks.
But overall, the build quality looks to be quite okay.

For switches, it's using red switches. Not sure which brand is it though.
They're light linear switches but they're too light for my liking. But again, this is subjective.
Although red switches are all very similar, depending on the brand the switches can feel quite different.
For my experience, the best linear cherry design red switch is probably Gateron, followed by Kail Box reds. Others feels about the same but Cherry would almost always be the worst.
They're by far the scratchiest that I've felt compared to other clones. Quite ironic considering they're the "original".

The keycaps looks to be doubleshot, so they're very durable. However the stencil fonts are quite ugly imo. But hey, at least it doesn't use those cyber fonts that other gaming keyboards uses.

The board have back lighting but it doesn't look like RGB. Looks like multiple monochrome lights for each row. This is pretty popular on cheap gamer mechanical keyboards.
Although I don't even like proper RBG either so it doesn't really matter to me tbh.

Overall, a cheap, decent, usable board.

5/10
Corne2Plum3
This isn't my exact laptop but the keyboard look like this:
Lapizote
okay fine, here's what mine looks like



pre-loved (and probably uncleaned) for 5 years, babiee
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

This isn't my exact laptop but the keyboard look like this:
Well, I don't know enough about laptop keyboards to rate them properly, sorry.

But most of the time they're just rubber domes with scissors or butterfly looking pieces of plastic on them.
I have yet to tried a laptop keyboard that I thought was good yet. They're all very shallow and flat and some even hurts my finger tips after typing on them for a while.
A full travel keyboard would be much better imo.

Though this is all subjective. I know people who really like laptop and chicklet keyboards and swear by them.
Meguro
ain't no mechanical
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

axl2468 wrote:

okay fine, here's what mine looks like



pre-loved (and probably uncleaned) for 5 years, babiee
This looks horrible. It's probably even worst than a regular rubber dome keyboard.

This looks like Hydreigon's keyboard but worst.
The keycaps are all flat for some reason. I guess they tried to make them flatter to make it looks more slick but I fucking hate flat keycaps. They're very uncomfortable to type on and they makes it harder to find the keys you're trying to type by feel so I have to look at them constantly when typing which slows me down significantly.

Not much else to talk about it either. It's a rubber dome office keyboard. But worst than most other rubber dome office keyvboards.

2/10
Isshiki Kaname
I'll save you some time. Bloody B110. 1/10
Also, keys on mine already flake off. Double injection my ass.
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Meguro wrote:

ain't no mechanical
Looks like a cheap Gamer keyboard.
Although it looks better than most gamer keyboards I saw.

Not much else to talk about. It's not much different from a normal office keyboard aside from the hideous cyber gamer font on the keycaps and monochrome backlighting.

I'll give it 3/10.
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

KatouMegumi wrote:

I'll save you some time. Bloody B110. 1/10
Also, keys on mine already flake off. Double injection my ass.
You sure that's the correct model name?
Because I can't find anything about a Bloody B110. The closest I've found is B120.

Or maybe it's so bad that they deleted it from history of mankind lol.
Lapizote

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

2/10
tbh i expected 1/10, but i guess there are worse ones out there, at least this one works.
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

axl2468 wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

2/10
tbh i expected 1/10, but i guess there are worse ones out there, at least this one works.
Oh trust me, I've experienced a 1/10 keyboard before.
It makes a rubber dome keyboard feels fucking elegant and sophisticated.

Though I suppose it's hard to rate any keyboards here a 1/10 since I can't feel what they're like to type on.
Isshiki Kaname

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

KatouMegumi wrote:

I'll save you some time. Bloody B110. 1/10
Also, keys on mine already flake off. Double injection my ass.
You sure that's the correct model name?
Because I can't find anything about a Bloody B110. The closest I've found is B120.

Or maybe it's so bad that they deleted it from history of mankind lol.
Aight, it was B120. And as you can see, it is in a sorry state. Double injection sucks.
Lapizote
somehow a cheap 5-year old office keyboard has its keycaps in a better state than a more expensive gamer-oritented keyboard from the same company.
Noob
Not mechanical,just an ordinary discounted gaming keyboard I found on Shopee.

Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

KatouMegumi wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

KatouMegumi wrote:

I'll save you some time. Bloody B110. 1/10
Also, keys on mine already flake off. Double injection my ass.
You sure that's the correct model name?
Because I can't find anything about a Bloody B110. The closest I've found is B120.

Or maybe it's so bad that they deleted it from history of mankind lol.
Aight, it was B120. And as you can see, it is in a sorry state. Double injection sucks.
From what I can find about it, it's just another rubber dome gamer back lit keyboard.
Not as bad as a 1/10, but not a good board overall.

Also, I can't find anywhere on their website that they say that the keycaps are doubleshot. Although they said the board has "Auto-shot key setting" and "Turbo-shot key setting"... Whatever that means.
Sounds like some marketing bullshit to me.

I'll rate it 3/10.
Isshiki Kaname
Hey, tad. Hypothetically, how would you rate a Model M?
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

NoobDev wrote:

Not mechanical,just an ordinary gaming keyboard I found on sale on Shopee.

Again, not much to talk about.

Though the gamer looking font and shape makes me want to vomit.

It looks like it have RBG though so it'll make a great night lamp.

3/10
Nuuskamuikkunen
If I showed you mine, I'd be sure that you'd score it 1/10 at best.

I have kept this office keyboard since 2012. Some of its keys are already sunk-bent. I also live in a dusty place to make it worse xp
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

KatouMegumi wrote:

Hey, tad. Hypothetically, how would you rate a Model M?
A classic.
Great build quality and key feel.
Looks big, chunky and elegant.

8/10 (Although different models of Model M would have different ratings.)

I've only had the chance to experience it for a few times though. Since it's quite a heavy board the shipping fees are ridiculous if I try to get one from America.
And the people that has one where I live keeps them like it's their family heirloom.
So yeah, sadly I can't own one. I can only get to experience them through meetups.
Akumace1

I live in a third world country
Winnyace


runner up for 1/10 keyboard
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Akumace1 wrote:


I live in a third world country
Like I said before, I don't rank Laptop keyboards. Sorry.

Winnyace wrote:



runner up for 1/10 keyboard
Looks like another rubber dome office board to me.

Well, at least it looks clean.

3/10

Edit: Since so many people posted similar keyboards that have the same ratings, I've grouped all of them into one ranking.
Foxi
Now this is my kinda thread.

Unfortunately, I have like 7 mechs, so I'm not sure which one to post.
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Foxi wrote:

Now this is my kinda thread.

Unfortunately, I have like 7 mechs, so I'm not sure which one to post.
If you want you can post all 7 and I'll rank all of them lol.
abraker
One of the best keyboards you can get
Penguin

My keyboard is very crusty because I eat noodles and shit at my desk. I really hate cleaning keyboards and nobody else uses mine, so I don't really care.

Switches are Cherry Reds. Sounds like every single other Cherry Red switches, so I'm not gonna post a video for that.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

I like keyboards. Post your keyboards here and I will rank them from 1 to 10.
This is not in any way, shape or form sexual.
:^)
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

One of the best keyboards you can get
It's one of the best in production stock keyboard that you can buy right now, yes.

Look wise, even though I don't like floating key designs and gamer keyboards, it looks pretty clean ngl.

Build quality is again average for a modern mechanical keyboard with metal mounting plate and braided cables.

The most interesting thing about the whole board though are the switches. The switches on the alpha block on this board are hall effects switches, which means they're contactless switches and therefore super smooth.
I don't have this keyboard but I've tried it on keyboard meetups before and the key feel is one of the smoothest I've felt. And because the switches are hall effects, the life time could potentially reach billions of keystrokes before you wear out one switch. So durability wise, it's literally imortal, unless you deliberately want to break it.

Being hall effects switches also means that you could set the actuation point of the switch so, despite it being light like cherry MX reds, I don't get nearly as many typos on it as I do with MX red switches. So that's one of the board's best feature imo.

There's also a screen on this keyboard that could display game related stuffs or animations or sruffs that you draw on it which is a nice touch.

Now on to the downsides.
First of all, the price. It's pretty pricey. With the same price you could get several other keyboards.
And there isn't a wide variety of switch choices either.
You can only get linear switches on this board. Although admittedly, they're one of the best linears out there.

The 2nd downside is that only the keys on the alpha block are hall effect switches. The others are normal mechanical switches.
Though this is a bit disappointing but I guess it's understandable since it'll be ridiculously priced if the whole board were to use hall effects switches.
I'd rather have the board only have hall effects on the alpha keys and stay at a reasonable price than to add more to the already high price tag.

3rd downside is the keycaps.
You'd think for the price they'd give you decent keycaps, but no they're just keycaps coated in black paint and then lasered.
This makes for very sharp looking keycaps and it makes the back lighting shines through quite well, but these caps aren't very durable and can wear off relatively quick, turning into blobs of light depending on how often you uses it.

Overall, a pricey premium keyboard but it actually have interesting features to back up it's high price.

8/10
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:


My keyboard is very crusty because I eat noodles and shit at my desk. I really hate cleaning keyboards and nobody else uses mine, so I don't really care.

Switches are Cherry Reds. Sounds like every single other Cherry Red switches, so I'm not gonna post a video for that.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

I like keyboards. Post your keyboards here and I will rank them from 1 to 10.
This is not in any way, shape or form sexual.
:^)
Aesthetic wise, disregarding the crusty state of the board, it looks pretty clean and simple.
A bit plain but I like it. It doesn't try to be showy like most gamer keyboards out there.

Build quality again looks standard for modern mechanical keyboards. Decently tough.

The keycaps from what I read about it on their website said that it's double shot keycaps so it's very durable and the legends will never fade away.
One of the good thing about it is that it doesn't use a gamer cyber font nor the ugly stencil letters. It's just a normal font so it looks nice and clean.

Back lighting seems to be monochrome. But I think this is better than RGB. I don't like RGB or Back lighting as a whole anyways. And RGB lights can never produce a good "white" color so the white LED on this board is actually better than RGB in this case since the color perfectly fits the clean aesthetic of the board.

The weakest part of the board is probably the switches. I personally don't like the weighting of Cherry MX reds, but weighting is subjective.
However, cherry switches are all very scratchy and not that pleasant to use imo.
Even the cherry clones are much better than them. Gateron for example manufacture cheaper, yet much smoother switches than cherry does.

It's a shame that mainstream gaming keyboards usually stick with Cherry since that's what most people think is the best.
I think they're overpriced and overated switches.

Overall, a clean looking, functional mechanical keyboard.

6/10.
Penguin

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Penguin wrote:


My keyboard is very crusty because I eat noodles and shit at my desk. I really hate cleaning keyboards and nobody else uses mine, so I don't really care.

Switches are Cherry Reds. Sounds like every single other Cherry Red switches, so I'm not gonna post a video for that.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

I like keyboards. Post your keyboards here and I will rank them from 1 to 10.
This is not in any way, shape or form sexual.
:^)
Aesthetic wise, disregarding the crusty state of the board, it looks pretty clean and simple.
A bit plain but I like it. It doesn't try to be showy like most gamer keyboards out there.

Build quality again looks standard for modern mechanical keyboards. Decently tough.

The keycaps from what I read about it on their website said that it's double shot keycaps so it's very durable and the legends will never fade away.
One of the good thing about it is that it doesn't use a gamer cyber font nor the ugly stencil letters. It's just a normal font so it looks nice and clean.

Back lighting seems to be monochrome. But I think this is better than RGB. I don't like RGB or Back lighting as a whole anyways. And RGB lights can never produce a good "white" color so the white LED on this board is actually better than RGB in this case since the color perfectly fits the clean aesthetic of the board.

The weakest part of the board is probably the switches. I personally don't like the weighting of Cherry MX reds, but weighting is subjective.
However, cherry switches are all very scratchy and not that pleasant to use imo.
Even the cherry clones are much better than them. Gateron for example manufacture cheaper, yet much smoother switches than cherry does.

It's a shame that mainstream gaming keyboards usually stick with Cherry since that's what most people think is the best.
I think they're overpriced and overated switches.

Overall, a clean looking, functional mechanical keyboard.

6/10.
I'm happy with this score. I feel like I should get bonus points for the price though. $50USD is a steal IMO for a keyboard like this.
Jonarwhal
"This is not in any way, shape or form sexual."

that's what they all say

regardless i am in laptop club
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

I'm happy with this score. I feel like I should get bonus points for the price though. $50USD is a steal IMO for a keyboard like this.
Well for $40 you could get pretty similar Chinese gaming keyboards as well.
However, they'd almost always comes with ugly ass keycaps that are either lasered or double shot but with stencil letters.

So yeah, I guess I'll raise the score a bit.

6.3/10
keremaru
i can't take a picture of my laptop keyboard (because my tablet keeps crashing whenever i try to open the camera), so just imagine a 70 keyboard with a bunch of dead skin cells stuck to the keycaps.
and a touchstyk with a missing cushion, so there's a crap ton of (insert whatever the hell managed to get inside the gaps of my practically unusable touchstyk) that built up in the corners.
and more dead skin cells in the gaps between the keycaps.

and no, the stuff on my keycaps is NOT cum.
z0z
Taikah
Winnyace
@Taikah

you can use the [img] tag for that. on imgur, be sure to right click on the image and select 'Copy Image Location' or smth along those lines and paste it inbetween the tag so smth like this

[img]link[/img]
Taikah

Winnyace wrote:

@Taikah

you can use the [img] tag for that. on imgur, be sure to right click on the image and select Copy Image Location or smth along those lines.
aah I'm dumb, I was copy/pasting the direct link and not the image link LOL
Penguin

Taikah wrote:

this one probably secures the top spot for a while.
Winnyace

Taikah wrote:

Winnyace wrote:

@Taikah

you can use the [img] tag for that. on imgur, be sure to right click on the image and select Copy Image Location or smth along those lines.
aah I'm dumb, I was copy/pasting the direct link and not the image link LOL
it's fine. you seem to be new to the forums, so it's okay, at least in my book.

Penguin wrote:

this one probably secures the top spot for a while.
I agree. it looks very nice!
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

z0z wrote:

Looks like a logitech board.

Build quality wise, it's yet again, standard for modern mech boards.

This board have media control keys and a roller so they're pretty useful. I like that feature.

Now on to the switches. I'm not sure what model this is, but Logitech keyboards usually comes with either Cherry MX or Omron made "Romer G" switches and the latter is complete fucking cunt licking shit stain.
It's said to be a "tactile" switch but to that I say, your mum is tactile.
Seriously, without reading on them saying that they're tactile, I genuinely thought they were linear switches. They're even worst than cherry MX brown.

Keycaps wise, as you can see, it's lasered keycaps again, with an ugly ass cyber gamer font.
You can see it's been wearing away and the X key has turned into a blob because of that.
Worst yet, if it's using Romer G, it's almost impossible to find replacement keycaps once your keycaps eventually all wear off since they use a different mount than Cherry MX.

Overall, a very mediocre keyboard. It's decent and it works, but I wouldn't say that it's good.

5.5/10
Kolmas
Keychron K6 LK Red
Basically look like this
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Taikah wrote:

Build quality, again not much to talk about. Pretty standard.

Layout wise, it's a 60%. I personally can't stand 60%. I used one a while back and I had to get another board since I can't stand not having the nav keys and the F row.
Though keyboard layout is subjective so I'm not gonna fault it for that.

Switches wise, cherry MX silent is a pretty effective silent switch. One of my friend who is obsessed with noise had a board with them in it and yeah, they're quite silent. I'd say they're pretty close noise wise to a regular rubber dome keyboard and is even more quiet than some rubber domes.
If you also add foam into your keyboard case and maybe a dampening pad underneath it can even be more silent.
But yeah, it feels mushier than a normal mechanical switch. It's not as mushy as a rubber dome though.
The feel is still firmer, somewhere between a rubber dome keyboard and a regular mechanical switch.
I personally don't like the dampened feeling, but if you want a softer feeling switch then you might like it.
Smoothness wise, it's the same as regular cherry MX. Not very smooth.
But overall, it's a functional and effective switch.

Keycaps wise, oh dear.
Well they're taihao made caps so they're doubleshot so the legends will never fade away. Taihao caps are on the thinner side though so they fit pretty well on clicky switches since they make the sound louder. But even on a silenced switch I think they're fine, shouldn't make the sound too much louder, though I'd personally prefer thicker keycaps on them.
But I don't really like the rainbow vomit color. It's just not my thing.
But hey, at least it's using a normal font.

This is one of the case where I'd like to have a typing demonstration video to judge on the sound to see it's effectiveness in silencing the sound. But from what I see, it should still be fairly effective.

Overall, an okay, average keyboard.

6/10
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

tyhjyys wrote:

Keychron K6 LK Red
Basically look like this
Build quality wise, it depends on the version you get I suppose.
I think from what I remember they sold those keyboards in 2 configuration, either with a plastic case or aluminum case.
Although the alu case version is just plates of aluminum slid on the sides of a plastic case, so not a fully aluminum case.
Although, it's still better than most modern keyboards out there.

Layout wise, looks like 68%.
This layout has been pretty popular lately. It's basically between a 60% and a 75%.
I personally prefer more buttons on my keyboard, but if I have to use one with such layout, I would be fine with it.

Switches wise, looks like the version you got has optical switches.
I personally haven't tried these switches before, however I have tried the Gateron optical switches and the LK Libra switches on the Razer Huntsman TE before and both of those switches were very smooth.
The switches you got looks to be the 2nd gen of Optical switch from the same makers of the LK Libra switches that Razer used - which are 3rd gen switches. I'd like to name them here but I can't spell or pronounce their names and I'm too lazy to Google them so I'm gonna refrain from doing so.
So even though I haven't tried them out yet, since they're contactless and from what I tried before, I think it's safe to assume that they're pretty smooth also.

The keycaps is probably the board's weak point. They're not very particularly well made, but at least they looks nice and they use a regular font.

Overall, a decently built keyboard with smooth (maybe) switches.

6.7/10
Taikah

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Taikah wrote:

Build quality, again not much to talk about. Pretty standard.

Layout wise, it's a 60%. I personally can't stand 60%. I used one a while back and I had to get another board since I can't stand not having the nav keys and the F row.
Though keyboard layout is subjective so I'm not gonna fault it for that.

Switches wise, cherry MX silent is a pretty effective silent switch. One of my friend who is obsessed with noise had a board with them in it and yeah, they're quite silent. I'd say they're pretty close noise wise to a regular rubber dome keyboard and is even more quiet than some rubber domes.
If you also add foam into your keyboard case and maybe a dampening pad underneath it can even be more silent.
But yeah, it feels mushier than a normal mechanical switch. It's not as mushy as a rubber dome though.
The feel is still firmer, somewhere between a rubber dome keyboard and a regular mechanical switch.
I personally don't like the dampened feeling, but if you want a softer feeling switch then you might like it.
Smoothness wise, it's the same as regular cherry MX. Not very smooth.
But overall, it's a functional and effective switch.

Keycaps wise, oh dear.
Well they're taihao made caps so they're doubleshot so the legends will never fade away. Taihao caps are on the thinner side though so they fit pretty well on clicky switches since they make the sound louder. But even on a silenced switch I think they're fine, shouldn't make the sound too much louder, though I'd personally prefer thicker keycaps on them.
But I don't really like the rainbow vomit color. It's just not my thing.
But hey, at least it's using a normal font.

This is one of the case where I'd like to have a typing demonstration video to judge on the sound to see it's effectiveness in silencing the sound. But from what I see, it should still be fairly effective.

Overall, an okay, average keyboard.

6/10
Completely fair and was expecting a similar score to yours or lower. My choice in getting a 60% keyboard rather than a full was completely due to my desk size and this was the perfect opportunity to try out a smaller keyboard because why not? Though, if given the chance, I'd gladly go back to a full keyboard any day.

Agree with ya on the thicker key caps, the thinness of these keycaps have a higher pitch sound and quality wise, feels cheaper than the default keys I had prior to when buying this keyboard.

Going from a Logitech G910, this Keyboard felt more personalized as I wanted to match the theme of my desktop setup which generalized in the sunset ocean theme. Once I have the money to invest, I'll definitely want to try and reach out to custom KB makers like Taeha Types or Susboards.

Really appreciate the time you took on judging my keyboard, thanks Tad ❤
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