I build communities centered around technology and helping each other grow as people. On this channel I focus a lot on the technology with content on keyboards, headphones, laptops, etc.
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Andy Nguyen
15570 Brookhurst St.
PMB 101
Westminster, CA 92683
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how does the sound profile fair against the TGR Jane V2 ME ?
Beats the v2 me for sure. V2 me needs force break to get close and even then the cycle 8 sounds more full. V2 me with force break and an upgraded back weight sounds better but that’s a few hundred dollars in upgrade on top of the v2 me lol
i just cant justify the group buy model anymore. if the keeb, or keyset isnt in stock, to me it is a failure out the gate and I click away. this hobby needs to learn to be less about fomo.
I don’t think products like budget board GBs are about FOMO. It’s just the business model to get things made to meet the demand. There’s just not enough demand to in stock these keyboards. If there were, it’d cost more. I do imagine injection mold boards being instocked more often . Either way there’s still plenty of options to buy secondhand or extras of past GBs so you do not HAVE to enter a group buy to get something
do you think this board will benefit from some of the old mods like the tape mod?
Don’t need tape mod at all but you can do it if you like the sound it gives
Hello, I have a question, i have a choice to buy one of following boards - tofu 65 2.0, mode enjoy 65 and mode sixty five. So according your video i realize that there aren't any big difference between envoy and tofu, but what about sixtyfive doest it bring much better experience than tofu and envoy, as according to the some youtubers sixtyfive is the next level board is it true? so i have a oppotunity to buy tofu for 125$ on the other hard sixtyfive costs around 300$, so doest the overpay of 150$ worhth it and i will really get next level typing expiricence?
You will not get “next level” 2x the typing experience by spending more imo. The typing experience is tofu 65 2.0 is very nice. The sound is OK. I’d probably lean towards sixty five in general if I had the budget but you could be just as happy with the tofu 65 2.0. I enjoyed my tofu60 2.0 when I used it.
We need more "budget" keyboards with a 3 or 4 split space bar option
There’s just not a lot of demand for it. It’s more functional but it looks less aesthetic. You can find them in smaller run boards with cheaper materials like fr4 or acrylic. But I have not seen one with CNC anodized alu and weights
I see. :-( Thanks for the info.
crying in UK 😭😭
handsome andy is back
Love the board. Definitely don’t love it enough to pay 1200$. I think that’s completely stupid, i’d rather buy a kalam copy than pay 3x the retail price xD
for the sound tests whats the board above it? that purple is insane
ironically it was the wrong color lol. just a one off a mod made. it was the failed proto so he gifted it to me lol. he calls it the ditto. chu.works
Hey Andy, been thinking of buying used kbd8x mk3 with gmk metropolis keycaps and jerzzi tu switches. Would you think it's a good deal for 220€ in good condition? I want to get my first mechanical keyboard. How does that keyboard compare to this? Thanks!
Sounds like a good deal to me with a set of gmk and switches.
I def think the Neo80 beat this to the punch, but still good to see.
Yeah timing hasn’t been TKD’s strong suit. I have been waiting for this for a while
@@AndyVNguyen still good to see competition in the market though. Budget boards are so bangin’ that GB boards only make sense if the design truly resonates with you
Yeah and every time a new drop comes.. it’s a few bucks cheaper or another feature is added lol
Is it still budget when you order it with all the plush options (brass, PvD, brass internal). Mine was close to $300 with shipping.
You double brassed so no not really but $300 shipped is still like the starting price of aluminum only boards. I thought pvd was default too?
Its probably just me, but idk why all your switches sound like tactiles to me even though you’re using linears? Might be the mic?
This is the first time someone has said this. I’m using a shotgun mic currently. I also hit my switches harder than most.
Great video! Solely in terms of sound, how would you compare the cycle 8 in the config you have (SS internal weight and battery cover) again the geon f1-8x?
F1 wins for sure. But cycle8 doesn’t sound weaker, f1 is just a super dense board. If you want to go all brass upgrades then it’ll be a closer match
how does this compare to the qk80?
I would just pick the one that looks better to you. QK stuff is good, but it’s priced higher than cycle series.
yyyyyyyyyyea this one is it
It bangs
8:58 but I want a keyboard like a unikorn 🥲
Friction o ring 60s are a dime a dozen these days. Ciel60 comes to mind
@@AndyVNguyen all sold out. They also sound a little too dull for my liking. I was looking at the alas60 but it’s out as well even the b stock.
Ready to buy in stock today isn’t common in the hobby unfortunately. Most things are purchased secondhand
this or neo80
I like the internal weight and aesthetic of the back weight of cycle8 more
11:45 Man this was such a fun moment for me to remember how e-white tofu was $220 in 2021, nowadays the redux is just over half that with a decently hefty brass weight and has o-ring standoffs
The tofu was the budget standard and people looked down on it for being so cheap. Now it looks expensive compared to todays options lol
Lol I cringe now at what I paid for a maker scarlet in the gb stage in 2021 ($239 base 😭)
How does this compare in terms of sound? Vs the neo80 and luminkey80
Unfortunately I don’t have those on hand. My neo65 was a banger so I don’t expect the neo80 to be worse. The neo65 IMO didn’t sound the fullest without foams but was totally serviceable.
There are many good keebs in the price range of cycle8, like the tb8 (techbear8) or neo80. Many people claim that the former is better than the cycle8 by a margin and cycle8 is somewhere between tb8 and neo80. It's pity that I only have the neo80 and I'd love to try the TB8, however the teal cycle8 is such a candy to my eyes that I can't decide to pick up the TB8 or the cycle8.
Gotta get them all. 😂
Honestly they’ve all reached the bar where it sounds good enough. What you’re gonna have to deal with more is the aesthetic. Pick the one that has your favorite look imo. I could have the best sounding tkl at a good price but if it’s just a black rectangle with no weight then I’d get bored, personally.
I’d have to say the Neo 80 is a better deal and setup imo
The main thing this has over the neo80 is internal weights
I like the aesthetic and weight of cycle 8 but if you’re talking purely budget, neo is hard to beat
In Vietnam, there are a lot of people who bought the Cycle8 from China. Although the board itself need some force - break to sound good though, it is truly a banger
could you show some force break tips on this board? much appreciate it
@@vuoan9999 Bro có thể xài băng keo điện hoặc băng keo vải dán 4-5 miếng cách đều ở phần trong của top case ấy. Với đổi tạ pin là Đồng thay vì SS cũng giúp khá nhiều
The scooped bar video shows how they force breaked it
hey andy, you're really starting to make me mad!! 😠💢👿👿 I was eying this until I decided not to buy it, but with my birthday coming up and your video appearing on my feed, the world is telling me to buy it
ITS TIME TO BUY
@@AndyVNguyenHAHAHAHA ill send soon on discord
For my broke ass, "budget" means maybe $50 or less😓
that's like.. JUST the shipping cost for an f1-8x v2 lmao
I totally agree with you. Don’t get me wrong I own a $600 keeb. But budget to me means less than $70
look into the transition lite TKL from swagkeys! it’s plastic and has flexcuts so you might have to rock some foams but it’s literally $50 (crazy for a TKL) and looks really cool visually imo
what's the name of that purple keyboard it looks fire dude
Custom keyboard my moderator designed. He gifted me the first scuffed prototype. It’s called ditto, my twitch vods feature it since it’s a recent stream
would you say the f1-8x is better enough to justify the price difference?
I have a hard time answering that because I personally find it SO boring looking. If you're ONLY a sound person, maybe. It's a high quality good sounding board but doesn't tick the aesthetic box for me.
@@AndyVNguyen fair, I'm already in the v2 GB since I wanted another tkl but this cycle board looks like a great value even if I'm a sound guy RGB above arrows isn't really for me, other than that this board looks great.
@@riceshakes You can customize if you want the rgb accent or not :)
@@riceshakes I would rate this keyboard 8/10 compare to F1v2 in term of sound. But the F1 also provides three different mounting styles: gasket, sandwich and plateless. While the Cycle8 only has gasket mount ( these oring and beans are just change the typing feel )
Gotta note you gotta buy extra stuff for plateless. I’ve never tried sandwich f1. But plateless f1 sounds meh and I’d go for the o ring every time lol
left side sounds wierd, but over-all. I think that the O-ring fucks fr fr
Grabbed one of these (got the brass and no accent) and still waiting on my Jris80, hopefully have them by the end of the year =D. It's crazy that boards as good as these can go for the prices they are selling for, just wish more of these vendors could follow QuertyKeys for 'budget' boards and do rolling production instead of GB's now a days, maybe someday (though probably not). Also worth noting there is an HE PCB option, it's not cheap but seems to be a point of interest for some.
Nice! And I have never tried a jris80 but I’ve heard good things. Qwertykeys def has an OP delivery model
sounds really similar to my freebird tkl - would you say its worth the swap for the extra weight?
I’ve reviewed the freebird.. it sounds worse than the kbd8xmk iii and the kbd8x mkiii is outshined by this lol. Maybe ss battery cover upgrade. Def don’t need the internal weight for sure.
@@AndyVNguyen thanks for the rec! Fell out of the hobby over the last couple years so looking at this or the mchose gx87 to get me back in to it all
That gx87 looks pretty good tbh
got one with full brass and a pc plate, 230 is crazy for almost 3 kg
that's baller and heavy lmao
They kind of burned me a little moving the deliver date. By the time they actually delivered the Cycle7 there was boards out just as good for faster delivery. I am thinking this same thing will happen with this one. They need to deliver faster than Q4 which moved farther out on the cycle7. The Mchose GX87 is already knocking on the door and is close enough to this board and for less. Already has the ball catch system.
valid. they were definitely figuring things out on cycle 7. even big dogs like cannonkeys had some growing pains early on, but with so many options out there you're not FORCED to rely on just one vendor like back then. i'm surprised that the ball catch system just moved into other boards. china do be copying each other lmao
@@AndyVNguyen Yeah they should do batch ordering I think that is more favorable to both buyers and seller. That way you aren't waiting 6+ months only to basically get what starts to come out from other vendors for cheaper. I think QwertyKeys has most favorable ordering. Got my Ergo in a month and half and other boards from them were a little quicker. Batching saves them from having to stock and is ordering on demand. They should copy this from each other :)
I think QK/Owlab starts manufacturing early before GB end or something, which is why they can get it out so fast. TKD is smaller and they're working with Clickclack so that's another layer that takes more time
awesome
i agree!
8:54 woah Andy, is this not the internet? I thought it was all about presenting our subjective opinions as fact. Jokes aside, great sounding board, definitely prefer the top w/out the accent, and exciting to see the return to nonflexcut plates with nonflexcut 1.6 mm PCBs!
Solid board, have to pick one up!
such an easy recommendation for a tkl
It's a good thing I only buy stupid expensive boards 😂 Seriously, crazy how far boards have come. Is this the new status quo? Would be nice!
sometimes we need to scratch that itch lmao
I couldn't help but notice "Andy's knee surgery" in the Twitch clips. I haven't been following keyboards for a while but I hope you are doing well!
Thanks for the concern! I'm doing a lot better these days. Had surgery 7 months ago so life has been kind of crazy
Oh this won the best keeb category in last Sunday’s Mode Meetup in MA
it did indeed
I care more about 'feel' than sound, so is this a direction worth going or just a gimmick?
This is more for the novelty than the next step in custom mechanical keyboards IMO. At least the way it's implimented here.
space blended in with alphas while typing... ouch
Now this has a lot of fancy parts to it, but there's already an In Stock magnetic mounted keyboard. The Whitefox Eclipse by Alpaca Keyboards is a magnetic mounted keyboard that you can order now from Kona for 315.oo which is not cheap, but in comparison to the Noland N1, it's a positive steal, LOL
This thing look like a spaceship tho. I really dig the look of it.
@@shiningyrlife Oh, it definitely has the aesthetic on its side, but if someone just wants to have the magnetic mounting, in stock, without the 550 - 1250 price tag then this is a good option.
interesting option. It looks to be a different type of product, uses magnetic case assembly and uses foam/gaskets for mounting. The pcb looks to be attached to the top case rather than free floating like it is here in the N1. Aesthetically speaking it looks like a normal keyboard as well. At least it's on sale for $275
@@AndyVNguyen From what I can tell, yeah the case is also held together with magnets, but the gaskets are on the top to give it something to push against, but the the bottom gaskets are magnetic. @chyrosran22 did a review of it a while back. But yeah, aesthetically speaking, it is a very boring keyboard. I did not get the keyboard and opted instead to wait and order the Zoom65v3 for all of my magnetic mounting needs, lol. The Zoom series is more my style, both physically, auditorily, and financially, LOL.
lol zoom series is very good, you made a good call. it's funny how i researched the whitefox and the original designer of the first whitefox was like 'this is not my keyboard, i am not involved'. should tell us something about it lol. it sounds fine, but looks/sounds like most other keyboards. it's also pretty expensive for what it is i mean N1 is more expensive but N1 looks like it should cost even more than that lol
Had to flex the speedy LOL
just for u bb
DCX WOB sounds good I like it
When Cycle8 review vid? I bought a full brass one 2 days ago lol
It’s next, I’m lagginggg
1.2 pcb though ewwww
agreed
I don’t know if it was intentional or accidental, but when you said NeoKeys towards the end, it made me laugh! Interesting board, actually kind of shocked it doesn’t cost more for the version you have, I’m definitely down for something different, though the size / price point aren’t for me.
accidental lmao. even saying it now.. it sounds legit hahaha. Yeah this thing is not normally sized. it was hurting me lol. it's bigger than TKL for sure
@@AndyVNguyen haha, we’ll all be calling it NeoKeysLab soon enough! After finally getting used to 60s for work, I feel like even 65s/75s are big, but I love some 75% boards, so I go back and forth.
i'm back on 60s right now. i don't have a favorite 75 these days so i haven't used one in a while
Nice vid mate
thx m8
look great, sound average 😝
Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen a lot of maglev lmao
Doesn't sound all that impressive tbh tho...
yeah it is not an amazing sounding keyboard, maglev is cool for the cool factor but there's better sounding mounts lol
@@AndyVNguyenWhere is the levitating? False advertising. I want the 15 seconds I spent scrolling back 😢
@@jcap8391 it's levitating.. inside
Honestly sound is not a thing for me. Grew up with mechanical keyboards in the 80's and 90's and the constant clacking gets on my nerves and I prefer my boards to be fairly quiet. It's why I like my G910's switches, plus they are responsive at the top of the press as I have nerve damage in my hands and lack tactile feedback so gauging how hard I'm pressing (and it's good for fast reactions in gaming)
squashy boy memories
This board is so weird but in a good way