My main keyboard since 2012 has been the Ducky Shine 2 with Green LEDs and Cherry MX Blues. During the holidays I ordered some switch testers from Amazon to play around with and my favorite switch was the Kailh Box Navy. This is a very loud tactile switch with a very heavy spring; it took some getting used to compared to my old Cherry MX Blues. It’s definitely not a switch for everyone and some may find it too tiring due to the amount of force required to activate each switch.
Since I had recently completed my Black x Blue 3950x, I wanted a new keyboard to try and match the same color scheme. I ended up buying the Glorious GMMK Full Size as it seems to be the cheapest option with all of the features I wanted: RGB backlighting, hotswappable switches, full size and can be purchased without keycaps or switches. I ordered Kailh Box Navy switches separately from Novelkeys and a Tai-Hao black/blue PBT backlit keycap set from MechanicalKeyboards.
The Tai-Hao keycap set I bought has a rough matte texture that feels nice (to me) and is the only set I could find that was PBT, backlit and came in two colors (black/blue). Unfortunately the blue on this keycap set doesn’t match the blue on my Noctua Chromax fans but still looks pretty good. The only negative thing about this keycap set is the quality control; some of the keys are slightly off and some are very obviously crooked like the DEL and FN keycaps. I tried changing the switches under them but it appears to be a defect in the keycap alignment rather than the switch stem.
I’ve read mixed things about Glorious’s customer service but personally can only report a positive experience. I ordered my GMMK a few days before their end of year sale; I contacted support and they refunded me the difference (10%). The first GMMK I received was damaged in shipping (warped case); they sent me a replacement unit free of charge and didn’t even ask me to ship the old one back.
Overall I would say the GMMK is a good starter keyboard; experienced users will see the GMMK as a glorified switch tester. It doesn’t have the same build quality or heft to it as my Ducky Shine 2 or Vortex Pok3r RGB; bottoming out on some of the keys sounds a bit hollow on the GMMK as well. My next keyboard will probably be the Drop Shift or I will just build a custom YMDK96 from scratch. If you are shopping for your first mechanical keyboard, I recommend buying a switch tester to get an idea of what switch you like then getting the GMMK in the size you prefer.
