Massdrop TECK Keyboard Group Buy
by Jarred Walton on September 30, 2013 4:13 PM EST_678x452.jpg)
Earlier this year I reviewed both the TECK and ErgoDox keyboards, the latter coming via Massdrop. As I discussed in the ErgoDox review, Massdrop does a group buy of selected products in order to get reduced pricing, which can result in substantial savings. Right now they’re doing a group buy on the TECK, and while it wasn’t necessarily my personal favorite of the ergonomic keyboards I’ve tested, it has some good elements as well – plus TECK has also released their public remapping utility, which allows you to permanently change key mappings if you want to, as an example, swap the location of the Shift and Control keys.
At present, the TECK Massdrop group buy has six days remaining, with six of the required 25 slots filled. That will get you the keyboard at a price of $212, which is about 15% off the retail price of $248 – not bad. If the group buy gets at least 50 purchasers, the price will drop to $199 (20% off), and the maximum discounted price of $188 (24% off) kicks in with at least 100 buyers. That’s about the lowest price you’ll find on any ergonomic keyboard with mechanical switches, period.
Of course, maybe you don’t want the TECK and would prefer my favorite of the keyboards I’ve reviewed, the Kinesis Advantage? Well, the TECK apparently won in the Massdrop voting stage over the Kinesis Advantage, at least this last round. You can wait for another voting round, or you can also vote for the Linear Feedback model with Cherry MX Red switches. It could be a while before Massdrop offers a group buy on either Kinesis, unfortunately (and the best price I've found outside of eBay is from Sears Marketplace for $269). If there’s enough interest I’m sure Massdrop could hit a better price point, but patience will definitely be required. Massdrop lists a variety of other mechanical switch keyboards as well, mostly in the voting stage, so you could give those a look as well.
Let me wrap up this post by noting that keyboards are a highly subjective device, so when I say that the TECK wasn't my favorite and that I preferred the experience of typing on the Kinesis Advantage, that doesn't mean everyone will feel the same way. The TECK isn't necessarily perfect, but that's also true of the Kinesis, Microsoft, Logitech, ErgoDox, etc. keyboards – no product is perfect for everyone. You can see in the comments below that quite a few people have complained about this "advertisement", but let me assure you that I received nothing from Massdrop or Truly Ergonomic for doing this post; rather, I feel like the TECK will actually be a good keyboard for many people, and considering most quality ergonomic keyboards cost a lot of money and don't usually go on sale, the potential to get one for under $200 makes this something I wanted to pass along.
Source: Massdrop
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GoSharks - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
What is an ad doing in the AT newsfeed?Hrel - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
it's not an ad. It's a helpful notification on a solid product and a means by which to acquire it for very little money. That's like saying a product review is an ad. Yes, it does have a similar effect, but that is by no means the intended message of the content.hughlle - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Well it's certainly an advert in my eyes. Are they going to put a story up when amazon are offering 15% off a 4tb harddrive as well? My opinion is that 1. it is an ad, and 2. if they want to put a story up for this, then they should put a story up for every single worthwhile promotion that is out there for good products, if not, then i can in no way consider anandtechs opinion on this keyboard as unbiased.JarredWalton - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Sorry if you feel this is an ad, but as someone that used the keyboard and reviewed it, I thought some of our readers might be interested in knowing that it's available for quite a bit under the regular price (assuming you're patient). Commodity products that are available from a ton of sources are quite different than a specialized keyboard that you can only buy from... well, the manufacturer's site or Massdrop.Lonyo - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
It might have sounded like an ad, but you did it wrong. You said "this other product of the same type, which I find better than this product, might be available soon".Clearly you need to work on your advertising! Remember, when advertising, you're not supposed to say something else is better!
hughlle - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
My issue being that this seems to be one of very few promotion based stories. where was the article for the 20% off the nexus 7? Instead we get a story about a good product, but one that clearly has a need for some market adoption.JeffFlanagan - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
>it's not an ad. It's a helpful notification on a solid product and a means by which to>acquire it for very little money.
LOL, spoken like an ad-man.
JarredWalton - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Doesn't that make our notebook, smartphone, CPU, GPU, etc. reviews ads as well? Pretty much anything where someone references a product becomes an advertisement in that case. Not that it really matters what you call it; it's not like I get a bonus for mentioning a product like this.Gigaplex - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Yes, technically reviews are ads as well (in particular the positive reviews). There's a reason manufacturers hand out review samples to the media, it's good advertising (again, assuming a positive review). But so what? Ads aren't inherently evil. Obnoxious ads are.JeffFlanagan - Monday, September 30, 2013 - link
Sorry, I used to work in advertising, and you really did sound exactly like people I worked with, so it struck me as funny. I personally don't object to ads as long as they're truthful.