With the cash freed up by the return of the Tactile Pro, it’s time to move on to the next candidate. This one wasn’t actually on my list until very recently. It’s the SMK-88 sold by DSI for $60 USD. It uses the black-stemmed Cherry ‘linear’ feel switches. I’m a little nervous because the Qwerter’s Clinic site claims that it is a Strong Man OEM board, which is the same manufacturer as the Tactile Pro, which makes me nervous about ghosting problems.
I don’t know if its just because this model is fairly new, but it’s hard to find any reviews about it. Qwerter’s clinic claims that it is related to this FILCO Japanese keyboard which looks pretty similar and also uses Cherry switches (though it’s not manufactured anymore). The Japanese version seems to get favorable reviews, and I was also able to find a Korean review (translated to Japanese) which claims that it’s on the quality level as the HHK Pro, but just a lot cheaper. Well here’s to hoping.