My younger sibling said they’d buy me a birthday present, so after thinking about what to get, I decided on a keyboard.
I had been happily using the low-profile mechanical keyboard, the DareU EK820N, but it was inconvenient because I couldn’t change the keycaps or switches due to incompatible standards.
This time I decided to switch over to a hot-swappable mechanical keyboard altogether.
1. Why I bought the AULA Single Spider F108 Pro
I’d seen some content about the Single Spider before on Itsup’s “Oman Sangsa”.
The last gift I bought for my sibling was in the mid-50,000 KRW range, so this seemed like something I could get at about the right price.
When I searched which switch to buy, the Fengling switch was around 55,000 KRW, but as soon as it had silent switches, the price jumped by 30,000 KRW.
I saw reviews saying people were using the Fengling switch in office environments, so I went with the Fengling switch.
2. Single Spider Review
Since I was only used to the EK820N, I was first shocked by the overwhelming size and weight.
Inside, there are spare switches, a USB cable, and a keycap puller.
The black sheet at the front is the manual.
The front side shows the key layout, and the back explains how to set it up.
First, turn the knob and set the language to English.
If you turn it clockwise, you’ll clearly see the Hangul-English conversion setting.
After that, I set up the Bluetooth connection and lighting effects.
Personally, I liked the effect the most where only the key you press lights up.
But after using it for just one day, I immediately regretted it.
As soon as I started typing, my coworkers around me could instantly tell I was working.
When I started hitting the keys in quick succession, it made a super lively, almost turn-signal-like clicking sound.
In the end, I decided to swap the switches.
3. Outemu Silent Peach V3 Switch
On AliExpress I saw 110 Outemu Silent Peach switches going for about 23,000 KRW at Cheonwon Mart.
I ordered them along with some other keyboard keycaps.
The keyboard was 55,000 KRW, and the switches were 23,000 KRW, so a total of about 78,000 KRW.
It was cheaper than just buying the silent switch version of the keyboard right away.
The long-awaited switch swap.
Taking off the keycaps was easy, but since it was my first time removing switches, it was really tough.
If you look at the structure of the switch in the photo below, there’s a part on the side that you press.
When you press that part, the latch holding the switch frame lifts and it comes out.
So to pull the switch out, instead of just tugging up with the puller, you actually need to press down firmly once.
That’s how it comes out properly.
Since it was my first time pulling switches, I messed up a few of them and they went straight into the trash.
And to preserve a bit of the Fengling feel, I didn’t swap the ESC and F1–F12 keys to silent switches.
These are the Maenggu keycaps I bought from AliExpress.
Even though they only cost 15,000 KRW, the finishing quality is pretty poor.
I put a No-Face keycap on the ESC key.
All this to change just one set of switches, and I somehow ended up spending over 50,000 KRW.
4. Impressions
If you’re going to use it in the office, don’t even look at anything else.
Silent really is king.
Since the keyboard doesn’t make noise when I type, I don’t have to worry about bothering others.
I thought the Maenggu and No-Face keycaps would be uncomfortable because they’re a bit tall, but they’re not uncomfortable at all.
I did waste quite a bit of time buying my first proper mechanical keyboard, but I like to think I learned something from the experience.
Now I just have to put it to good use.
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