My Journey with Custom Mechanical Keyboards: Exploring Glorious Panda Switches and GMMK...

This is a review of my journey with custom mechanical keyboards, specifically focusing on my experience with Glorious Panda switches and my GMMK White Ice TKL keyboard. I bought it for over 5 million dong. Hope this review proves helpful for anyone looking to make a purchase. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions.

Initially, I had no intention of purchasing, but due to a mix of curiosity and a desire for a fresh mechanical keyboard experience, I decided to buy the Glorious GMMK along with 3 packs of Glorious Panda switches.

I'm not a fan of lengthy technical specifications, so I'll focus on what I believe stands out about these two items.

Glorious GMMK White Ice

I bought this keyboard primarily because it's hot-swappable and has an integrated aluminum plate, making the overall build quite sturdy. What I really love about it is how easy it is to customize, almost like a DIY kit. That's a big plus for me. The second thing is the hot-swappable feature. I'm not an electronics enthusiast and not skilled with soldering, so having a hot-swappable keyboard is a lifesaver for me. It helps me solve various issues like easily removing switches for lubing, adjusting oil levels, cleaning, or modifying stabilizers for keycap and switch changes. And my favorite part is the software customization and direct firmware saving, so whether I'm at work or home, everything is saved, and adjustments are super easy.

This combo offers something I really appreciate: incredibly high customization, second only to true custom kits. That's why I call this a semi-custom case.

Regarding Glorious GMMK

What I like about it is how ridiculously easy it is to customize. Since it's a hot-swappable keyboard, any switches that aren't lubed to my liking or stabilizers that aren't up to par can be removed immediately without needing much time or special tools like soldering irons and desoldering pumps. With just a pair of tweezers and a switch puller, everything on the keyboard can be taken out instantly.

The GMMK features an aluminum plate integrated directly into the top case of the keyboard, providing a solid, steel-like typing feel. However, due to its aluminum construction, there's a bit of flex in the middle, making typing on strong tactile switches like the Glorious Panda quite satisfying. The RGB LEDs are soldered directly onto the circuit board, so there's no need to worry about whether your switches are LED-compatible; as long as there's a hole for the LED to shine through, you're good to go. This model has been upgraded by Glorious to include a USB-C port, so Mac users only need to purchase an additional USB-C to C cable to use it. As for me, a Windows user, I stick with the stock cable for now, but I might buy a custom Glorious cable in the future for the experience. 😁

Regarding Glorious Panda

There's no need to say much about the greatness of this switch. Before lubing, the typing sensation is incredibly crisp and pronounced, accompanied by a unique and satisfying clicky sound that's unlike any other switches I've tried before. It's not as jarring as Blues, nor is it as subtle as Browns; this is just right for me.

After lubing, the Glorious Panda switches are even more satisfying. Since I didn't lube the tactile legs of the switch, the tactile sensation remains intact while the smoothness increases significantly. The sound is now smoother and warmer. Coupled with my lightly modded GMMK, the sound is now incredibly round and warm, just like in the sound test video above.

After spending some time typing on the Glorious Panda switches, I feel that the 67g actuation force provided by the manufacturer is very accurate because the tactile bump is very pronounced, so weaker springs can't create that snappy, crispy feeling. When typing at high speeds, it feels like the keys are securely attached to my fingertips.