Review Drop Carina Barebones Mechanical Keyboard Kit Review: Dropped the Ball

[Admin]

The Drop Carina is able to light up a room with its bright RGB and shiny brass plate, but its confusing remapping process is not ideal.

Drop Carina Barebones Mechanical Keyboard Kit Review: Dropped the Ball : Read more

 

[undesputed]

Definitely agree with the quality of the stabilizers; although it's an extra cost, buying non-stock plate mounted stabilizers definitely make the keyboard feel worthy of the price you pay for.

Regarding the price of the kit, it's definitely a high cost for someone who is just starting to look at mechanical keyboards, but if you compare with buying separate parts to build a similar 60% keyboard, it's actually not too bad:

The base Carina kit comes with a case and PCB (let's not count stabs since it really needs to be replaced) for a total of $120.

A 60% acrylic case that can equal the quality of the case from the Carina kit (Tofu 60%) goes around $90, and a PCB with similar functionality as the one from the Carina kit (DZ60) would go around $60, making separate purchases for a similar base build to end up around $150.
With a cheaper price, the Carina's PCB is also provides dual USB-C, which is actually a neat feature not found in many small form mechanical keyboard PCBs.

So in conclusion, my opinion is that the Carina is actually not bad in terms of price when classified as a custom-built mechanical keyboard and pitted with custom build parts.