Best Low Front Height 60% Mechanical Keyboard - Frog Mini Long Term Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 พ.ค. 2023
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Keyboard: Geon Frog Mini
Board insulation: None
Plate: Aluminum Full, FR4 Half
Keycaps: GMK WoB, GMK Taro
Switches: L+F Oil Kings, L+F Gateron Minks
Stabilizers: TX Stabilizers
Mat: Grovemade XL Mat grovemade.com/?rfsn=7058500.a... code “ANDYV10” at checkout for 10% off!
I purchased this keyboard September 2022 and used it on and off for 7 months. This video encapsulates my full thoughts on the keyboard.
Let me know what you think of the review in the comment section below!
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Recorded with:
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Sound recorded via Oktava MK012 Hypercardiod - www.frontendaudio.com/oktava-... - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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It’s funny how us kb nerds can spend hours on switches, stabs and kbs but not cook our own meals 😭💀
its economically efficent
Too busy lubing and tuning to cook
Well I don’t lube for 3 hrs during the middle of the work day lol
Can’t be doin that everyday
Nice review Andy!
I just picked one up from their drop sale, very excited. Considering the hype the price is crazy
Mine is built with 8008 Inks on the "Laminated" plate, and the combination makes the spacebar sound like a freaking timpani drum. It's very loud, unique, and pleasing (well, at least for my work from home office).
Comparing frog lineup to Seiko is pretty spot-on - good video, andy!
Thank you Andy for giving me my own opinion about my Frog Mini
RIGHT WHEN I WAS CONSIDERING GETTING ONE, MY FAVOURITE KEEB YTER RELEASES A VID ON IT! Youre a godsend andy you know that? If only I had the time and the favour of my time zone to watch your streams...
Yo Andy, coudn't help but feel you missed a possiblde Tofu 60 2.0 comparison! I mean, the Bowl mount was pretty much mirrored after the Frog Mini Tadpole, so I would love to know how the two of them compare :)
I'm a huge 60% fan, I have my Bakeneko and I LOVE the feel and sound, but mine came with a sorta iffy shape, and I'm on the look for something silver that looks like a proper statement piece, so both the Frog Mini and Tofu 2.0 are on my radar 👀
I loved the frog mini when I had it! Andy, are you considering the glare65 group buy next month?
Hey Andy thanks for this review video !! Wanna ask if you’ve come across the
Typ60 by Axiom Studios? A 60% with swappable blocker WK/WKL/HHKB , o ring gasket mount?
The fact that the Frog Mini supports basically any kind of left-side USB 60% PCB makes me feel that the price despite not including a PCB is fine, because you can always buy a PCB ahead of time for pretty cheap, or just get one secondhand
Hi Andy, what other endgame 60 percents would you recommend?
Are you familiar with the tissot prx? Another watch that punches way above its pay grade
I sold mine too because I couldn't live without the arrow keys. One of the best 60% I personally owned. The difference between the Bakeneko60 and QK60 is night and day, if you have the budget then go for the FROG MINI. Watching your video about the FROG MINI and the ARC 60 made me decide to go with MINI.
Do you still enjoy your Frog Mini? Do you think it needs a force break?
Hey Andy, been following your channel since I got into the hobby early this year, love your videos. Would like to get your opinions on the Tofu60 2.0 vs the Frog Mini. If I can get the Frog Mini for about $50-80 more than the Tofu60 2.0, do you think it is a good choice?
I’d prob go frog mini for front height and nicer lines. Looks a bit more premium
Picking one up this year for sure
It's very solid
I'm a huge fan of low front height keyboards but this being not available in the EU is a huge blow. Same issue with the Orbit65 not being available at EU vendors.
Great review Andy! What part of the stab did you trim for the spacebar and what is the nub you talked about filing down?
The nub that you out the wedge into
Typing this on my Frog Mini right now, with NK "Dream Creams" and MT3 ABS keycaps... it's pretty nice. Tadpole mount is okay. Personally, I love the engraving on the back!
It's a solid above average, mostly OK in my book also!
to me the majority of frogs sound both a bit hollow and quiet at the same time, and for this reason i bought an aluminum plate without the flexcuts (available on geon's store) and 60A tadpoles and i love how good it sounds and feels, almost sounds like an f1 to my ears. i tried the new 90A tadpoles too and it basically turned into a normal top mount but then i decided to stick with 60A just because they were a bit more comfortable
no meme cuts is the way >>
@@tianlamian cutie
@@tianlamian its so sad to see everyone being unhappy with the sound of the frog but they dont seem to care about the case-plate combination. no offence to glare but the plate he designed is garbage, it sounds muted and the switches dont fit in properly (i use mx blacks), whereas the other alu plate and the pc plate are perfect (dont have the pc on hand but sounded amazing from taeha types' live)
This was the second keyboard I bought. I didn't get it because I thought it would sound good (well I thought it would), but I got it because I fell for the looks of it. The board looks really good. And honestly, that is the only reason I have kept it. I could not get this to sound the way I wanted without stuffing it with foam or using tape. But, I eventually found a switch that sounds pretty good with it, despite the resonance. But yeah, feel way too expensive compared to what is being offered at the moment (I also eventually got an FR4 plate and lower durometer tadpoles, and grey feet to match). I just found the included alu plate way too resonant. Might try it out again in the future, but for now I am going to stick with the fr4.
People said geon sells a non flex cut plate that sounds better. I bought into this at the hype for a good looking 60 with low front height but the sound was just decent. It’s good when I go back to it after a long time of not using it, but when in regular rotation other keyboards were a little bit more interesting in sound
Absolutely love my Frog Mini with Alu and Inks.
That combo is so nice with this mount and keyboard
This doesn't have any relavence to the video but I just wanted to ask does a heavier the spring means a louder sound of the switch?
Heavier springs make it harder to bottom out as hard so IMO it makes it less loud actually. Long springs are snappier on the return so those may end up louder tho
Personally run a Carbon Fibre plate on my Mini with Graphite Golds and it sounds incredible. I do see where you are coming from in terms of other options, but its just perfect as its mlre accessible than a lot of 60% in the same price category
Graphite Golds are great and carbon fibre is still my favourite plate material. Those two would be a match made in heaven for sure
Very interesting, I use screw in stabs in my frog tkl and the spacebar sounds incredible. It's my favorite sounding spacebar in my collection.
Do you use case foam?
@@AndyVNguyen I did, but I omitted it and still sounds good.
Force Break Mode not absolutely necessary right? By the Frog Mini
Nahhh I don’t think absolutely necessary
I really want one, how often do they restock? I’ve never been able to find them in stock?
They have done at least one or two drops after the initial one. These are very easy to grab used for cheaper tho. Reddit mechmarket and mechmarket discord
Do they need Case and Plate Foams? I just got mine but im not sure whether to include foams since its a solder built
I don’t think it needs plate foam
A board that cuts no corners and follows no trends is forever end game
what about frog tkl for $315?
I wanna get a Frog Mini but I just bought a Ciel...
loved the review, but FROG FONT IS GOATED. I will die on this hill.
Is Frog TKL still relevant in 2023 as well?
Yes! Spacebar isn’t perfect though
nice seiko SKX
The board is very hard to make sound good. The mounting points make the board sound so muted
Yes, hit aIl the good points about 60s in the space. I do like the mini, but yeah its kinda just aight. ill still say frog TKL is the better buy tho
How would this compare to the arc60 interns of sound which do you like more?
Arc60 has plateless feel so that’s why I’d go for that one. But this has a full brass weight feels better. Sound pretty decent on both.
@@AndyVNguyen I wouldnt need my keyboard to be too heavy, how would you say are the space bars in comparison
They're both good. Frog probably has a nicer one? Because stiffer mounting spacebars typically sound better.
yo but fr what seiko is that, i need it
skx007
I wish there were more options to have a flexible keyboard that also sounds good. It seems like the only way to get boards to sound amazing without foam is to make them really stiff.
One perk of the Frog Mini is that you can use the wooting60 pcb in it if you get the WK version - that's what I'm typing on right now with a POM plate and it's super soft, but the sound is just okay.
Ok, I was seriously thinking this, but how did you do it? The wooking pcb doesn't have space for plate mount stabs, and how is the board held together, the switches don't grab onto the pcb??? How did you do it? Custom plate???
@@oscarsanchez298 super easy, just a custom plate with plate mount stabs and holes for the standoffs.
@@siegekeebs Yeah, that is really cool, thought about doing this because the frog has the size, angle, and height to be a really good gaming keyboard. You probably have the best custom gaming board out there. You should post a video, would love to see the board.
The hard part is to get a custom plate made. It’s a lot more DIY than people are ready for. IE se ding an order with plate files
I have the exact same build, and I agree it sounds decent but not exceptional.
Frog Mini is goated.
Sleeper keyboard frfr
Why did he not mention the arc60? I know it's not currently on stock, but it's coming back in roughly 3 months.
I have a full video on the Arc60 so you can just watch that
What I meant is that it is a bit odd when you said to consider the QK60 and Bakaneko60 without including the Arc60.
It’s not odd at all. I was saying you could get a good 60% for under $200, even as cheap as $140s. I don’t compare every keyboard in every video because they would all end up extremely long and drawn out.
@@AndyVNguyen I get what you are saying, but I would have thought that for someone looking for a keyboard in this price range it would be useful for them to know about the arc (even if you mentioned it for a very short time).
Nice Board !
Thank you!
@@AndyVNguyen What for Switches do you use in this Board . Sound very good. What do you thinhk. TX Stabs or Staebis Stabs ? How you find qk65 ?
I wrote it in the description
@@AndyVNguyen sorry thanks ;) I search this Board.
better than buying a pandora for $750…
also i thought factor75 was a keyboard LOL
60% for gaming all the way lol
YESIRR
Just my 2 cents here: while I appreciate using the unikorn as a reference board when it comes to sound quality, build quality, etc is alright when you're just expressing how good something can be. That's fine. However, it is, effectively a totally inaccessible board for the vast majority of people in this hobby. I'm not even referencing the fact that its a $2000 aftermarket board; simply trying to purchase it at normal retail prices is effectively impossible. Even you went through quite an ordeal when getting one and managed to get one through your connections because you're an important and public member of the community. I think comparing the Frog to boards like the QK60, ARC60, Bakeneko, and even older boards like the Polaris is better because those are boards most people can purchase and sometimes even afford. Its almost like bringing up a Ferrari in a conversation about BMWs and Audis. As a reference its fine, but to compare them as though they are similarly accessible products feels unhelpful.
But I did bring up the Bakeneko and the cheaper boards. I just said I have a more expensive one and I like it.
Honestly, it's not your normal car analogy. It's basically like trying to get a Ferrari F40... Sure, you can definitely just buy the new Lambo or even preorder a nice BMW M3 Competition. But that F40 is older but no longer made, rare, and highly desired. Good luck getting that "endgame"
@@albertko1 I was not making a point about the desirability of the Unikorn or the F40 in this instance. I'm talking almost strictly about the oddity of bringing up the Unikorn when talking about boards like the Frog.
Although he compares them favorably (which is super cool!), he literally says "shoot, the Unikorn exists in this space," which is true when all you're doing is talking about other 60% boards that simply exists and happen to share the same form factor, but said very little about why that comparison mattered at all. To his credit, Andy mentions the bakeneko being an excellent alternative to the Unikorn and I appreciated that. The point I was trying to make is that it was odd and unhelpful flex to bring it up, and that there are more comparible boards to reference it against. I'm simply encouraging that sort of comparison, instead of against grailed boards.
You mentioned an M3 and an F40, an $80,000 car against an F40 which sells for almost $3,000,000 and originally sold for somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000, not to mention the fact that Ferrari invites you to buy that car because they think you're important. This is a poorer analogy than my own because I think it misses the point of what I was talking about. There's no debate that the F40 and the Unikorn are aspirational objects in their respective spaces, but I don't know a lot of reputable people making videos where they show off an M3 and then just bring up an F40 casually. One of these cars is not like the other and doesn't even merit a comparison except to either say: look at how good modern cars have gotten compared to 30 year old ones, OR how much more romantic and cool the ferrari is. Its absurd to assess them this way.
Finally, I'm not sure what your endgame comment is about. I had an R1 Unikorn for some time, and while its an excellent board, I eventually got bored with it and let it go. I've been in the hobby long enough to know that endgame is a goofy comedy term people slap on to expensive stuff regardless of their actual value. But in case you were just saying it to be nice, I want to sincerely say that I hope you have wonderful keyboards you love and cherish and wish you the best on your journey and time in this hobby!
:dogegebusiness:
FR4 Half plate on my mini is 😗👌🤌🤌