I haven’t found the holy grail yet. I suspect that will be $150 or more.
One other flaw in the Ducky is there is no Caps Lock indicator, so you can’t tell whether caps are on or off. In fact, the key doesn’t even say Caps Lock. It has a down arrow on it. This has annoyed me more than I thought it would.
I think that keyboards that tend to be Apple centric do cost more money. . . But if you can live with a PC keyboard and remapping via the Keyboard preference pane or third-party utilities, you don’t need to spend a lot of money for a quality mechanical keyboard.
My Leopold keyboard cost $99 in 2013. I added some “soft landing pads” (O-rings), some blank keys to replace Windows logo Command keys and a key puller, for a grant total of $132.11 including around $12 shipping.
Even if your preferred keyboard costs $150, if it is a quality keyboard it should last for years. My keyboard is over 7 1/2 years old and it is working fine. The keycaps show a little bit of wear but all the legends are perfectly legible. (Replacement keys are inexpensive and very easy to install.)
I think that the money I spent is an excellent long-term investment taking into account the improved typing experience and the longevity of the hardware. Especially compared to the stock keyboards available from Apple. . .
Did you get a Leopold from Mechanical Keyboards?
I got it at Elite Keyboards. From the looks of it, the company is no longer in business. (www.elitekeyboards.com)
The model is an FC200RT/AB. It lacks numeral keys (“tenkeyless” in keyboard terminology…)