I urge you to read our review of the Drop CTRL keyboard as well because it was Drop's first keyboard and one that clearly has inspired the ALT to be what it is today. The CTRL is a more expensive TKL form factor keyboard that has pretty much all the same features but ended up being less competitive for the money. The Drop ALT, on the other hand, is weirdly where I haven't tested many such 65% keyboards in this price range. Even a cursory glance at the custom keyboard market reveals offerings that are either less, as with the several Epomaker et al. keyboards we have seen thus far, or way more expensive, custom builds that often come in north of $500. Let's also not forget the biggest hurdle to such keyboards is availability, often in the form of group buys or limited runs which are then re-sold for even more.

Simply by keeping this an in-stock product with lots of accessory and parts support, Drop has made the ALT worthy of consideration. The price point may be on the higher side, but as mentioned above, this is one of the few cases where it is appropriate for the feature set. The open-source nature of the keyboard helps, putting the cheaper 65% keyboards in a different category for customization on the software side, and this is even before all the available hardware customization with the higher-profile case, different PCBs and frames, and even custom carry bag. The Drop ALT takes what the CTRL has and betters it, including with an increased number of LEDs for side lighting and what appears to be a newer USB microcontroller that has reduced the potential for bugs.

As with the CTRL and pretty much most Drop-branded products in this price range, the ALT keyboard will be discounted multiple times a year. It is prudent to wait for such a discount, which puts the real purchase point closer to $160, if not lower in some such cases as the middle of September 2021 where it is currently $130 after a $50 discount as I write this. Forget the Cherry MX switches; it is not worth the $20 premium when you arguably have better switches from Kailh under both the Drop/Halo label or Kailh's own series. I still want to see Drop commit to improving the online configurator further, but can't deny that its current state is usually plenty for the keyboard, and the QMK configurator itself is capable of more if you are handy with it.