Prevail Closure & the Future of BadSeed Tactiles

Submitted by badseedtech t3_10ob18p in MechanicalKeyboards

As I'm sure most of you know by now, Prevail Key Co announced their permanent closure last Thursday. My heart goes out to Chris and his team. Its never easy to see something like that and I wish him a quick rebound.

As you also know, its been a now 3-month long struggle to get some solid news about the future of BadSeed Tactiles. On that note, I am very proud to announce my partnership with Novelkeys for 2023! They will be taking the lead on the r2 for the BadSeed Tactiles and we'll have a few more really exciting announcements as we move through 2023.

I've had the pleasure of spending some time with Mike and his team in West Virginia and I am 100% confident in their ability to execute - and they're just generally great people. They have an existing relationship with JWK so we will be going that route as opposed to using Durock as liaison. I still had perfect pre-production samples of the switch and they are already en route to JWK. We will be creating the tooling for the retail version from these samples as opposed to troubleshooting old molds. The r2 will have all the same characteristics of the r1 without any of the QC concerns.

This move WILL also give us the ability to include regional vendors throughout the world to ease shipping/duties/tax situation for you all.

For R1 Buyers: Again, thank you for your support and patience throughout this. You all have really been tremendously understanding at a time when money is tight for most people and that means a lot as I've tried to navigate this. It has always been my top priority to take care of you all.

That said, Prevail has been very helpful throughout this hand off and will supply me with order, refund, replacement request info from the R1. Those of you who opted to hold out for replacements as opposed to refunds WILL be issued replacements which I will pay for personally. Novelkeys is aware of this unique challenge and will be assisting me to ensure everyone is made whole before I make a dollar from r2.

Feels a bit odd to announce such an exciting partnership in the wake of such a bad situation for the Prevail team. Again, thanks to Chris for making the r1 a reality and for his grace through a very difficult situation. Shows a lot of character on his part and I truly wish him the best.

Timeline on all this is still TBA, mostly due to the factories still playing catchup from the CNY holiday, but its a top priority for both NK and myself to make this happen so I'll be updating this post every two weeks until its go time. STAY TUNED!

229

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

QualityScrub t1_j6dvt1v wrote

Thanks for the update, Brian. If we are an R1 buyer who held on to them for a replacement, do we need to do anything for that or do you/NovelKeys have our information to handle it already?

26

badseedtech OP t1_j6e5e73 wrote

Prevail is transitioning all the info to us and we’ll likely setup a new CS email to handle that end. I’ll provide more info when we get closer to having product in hand.

21

agonzal7 t1_j6flzhz wrote

Excited to buy some this next go around. Love your content and can’t wait for what else is yet to come!

1

MrConradon t1_j6dx6br wrote

Was there any communication from Prevail for what to do if you wanted a replacement? I bought r1 but didn't see anything other than the original update from Brian on reddit.

3

AwkwardBeaverOoO t1_j6eiwzv wrote

Also interested in this as I never received any communication from Prevail.

Will we be able to just reach out to NK once they have our order #s?

1

soundwithdesign t1_j6dw46r wrote

Not in the market for some tacticals rn but this is top notch customer service and will definitely keep you in mind for my next trial of tacticals.

19

flashjor t1_j6k5vzg wrote

Even with the issues r1 is still my favorite tactile switch. I'd I were you I'd just buy them cuz they will sell out.

2

MikeBert97 t1_j6ei81n wrote

This is great to hear, but we NEED to know what's happening with the Epsilon V2 molds. They cannot be lost to the wind, as they are the best linear switch imo, so I need a better version of them, which already seems crazy

8

Sliced_Orange1 t1_j6ej83b wrote

Nebulas too, I was very eager for the revised version of those

5

Cobertt t1_j6fqhe8 wrote

I will be continuing the Nebula project, where it ends up landing for vendors is undecided at the moment. Prevail is working to ensure that all future runs will need my approval since it won’t be with Prevail obviously.

10

a_saker t1_j6dw6x2 wrote

Glad to see a r2 is still in the works. Hoping to use these switches on one of my boards this year

6

zerixx t1_j6e1912 wrote

Best of luck with your transition, I didn't buy R1 but I appreciate your transparency and diligence with all of this. I look forward to supporting your products in the future!

5

jkaos92 t1_j6e4o55 wrote

Novelkeys is a solid choice for US, but what about EU for a reseller?

4

badseedtech OP t1_j6e5pdd wrote

We’ll be releasing the complete list of global vendor partners as we get closer to having product in hand.

13

jkaos92 t1_j6el9zd wrote

Nice, thanks man!

1

MayAsWellStopLurking t1_j6f1fsx wrote

Historically speaking, Prototypist and Oblotzky have carried novelkeys products in the past.

3

jkaos92 t1_j6f239o wrote

Perfect, Oblo is solid for EU!

2

Giorgio_Giovanni t1_j6fo3fv wrote

I would rather prefer keygem, but Oblotzky would be also a good choice. Just don’t go with candy

3

Nyffenschwander t1_j6hca6d wrote

What's the issue with Candykeys? Asking because I plan on maybe ordering some stuff from them...

1

Anthixious t1_j6dzoq6 wrote

Awesome to hear! Now I gotta figure out a build for them to go in.

3

oogtug1984 t1_j6elylm wrote

Love you bro, looking forward to everything you bring to the table woth Novelkeys, really exciting partnership for someone that's a huge fan and got to meet you all at the meet.

​

Sorry to see Prevail go but everything has it's season, they will be missed.

3

nubsors t1_j6ezbks wrote

I love NovelKeys so this looks like a match made in heaven. I will be purchasing the R2 switches for sure.

2

samerm t1_j6fr6rf wrote

If this goes well with novelkeys any plan to make a linear version in the future?

1

Myroddian t1_j6jvxzq wrote

I’d love to see some BST linears. A gaming board looks likely in the future if that was announced.

1

JonQwik t1_j6jayr9 wrote

Just now found out about the badseed tactiles having issues. I had just barely soldered them onto my keyboard. Is a refund still an option? Or only replacements?

1

badseedtech OP t1_j6je76s wrote

Unfortunately as we’re more than 90 days from announcing the issue and Prevail has unfortunately filed for bankruptcy, you’ll need to hold out for replacements. If you’ll message me the email you used to purchase and your order number, I’ll flag you when Prevail forwards the sales data.

3

JonQwik t1_j6jfjuq wrote

I was away from the keyboard hobby for a bit so didn't follow any news. Just sent a PM with info. Thanks!

2

badseedtech OP t1_j6jif7g wrote

Gotcha. I’ll do my best to get you taken care of as soon as I get the order data. Appreciate you!

3

MrStabbyTabby t1_j6mz81z wrote

I’m just now seeing thread too, can I message you my order info to get a set of replacements in the future?

1

Grigley t1_j6pd4yg wrote

Bump, was under the assumption we were to wait to be reached out to but if I need to email you l will do that. Just want to clarify so we don’t bombard your email lol

1

BoostedBill96 t1_j6jf9jn wrote

Excited for your new partnership! Salute to Previal Key Co! I still have my nebula switches from when you showcased them and now I will hold them a bit tighter.

1

Juls317 t1_j6jggx1 wrote

Very happy to hear there will be another round of these. Unfortunately mine disappeared after they changed hands from Prevail to the post office so I didn't end up actually getting to be in on the first round. It's a shame that the space is losing a big company and I feel for all those involved. Hopefully the partnership with Novelkeys proves fruitful!

1

Jaypher t1_j6jokun wrote

Sad to see a vendor go but very excited to see what NK x BST can come up with!

1

Myroddian t1_j6jvob1 wrote

@badseedtech (u/badseedtech) I have the R1 but no issues outside of 2 switches. I only needed 83 switches, so I bought the 90 switch size. That means plenty of them to swap out for now. Happy to support the BST community, what’s the info for replacement of it ever becomes an issue? And what was the nature of the problem? Mine was intermittent no presses or in one situation multiple presses, but like I said only on 2 of 90 switches so far.

1

darthwookius t1_j6k1jml wrote

Was bummed I missed out on these the first time they dropped.

But now, honestly pretty stoked these are landing with NovelKeys. The stock lube on their NK Silk Olivias are the best stock switch I've ever used, zero need to mod them. Hoping for more of the same with these switches and the partnership overall.

1