Hi guys, I'm looking to switch from a Zoom65 EE to an ergo keyboard. I have a feeling a product with my needs doesn't exist and I'd have to go custom...
split kb
wireless to PC (wireless between keyboard halves a plus but not necessary)
2.5ghz dongle would be sweet but not necessary
switch hotswap
led lighting (doesn't have to be per key)
variable tenting
travel case?
I'm located in the US. My budget can go up to $350.
Leo from beekeeb offers pre-build split keyboards like this one: https://shop.beekeeb.com/product/pre-soldered-wireless-dao-choc-ble-keyboard/ and it's within your 350$ range.
It should check all your boxes except a dongle and rgb. Regarding the travel case: He even offers a soft travel pouch in the store.
RGB on a wireless split keyboard needs a pretty big battery to have more battery life than a day or too, so it's difficult to find both rgb and wireless in a pre built one without raising the costs. Also some LEDs draw constant power without even being on which also adds to this issue.
Otherwise, you can start with another existing option and adapt it to add what is missing. For instance, if the keyboard is built around a pro micro and you want to make it wireless, you can replace the pro micro with a nice nano and find a way to place a battery and power switch.
Keep in mind LED lighting is probably the single biggest drain on wireless keyboard battery life, not like it doesn't exist or you shouldn't use it, but it will eat your battery life
ErgoDox wireless from SliceMK (https://www.slicemk.com/pages/ergodox-wireless) is my suggestion. My current daily driver is a ErgoDox Wireless Lite -- been using it for about 10 months now. The guy behind it (series of wireless ErgoDox variants) is very helpful with problems on his discord. He also has a webUI configurator that works reasonably well (which I don't use because I prefer to keep my configs in git).