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Lez talk mechanical keyboards

Brown.

Consider Leopold or Ducky though. Das has kind of a big rep just because they were the first widely available boards. They're a bit overpriced though, especially compared to the other premiere brands.

Thank you very much good sir. You and others have helped me immensely with the final stages of my build. :D

I'd say browns. I did plenty of gaming on my Das w/ blues but not many games benefit from the tactility; you don't typically need to know that a switch did or didn't fire, you just need it to fire. There are cases where it is useful, like in an RTS where you want to very quickly queue things and want accuracy in knowing you queued say 5 units instead of 6 (which is something the feedback will provide more information with) but you also can't quite re-fire a blue switch as quickly a non-clicking switch since it needs to come back up above the leaf to be able to fire again.

Mind you, these are fairly nuanced differences. Anyone could game just fine on either switch type, and generally I think the preference should be more focused on the typing experience which is where the bulk of the switch work actually happens (even on a 'board you do heavy gaming on).

I rarely play RTS's as is. Even if I did I'm kind of used to it somewhat with my current keyboard (G15 Logitech).

Typing is sporadic. I type, but it is at certain times. As long as there are no glaring problems with using brown, whilst typing, then I'm fine with any cons it would have compared to the blues.
 
Ended up getting a Das Keyboard and it arrived today. My first mechanical keyboard! Super excited to bring it to work tomorrow.
 
I'm confused, why does a good mechanical keyboard justify almost 10X the price of a regular one? Does it feel better and last longer? Is it more precise? I don't get it.
 
I'm confused, why does a good mechanical keyboard justify almost 10X the price of a regular one? Does it feel better and last longer? Is it more precise? I don't get it.

It was pretty much covered in the first post, but yes, they are better, type better, feel better, and last longer (good ones)
 
Would anybody recommend Red's or Clear's if the primary usage would be gaming? I was originally thinking Browns but now I'm not sure. According to the OP I guess Blacks are the best but I was hoping to get something with alittle bit of a tactile feel.
 
Would anybody recommend Red's or Clear's if the primary usage would be gaming? I was originally thinking Browns but now I'm not sure. According to the OP I guess Blacks are the best but I was hoping to get something with alittle bit of a tactile feel.

Clears are in my opinion the worst gaming Cherry switches. They're essentially blue switches with stiffer springs. Reds would be my top suggestion, followed by browns then blacks.

That said, some people benefit from the stiffer springs; there's an adjustment period typing on 45-50g linears since they're much easier to activate than a rubber dome 'board. Real heavy handed types might find them too light.
 
Clears are in my opinion the worst gaming Cherry switches. They're essentially blue switches with stiffer springs. Reds would be my top suggestion, followed by browns then blacks.

That said, some people benefit from the stiffer springs; there's an adjustment period typing on 45-50g linears since they're much easier to activate than a rubber dome 'board. Real heavy handed types might find them too light.

Thanks Wallach, I decided to go with the Reds. I managed to pick up a Ducky Shine II. Should be here in a few days, I'll leave some impressions once I get it.
 
Just realized I was using a DC7.5 volt adapter on my CMStorm keyboard instead of the 5 volt it asked for. The area around the arrow keys got very hot after 12 hours of being on. I unplugged it and all seems fine now. Do you think I may have damaged it?
 
So since I've started using a mechanical at home, I hate typing on my office keyboard. Would Rosewill be my best bet for an inexpensive tenkey board with Cherry MX blues? I see there are complaints about the mini-USB port, but I wouldn't moving it around much.
 
Noise-wise, sure, because red switches eliminate all of the noise of the switch mechanism itself. They're also better for most gaming purposes in my experience.

Feature- & quality-wise, that's your call. I have no use for a tenkey on my primary 'board nor would I want any kind of additional macro buttons, especially ones set to the left of the alpha island. They're not going to be comfortable keys to reach, and you're not going to use them for the majority of your 'board usage (but they'll always require that space on your desk).

I only use tenkeyless anymore, so I wouldn't wind up buying either of these 'boards. Especially at the price of the K95, which could buy pretty much any form of Filco/Leopold tenkeyless (and in the latter case with money to spare).

Well, you saved me some money. I had the K95 shipping to me. I got a little excited about some of the features but saw that the K70 was cheaper and good enough. I almost, ALMOST went wit the Ducky Shine II but I need a keyboard kind of now. And the K70 saved me around $30.

No idea when I'd ever use Macros. Aren't those keys banned in some MMOs now too?
 
So since I've started using a mechanical at home, I hate typing on my office keyboard. Would Rosewill be my best bet for an inexpensive tenkey board with Cherry MX blues? I see there are complaints about the mini-USB port, but I wouldn't moving it around much.

My Rosewill Cherry Red's mini-USB finally started acting up this week (it's the reason I opened this thread actually since I might be buying a new mech keyboard). Bought the keyboard in Nov 2011 so it lasted about a year and a half of careful use. It still works fine 95% of the time, just once in a while the USB temporarily loses connection for about 5 seconds. It's probably only a matter of time before the port gets really messed up
 
So my Shine II showed up a few days ago and I thought I'd leave some feedback on it.

Overall I am really impressed. I am glad I went with the Reds. I think the browns would have been fine too but the reds do fit my typing style really well. I haven't had time to do a whole lot of gaming on it yet (been really busy with work and other things) but from what I've played so far its been great. Also the feature for programming individual LED light configurations is a nice touch.

Finally the build quality of this thing is amazing. Everything about it has a nice feel of quality to it. Maybe all mechanical keyboards are like this, since I have very little experience with them I don't know any different, but this is far better than what I was expecting.
 
So my Shine II showed up a few days ago and I thought I'd leave some feedback on it.

Overall I am really impressed. I am glad I went with the Reds. I think the browns would have been fine too but the reds do fit my typing style really well. I haven't had time to do a whole lot of gaming on it yet (been really busy with work and other things) but from what I've played so far its been great. Also the feature for programming individual LED light configurations is a nice touch.

Finally the build quality of this thing is amazing. Everything about it has a nice feel of quality to it. Maybe all mechanical keyboards are like this, since I have very little experience with them I don't know any different, but this is far better than what I was expecting.

Where did you order from?
 
I rock a 1996 IBM Model M with the detachable cable and drainage holes. It's the best, most reliable keyboard of all time. I should have never gotten rid of the one that came with my old 386.
 
This post is the first time i type with a quality mechanical keyboard! I just received the CM QRF Stealth, plugged it in and the feeling is really good. Im glad i went with browns for my first time as i find the tactile feedback very very good. Im wondering if its normal that when i plugged it with the PS/2 adapter it didnt work. Since those are not plug&play, and that its been a decade or so since i've used that, i just went for USB, but still, i think the PS/2 has literally no limit for key presses at the same time and with the keyboard i can adjust the repeat rate.

I installed the red arrow keys, but im not sure if i'll keep it like that. Full keyboard in black stealth is just too sweet. Overall im really impressed. My old Razer Lycosa feels like shit in comparison. And the space i save with the tenkeyless, makes it more ergonomic for typing i find.
 
Thinking of splooging a bit and picking up this Das board. (The site had broken CSS or something last time I loaded it so it may not work properly. Scroll all the way down to see it).

I don't want fancy lights and shit on my keyboards, but I do love the mechanical feel. Are there any better alternatives in a similar or lower pricerange? Or is there some sort of god tier one that's a bit pricier I might want to think about?
 
Thinking of splooging a bit and picking up this Das board. (The site had broken CSS or something last time I loaded it so it may not work properly. Scroll all the way down to see it).

I don't want fancy lights and shit on my keyboards, but I do love the mechanical feel. Are there any better alternatives in a similar or lower pricerange? Or is there some sort of god tier one that's a bit pricier I might want to think about?

This one looks pretty hot:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=113_1302&products_id=23283

But it has the 'gimmicky' lights... that you can turn off if you don't want them.

Also has dedicated media buttons.


I've already ordered the K95, the version with the macro buttons. Quite excited to get it. Will report back when I do.
 
Thinking of splooging a bit and picking up this Das board. (The site had broken CSS or something last time I loaded it so it may not work properly. Scroll all the way down to see it).

I don't want fancy lights and shit on my keyboards, but I do love the mechanical feel. Are there any better alternatives in a similar or lower pricerange? Or is there some sort of god tier one that's a bit pricier I might want to think about?

IMO you need to make a few decisions: Switch type (this is tough to do, but whether you use it for gaming or not, and if you care about noise/tactile feedback should drive your decision), price, size (full/tenkeyless/compact), and features.

Das is available with 3 (iirc) different switches right now. I don't own one, but have typed on one with mx blues and it was nice, but I don't really care for blues.
 
Thinking of splooging a bit and picking up this Das board. (The site had broken CSS or something last time I loaded it so it may not work properly. Scroll all the way down to see it).

I don't want fancy lights and shit on my keyboards, but I do love the mechanical feel. Are there any better alternatives in a similar or lower pricerange? Or is there some sort of god tier one that's a bit pricier I might want to think about?

I picked up the same exact keyboard for work last week. It's my first mechanical keyboard and I'm in love with it.
 
Thinking of splooging a bit and picking up this Das board. (The site had broken CSS or something last time I loaded it so it may not work properly. Scroll all the way down to see it).

I don't want fancy lights and shit on my keyboards, but I do love the mechanical feel. Are there any better alternatives in a similar or lower pricerange? Or is there some sort of god tier one that's a bit pricier I might want to think about?

Non gimmicky, good quality, no light shows, good price..

You'll see many recommendations for

Filco Majestouch 2
Leopold FC200

The thing i found out while researching to buy mine is that the CM quickfire series is made with nearly the same identical OEM as those above two and are made at the same place (costar).

Here's a video of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cy1JgF4_UT0

And someone opened all 3 to look closely.

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=37432.msg714145#msg714145

I bought the CM quickfire stealth version which is the same basis as the Quickfire series. So Basically i own a Filco majestouch Ninja, but much cheaper. Im loving it.
 
DAS switched OEMs a while ago for their Pro boards (but not for their Ultimates) and many recent buyers have reported that they now have lower build quality and worse space bars. If you want a non-backlit tenkey board with Brown switches, I'd skip out on DAS and go with Filco or Leopold.

I say this as a happy owner of an older model DAS Pro with Browns... there are better options currently.
 
Cherry Brown was the switch type I was looking for. I vaguely recall them being quieter than some of the others. I borrowed a friend's spare mech kb one time and it drove my COH partner insane because he could hear it so loudly through the microphone I use (Blue Yeti is slightly overkill for gaming...).

I would like a numpad. Media keys are nice, but optional. Something not too large would also be preferred. It has to be something I can get in Australia, too. The PCCaseGear website I linked is the best place I know about to get them, seems to have the broadest range by far. Even eBay doesn't turn up a lot of this stuff.
 
Cherry Brown was the switch type I was looking for. I vaguely recall them being quieter than some of the others. I borrowed a friend's spare mech kb one time and it drove my COH partner insane because he could hear it so loudly through the microphone I use (Blue Yeti is slightly overkill for gaming...).

I would like a numpad. Media keys are nice, but optional. Something not too large would also be preferred. It has to be something I can get in Australia, too. The PCCaseGear website I linked is the best place I know about to get them, seems to have the broadest range by far. Even eBay doesn't turn up a lot of this stuff.

If you're not put off by the look this seems like a good buy, I'd trade in my FC700R for one if I could find a TKL version.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=113_1361&products_id=23402

PBT dye sub keys.
 
Cherry Brown was the switch type I was looking for. I vaguely recall them being quieter than some of the others. I borrowed a friend's spare mech kb one time and it drove my COH partner insane because he could hear it so loudly through the microphone I use (Blue Yeti is slightly overkill for gaming...).

I would like a numpad. Media keys are nice, but optional. Something not too large would also be preferred. It has to be something I can get in Australia, too. The PCCaseGear website I linked is the best place I know about to get them, seems to have the broadest range by far. Even eBay doesn't turn up a lot of this stuff.

Consider http://www.wasdkeyboards.com

They offer a lot of customization and ship internationally, though I don't know the cost to Australia. I have one of their keyboards at work with MX Brown switches and O-ring dampeners to decrease the noise. It's not perfectly quiet, but I think it's as close as you can get with current technology. They also let you customize your keycaps; the base model has a fairly professional look to it, but if you prefer something more stylized/gaudy, that's up to you.

The only negative thing I would say is that it's easy to start piling on the options and end up with a fairly expensive keyboard.
 
I would be ALL over this key cap set if it was not $95.

Amazing.

DSC03979-1.jpg
 
Consider http://www.wasdkeyboards.com

They offer a lot of customization and ship internationally, though I don't know the cost to Australia. I have one of their keyboards at work with MX Brown switches and O-ring dampeners to decrease the noise. It's not perfectly quiet, but I think it's as close as you can get with current technology. They also let you customize your keycaps; the base model has a fairly professional look to it, but if you prefer something more stylized/gaudy, that's up to you.

The only negative thing I would say is that it's easy to start piling on the options and end up with a fairly expensive keyboard.

This is pretty amazing. It is easy to get carried away and end up with a pretty crazy looking keyboard though.

I was about to buy the Das Model S Pro with brown switches, but I'm now reading about recent build quality being worse than before (also noted by ExMachina above). Has anyone bought one recently? Have you noticed anything wrong with the spacebar or other keys?

Any other recommendations for 10-key keyboards with brown switches? Sub-$130? I'll be using it for typing and gaming. It will be at work until I build my PC in the fall. I like a pretty clean-looking keyboard, that doesn't scream "GAMING" with crazy lights and stuff. I also don't need crazy macros or other real gaming options. One that looks nice in a working professional's office.
 
Is there anything wrong with something like this one?

It's a different model no. to the other one of this brand that was recommended before.

Or this?

Leopold makes nice 'boards; it's a different number because of the media layer, newer housing and better PBT keycaps. No numpad though. That's how I prefer my 'boards but for people that are numpad trained and not numrow proficient it's an adjustment.

Never seen the Ducky Zero, but it looks fine. I don't care much for Ducky 'boards but the keycaps look interesting. Usually used on 'boards that are fully backlit from what I understand.

Between the two I'd probably take the Leopold.
 
I recently purchased a CoolerMaster QuickFire TK with red switches and am very happy with the purchase. Always liked small keyboards, particularly as I use a keyboard tray, but having a number pad is so very nice, so this is best of both worlds. Backlighting's great too - I have to say that it could be a bit less bright, even on the lowest setting, but it's still not too bad as some keyboards I've seen (Razor, I'm looking at you). It takes a bit of getting used to it as the inside of the keyboard is red as well, which increased the red glow when the keyboard's lit up, but it's pretty nice and obviously handy once you do. I think the Logitech Illuminated keyboard at low has probably the best backlighting I've ever seen, very subtle, so that it doesn't look like backlighting as much as letters that you can see in the dark.

As for the keys themselves, coming from a Filco Majestouch cherry-brown keyboard, I really like them and it didn't really take too long to get used to it. Even though the browns have fairly subtle feedback, you'll notice the difference immediately. They require less pressure to activate than the browns, but the difference isn't vast, as browns already have fairly low resistance. For me, for light typing and gaming, reds are really nice just because of how little force you have to use - I actually find it pretty easy after only a few days not to bottom out with any noise just when typing normally, which together with the lack of a tactile bump, makes them a bit quieter than the browns overall. Being used to a brown's bump may have helped in this respect as well. You'll probably find yourself making more typos until you get used to just how easy it is to press the keys in. The stabilizers for the larger keys such as the spacebar aren't quite up to the level of the Filco, as they have a definite clickyness to them while Filco's feel practically like any other key. But either I've gotten used to them or they've mellowed out a bit after some use, as I don't really notice them much anymore.

There are a couple of things that are kind of annoying about this though. One is the fact that the Enter key on the number pad is de-activated when numlock is off. I personally keep it off as my default state as I use home, end, page up and down, delete, and the arrow keys quite a bit more often. It's easy to hit the numlock button and type away on the number pad quickly as well as know exactly where the keys like insert, home, etc. are once you've had some time to acclimate to it though, so the merging of the two groups of buttons is IMO a good idea.

Another is that the Fn key for turning the F1-12 keys into their alternate shortcuts, while able to be held shortly to access the shortcuts and released to keep the F keys active, is unable to do the same when it's in locked mode (enabled by holding it down about two seconds.) What I mean is that when it's locked so that the F keys perform their alternate actions by default, you can't then hold it down and press an F key to use the F key's original function, like say, maximize a browser screen with F11. You have to hold the Fn key down the two seconds to un-lock it, and THEN press the F key. As I find it most useful to keep the Fn key locked to use the media controls, this is definitely an annoyance, and probably the worst thing about the keyboard.

While I've only had this for a few days and thus can't really comment on the long-term build-quality / life, I'm very happy with this keyboard and would definitely recommend it to others who are looking for a mechanical keyboard that's smaller than a full size and doesn't sacrifice anything like backlighting or a number pad. I have to say that out of the four mechanical keyboards I've tried (blue, brown, black, and red), this is my favourite for general use - low and even pressure is easy on the fingers and just neutral overall, no apparent mushiness like some people may think of the browns as, and less noise overall.
 
That's awesome, is it yours?

If it is, on the numpad was that 5$ per key to do that?

Yeah, it's mine. They charge a $20 flat fee for a full custom keyboard (so $140 total), including specifying all the key colors and uploading a vector graphics file that they will use to laser etch or engrave the keycaps.

I just designed all the keys in Illustrator and uploaded the .ai file to them. It took a pretty long time to do, because I had to either draw everything or scan and vectorize it manually.
 
Ducky Shine 2 (Cherry Red / Red led) arrived this afternoon. While I don't think the reds are as good as the browns for typing, they are definitely superior for gaming.

The keyboard itself seems to be well made. All the functions are simple to figure out and work pretty well. I wish the windows key lock out was a function key (like the CM QF Stealth) and not a dip switch but you can't have everything. Besides a few key caps and some red o-ring dampeners for my QF, I think my keyboard purchases are done for a while.
 
Tell me about it...

5QVya84.jpg

That's a sweet looking keyboard tokkun. I had looked at wasdkeyboards before I bought my Shine 2. I lack the skill and patience to make anything really cool and complete like that otherwise I probably would have went with them, very nice.
 
Hah, that keyboard is a weakling. Within the last 7 days, I have spilled a huge glass of milk on my 6Gv2 (still works fine, had to clean it out though) and a huge glass of water. I just turned it off overnight and during work with a good breeze coming in the window to dry it out. Works fine still.

So, you didn't learn from the milk?
 
I just sat down and read through this whole damned thread, switching tabs and looking up different brands and such. I think I've about settled on a WASD V1 w/Browns (mix of typing & gaming, probably mostly typing; I want to get my writing into gear). The WASDs seem like good keyboards from the sound of it, and they're cheaper than some of the other higher-end brands. Even though I'll get it in black to start, it's nice to know I can always buy other keycaps later to make the thing look like whatever I want.

I do echo the sentiment on Rosewill in general, though, although I've never used their keyboards. I won't go into specifics, but I've evaluated some of their hardware for use with our products, and I've found their biggest problem is design rather than just construction. They break not because they're poorly-built (although that may have something to do with it), but just because whoever thought it was a good idea to put products together in that fashion needs to be shot. The USB port on the rear of the keyboard I've heard about is a perfect example. They're the only ones that build them that way, and it's their primary point of failure... seriously, who does that and doesn't soon realize that it's just stupid?
 
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