So far my experience with Alps has been with Cream, White, and Black Alps. The Black Alps I had were disappointing and the White Alps annoyed me. The Cream Alps were interesting though. So when I saw some Green Alps come up at a decent price, I decided to give them a try and see if I could finally find an Alps switch I well and truly liked. So without further ado, my adventure into green Alps begins with a Wyse keyboard.
Exterior Build QualityOne of the nice things about every Alps board I've seen is that they have a plate. As such, most Alps boards tend to be nice and sturdy and have a rigidity that many PCB mount boards and, sadly, even some plate mount boards are missing. The Wyse keyboard is no different. This thing is solid as a rock. It has some nice heft to it, it has marginal flex, and it just feels like a solid keyboard. It also happens to have some nice thick doubleshot Alps caps on it.
When you pop the caps off, you get to see the sexiness of the Green Alps. In typical Alps fashion, the switches can be opened up without desoldering them. All you need to do is pry apart the plastic tabs on the top and bottom. Unlike most Alps, Green Alps are made with an LED cutout so, given the right board, you could easily make each key backlit. Based on the design of the top half of the switches, you can tell that they were made sometime before 1993. It's also difficult to see because of the dirt, but these switches are also lacking the signature Alps logo on the the top of the housing.
And yes, that spacebar is 10.5x units large...
ladies
And before you say anything, yes, I know the board is absolutely filthy. I'd debating whether I'm going to try and get a custom Alps PCB to put them on or if I'm going to Teensy mod the keyboard. If I do the latter, it will undergo a deep cleaning.
When I got it, the spacebar was also not stabilized. It was a PITA to get stabilized, but it dramatically improved the feel.
PCB porn and build constructionThe case as a whole is nice and thick and is a very solid case. You also can see a nice thick powder coated plate over the PCB.
Overall, the solder job on the keyboard is pretty solid too. Personally, I like just a hair more solder than some of the joints have, but it's nothing I could complain about as none of the solder joints I saw were over soldered, I didn't spot any cold joints, and none of them had far too little solder. There were a few joints that were almost bridged, but, fortunately, I didn't see any actual solder bridges that shouldn't have been there.
The other nice thing is that none of the legs appeared to be bent over. Far too many Alps boards that I've disassembled have bent over legs. It's an issue that's rather annoying.
Inside the switchGreen Alps fall under the "complicated" Alps category. When you look inside the switch, you see the standard switchplate, leaf, spring, and slider. Since it's a linear switch, it doesn't matter which way you put the slider back in, both sides are the same.
Typing on Green Alps
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But seriously, I didn't think linear switches could get any better than Ghost Blacks. Green Alps proved that I was wrong. Yeah, the throw of the switches is shorter than ideal for my preference, but, good god, everything else about them is pretty much perfect. The weight of the switches could not be better. They're heavier than Reds and Lighter than Blacks and just have a perfect force curve. You have that initial resistance, and then it's smooth sailing all the way down. That's not to say you don't have some resistance, since you do, but it's almost like a slide for your fingers. You have that hesitation at the top, then you just have the perfect ride all the way to the bottom.
The switches are also ridiculously smooth. I've played with lubed linear Cherry switches and "vintage" Blacks and those have nothing on Green Alps. Sure, some of the switches could do with a cleaning and a lube job, but holy crap, these things just glide. Imagine skating on freshly groomed ice with nice and sharp ice skates. These things just glide and are a pleasure to use. I don't care if you hate linear switches, Green Alps will make you a convert.
Lastly, these switches seem completely devoid of the dreaded Alps wobble. For some reason, one I'm not complaining about in the least, they're nice and stable.
I've never tried Blue Alps, so I can't speak to them, but I can say if you want to see how amazing Alps can feel, run out and get yourself a Green Alps board. Your fingers can thank me later.
Next up for review: Green Vintage Tee Mount Alps. Depending on how some eBay auctions go, I may also get some SMK inverse cross mount switches and some Rafi switches to review as well.
