Ducky 1087 XM w/ Green ALPS type switch

[reaper]

Welcome to Geekhack and why don't you try posting in Classifieds first?  Might get lucky and find one closer. =)

[fossala]

Can you desolder the switches and put real alps on?

[reaper]

I no longer own that board.  Sold it to demik.  Someone else will have to answer that. =P

[Grimey]

Can you desolder the switches and put real alps on?

Certainly can.  I replaced the spongy LED CAPSLOCK with a ALPS branded switch from a Focus board or something on my 1087.  On my 1008 I put all my Black ALPS from a Dell AT101W.

[Magna224]

I no longer own that board.  Sold it to demik.  Someone else will have to answer that. =P

I have it now. =)

[fossala]

Certainly can.  I replaced the spongy LED CAPSLOCK with a ALPS branded switch from a Focus board or something on my 1087.  On my 1008 I put all my Black ALPS from a Dell AT101W.

Thanks, decided to go with a filco zero instead.

[mkawa]

got my ducky today. first impression is just that the keys are super light; i'm totally spoiled by clear springs now. also, my space bar stabilizer rattles like crazy.

[Autolyze]

My 1087 with green XMs came today. I've only typed on it for a couple hours, but I'm not too crazy about it so far. The keys are kind of loose and wobbly and it feels like the whole keyboard is ready to just fall apart any minute now. I love typing on both Cherry MX blues and the white XM switches in my MiniTouch, and these green XMs do feel similar to both of those in some ways, but they're like cheap soulless imitations. The case is also a little uneven and no amount of flexing seems to make it sit flat on the table.

I'll give the board more time before making up my mind, but at the moment I'm thinking that I'll probably have to find some less crappy switches to install in this. I also just got a soldering station today and I should probably experiment on something like this before I start butchering nicer keyboards.

[mkawa]

yep, mine is uneven as well. i put my keyboards on a towel that doubles as a wrist wrest, so i'm fine with that. the switches are super wobbly, but in a way that i don't particularly mind, as the keys provide no lateral resistance -- it's more like they're tracking with your fingers than threatening to fall apart.

i love the clacking. ooooh do i love that clacking. it's not a clear ka-chink, but this wonderful cacophony of little metal pieces tapping on other little metal pieces. it's like a damned piano. this little ugly duckling is definitely growing on me.

[therecorder]

Received my 1087 today (10 days shipping).  Initial impressions...  Doubt it's worth much more than I (we) paid for it; seems sort of flimsy; "Caps Lock" and "Num Lock"/"Scroll Lock" LED's way, way too bright; contrast between colors of keycap and keycap printing is too low (for me); switches a little more wobbly than I'd like, but I guess that's the "Alps Wabble" they're doing :whoo:.  But, let's give keyboard some time.  Want to be fair.

[domin8r]

Got mine in yesterday.. Really liking it so far!
The keys are indeed wobbly, but that's just alps. My AT101W does that too.. And don't mind the wobble
The sound is pretty nice.. from what I had read I was expecting it to be superloud but it's just like black alps with a little more "oomph". No angry coworkers so far.. but they're used to my other coworker rattling away on his AT101W

Build quallity is definitely fine for it's price-range. Board is sturdy, it doesn't slip on my desk with the feet up and just works.
This is my first TKL and REALLY liking that too!

Only downside was the heft customs fee.. had to pay about $32.80 on customs. And the board itself was $33 (and $20 shipping). Ridiculous!

[ladiesman2927]

Mine ended up coming in today. Everyone was right about these feeling VERY similar to cherry blues. I've been having a bit of fun with it so far. I think I'm enjoying the sound more than the feel of the keys hahaha

In my opinion, the 'alps wobble' isn't nearly as bad as it is made out to be. I can hardly notice it if at all when typing normally. I'm a little disappointed you don't get the ducky keychains from PCHOME anymore though :T

[domin8r]

Mine ended up coming in today. Everyone was right about these feeling VERY similar to cherry blues. I've been having a bit of fun with it so far. I think I'm enjoying the sound more than the feel of the keys hahaha

In my opinion, the 'alps wobble' isn't nearly as bad as it is made out to be. I can hardly notice it if at all when typing normally. I'm a little disappointed you don't get the ducky keychains from PCHOME anymore though :T

Yeah I was disappointed about the keychain too

[Keyboarder]

Ok got my duckies in:


Impressions:  This keyboard is loooud.   Not significantly louder than other clicky white alps.  Build quality is not up to part with filcos, but what do you expect from a ducky... Nothing about the build quality makes the keyboard un-usable.   The plastic thing that goes above the arrow keys and around the insert / delete / home/ end cluster had sorta popped out, but I just popped it back into place.

Key feeling:  Great.  ****ing fabulous.  These are very light compared with say XM's found on the siig minitouch.  I didn't ripometer it but it looks like it's be cheren done before.   There is ZERO off center keypress binding.  I'm not sure I have actually used a fukka alps board but I think this is what they would feel like.  

Roll over:  appears to be pretty much 6kro

Compared with cherry blues?  Click is much louder.  Travel is less (all of this is typical for alps).  Actuation force seems slightly higher.  The tactile point and click is more pronounced. The click is meatier.  This keyboard is much much louder overall.

How do the green ALPS switches compare to the white ALPS?

[Exort]

Yeah I was disappointed about the keychain too

Someone should really make a tester pack out of all the key chains, topre, apls etc.

[diredesire]

I've always liked ALPS switches, moreso, even than Cherry switches, so even with all the bad press, I convinced myself to take a leap of faith on this board. I had the ABS M1 as an introductory mechanical board, I didn't really like the ALPS Black switches, but I LOVED ALPS white switches. So much, in fact, that I swapped the ABS switches out for White switches from a keyboard I found next to a dumpster. That board was bliss, but the controller had a ghosting/transposing issue, and I type pretty fast. I retired it for a Scorpius M10 (Cherry Blue), and now I'm on a Razer Blackwidow. While neither board are regarded as especially great, I'll live.

This board came in today, and there is a pronounced key wobble, much moreso than my ABS board. I'll have to investigate more as to why that is, though. The switches are much louder than my ALPS whites, and a tiny bit louder than my Cherry blues. I would say that the tactile feel of the key is more pronounced than the Cherry Blues, but the build quality of this particular keyboard is pretty terrible. The base layer of the case is bent a little bit, so it wobbles from bottom left to top right corners. It's even worse with the legs folded "open."

With that said, I do like the feel of the switches, but the noise has a "clang" in the reverb after a key is struck, sort of like a buckling spring board. Overall, I'd say I prefer the key feel over my Black Widow, but compared to the other ABS switches I've tried, these don't sound as solid. I'll get over the annoyance of the sound, I think, and work on this board for a while. I prefer my keyboards to have the 10 key, as I do use it to type, but I wanted to experiment with a TKL board and see how it feels with gaming. Maybe I'll be a convert.

Cheers (this might be my first post, now that I come to think of it)...