Is this worth buying?

[DrinkTea]

I'm relatively new to mechanical keyboards and I want to try a board with clear switches. Ideally something tenkeyless.
I came across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leopold-FC660M-Mechanical-keyboard-Cherry-MX-clear-switches-W-Black-body-/300910289761?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item460fa6a361

It seems a bit expensive. But is that just the price that boards with clears go for? Or should I wait and see if anything new comes out in the next few months?

[jabar]

qtan has a web store which is cheaper than his eBay listings:

http://www.vendio.com/stores/E-sports-Gaming-equipments/item/shop-mechanical-keyboard-by-sw/leopold-fc660m-mechanical-keyb/lid=35177400

If any store stateside offers the FC660M, it would be EliteKeyboards. However they have yet to even import the FC700R which has been available for almost a year now.

[davkol]

What? qtan has FC660M with clears? DO WANT!

(Thanks for the link.)

[DrinkTea]

Yeah, I saw his webstore too. But even that's a bit pricey. But if clears aren't going to get any cheaper, I guess I'll just go for it. Or is it because of the brand? Is Leopold particularly good. And if so, what qualities make them good? Sorry for all the questions, but I appreciate the help.

[davkol]

Cherry G80-3000LQCEU and such are much cheaper. Otherwise, you have to focus on mostly limited editions of Ducky, Leopold, Keycool, CM Storm QF etc. keyboards. These definitely aren't bad quality-wise.

[DrinkTea]

Thanks for the tip on the other board. Just looking around, it doesn't seem easily available, and even when it is, not THAT much cheaper than the Leopold. And it's full size, which I guess can be a good or a bad thing. Looks like no matter what there's not going to be anything with clears at less than about 100USD. And from a build quality point of view, it sounds like the Leopold is the best I'm going to get for now. Although I heard CoolerMaster is coming out with a board with clears soon. Any ETA on that? So that might be cheaper and of similar quality. Would it be best to wait?

[kelske]

Cool! I wonder how the build quality compares to the 660C, which is excellent.

WASDv2 is supposedly coming in Clears too, if you prefer TKL

[tp4tissue]

ah question.. the spacebar is "special" on these boards or is it compatible with our "sets" ?

And is this plate mounted or PCB mounted?

If plate, it probably doesn't have the ez-access for ergo-clear mod right?


Clear is quite terrible without lube and spring mod, so, I wouldn't ever buy a clear plate mounted board, because of that extra desoldering step.

[DrinkTea]

What do you find terrible about clears? I heard they were like browns but heavier and more tactile. So I wanted to try them since I find the browns too light and a bit mushy feeling. I guess it all comes down to personal preference. So if anyone out there has clears they don't want, I'd love to try them!

[tp4tissue]

What do you find terrible about clears? I heard they were like browns but heavier and more tactile. So I wanted to try them since I find the browns too light and a bit mushy feeling. I guess it all comes down to personal preference. So if anyone out there has clears they don't want, I'd love to try them!

mm.. ok.. let's not call it terrible..  it's a preference..

I didn't like stock clears because it felt very heavy and effort-ful to type on.   With the lube, I can accept the 80g spring weight. but over time, I began to miss the low force of MX blues, so I decided on ergo.

[PointyFox]

The more I use heavy keys, the heavier I want them

[davkol]

Thanks for the tip on the other board. Just looking around, it doesn't seem easily available, and even when it is, not THAT much cheaper than the Leopold. And it's full size, which I guess can be a good or a bad thing. Looks like no matter what there's not going to be anything with clears at less than about 100USD. And from a build quality point of view, it sounds like the Leopold is the best I'm going to get for now. Although I heard CoolerMaster is coming out with a board with clears soon. Any ETA on that? So that might be cheaper and of similar quality. Would it be best to wait?

German Amazon/eBay, price around 55 EUR. If you're in the US, situation might be different. The good (well, YMMV) thing about Cherry G80 is that it's usually PCB-mounted, so it's easy to mess around with switches.

[jabar]

Clears for me are right on the fatiguing boundary for me. Browns/Blues/Reds I can game with forever, Clears I need to take breaks (Blacks more often) and Green wear my hands out within 10 minutes.

[knotra]

Yeah, I saw his webstore too. But even that's a bit pricey. But if clears aren't going to get any cheaper, I guess I'll just go for it. Or is it because of the brand? Is Leopold particularly good. And if so, what qualities make them good? Sorry for all the questions, but I appreciate the help.

$100 to $150 is pretty standard for a mechanical keyboard especially for a clear switch board which are relatively rare. That's actually a pretty good price. Leopold is a great brand, in fact I just bought a Leopold the other day, but it isn't necessarily considered the best of the best like Filco and Ducky are.

[DrinkTea]

Yeah, I saw his webstore too. But even that's a bit pricey. But if clears aren't going to get any cheaper, I guess I'll just go for it. Or is it because of the brand? Is Leopold particularly good. And if so, what qualities make them good? Sorry for all the questions, but I appreciate the help.

$100 to $150 is pretty standard for a mechanical keyboard especially for a clear switch board which are relatively rare. That's actually a pretty good price. Leopold is a great brand, in fact I just bought a Leopold the other day, but it isn't necessarily considered the best of the best like Filco and Ducky are.

I think my hesitation here is more that it's so small for that price. If it were full size (which I'm not looking for anyway) or even standard tenkeyless, I'd probably be ok with it. But I guess I'm comparing it in my head to the board of similar size with white switches I ordered and is similarly priced but with function keys. And then the tenkeyless with greens, which is a bit less...
However, realistically, I'm not going to save more than $50 if I wait for the coolermater with clears to come out this summer, right?
Although that might be a little bigger and I'm considering getting something tiny anyway to carry around with a laptop.  Does anyone do that? And if I do wait, how does Leopold compare in quality to CoolerMaster?

[davkol]

Leopold has better keycaps out of the box and Cherry stabilizers (while most CM Storm keyboards are Costar). I'd say they should be more or less on par in therms of quality.

[elttaboi]

That's a good keyboard if you like small layouts. I wouldn't go for clears myself since they are pretty heavy and I have delicate fingers.

[therecorder]

A few weeks ago, I bought an FC660M with Blues.  I was so impressed with it that I ordered one with Clears (from Qtang).  It's just as impressive as the one with Blues.  The Clears are a limited production board.  If I were you, I'd buy one with Clears.  If it's not for you, I'm sure that you'll eventually be able to sell it for little loss.  (And, yes the quality is every bit as good as the FC660C...  And, yes I also have one of them.  And, yes I've been on a bit of a spending spree.)

[kelske]

Cool thanks for confirming the build quality! Tempting.. I'd need to learn how to solder

[DrinkTea]

Thanks indeed. Well, it's now a serious consideration. The question is, should I get this, wait for the CoolerMaster clear board or just get both and maybe sell one.

[davkol]

Have you considered possible preference for stabilizers?

[DrinkTea]

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about that. But after reading what people wrote here, I went ahead and ordered it. So I guess I'll see how it is soon. He shipped it so fast!

[therecorder]

Let us know how you like it (or not).

[Metr0]

Does anyone now the size of the space bar or the right shift on this thing? Will it take traditional ANSI layout keys?

[therecorder]

Think the spacebar is 4 3/4 inches, and the shift keys "are" equal size...  These sizes are not standard.  And, the height of all the keycaps is not standard.  But, you should read this thread:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43807.0

[Metr0]

Think the spacebar is 4 3/4 inches, and the spacebars "are" equal size...  These sizes are not standard.  And, the height of all the keycaps is not standard.  But, you should read this thread:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=43807.0

They always make it difficult! Thanks for the info anyway, I'll keep an eye on qtan's Vendio store in the coming days.

[Schattendolch]

looks like a good value to me.

cherry clears are hard to come buy, and leopolds are good boards.

[Hak Foo]

One option if you just want to try clears is POS boards.  Some of those old Data911 boards and a lot of G80-8133 and 8200 boards show up used with Clear switches.  The issue is that they're often used and dirty.

[DrinkTea]

Well, it arrived today, and it's great. I like the feel of the clears. This is what brown should be. I even like the sound. It's not clicky but I enjoy the muted, uh, "thockiness" that it has. I also like the size.
Also it just feels more solid and high quality than the other crap I have. I've got two rosewill keyboards, one with blues and one with browns as well as a KBT Race with whites. Might just get rid of the Rosewills for someone to mod or harvest switches now.

[therecorder]

Really great that you're happy with your new purchase.  Enjoy your "thockness".