How fast can you type?

[wellington1869]

I am a very heavy typist so I can see why I feel more natural on it.

this goes to my notion that there are 'classes' of typists and some will always like the heavier ('meatier') switches and some will always like the lighter switches. I'm a relatively heavy typer too, and I really tried to like lighter switches (especially since some of those boards are so pretty!) but I always came back to buckling springs in the end.

I think for a given type of typist its hard to switch board genres abruptly, in either direction. Light typists will always prefer a relatively light switch, and vice versa for heavy typists.

For a while I even tried swapping between a light and a heavy board, but even that didnt last.  Its like right-handedness and left-handedness, eventually you pick a side and go with it

My fastest speed is on bs too (100wpm) though the topre came close (high 90s). But it also felt more satisfying to me on the bs.

[timw4mail]

this goes to my notion that there are 'classes' of typists and some will always like the heavier ('meatier') switches and some will always like the lighter switches. I'm a relatively heavy typer too, and I really tried to like lighter switches (especially since some of those boards are so pretty!) but I always came back to buckling springs in the end.

I think for a given type of typist its hard to switch board genres abruptly, in either direction. Light typists will always prefer a relatively light switch, and vice versa for heavy typists.

For a while I even tried swapping between a light and a heavy board, but even that didnt last.  Its like right-handedness and left-handedness, eventually you pick a side and go with it

Perhaps habits are just difficult to break.

[huha]

I thought I was fastest on cherry blues too, but since getting this IBM M yesterday, my speed has improved more than 15 wpm, just in one day!!!!  I can't wait to see what will happen once I actually get used to the 'board.  I am a very heavy typist so I can see why I feel more natural on it.  I'm around 95 wpm on fast fingers but as low as 70 on typefaster lessons.  Those are ridiculous words anyway though lol so of course it's going to be less.

fast-fingers has a really stupid way to count wpm. It counts actual typed words per minute, which doesn't quite correspond with the definition. One WPM is 5 CPM, period. Luckily, fast-fingers outputs CPM as well, so that's not much of a problem.

Fast-fingers in German, for example, gives me 552 cpm (92 words/minute), whereas following the classic definition, this equals about 110 WPM.
In English, I get 458 cpm (82 words/minute), which equals about 92 following the classic definition.

I can get up to 600 cpm if I try really hard. I guess I'm actually fastest with my Thinkpad's keyboard, but it's not all about speed, and typing with the Endurapro or G80-3000 just feels so much nicer.

-huha

[erricrice]

Oh yeah,  I know fast fingers is f'd, I just look at the characters per minute and divide by 5.  Typefaster does the same thing(it gives me usually around 40-50 wpm) as it only takes the actual words that you typed out for that lesson.  But they are strange words which slows me down since I don't have muscle memory for those specific words since most of them I've never even heard of lol.  I always look at cpm rather than what it tells you as wpm since it usually is f'd up anyway.

@wellington:

I think a lot of it has to do with the other things that you do with your fingers as well.  Many people who type on keyboards(pretty much everyone on earth now) doesn't do much else that really stresses your fingers.  Do you play any musical instruments?  I play paino guitar and flute so my fingers are used to lots of repetitious movement which might explain why I like the heavier keyboards more.  Same probably goes for everyone else, or something similar to that.

[timw4mail]

Oh yeah,  I know fast fingers is f'd, I just look at the characters per minute and divide by 5.  Typefaster does the same thing(it gives me usually around 40-50 wpm) as it only takes the actual words that you typed out for that lesson.  But they are strange words which slows me down since I don't have muscle memory for those specific words since most of them I've never even heard of lol.  I always look at cpm rather than what it tells you as wpm since it usually is f'd up anyway.

@wellington:

I think a lot of it has to do with the other things that you do with your fingers as well.  Many people who type on keyboards(pretty much everyone on earth now) doesn't do much else that really stresses your fingers.  Do you play any musical instruments?  I play paino guitar and flute so my fingers are used to lots of repetitious movement which might explain why I like the heavier keyboards more.  Same probably goes for everyone else, or something similar to that.

Ah, a fellow flautist.  Do you think that typing helps or hurts your playing?

[erricrice]

I barely play at all anymore, but hopefully I will start playing more in the near future when I get some more time....but I think that it has helped my playing, keeping my grip sure but light so I'm not crushing the damn thing haha.  It's also kept my fingers nimble by keeping the muscles in my arms well used.  Push ups **** up my posture somehow though haha.

[BucklingSpring]

Just tested it:

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
Word typed in 8688 ms. That makes 137 ms/char and 435 cpm


-huha

edit: weird. I didn't put a space in the word. Does the board software insert spaces for character breaking purposes? A zero-width space would be much less irritating.

Hey, how long did it take you just to find the "ü" on your keyboard?

Cheater :-)

[keyb_gr]

Obviously this is not the kind of word to use for a speed test with anything but a German layout where Ü is readily accessible...

[BucklingSpring]

I was basically forced to learn to touch-type in Middle School, so I'm actually kind of glad after the fact. I'm not as fast, or in most cases, as accurate as I'd like to be, but hopefully, I'm getting better.

I started to learn a typing technique long time ago. I remember that summer. Back then I was dating a girl who knew how to type and asked her to show me. My goal was to gain at least the same speed I had without any technique. It took me less then 2 weeks. I was working at a tourist information stand and I was bringing a book and a keyboard at work. The keyboard was not hooked to anything. My so called friends were laughing at me all the time.

I've been capped in the 70WPM for years with decreasing accuracy. I suspect I was much faster and more accurate when I was doing transcriptions. Then needed some speed for chatting during my IRC days. Never clocked myself back.

IRC sigh… Early 90’s - best of IRC years.

I guess it is very bad for accuracy when you see what you type all the time.

[qso]

No fast typists use mechanical boards, they are mostly on IBM laptop(scissor) from what I see on youtube. I need a low profile mechanical board:D is there any? When I'm trying to switch my fingers as fast as while I'm on a low profile rubber dome board, the fingers get stuck as if there's a wall blocking the way.

[itlnstln]

I need a low profile mechanical board:D is there any?

Keyboards with Cherry ML switches.  Any of the Cherry G84-XXXX models will get you there.  I believe the Cherry G84-5200 is a fullsize 'board with MLs.  The G84-4100 (ML4100) is a popular 'board, too, as it has a compact layout.

[timw4mail]

I guess my problem with such a method is that I don't like a low-profile switch as much as the full-profile switches.

I'd guess that there is some sort of inverse relationship between the feedback of a switch and the maximum possible speed, this explains the faster feel of my AT101W over my Model F, but the better feel of the Model F.

[itlnstln]

I guess my problem with such a method is that I don't like a low-profile switch as much as the full-profile switches.
 
I'd guess that there is some sort of inverse relationship between the feedback of a switch and the maximum possible speed, this explains the faster feel of my AT101W over my Model F, but the better feel of the Model F.

For me, it's resistance.  The lighter the switch, the faster I type, but this isn't true for everyone.  I would imagine that for some of these faster typers on Youtube, they use the shorter throw of the switch as a mental trigger to recognize the completion of a keypress. I know Welly types faster on his Model Ms than he does on other switches.

[Rajagra]

I need a low profile mechanical board:D is there any?

The Cherry / Raptor K1 sounds interesting. Seems to have MX switches with 30% less travel.

[huha]

No fast typists use mechanical boards, they are mostly on IBM laptop(scissor) from what I see on youtube. I need a low profile mechanical board:D is there any? When I'm trying to switch my fingers as fast as while I'm on a low profile rubber dome board, the fingers get stuck as if there's a wall blocking the way.

I'm fastest (that is, burst speed) on my Thinkpad with scissor switches as well. I think it all depends on what you want to achieve; just type fast for the sake of typing fast? Get a keyboard with uniform feel, somewhat short travel and okay feedback, like a Thinkpad's scissor-switch keyboard. If, however, you can accept typing a little slower, get a keyboard you like the feel of. I can't type extremely fast on my Endurapro, but as it does feel incredibly nice, it's not as tiring and much more inspiring and I'm still quite fast with it. A keyboard is, after all, just a tool. Depending on what you want to do, there's the right tool for every job. I can be creative when typing on good keyboards; it feels nice, so I can divert more brainpower to actually thinking and the sound of typing on a nice, clicky keyboard is somewhat soothing as well.

I wouldn't go for the "fastest" switches unless your job is to type as fast as possible. If you've achieved a certain typing speed, you're limited by how fast you can come up with things to type anyway. This barrier is much, much lower than what you can type; I think I might manage to do 60 to 80 wpm when coming up with texts; it doesn't really matter if I can do 120 on my Thinkpad vs. 100 on the Endurapro, because typing speed is not the limiting factor. That's why I tend to like typing on the Endurapro or the G80-3000 with blues, for that matter.

-huha

[o2dazone]

Whenever I type, I always use the same phrase, to tip my cpm in my favor (because I've used it so much). The phrase is "And now for something completely different" - but yeah, not super accurate if it's something you practice typing a lot.

Fastest isn't always the best. It's funny, I had this same conversation yesterday. I was packing up and taking home a few things from work yesterday, and had my G80 (which was my work board until I started toting the hhkb to/from work) with me. The receptionist said "Another keyboard huh??" and I replied with "these are clicky and tactile, a little bit different from this" and lifted the hard case my happy hacking was in. She finger rolled on the home row for a few seconds and said "It's nice...feels like a Remington". I'm assuming that's a typewriter or something, and then she said "I'd probably type faster on laptop keyboards though", and shes right. Less travel means you fingers can move around more, and preemptively prepare themselves for hitting other keys earlier. I told her she was right and then I mentioned the tactility and key shape. By then, it was blank stares, but it was interesting to see the receptionist, who is by no means a keyboard aficionado, notice the travel.

[itlnstln]

"It's nice...feels like a Remington". I'm assuming that's a typewriter or something

Yes.

[timw4mail]

How a Topre switch could feel like a manual typewriter must be like how a Model M supposedly feels like a Selectric...not much at all...

This is just conjecture, though.

[o2dazone]

How a Topre switch could feel like a manual typewriter must be like how a Model M supposedly feels like a Selectric...not much at all...

This is just conjecture, though.

She was referring to the G80
but she's also really old, I would imagine the force on a typewriter is much greater than a Cherry blue

[timw4mail]

Manual typewriters make the Model M seem like a feather-weight touch.

[o2dazone]

Manual typewriters make the Model M seem like a feather-weight touch.

Maybe her strong fingers were able to type on a typewriter with ease back in the day, and since they've atrophied and her bones have become brittle, and the "force" is about the same, just on a lighter switch lol

[ch_123]

It's nice...feels like a Remington". I'm assuming that's a typewriter or something

It coulda been this:

Show Image

Or it coulda been an electric shaver.  

Show Image

Or even

[timw4mail]

It makes more sense for the gun than for the Razor, I think... not that it really makes sense to be anything but the typewriter.

[o2dazone]

Maybe the Remington gun was a threat. Like "stay away from me you creep, or you'll be feeling my trusty Remington"

[qso]

Keyboards with Cherry ML switches.  Any of the Cherry G84-XXXX models will get you there.  I believe the Cherry G84-5200 is a fullsize 'board with MLs.  The G84-4100 (ML4100) is a popular 'board, too, as it has a compact layout.

The Cherry / Raptor K1 sounds interesting. Seems to have MX switches with 30% less travel.

Nice thanks. Duh shipping from europe I wonder how much I would be charged "extra" this time lol.... last time from Taiwan which is supposed to be near cost more than you guys.

I'm fastest (that is, burst speed) on my Thinkpad with scissor switches as well. I think it all depends on what you want to achieve; just type fast for the sake of typing fast? Get a keyboard with uniform feel, somewhat short travel and okay feedback, like a Thinkpad's scissor-switch keyboard. If, however, you can accept typing a little slower, get a keyboard you like the feel of. I can't type extremely fast on my Endurapro, but as it does feel incredibly nice, it's not as tiring and much more inspiring and I'm still quite fast with it. A keyboard is, after all, just a tool. Depending on what you want to do, there's the right tool for every job. I can be creative when typing on good keyboards; it feels nice, so I can divert more brainpower to actually thinking and the sound of typing on a nice, clicky keyboard is somewhat soothing as well.

I wouldn't go for the "fastest" switches unless your job is to type as fast as possible. If you've achieved a certain typing speed, you're limited by how fast you can come up with things to type anyway. This barrier is much, much lower than what you can type; I think I might manage to do 60 to 80 wpm when coming up with texts; it doesn't really matter if I can do 120 on my Thinkpad vs. 100 on the Endurapro, because typing speed is not the limiting factor. That's why I tend to like typing on the Endurapro or the G80-3000 with blues, for that matter.

-huha

My job requires me to type a lot and speed is important as well accuracy. This Filco seems to be hindering me often, but my speed on Filco's now is as fast as my old rubberdome low profile board. Recently I tried MacBook to my suprise I like it for a while, then I noticed the keys were too slippery:D. I'm doing 80++ while thinking, but I believe with a low profile mechanical board I can be more efficient & faster. I just like to slide on the keys:D

Also I read a lot of comments that saying, changing to Dvorak does not increase your speed but it's more comfortable.

[timw4mail]

I guess one of the easiest ways to continue to get faster is to be consistent. My problem is half the day I have to type on a laptop keyboard, and the other half I use my Model F. That adjustment has to cost some speed.

Then again, when I'm working, it's the Model F at home, and the Scorpius M10 at work.

[erricrice]

Oh yeah!



Hit 102 wpm on my Model M!  First time to break 100!

[shortround]

Best I've gotten so far on a typing test is 68 wpm with 98% accuracy.  I need a taller desk that I can rest my forearms on whilst typing.

[erricrice]

Best I've gotten so far on a typing test is 68 wpm with 98% accuracy.  I need a taller desk that I can rest my forearms on whilst typing.

Yeah, I've noticed that helps IMMENSELY!  It's not a good idea to anchor your wrists, as this will limit your movement, and thus kill your speed, but if you can anchor your forearms and keep everything else up in the air, I've found that is the best way to go.

And just keep working on it, you'll get there, all it takes is practice.  Also, speed comes from certainty, so I've noticed the thing that helps my speed the most is if I do some typing lessons(yes even the very simple ones) at a place like typing-lessons.org and just do all of the basic ones over and over, only going on to the next one when you have finished the last with 100% accuracy, no matter how slowly you have to go.  Since I've started doing that on a regular basis, my typing speed has improved a very noticeable amount.

[timw4mail]

Yeah, I've noticed that helps IMMENSELY!  It's not a good idea to anchor your wrists, as this will limit your movement, and thus kill your speed, but if you can anchor your forearms and keep everything else up in the air, I've found that is the best way to go.

And just keep working on it, you'll get there, all it takes is practice.  Also, speed comes from certainty, so I've noticed the thing that helps my speed the most is if I do some typing lessons(yes even the very simple ones) at a place like typing-lessons.org and just do all of the basic ones over and over, only going on to the next one when you have finished the last with 100% accuracy, no matter how slowly you have to go.  Since I've started doing that on a regular basis, my typing speed has improved a very noticeable amount.

I've gotten up to ~70WPM after playing some random "press the correct letter" sort of typing games.

As much as those sort of exercises may help, I can't help but dread the next "jfj fjf" typing instructor I see.

[erricrice]

I've gotten up to ~70WPM after playing some random "press the correct letter" sort of typing games.

As much as those sort of exercises may help, I can't help but dread the next "jfj fjf" typing instructor I see.

Lol, well the one that I linked above is the one I've been using.  It does that for the first lesson since you don't have any other keys to choose from, but after that it incorporates real words, which is pretty nice.  Does a good job IMO.

[hyperlinked]

Just did 104wpm on this test. http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com

This was done on a creaky Matias Optimizer keyboard that is starting to exhibit signs of wear and tear. I can't wait to try it again when my Filco arrives this week. It probably won't change too much, but I'll probably be wearing a big fat stupid grin from the new keyboard.

I cranked 120wpm with a 3% error rate around 15 years ago on an IBM Selectric Typewriter at a temporary job interview. I was usually the fastest typist at any temp assignment until I got paired with this one woman who was simply supersonic at 140+wpm!

[erricrice]

Just did 104wpm on this test. http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com

This was done on a creaky Matias Optimizer keyboard that is starting to exhibit signs of wear and tear. I can't wait to try it again when my Filco arrives this week. It probably won't change too much, but I'll probably be wearing a big fat stupid grin from the new keyboard.

I cranked 120wpm with a 3% error rate around 15 years ago on an IBM Selectric Typewriter at a temporary job interview. I was usually the fastest typist at any temp assignment until I got paired with this one woman who was simply supersonic at 140+wpm!

Yikes, that's ridiculous!  140+?  Insanity I say, Insanity.  Once you get to that point you know you will always be able to find a professional job being someone's personal assistant somewhere and make crap tons of money.

[cmr]

i average around 100 wpm on typeracer. i used to average around 85-90 but i noticed i wasn't using my left index finger and re-learned QWERTY a few months ago. i've never had the patience for abstract typing exercises.

i am much faster on mechanical and BS keyboards than on rubber.