http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/This may give me the raw data I need, it's a much more random test that doesn't throw any punctuation or strange words into the mix. I should give me an indication of what my maximum speed on each board is and what the possibilities are. It also gives cpm raw data.
Although this test is constant it doesn't allow memorization, so times will be relatively slower. It also throws a flip page into it that slows me down a bit.
Acer:Black/used: 80-85wpm
I was surprised with my speed with this board. The feeling of these switches is very much more plasticy than alps switches. They're a lot lot lighter as well however, especially this well used one.
white/fresh/ hhk1 hack: 75-80wpm
This board was uber clicky, which feels good, but I had a lot of problems with speed with it. This was due probably because of the strange position of the backspace, which is 1 key down from normal backspaces, which would take some time for me to get used to again.
Ibm model f: 75 wpmI have a feeling that I got such bad scores with this board because it has the small back arrow I'm not used to, and also the space bar on my unit seems very hard to press relative to the keys, which I think is a result of me having it out of its slot for such a a long time. I'm also no longer used to the space between the keys which is clearly different than an alps or alps like switch.
Japanese blue alps: 85wpm It looks like about 85wpm is my consistent average speed with it with my blue alps Japanese keyboard with about 2 words mistyped.
Cream alps, modified sig: 85-90wpm
Another slightly above average alps switch for speed I would say. It's nice not to bottom out so hard, and it's probably about the same speed as complicated white alps.
complicated white siig/silicone keycaps: 85wpm I'm about the same with my silicone keycaps on my complicated white alps siig, perhaps a tiny bit slower. My accuracy seems a significant amount better, I missed maybe 1 word on average.
complicated white normal keycaps/big spacebar: 85-90wpmI got up to about 85-90 with my bluetooth hack with normal keycaps which uses white complicates, whites, the same as my siig with silicone keys. One thing I noticed here is that the extra large space-bar on it I think does help considerably.
fake white alps-old typewriter keycaps- 85wpm/good accuracy This board was great for accuracy, which can translate to speed overall, I almost never missed a word, but for speed I can't say it's significantly better than the other alps switches. It's not going to get me to 200wpm.
irocks kr6820e: 85-95wpmpretty consistent 83 wpm with my irocks kr6820e. Lots of errors though. It has really comfortable keys at that speed though, very bouncy, short travel relatively.
Edit: Just got a 93 with it... Not sure I can go farther than that with it. Maybe a bit. I might get up to 100wpm.. It's a good kb for speed as I thought it might be. It's domes are very much like scissor switches.
Monterey- 80 wpmIt could just be that I'm not used to this board that I'm slower. It also hurt using it after a few tests. I bottomed out every keytouch because the click and spring in these switches are so light.
nmb/white - 85/ super accurate Another very light touch clicky board, this one has a more pronounced click than the monterey. They have smaller peaks than most alps which likely accounts for the improved accuracy. My feeling is that I could probably go a bit faster with this board, maybe more in the 90-95 zone, but want to move on to others. This is a very fast board for a mechanical so far.
Fake alps standard boards:
smk-85 - 85-90 This is a fast board. The switch is very clicky unlike the complicated. You know when you hit a key, very low error rate.
Siig kb1948 85-90
This board, which I tested right after the smk has a completely different feel to it, although it uses the same type of switch as the smk, probably because of the different quality of the keycaps. Still, about the same results, most around 88-89 zone.
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I would say the irocks board is the big surprise so far. I would guess it's about 10 wpm faster than the average boards. Probably because of the short depression and nice rubber bounce at the bottoming out. The only problem I had with it is that I would miss a character every so often. That error rate would probably bring it down to average board speeds even though the switch activation was signifigantly better.
There's no jump out board that's like clearly 20 wpm better that would allow me to jump up to 200 wpm.
I'm going to try to learn dvorak using that site and bring my speed up and see if I can get clearly better speeds this way.
I think this makes clear to me that it is possible to design a board that is faster overall, but it may not be the direction I'm going. I think silicone is a good start, and spongeness, because what's happening at 100 wpm plus is really like little collisions that need to be dampened in some way or your fingers will pay the price, not the hard plastic.