Red, blue, brown ..... help please. I need it.

[thegt1]

Hi fellows as you can see this is my very first post on geekhack, and i'm looking forward to many more. I've stepping up my efforts to reach 75 wpm in my typing and right now i'm hovering around the highs 30's on a VERY good day, That is the exception not the rule.

Since i want to buy a mech keyboard to complement the training, i'm looking for a good explanation [ in plain english, of course] of the colors keys. I want to get the new rosewill and i see in their ad they mention linear, tactile and you know what is not working for me what all that means. For raw speed which one will be your choice, thanks in advance.

[Quarzac]

Raw speed and typing comfort, I would definitely say blues. No question. Alternatively, buckling springs.

[Tastybyte]

The best thing would be for you to find someplace to try out the different cherry switches. That is what I did. After trying Cherry Blue, Brown, Clear, Black, and Red, I bought the Rosewell RK9000 with red switches. I absolutely enjoy the red switch experience over the other cherry switches. However, it is a very personal thing. You will see how every one here has their own favorite switches.

The safest recommendation to make to a new mechanical user is to go with brown key switches if you aren't sure what to get. Brown does everything well and has the tactility that your brain appreciates.

[zmurf]

Tactile means that you can "feel" when the key is activated. .. the key pass by a little "bump". Blue, Brown and Clear is tactile switches. Blue also make a "click" sound.. brown and clear are silent switches. Brown is a light switch.. meaning it is not as heavy as Blues and Clears to press down.

Linear is non-tactile switches. There is nothing that tells you when it is activated. Making it much easier to "bottom out", which is bad if you write a lot since it gives much more fatigue on the fingers (the best is to stop pressing exactly at the activation point... giving your finger some millimetres to deaccelerate and start lifting instead of going to a sudden stop when the key hits the bottom of the switch floor)...  but there is no "tactile bump" to overcome so, according to many gamers, it is faster to press and repress (since you don't have to pass over the bump each time).
Black and Red is linear switches. Both are silent. Red is a lighter switch then the Black.

My usual recommendation.
*If you type a lot and there is no one to bother with clicking noises: Blue
*If you type a lot and THERE IS people who will get bothered with click noises: Clear or Brown. (depending on if you lilke heavy or light switches... personally I prefer the clears.)
*If you game a lot and never writes anything you may want to consider black switches.... But I don't really know anything about this since I never play that sort of games...

Personally I would always go for Blue if I just sit for my self and Clear if I sit with other people...

[Tastybyte]

As i understand it you can acclimate to the actuation of the linear switches so that you don't bottom out. It seems more difficult than using a brown's tactility to prevent bottoming out, but doable. I can't recommend red to a person as their first cherry switch unless they tried all the switches out first and decided red was best for them. Brown is so totally safe. Blue is great, as long as you are okay with the clicky noise that can be quite bothersome to other people. If you like the clicky sound blue makes and don't have to worry about annoyed family members, then I suggest it over brown.

[bloodygood]

The softest key switches are Brown and Red as far as activation force. If you are coming over from a rubber dome keyboard, I would say that reds will feel the most similar to what you have been typing on. Now I do not mean that they feel like rubber domes, not at all. I mean they are a straight switch so they do not have a tactile bump while pressing. Browns do have that bump which is great for knowing if you have pressed down far enough without bottoming out (in my opinion, great for learning touch typing). Next up we have the blue switches which are just slightly stronger press than brown or red, and I do mean only a slightly stronger actuation. The main difference in my opinion being that they make the audible click with each key press. This to some is exactly what they love to hear since it can be quite soothing, but to others they feel it is slightly annoying, my recommendation in this area would be to listen to some videos of blue switches before purchasing a keyboard with them. Next we have clears which have a bit stronger tactile bump than browns but are a bit harder to find by default in a keyboard. Since it is rarer to find them other than the recently released Leopold clear switch board, I am not sure where someone might have a chance to test them specifically. Some say the force needed feels rather hard like a black key switch but I haven't had a chance to test it personally, but I would love to try them since I love brown switches. Last we have black switches which are the strongest force mainly used for heavier fingered typists or gamers. Personally I would think a speed typist would not want black switches but they are a heavier version of the straight red switches so they would probably provide the closest feel as far as key pressing to rubber domes. I hope this in some way helps but obviously do more research and make a good educated decision when making an investment for a keyboard you will have for many years to come. If for whatever reason you do get a keyboard you are not in favor of. There is a great part of the forum dedicated to classified ads where you could sell the board for close to the full value or purchase someone else at close or lower to full value. That is how I got my Filco brown switch ninja tenkeyless, which I use every single day now.

[noodles256]

wlcm2gh

[thegt1]

Damn your guys are QUICK! thanks for the feedback, i can only imagine how long did it take you to type this. Btw what is consider a decent wpm average in "geekhack land", i'm starting to think that this 75 wpm goal will be way too slow for the family in here.

[sordna]

Since this is a subjective matter and you'll get conflicting info here are at least some interesting stats... most folks along with their typing speed mention what keyboard or switches they are using in the leaderboards thread:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?19891-Official-Geekhack-Typing-Speed-Leaderboards

In any case, if you are at 30-40WPM the switch type won't make much of a difference, you are probably not fluent with the key locations yet... I would actually suggest you find a switch type you *enjoy* typing on, so you will be encouraged to practice and improve over time!
Anyway, to me the lighter the switch the faster I can type, so my vote goes for cherry reds, but if you are heavy handed, they might be too light for you. Again, it's a highly subjective matter, a switch that is legitimately great for some folks, is also legitimately bad for some other folks.

[Tony]

Since this is your first mech keyboard, migrated from rubber domes, and you are good at typing, I suggest either brown (soft) or buckling spring (hard), depends on how hard you are punching your keyboard.

I am now using brown exclusively with typing speed of 60-70wpm.

[domin8r]

What will probably happen is that you will choose a certain Cherry switch and get a board with that. But you will still wonder if an other switch might be even better than the awesome mechanical experience.
So you buy another board to try it out.. and another.. And before you know it you have a collection

But this is not a bad thing though.. it's like having different pairs of shoes for different kind of moods

[slueth]

I suggest going on youtube and looking at videos, and then you can hear what the switches sound like,  and see if the board looks like something you would like.