Reasonably priced Kailh Choc keebs (REVIEW added)

[ander]

Hey guys,

I've wanted to try low-profile Kailh Choc switches for some time, but never found ready-made boards with them. (Unfortunately, building with them was beyond my capabilities, because of their unique footprint.)

Tonight I came across some reasonably priced Choc boards on Amazon, and have posted about them here in Great Finds, if anyone's interested.

Cheers, A.

[PlayBox]

there are many choc open source board sbut most are ergo but way better than the amazon ones for sure

[Maledicted]

I bought one of the 65% boards to swap choc jades into. Turned out the jades I ordered didn't even fit the caps anyway so it is in pieces in a bag.

I have looked at Perixx's various interesting products off and on for a few years now, like their mechanical keyboard with an integrated trackball, the PERIBOARD-522. I most recently modded one of their PERIPAD-501 trackpads into my HTPC TG3 cop keyboard to give it multitouch. Based on the things I have read, and the two products of theirs that I have, they seem to make things pretty comparable to the random Chinesium products on Amazon ... which is perfectly fine if you ask me.

[ander]

I ordered one of the Perixx Choc boards, and really like it.







Made in China, of course, but "designed in Germany".



Fit and finish seem perfect. It's also, without a doubt, the thinnest board I own. The case is only a hair over 1/4" high, not even as high as the low-profile switches and keys (AKA "caps") themselves. But the steel layer just below the top surface makes it quite sturdy, stable and flex-free, and adds surprising heft (1.25 lbs / 570 g) to what appears to be a very light board.





Once you put it down, as my dad would've said, "It's not going anywhere."

The keys have a nice matte fingerprint-resistant finish. I've been typing on them for a few days now, and they look as good as when I took it out of the box.



Considering the whole thing's, like, black, the RGB backlighting is surprisingly effective, shining through the legends and out around the opaque keys. Remember when RGB boards were, like, an extra $100? 😁







Sorry about the lack of detail in these darker photos (my cheap phone camera). Despite how these shots may look, the legends are razer-sharp everywhere. ("Alt Gr" too, to the right—that's fun.)

Fn+PgUp/PgDn are embedded media keys, though it would've been nice if they'd included a Mute key.

Oddly, I found the Cherry-type stab on the Enter key wasn't connected.



The broad Choc switch compensates somewhat, but if you try to wobble it, it wobbles... This seems like an oversight. That said, I haven't had any trouble with it when actually typing. And all the other 2X+ keys (and of course the spacebar—see edge photo above) are fully stabbed.

There are lots of LED options, and the board "remembers" your last setting when it's disconnected.



Specs:



Considering how inexpensive this board was, I consider it a real deal. Many people have reviewed Choc switches, so I needn't add much to that here, except to say they're fast (faster than Cherry-style "speed" switches, IMHO). And considering their miniscule 1.5mm travel length, it's impressive how Kailh managed to include genuine tactility in these Choc Browns. I'm diggin' it. ⌨️ 😁👌

[Maledicted]

Great review. There really need to be more mainstream commercial boards with choc switches.

[ander]

 

[HungerMechanic]

This is very interesting. I'm trying to find a way to get Kailh Sunrise switches into a conventional form-factor. I suppose they could be retrofitted into one of these Perixx boards.

Although, given the Co-Star stabilizers and lack of dampening, it wouldn't really be an upgrade from a Filco in terms of build quality.

Too bad about the laser-ablated keycaps, though.

[Maledicted]

Those chocolate bar meme boards are awesome.

What the heck are Kailh Sunrise switches? I can't find anything about any low profile sunrise switches, just sunsets.

[HungerMechanic]

What the heck are Kailh Sunrise switches? I can't find anything about any low profile sunrise switches, just sunsets.

Haha, you are right. I meant Kailh Sunset. I have 1 sample, and it is great. Kinda like a short-travel U4T. Doesn't feel too heavy, either.

I'd love to get those into a TKL/100%, or even a VA68 layout, since that would be cheaper. Those switches are expensive!

[ander]

What the heck are Kailh Sunrise switches? I can't find anything about any low profile sunrise switches, just sunsets.

Haha, you are right. I meant Kailh Sunset. I have 1 sample, and it is great. Kinda like a short-travel U4T. Doesn't feel too heavy, either.

I'd love to get those into a TKL/100%, or even a VA68 layout, since that would be cheaper. Those switches are expensive!

Yeah, I saw those too. Haven't gotten to try them, but what a beautiful colour for a switch! So they have to be good, right? 

HungerMechanic, if you find a board they'll fit, please post about it here, as some of us would really like to set up a board like that. Thanks!

BTW, I've also ordered this cheap Redragon K607—not because I like Redragon boards in particular (never tried one, but obviously it's what we'd consider an off-brand), but because it has "Redragon low-profile blues"—which, as far as I can tell, are also Kailh-made, and are in effect low-profile Kailh box blues. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I'll report on it here. Cheers!

[Maledicted]

I have one Redragon board and have used and fixed one other when a switch died. I think they're perfectly serviceable from what I have seen. I'll be interested to hear your findings since the V2 switches might solve my problem of a bag full of Perixx parts with incompatible caps.