Picked up a Cherry MX Red keyboard for cheap... Is it any good?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Hello all. I'm completely new here. I was looking for a forum filled with knowledgeable keyboard enthusiasts and I decided to give this one a try. I hope my question for assistance falls within what's acceptable here!

I'm not sure if people are too familiar with the QPad MK-85, but I just got my hands on one. From my research I see it was released back in 2012, and at the time is got lots of good reviews, like this one: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/qpad_mk85_mechanical_gaming_keyboard,8.html and still has good reviews on Amazon. The biggest complaint at the time was its price, and indeed, it still usually sells for �100+, even if not for the full �134 it originally retailed for.

I was lucky enough to put up one, brand new, at the MCM Comicon here in London. I was wondering what people's thoughts are on this old Cherry MX Red keyboard. Have things like the Ducky Shine, the Das Keyboard, and the Corsair K95 overtaken it?

Looking online it appears that the QPad MK-85 is just a rebranding of something sold by other manufacturers. For example, the XArmor-U9BL (seen here: http://blog.controlspace.org/2010/08/review-xarmor-u9bl-illuminated_11.html) and the iOne Scorpius U9BL (seen here: http://www.ione-usa.com/ione-scorpius-u9bl-backlit-mechanical-keyboard.html) look IDENTICAL. Is this a bad thing?

Thanks for any assistance understanding why there's others on the market that look identical, and whether or not modern mechanicals are substantially better.

[absyrd]

It is fine for that price.

I looks identical to the iOne because I believe they are the OEM.

The ducky shine will be of better quality, so you can choose to just flip the one you got (don't think you'll get much more than you paid) or just keep it as a test run for your first mech kb.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Thanks for the quick and helpful response. I'm surprised I couldn't get more on eBay, they still sell on Amazon for £97 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00C40HSY0/ ) but maybe that's Amazon being weird.

Could you tell me what the difference would be with a more modern mechanical keyboard? How could they be worth nearly 3x the cost of this one?

Thanks.

[absyrd]

If you search GH, you'll find that iOnes have been said to have QC issues.

In general, the one you linked seems to be one of their more gimmicky, plastic feeling models.

The Blackwidow from 2012 is notorious for being a POS. Not sure if this is the same.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I´ve searched through the forums and it seems that the QPAD has different internals to the Blackwidow, XArmour and Scorpius. For a start the QPAD has full USB nkey rollover and onboard memory. It´s not just an OEM of those other keyboards, but an OEM of something else, I guess.

[user 18]

Note that the QPAD is also identical to MaxKeyboards 'Nighthawk' series of boards. They're solid boards, all you're really missing would be some lighting modes that you might find on a newer Ducky or something. They're all built on pretty much the same tech (MX), so it doesn't matter much anyway.

Keycaps are okay, IMO, but a nonstandard bottom row makes things difficult for getting new ones. You need a 6u spacebar, which is the real issue with new sets.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yes, thanks. From more research it does seem the QPad MK-85 is identical to the MaxKeyboard Nighthawk in literally every single way apart from the caps on the Q and the Spacebar.

Aside from *looking* like the Blackwidow and the XArmour, they are very different it seems.

[Blaise170]

iOne is the OEM for all of these. There are more out there I'm sure.

Max Keyboard Nighthawk, Rosewill Apollo, Monoprice Macro, Qpad MK-85, QUMAX Xarmor U9W, etc.

[nightdriver]

i thought MaxKeyboard made their own higher quality PCB for it?  could be wrong...

[user 18]

i thought MaxKeyboard made their own higher quality PCB for it?  could be wrong...

That may or may not be true. I've never opened my Nighthawk, so I wouldn't know for sure.

[ThunderPeel2001]

i thought MaxKeyboard made their own higher quality PCB for it?  could be wrong...

I could be wrong, but I believe this idea comes from people making the same mistake as absyrd. I've read in a few places that the MaxKeyboard is identical to the others mentioned here. Maybe one day someone will open one up and we'll know for sure

[absyrd]

Hey... I'm happy to be wrong. I take it you are going to keep it and drive it? In that case, you can open the sucker up.

[nightdriver]

i thought MaxKeyboard made their own higher quality PCB for it?  could be wrong...

I could be wrong, but I believe this idea comes from people making the same mistake as absyrd. I've read in a few places that the MaxKeyboard is identical to the others mentioned here. Maybe one day someone will open one up and we'll know for sure

seems like it comes from maxkeyboard themselves.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1291381/max-mechanical-keyboard-nighthawk-x8-x9

[ThunderPeel2001]

I guess it's possible that Max Keyboard make this... It's the QPad MK-85... possibly the MK stands for Max Keyboard?

[ThunderPeel2001]

I've been doing a bit of research to try and get to the bottom of all the different OEMs. Some of these are still on the market, so hopefully this is useful to somebody.

Basically, the main difference from the "bad" keyboards (like the iOne Scorpius U9BL) and the "good" keyboards (like the Max Keyboard Nighthawk series) appears to be this: Full N-KEY Rollover over USB, onboard memory, and a PS/2 connector. These are the features that indicate different internals.

The following are "bad" keyboards -- (identified by: no full N-Key rollover with USB, no onboard memory):
iOne Scorpius U9BL (apparently known as XArmour instead of Scorpius in some territories -- literally the same keyboard, both are branded iOne, although it seems that they're often mistaken for being two different keyboards)

Whereas these are "good" (identifiable by: full N-Key rollover with USB, onboard memory):
Max Keyboard Nighthawk
QPad MK-85
Rosewill Apollo RK-9100xR

Finally, I came across a third one, which is different to all the others:
Monoprice 9181

This only has 64-key rollover with USB -- so clearly has different internals.

Externally they all look completely identical -- apart from the lack of a braided cable on the iOne model -- but they're clearly very different internally.

Contrary to some of the posts here, I would find no evidence that the QUMAX Xarmor U9W (which is actually a Wireless keyboard) or the Razer Blackwidow (which is completely different from what I can gather) are the same to any of these.

Happy to be corrected on this, but hopefully my research is of some use!

[ThunderPeel2001]

Agh. Basically all my research was pretty much in this thread anyway. Ah well, I appear to have confirmed it's conclusions, either way!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=37861.0

(Great thread!)

[Blaise170]

Well the Xarmor U9W is a rebranded U9... The W just means it is wireless.

[Oobly]

I'd use it as long as I can stand the stock keycaps, then either harvest the switches from it or sell it and buy a board with standard layout so you can put some decent keycaps on.

[exit]

Max Keyboard does their own PCB which a few other brands such as Tesoro and Func use. Qpad mk-85 could use that PCB too.

[fknraiden]

regarding that 6u spacebar, ivan's most recent PBT4 GB includes a 6u space.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'd use it as long as I can stand the stock keycaps, then either harvest the switches from it or sell it and buy a board with standard layout so you can put some decent keycaps on.

I actually really like the keycaps on the QPad MK-85