I have owned a Steelseries 6gv2 - mx black for the past 6 years, bought it when I had a lot of time to dedicate to gaming, and it was just fine. The past couple of months I didn't have time to game anymoren, and hopefully, for the sake of my bank account, it will remain so in the foreseeable future.
I've been working as a translator for a few months now, so typing speed is becoming a concern, as many contracts are paid per translated word. The faster I type, the more I get paid (well, it's not as simple as that, but anyhow, it's part of the issue).
So, the past month, I've been browsing and browsing and reading and then I browsed and browsed again for new keyboards. Once you start doing that, it's real drug - but you knew that already. One of the many things I concluded from my readings (and this website) was that mx blacks were bad for typing. I could have guessed that before, but having no point of comparaison - and no shops around to test other springs- I just took a leap of faith....and opened my wallet twice in the past couple of weeks (and something tells me this ain't over).
First time : I bought a second hand (unused) Filco Majestouch 2 Mx brown (got it down to 75 Euros after some negotiating so I couldn't resist). I've been using it for 3-4 days now. I've done some testing (you know them online websites) and it seems my wpm has improved by 10-15% - and hopefully it will still improve once I get used to them. It's a good start. The problem for me with the mx blacks (I think) is that it was a bit too stiff, my pinkies didnt like fast typing on those outside/further away keys, which slowed down the whole experience. Browns seem/feel much softer and I gotta say I enjoy that, and so do my pinkies. I blame my girlie hands and tiny fingers. The downside of switching to browns is that I'm not used to the 'bump' yet, I still think of it now and then while I'm typing, and fingers/hands feel a bit painful at the end of the day, but (hopefully) this will go away once I'm getting used to it...it might just be that typing a bit faster now just require more/new muscles/muscle memory. No idea, hope it'll get better
Second time : I ordered a Unicomp ultra classic through Mdrop. It's being shipped right now. I wanted to test the clickyness, as the last time I did that was when I was a child, on an IBM PS2 model. I couldn't resist to the nostalgia of it all, and only heard good things about those Unicomps models. I can't wait to receive it, and be able to compare it to the Filco. I'm a bit worried that - once again - my weak pinkies might not enjoy the experience, and it'll make my typing slower than with the browns. Maybe it's my hand positioning that's not adequate as well. I should google that, I guess there's videos explaining how to do this properly, like most people I guess, I have never checked them.
Anyway time will tell.
The steelseries is gonna be sold (or if I don't get an ok price for it, might save it for some paint job during the summer but whatever happens, unless I get major strains using the browns, I don't think I'll use blacks again, at least for now).
I'm gonna compare the filco and the unicomp as soon as I receive it and we'll see which one feels better.
Now I don't want to stop there, as I said before, being paid per translated word, better typing speed also means better money so it'd probably be foolish to spend the coming months and years typing using the wrong tool. Just like a cook wouldn't use a blunt knife I guess.
So I'm wondering what model to try next. I want to get as much info before buying as possible, as I'll probably need to do some long distance shipping for the product (can't find a belgian/french shop having a large mechanical keyboard offer, unless I want a keyboard that looks like a map of Las Vegas, which I don't)
I don't have a huge desk space, and having a portable model seemed like a nice option, so I was thinking testing a 60 percent model, as an alternative to the other tanks I already owned.
For a while I've been eyeing the Poker - mx red model. But yesterday I read this review of HHK and their Topre switches...I'm still new to geekhack/keyboards in general, I learn as I go, but sometimes it seems there's so much info it's hard to know in which direction to go to.
I don't care about the noise level. Look and portability are important (I don't need LEDs, I don't want snakes and flying piglets tattooed all over my keyboard, I'd rather something simple and elegant). I want the switches to be light. I don't need a bump or a click (I guess browns and buckling cover those already) but if that's your recommendation, it's fine too.
Budget matters, just like for anybody else, but I'd be willing to pay a higher price if I was certain it'd give better results. So if you got recommendations, tips, links to bargain sales etc, I'm all ears. Oh, and I'd rather have a model that comes with blanks preinstalled (or that can be replaced later). I'm using a french azerty layout, and probably will have to order from abroad, so I'd rather have blanks shipped than a qwerty layout, as I will have no use for it.
TL;DR which 60 percent or tkl for fast typing (already own browns and buckling but want to improve/try other solutions to improve wpm). Which keycaps : Red MX ? Topre ? Others ? And which keyboard model would you recommend ?
