should I buy a filco*?

[sam113101]

I tried blues and now want something quieter
I could try topre, but the boards are too expensive, and I heard it almost feels like rubber dome

I like blues, the sound, but I always have headaches for nothing, like 4 days a week
and my das doesn't really help my headaches to go away (I can't stand high-pitched sounds)

I've seen many people having problems with their filco in here
should I buy a filco brown anyway*?

when will the white version be available, again*?
are white keys less likely to show shininess*?

also, it doesn't have anything to with keyboards, but my avatar doesn't show

PS*: I first did this thread in the wrong section

[hyperlinked]

The original thread is here:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=11039

[clickclack]

Thanks for moving this to the appropriate place =)

and as promised-

I do indeed think you should buy a filco, they are really sweet boards and with brown switches they are fantastic and look the part!
The Topre boards are wonderful as well but if I were you I wouldn't pass on a brown cherry, especially when comparing prices.
The Topre keys kinda feel like a sexed up rubber dome (kinda). It's because they use...DUN-Dun-dun... rubber domes! =D
But they actuate a little bit different than most rubber domes AND they use a seperate keystem that can bottom out which in part gives a less wobbly and mushy feel.

Filco's are reliable, much more so than many keyboards. Every product can have issues, some issues and keyboards just happen to get talk about more than others.

Scorpious M10's however are not reliable, just read the endless reviews online that show problems with them. I have had 5.... YES 5 M10's and ALL HAVE HAD PROBLEMS (some funtional, some heavy cosmetic). I use them for tests and therefore don't really care that they have issues but if I just wanted one for actually using it... then well... I WOULD NEVER BUY ONE!
Congrats to the people that have received good ones or good-ish ones, go buy a lotto ticket =P
I have never by comparison had problems with the 4 filco's that I test and use often.


I don't know when White filco's will be available again, maybe shoot an email off to Elitekeyboards. They might know, or be able to shoot you off in the right direction. Actually scratch that, I think this topic cam up recently in the vendors forum. Look for Elitekeyboards in the vendor forum for said topic.

White keys show wear slightly less easily, but it's only because of the lack of contrast. It is still visible but maybe not as obvious.

Sorry about your avatar troubles, maybe someone more savy than I can help you =)

[Superfluous Parentheses]

I've seen many people having problems with their filco in here
should I buy a filco brown anyway*?

As far as I know, the only real complaints about filco recently were about the filco zero, which uses some non-cherry switch and seems to have controller/electronics issues on some releases. A reputable seller should (but don't hold me to this) replace the board if it turns out faulty. Look/ask around on here to find out who does.

To be frank, I haven't used any Cherry board, so I can't comment on them. And my recent order of a HHKB board with Topre switches has only just been confirmed (as ordered; not, apparently, as sent). (Side note: my initial estimate of late August before receiving the thing is already looking fairly optimistic, but then I'm in the Netherlands).

[hyperlinked]

The M10 that Welly used to own is in my hands now by way of ricercar. It works fine. It's not my favorite board and it is nowhere near the construction quality of the Filco, but it's a decent keyboard. I'd rather have a Filco with Cherry Blues if I wanted to make a Cherry Blue my switch of choice. This is fine as my token Blue board.

[wellington1869]

The M10 that Welly used to own is in my hands now by way of ricercar. It works fine. It's not my favorite board and it is nowhere near the construction quality of the Filco, but it's a decent keyboard. I'd rather have a Filco with Cherry Blues if I wanted to make a Cherry Blue my switch of choice. This is fine as my token Blue board.

ah, but which filco? Take one of the problematic filcos (we seem to be getting one or two new posts each day about broken filcos on this site) and the m10 would start looking pretty good next to it.  There have been problematic m10's and problematic filcos (obviously).  Its the luck of the draw, apparently. Thats why for myself I've resorted to making sure I have recourse with the seller, cuz I dont think we can rely on an across the board notion of superior quality anymore (except maybe in the case of topre if you dont mind the super light keys and nearly $300 price tag. I freely admit topres are exceptionally well put together; i've always said that about them). But its not the case with blues boards as far as I can see. No matter the maker.  Your best bet is to get a full service (return/exchange) seller if you want to cover your ass while buying a blues board. Thats been my experience for sure.

That m10 was one of the boards taht I asked ergogeek to test out before shipping, btw. It was very helpful to request that from him and he gladly obliged. In the case of provantage or metadot you can return it without any hassles whatsoever: professionalism rocks.  I'm sorry, but it just does, and I'm only stating the obvious here.

[JBert]

ah, but which filco? Take one of the problematic filcos (we seem to be getting one or two new posts each day about broken filcos on this site) and the m10 would start looking pretty good next to it.

You troll you.
The "thrash, don't mend" price of the M10 makes that the amount of chatter is no good indication of quality.

[hyperlinked]

ah, but which filco? Take one of the problematic filcos (we seem to be getting one or two new posts each day about broken filcos on this site)

Give me any Filco. I'm sure there are plenty of bad ones, but I'll take my chances on the Filco over the M10 any day. The M10's feel a lot cheaper in every way. The amount of physical abuse I've put my Filco with Browns through is impressive and it is flawless after a year of hard typing and one fist slamming fit of frustration. Try that on an M10.

As for the one or two new Filco problem reports per day... let's not exaggerate. There have been more of these lately, but not one or two a day. Some of those are also cases of user error or people who can't keep a beer upright.

It'd also be an error to assume that because you see more threads here about something, it's more true. Geekhack is highly concentrated with threads about Filco boards, has a vendor forum for the only US distributor of Filco boards, and turns up in the top five in just about any kind of search for "Filco (anything)." There are almost 10 times more threads with the word "Filco" in the title than with the word "Scorpius" or "M10" in the title. Does this mean there are 10x more Filco owners in the world than Scorpius M10 owners?

I have no idea. That very well could be true, but my point is that the number of threads here doesn't mean anything. If anyone has a problem with a Filco board, they're likely to end up here trying to either find a solution or someone to commiserate with. It'd be very easy to assume that because we see something more often because of this very peculiar corner of the Web that we sit in, that it's true beyond the 1's and 0's of the site.

[sam113101]

do the filco's keys have the same shape row to row*?

[hyperlinked]

do the filco's keys have the same shape row to row*?

No the shapes are different from row to row so you can't exchange the keycaps freely. Well, you COULD, but it wouldn't feel very good and would look really crazy.

[patrickgeekhack]

But its not the case with blues boards as far as I can see. No matter the maker.  

My G80-3000 has been problem free so far. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[patrickgeekhack]

Sam113101: Have you had your eye checked to rule this out as a possible of your headaches? I used to have migraine episode. The optometrist said that I have so small a prescription that I did not need glasses. However, after wearing glasses in front of the computer whenever I feel my eyes being tired helped a lot.

[chuckading]

when will the white version be available, again*?

Majestouch

[washuai]

Ok, I get headaches, so I can't say I don't, but they aren't caused by keyboard noise.  

There's so many causes of headaches, it isn't even funny.  Not enough nutrition, eyes, allergies, how you hold your jaw, not enough pc breaks, etc.  Definitely get medical assistance, though.  Well, worth it to stop having chronic headaches.

Yea, if you're looking for a quieter keyboard and you like the feel of your blue cherries, then brown cherries is a good next direction, when you can't afford Topre.
I haven't had any problems with my cherry or Filco cherry brown keyboards.

Need more details with regards to details on the avatar, in order to help, though mainly it would be basic stuff.  The avatar has to be 150 by 150 max pixels.  I'd expect some URLs and some file types wouldn't work.

[sam113101]

I'm wondering if I should buy the blank-keys version of the filco or not,
I'm a touch typist and I'm not even using qwerty

but the lettering is handy for the F* keys, also when I HAVE to use qwerty, like when I'm installing windows or whatever
it doesn't happen often and I could use another keyboard, but hey…

also helps if non touch typist people want to use my comp
I also think it looks nicer with the lettering, don't you think so*?

does the lettering wears off*?
which technology is used (for the lettering)*?

after how long do filco keys show shininess*?

[mike]

Normally I'd suggest lettered keys; if you're a touch typist it doesn't matter whether they're there or not, and it does come in handy for those rarer keys. However if you're not using QWERTY, it may be helpful to run with blanks to indicate "hey this one's different" - people who hit a key marked one thing and find another coming out can get a little worried.

You could of course swap the keycaps over, but you may end up with keys of a different height if your preferred layout mixes up the rows.

The Filco uses coated pad-printing. All methods are subject to wearing off if you try hard enough (although with double-shot you'd have to be using fingers with sandpaper tips), but should remain fine for a good long time.

BTW: Those graphemes on the shifted number keys aren't diacritics.

[sam113101]

Instead of diacritics (oops - I guess only the tilde and grave count on that row) I'll call them "funny looking symbols" from now on.

Now close your eyes and repeat after me....

!@#$%^&*()

Show Image

they are hard to reach and I always press the wrong key, but blank keys make me not to look at the keyboard to be sure to press the good one
you're right for the FCN keys