A little late to this, but I did buy this same keyboard from NCIX when it was on sale for $89.99...
Which, again, I might point out to the Americans reading this, was only around $59 in "real" money. ;?)
Though I really liked it at first and definitely prefer the soft click to the usual Cherry MX click, over time I had to stop using it regularly. It was my daily at work for about a month because it was quiet enough to not bother anyone (until one annoying coworker loudly pointed out how LOUD my keyboard was when she was at my desk, then my neighbour started focusing on it : /).[
No one claims the MX White is a "quiet" switch, simply that it's
quieter than MX Blues (or Greens, to which it could be more directly compared).
It's too bad that even during this great resurgence of appreciation for the productivity-enhancing pleasure of MKs, this anti-click stigma still exists. You need to find yourself a whole office full of happy clicky KB users. Such enlightened businesses aren't common, but they're out there. It may require a minor shift in your career focus—but let's face it: These days, people rarely end up in the fields their degrees apply to. It's the Wild West out there again, employment-wise.
I found that my fingers would get tired towards the end of the day. I don't think it was due to the stiffness though - I think it's because of the inconsistency of the switches - some click and have great tactility and some are virtually linear. I regularly use Model M & F buckling springs at home and now have a tactile space invader board at work, so I do enjoy stiff switches. I just wish the Cherry MX Whites were a little more consistent.
How odd that you'd find them "inconsistent". Cherry is all
about consistency; they're the consistency standard all the other switch-makers seek to emulate.
MX Whites must pass the same rigid QA testing of any other Cherry switches. And Ducky is a major, well respected player in the MK world; I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen complains about their solid boards. (You just took the pinkie.)
If you didn't have such an outstanding reputation in the MK community, H., I might suspect this was an attempt to discredit Cherry
and Ducky, perhaps on behalf of one of the many fledgling clone-makers who are using every means possible to gain footholds in the MK community. Clearly that'd be an outlandish assumption, though, given your long record of valuable contributions to GK, and to keebheads everywhere.
Therefore I can only assume you didn't quite anticipate the MX White's 80 cN actuation force—a full 60% more than MX Blues. Let's face it: Stiffer switches aren't for everyone. (There's no risk to your manhood, of course; we're all friends here.) It's understandable that under less muscular hands, some switches would start feeling different than others due to the different rates at which such fingers fatigue.
This should come as a relief. No, neither Cherry nor Ducky have suddenly let slip their carefully guarded standards. And no, you're not going crazy. It's just physiology.
I'm glad you brought this up—so that we, as an experienced and ever-helpful community, could lay your fears to rest.
