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Keycool 84 Review
Fragil1ty:
I have recently purchased, well I say 'recently' I ordered this 3-4 weeks ago, but I guess that's the price you pay when you order from the states and when you live over here in England. The product that I went ahead and bought was the Keycool 84 - Grey Version with Mx Cherry Blacks.
Unboxing
The Keycool comes very nicely boxed, the package is very well done. I don't remember it being this good when I went ahead and bought my Noppoo back in 2012. So, you're probably wondering what is included in this glorious purchase? Well you get the following:
* A very nice and well organised box
* Keycool 84 (Your desired version)
* A mini USB B cable, this matches the colour of your case along with a very nice Keycool designed cable tie?
* 2 x plastic bags. Bag 1: USB to PS/2 adapter with a Red keypuller and Bag 2: An assortment of PBT Keycaps that have a escape key, WASD keys and the cursor arrows.
These are all displayed within the images below.
Initial impression and feel
As you can see from the images above, the Keycool is slightly bigger than my previous Noppoo, only by a MM or too, so don't worry. When I first opened the box to look at the keyboard, I was very impressed, the Keycool looked phenomenal, the grey on black just stood out to me, I had saw pictures prior to this, but this was nothing compared to viewing it in person, any one who likes to look at aesthetically pleasing hardware, you will enjoy looking at this keyboard, as long as you buy the grey version.
The font used on the keyboard is rather nice also, I am a web developer both front end and back end, so choosing the right font for the job is a job that is right at home for me and I think the guys over at Keycool did an excellent job when choosing the font for this keyboard, it's very soothing and easy on the eyes, the only gripe I have at the moment is that the 'capslock' key font seems to be slightly different than all of the other guys, it's like it's more condensed, a lighter version of the font used elsewhere, it's nothing major, but just a small discrepancy.
Because this is a 84 key, keyboard there are going to be special function keys that do tasks that a normal keyboard could do (for example: If you were to press fn + Prtsc / nmLk, this will enable you to use the number lock, that would usually be located on the right side of the keyboard), there are a lot of function keys on this keyboard, which I absolutely love. The only gripe for me on this matter is that of the placement of some of the media keys, for example, the play/previous/back/stop keys are all the way at the top of the keyboard on the F4-F8 keys, which isn't the worst placement in the world, but it can be annoying if you're in a game and wanting the switch the song in a fast manner and you are unable too because of their placement, this would not be a problem for myself as I can reach those keys up there with ease, but it's just something worth pointing out. While still on the topic of media keys / function keys, I have not managed to understand how they are activated or work as of yet, I have tried fn + a Fkey but they do not seem to be activating the commands i am telling them to do, so this will require further investigation.
With me buying the Grey version the lights that come with the keyboard are that of a Neon blue colour, I find this colour to be of a perfect brightness, I did not demonstrate that here in the images, but if requested, I will upload an image with the keys showing the lights enabled(caps lock, num lock etc).
The bottom of the keyboard has 4 rubber feet along with 2 plastic folding feet to raise the elevation of the keyboard itself, I use this elevation as I like to type on an angle and it is a fair bit higher than that of the Noppoo Choc Mini, but it does not cause you any discomfort, so you barely notice it really.
The edges of the keyboard keys are somewhat rounded, they bring a nice aesthetic look to the keyboard which I enjoy, although, it is not as visible on the grey version of the keyboard as opposed to the white version, it is more subliminal on the grey version, so if you're not a fan of rounded keys then just bear this in mind.
Using the Keycool 84, the switches and advantages/disadvantages
I am coming from a Noppoo Choc Mini using MX Cherry Red switches to using this Keycool 84 with MX Cherry Black switches. The Black switches are plate mounted on a black painted metal plate if I am not mistaken and typing on them feels as good as any other key switch that I have used in the past. Going from red to black as a lot of users are nowadays, you will need time to adjust to your new keyboard, as you do with any new keyboard really. As everyone will tell, Blacks? they are just more resistant and less prone to grammatical errors. I personally find myself making less errors while typing and the typing feels much more smooth and relaxed as opposed to typing on reds, I have not had a chance to game on this Keycool as of yet nor have I had a chance to check if it is 100% compatible with the BIOS but speaking on regards of the typing alone, it is fantastic and I would advise most users on reds to make the switch.
The PBT keys that are used on the Keycool 84 have a strange texture and feel to them when you start using them for the first time, the texture is rather hard to explain, but it feels as if it's a pattern is there on each individual key, a smooth pattern, but a pattern none the less. The Keycool does in fact have functionkeys, so far I have not been able to get most of them to work e.g. media keys, sound off/sound on, but the others works such as winlock, numlock, etc, a simple restart may be needed to rectify this.
The Good:
* Has great construction and feels very sturdy
* The font and choice of rounded keys is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye
* Feels very good to type on, but that is down to a choice of keyswitch and not the keyboard itself
The Bad:
* The differentiation of the fonts on the caps lock and page up, page down. It may annoy people with keyboard OCD
* Some of the key printing quality is slightly worse than the others, but that's comparing normal lettering to small lettering
Overall? I love this keyboard, I think it was an excellent decision to buy this as a replacement of my former Noppoo Choc Mini, I really don't have anything bad to say about it, the price point is amazing for this board, it feels great to type on, it looks good and in all honesty? It just feels a like a better, more up to date and better constructed version of the Noppoo.
The Keycool 'is' a solid choice if you're looking for a 84 keyboard replacement for the one you currently have.
Keycool 84 vs Noppoo Choc Mini - Deep Comparison (requested by: lexroad)
So where to start really, this is going to be some what of a deep, in-depth comparison of the Keycool 84 vs the Noppoo Choc Mini. I hope this doesn't appear to be too biased, so I will try and adhere to each one of the keyboards strengths and weaknesses, but there is going be obvious advantages over one or the other because they both use different cherry switches.
The build quality
Noppoo Choc Mini - The build quality on the Noppoo is not too bad, the plastic does feel a little bit flimsy and loose at times though and I accidentally broke the front part of the case when trying to remove to get access to the back of it, so I guess that can be your indication of how sturdy this plastic is.
Overall the Noppoo feels somewhat light in comparison to the Keycool, not by much, but there is significant difference in the weight I think this is down to the fact that the Keycool has a metal back plate and the Noppoo does not.
Keycool 84 - The build quality on the Keycool is the best I have had in a keyboard in a long time, it rivals that of my old (first) mechanical keyboard which was that of a Razer BlackWidow Elite - (MX Cherry Blues). It feels really sturdy and as previously mentioned a good deal heavier than the Noppoo. The plastic that is surrounding the entirety of the case is really sturdy also, it does not feel as flimsy or as easily breakable in comparison to it's counterpart the Noppoo.
Overall I think the Keycool feels and acts like a much sturdier keyboard, but you have to take that into consideration, obviously a lot of us may enjoy heavy keyboards, but some of us may not and then that may be a negative affect for some people.
I give this round to the Keycool because of the fact that it feels like a better constructed product.
The Key caps and typing feel
Noppoo - As many of you know, the Noppoo uses a lot of custom keycaps because of the way that the keyboard was initially made, it has a custom space bar, along with many other keys that you cannot replace with stand PBT key caps. The keys themselves are a lot thinner then the keys on the Keycool. To be honest, despite the fact that Noppoo has MX Cherry reds, typing on the Noppoo felt really light and not daunting in the slightest, as I remember sometimes typing on my older Razer keyboard, sometimes the keys would annoy me and they would feel heavy, but maybe that's just me being a little too pedantic.
One extremely negative aspect about the keys on the Noppoo is that of the lettering and how easy it is for them to become eroded. Obviously we all know that our fingers contain natural oils which over time do erase some of the lettering on our keyboards, but within a month or me having the keyboard, a lot of the lettering was eroding and to be honest, it wasn't even keys that I was hitting, it was like the side numbers on the included numpad on the keyboard and so on, so that was really upsetting.
One final thing to add to is that the Noppoo has no texture on its keys what so ever, now personally, I like this, it has the matte effect, just a simple black key, some users may find this boring and may want to replace their keys with something more vibrant maybe a grey or a white keycap, but me personally? I was perfectly at home with the matte style finish of the Noppoo keycaps.
Keycool 84 - I'm not sure how many custom keys the Keycool uses, but I am pretty sure that it uses a custom right alt, fn and ctrl key as they are a lot smaller than I have noticed on any keyboard in the past, even the Noppoo, not to say that this is entirely a bad thing, but me personally? I do not like all that much, thankfully this is not a problem for me as I never really use those keys, I only ever use the FN keys (which we will come to later). They keycaps on the Keycool are rather nice to type on, but upon first switching from the Noppoo to the Keycool it was a strange switch, as it's going from a very smooth surface to one that has a smooth but rough texture at the same time, but after a day or two of typing on the keyboard, you don't even notice it anymore to be honest.
One slightly negative aspect about this keyboard is the fact that certain key letting is slightly faded, not that much, not enough to make you think that it is a poor quality board or anything like that, but on the M, N and Capslock key the letting is a tiny bit faded, but that's nothing to be concerned about in my opinion. The lettering seems to be of a higher production value than the Noppoo, it looks as if it has been lasered on in a better than format than the Noppoo, which in my opinion is a huge plus, the longer the keys stay in tact and remain impervious to fading and eroding, then that's all I really care about key wise.
One final thing to add regarding the key caps and the typing feel is that of the keycaps used on the Keycool 84, the keycaps have a very nice texture them (buty they do take a while to get used too, a day or two perhaps, although I adjusted to them in a few hours). They feel nice to type on but with the added weight from the MX Cherry blacks, I am having hard time adjusting to them and this is causing me to question my purchase, because if you are a mechanical freak like I am, coming from reds to blacks, it feels like a downgrade.
I don't know who to give the point to here, there are good and bad of both keyboards.
I will just say that in this section, they both get a point.
Keyboard Switch and functions
Noppoo - The keyswitch that I chose for the Noppoo was that of the MX Cherry Red, in my opinion this is the best switch that I have ever used, it's use for typing is not the best, but it gets the job done just as well and in all fairness, because of the light nature of the red switch, I've found that it makes you become a lot more accurate when using it. Using the switch for gaming is a dream, it just feels so light, that's the only way that I can describe it and in all fairness, I would of gone for a red switch yet again, if that option would of been available.
At first adjusting the switch from blues was somewhat of a difficult one as I was having a hard time getting a consistent typing speed going, my average is 90 and I hit anywhere from 90 to 115 wpm, so when I saw that my typing speed had dropped from that down to 80, I was a little disappointed. I persevered and I was very happy with my choice, to this day I would advise anyone who is serious about their gaming and serious about their keyboards to go ahead and pick up a MX Cherry Red switch over anything else.
So let's get onto talking about the functions and the function keys. I absolutely loved the placement of the function keys on the Noppo, the keys for stop, next, previous and play where all near my left hand which is located near the ASD keys, so that was perfect placement for me, especially when I'm in a game and wanting to switch to a different track (song). They all seemed to work exceedingly well and I did not have a problem with the functions what so ever.
Keycool 84 - The keyswitch that I was 'forced' to use on the Keycool was that of the MX Cherry Black switch, I chose this switch because it was either that or a Blue switch and I was not prepared to go back to that switch as I find it pretty awful for gaming and I do not like the sound or the clicky nature of that switch. I went ahead and got my keyboard and at first it wasn't too bad, (although I have typed the entire post using my Keycool keyboard and I'm not really feeling any kind of fatigue in all fariness). It is true what everyone says really, the MX Black switch is just a more resistant and stiff red, I agree and disagree, the only compelling sign of familiarity that I see with blacks and reds are that they are a linear switch, non-tactile and they are non clicky, apart from that, there is not much of a similarity, I find blacks a lot harder to use and to get used too in comparison to reds, maybe I'm just a red lover and I miss them.
I've got a little bit of information here if you're interested and you're looking to decide between Blacks and Reds, so here is the information:
Cherry MX Black Switches:
Type: Linear Switch
Tactile: No
Clicky: No
Actuation force: 60g (40g - 80g overall)
Key travel: 2mm to actuation, 4mm to bottom.
Cherry MX Red Switches:
Type: Linear Switch
Tactile: No
Clicky: No
Actuation Force: 45g
Keytravel: 2mm to actuation, 4mm to bottom.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The function keys? Sadly for me, I may have got a defect keyboard when it comes to the Functions, none of my function keys actually work, the FN+F12 works fine (that is to enable winlock btw), but If I am playing a video and I enter FN+F7 (Pause), nothing happens what so ever, so that is a major downside for me. I am using Windows 7 and all of these functions were previously working on the Noppoo so obviously this is an issue with my keyboard, but it's not a big deal, it's not going to make or break the experience for me.
I am not going to give any points out for this round because of the fact they both use different switches and I would be biased because I obviously love one switch more than the other, so you can decide for yourself in this section.
Conclusion
In all fairness, I think I would choose the Keycool only for the fact that I like it a little bit more because of the sturdier construction along with the higher elevation and it just feels as if it is a more sturdy product, but with that being said, it does cost a little bit more. I think I paid $30 than what I paid for the Noppoo.
Switch wise? I would honestly say, go for Browns, they are inbetween both black and reds and they are a common middle ground for those who are having a hard time deciding what switch to get and they are going to be the switch that I next get, whenever I get the chance to.
If you have to choose out of the two? I would say get reds but just be prepared if you're one of those people who gets a bit angry and annoyed, maybe even flustered when you're typing and you are making a lot of mistakes, that happened to me at the start and I found it a little infuriating.
I think over time as you use blacks more and more they become lighter to you, as that is what is starting to happen to me as of now, but I find myself making far, far, far less mistakes on blacks and they do feel like a nice switch to type on, but I am a heavy typist anyhow.
nightsnack:
I'm somewhat surprised you went with Blacks. How does it feel switching from browns?
gigibecali:
Please flip a keycap.
Thanks.
lexroad:
Nice review, I'm looking to buy the keycool 84 or the choc mini and I just can't decide. Since you've used the choc for a while now, can you do a thorough comparison between them if you have the time? That would be most welcomed! :D
Fragil1ty:
--- Quote from: nightsnack on Fri, 16 August 2013, 09:44:41 ---I'm somewhat surprised you went with Blacks. How does it feel switching from browns?
--- End quote ---
I didn't go with Browns I went with Reds, I didn't typo something did I? I hope not.
But going from Reds to Blacks, it's a pretty strange switch to be honest, its not that they require more force to aqtuate, but they just have more resistance and a bit more stiff, it's hard to explain really, they are quite nice to type on though, I'm not sure what I prefer at this point. I think I'll have a more definitive answer as time goes on, give it maybe 1-2 weeks.
I chose blacks because it was all that was available to me at the time, it was either Blues or Blacks and I don't really like blues, had them in my Razer BlackWidow. And also coming from reds, blacks are the closest thing that are good for both typing and gaming, so yeah, that's why.
--- Quote from: gigibecali on Fri, 16 August 2013, 10:52:08 ---Please flip a keycap.
Thanks.
--- End quote ---
You want an image of the Keycool keycaps flipped, is that it? I can do that for you.
--- Quote from: lexroad on Fri, 16 August 2013, 11:05:36 ---Nice review, I'm looking to buy the keycool 84 or the choc mini and I just can't decide. Since you've used the choc for a while now, can you do a thorough comparison between them if you have the time? That would be most welcomed! :D
--- End quote ---
Sure thing, I'll get right on that and amend it here.
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