Author Topic: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)  (Read 11402 times)

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Offline OnTheBrink

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Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« on: Fri, 15 February 2013, 20:11:22 »
Today I got a private message from the EBay seller who sold me my Filco Majestouch Ninja with Cherry MX Red. He said the words almost every geek wants to hear after purchasing a new toy; "I noticed you live in Brooklyn. So do I! I can come drop off the keyboard to you today instead of waiting for me to ship it". Earlier this day I had purchased the keyboard for $120 "barely used" as described by the seller. He took a train over to me and here I am typing on a keyboard he could have told me was brand new considering it is in PERFECT condition.



I opened it up and loved the look immensely. Pictures do not do the material justice as the entire keyboard has a matte finish with a slight rough texture. I love peripherals made out of this esque. I unplug my Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth and the first thing I noticed while setting my new keyboard up, is that the USB cable is a bit shorter than I would have liked. Nevertheless, it barely makes it to my tower after passing through two desk loops. I don't have much play, but it is just before the point where I would deem a USB extension cable necessary. Once the keyboard is plugged in, I opened up a typing speed test to see how I liked typing on it. Now, I was coming from a Cherry MX Brown switch and have used a Blue one in the past as well, so my standards were high. I didn't get that immediate "WOW!" factor as I did going from rubber domes to mechanical (oh the nostalgia) and the only thing I kept hearing in my mind was a YouTube review I once saw and the statement "Cherry MX Red is all hype". I wasn't amazed here. I instantly got slightly bummed out, but was still happy with the purchase since I never had a "Tenkeyless" before. However, I was instantly making plans on how I would trade or sell this for a Cherry MX Brown or Blue. That was until I decided to play my game of choice (World of Warcraft).



I queued up for an instance as a healer and got right in. The SECOND I started moving my character I knew this was the switch for me (for gaming). The smooth linear easy to actuate keys had me feeling like I was on a cloud. I instantly felt smooth and sleek with my gestures, executing abilities perfectly without second guessing or making a mistype. I absolutely love it. I must say I took a risk buying the keyboard from a place I cannot just return or test, but besides the fact the Red Switches are sold out everywhere, you cannot simply test these switches by face rolling them in a store. You need to play your game of choice with it to really 'feel' what I am talking about. I thought what people described was always a bit exaggerated, but it is true. When you play with the switch FOR YOU, you know right away and it is most definitely something you feel without easily describing.



Now, this isn't to say it isn't good for typing, but what people state is most definitely true--it is much better for gaming than typing (IMO). I intend on getting a Blue Switch for typing at some point, but I game much more than I type so there isn't a rush. It would be more for a change of pace type thing and I have always had a soft spot for Blue Switches. It has something to do with that click--I love it.



So far the build quality from what I can see and feel is amazing. The keyboard is heavy and sturdy with no signs of sliding or bending. Even though I am light typist, I do not see it happening. I will say however, the keys with the metal bar (Space, Shift, Enter etc...) make a slight metallic sound when being pressed. Other than that the keyboard definitely has a more hollow sound when pressing keys because of the switch type and style of key. My Razer Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth has Brown Switches and while the keys feel sturdy on both keyboards, the Razer one seems a bit more stiff when pressing. The reason I am mentioning this is because it gives the keyboard the illusion of being made better. This is definitely the key type and you can tell that besides the bottoming out sound of the keys due to the Red Switches and low profile keys, the Filco is far superior in quality. By low profile I mean that they are the shorter of the two key types.



The chases feels extremely sturdy, made with better plastics, tight and solid. Where as the Blackwidow chassis is made with inferior plastic and feels hollow. However, regardless of what other posters seem to state, I don't think the Razer's quality is that bad. I put some keys from the Razer keyboard on this and it gave the same sound and solidness as when on the Razer. I might even go as far as to say it felt and sounded better.

Since I love the keyboard so much I went ahead and purchased black KBC PBT key caps with black engraved lettering and four blank red KBC PBT keys for the WASD cluster. This will most definitely give an even better feel to the keys than bigger ABS keys. I will do a review on those when I receiving them as well.



I was thinking about purchasing "O Rings" since I want to tighten up the keys a bit and the bottoming out is loud. I hear that KBC PBT key caps help. I also feel that a wrist rest is needed. I will most likely purchase the Filco leather wrist rest.

I hope you found this review helpful and informative! Post any questions and I will be glad to answer them.

^-  Brink

Offline SmallFry

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 15 February 2013, 20:16:31 »
Very nice review and a nice first purchase to introduce yourself to mechanical keyboards!

Offline reaper

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 15 February 2013, 20:18:21 »
Yup, very nice!   Thanks for the review.  :)
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Offline CPTBadAss

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 15 February 2013, 20:21:30 »
Awesome review and pictures. I actually wrote a review on o-rings and such if you wanted to check that out and get some info on them. Some shameless plugging right here  :p

Offline OnTheBrink

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 15 February 2013, 21:42:00 »
Awesome review and pictures. I actually wrote a review on o-rings and such if you wanted to check that out and get some info on them. Some shameless plugging right here  :p

If you are gunna plug, go all out!! Whats the link? I want to check it out.  :p

Edit: Never mind I found it. :D

Offline WarNutts

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 12 March 2013, 17:35:40 »
Real helpful. I'm in the same exact situation for my next board :P I think blues might be to clicky and drive my GF nuts.  I'm looking at reds too cuz I play a ton of games.

Offline Dubsgalore

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 12 March 2013, 18:06:48 »
nice review. i have heard a lot about good build quality on filco boards and have been thinking about getting one

Offline OnTheBrink

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 13 March 2013, 14:25:35 »
nice review. i have heard a lot about good build quality on filco boards and have been thinking about getting one


I would check out my revised opinions here:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=40745.msg811158#msg811158

Offline deazncy

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 22 March 2013, 01:09:19 »
I'm liking the way they printed the caps. Makes it look really clean! Nice review btw.
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Offline Chase5delta

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 22 March 2013, 22:16:20 »
Great review :D
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Offline flizz

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 25 March 2013, 20:30:14 »
sweet deal you got, i want to try the red switches now :<

Offline evolz

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 26 March 2013, 18:14:12 »
Great Review gotta LOVE cherry REDS

Offline aesthetics1

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 28 March 2013, 22:08:41 »
I love my red filco!
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Offline TreeSc2

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 30 March 2013, 14:04:09 »
Nice review, i think i just changed my mind about the leopold and to get this ninja, but either brown or blues :)

Offline drdoooom

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 30 March 2013, 17:30:52 »
great review. i'm stuck between a red/brown filco right now :\. hate my qfr with blues.

Offline TreeSc2

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 11 May 2013, 11:30:09 »
That keyboard is gorgeous I ahve the white one with brown switches, i personally LOVE reds now. After using every switch type decided that I like reds the best and wont go back to anything else.

Offline baller1308

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #16 on: Sat, 11 May 2013, 21:53:44 »
Where did you get your keycaps from?

i've been looking to get a Filco Ninja with browns (in the US) but haven't seen them around in a while. 
Noppoo Choc Mini [Browns]
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Offline VesperSAINT

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #17 on: Mon, 13 May 2013, 17:30:34 »
Nice review!

Reds are my personal choice for gaming too because it's so fast and smooth.

I would personally recommend NOT using o-rings because from my experience the o-rings make the key travel seem uncomfortably short. Because the reds are so fast and smooth, with the o-rings installed, the press feels short and the bottoming out feels mushy and premature.

Offline mauri

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #18 on: Mon, 13 May 2013, 17:37:26 »
Great keyboard, only complaint I can think of were the key caps, so slippery :c
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Offline listokei

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #19 on: Sun, 11 August 2013, 10:09:05 »
Nice reviwe! Thanks for the review. :cool:

Offline goobus

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Re: Filco Majestouch Ninja Cherry MX Red (PICS INSIDE)
« Reply #20 on: Sat, 07 September 2013, 11:41:18 »
I have a Filco Ninja with red switches too, but the full sized version since I am using it for work. I must say I love it, and honestly it's a great quiet board.  If you can learn not to bottom out you can type pretty fast on it too without too much sound. Recently did 110wpm with this. Regarding the metallic sound, I think that's a result of the unlubed costar stabilizers. Some thick silicone grease should do the trick. I got some from ek for $6.

I've also owned a steelseries 6gv2 with red switches before, but the ninja wins by a mile. The steelseries had cheap keycaps and no windows key on the left, which I couldn't deal with because of lost functionality like win+d for desktop etc.

I recommend reds too! I love browns but reds are quickly becoming my new favorite.