I have had the F77 I snagged on Ebay for about a week now, so I have had a little time to configure it, modify it to my liking, and get a feel for it. The caps are mostly original Model M caps from about 1988 (for now). The rest for the oddballs like the Geekhack Windows keys and dedicated media keys over the arrow keys are from Unicomp. I simply couldn't do the plain-looking modern usb cable, and mod aviator connectors onto most of the boards I care most about anyway, and I figured an oldschool beefy industrial design really deserved something with paracord for a nice retro cloth-covered look. I put a rubber washer between the aviator connector and the case ... because I didn't want to ruin that beautiful 80's style powder coat.
I think the more industrial-looking cable is a good fit.
Why not have a nice cap for it as well?
On to the boards as they come though. The powder coating job is fantastic. It does really look like something from out of the 80s, and looks and feels great in its own right regardless.
All I could think off offhand to compare it against is the bottom of this beige label Zenith Z-150 case. The F77 is obviously shinier, and there are a lot more individual blobs, which are also larger, but I think this varied a lot back then anyway. I don't have any original Zinc Fs to compare against.
Configuration was a breeze for me. I didn't have to adjust anything on the software side other than whatever tweaks to the mapping I wanted to do. I did have about 3 flippers that seemed to get stuck no matter how many times I would reseat the cap. The one that I noticed first I was able to fix by taking the whole plate sandwich apart and making sure that the spring was pulled all of the way down the post it is mounted on fairly uniformly, and then compare it against a good flipper assembly and bend the spring a bit until its profile seemed to match pretty well. The other two I noticed later, and I had already taken the sandwich apart multiple times for other curiosity reasons that night, so I attempted to fix them without disassembly. It was a pain, but I did end up being able to fix both of them by just sticking a flathead precision screwdriver (and sometimes gripped the spring with some needle nose pliers and pressed it down with that) down there to try to press the spring more snugly down the post of the flipper, working different spots until the spring sat fairly straight in relation to others. After that, working the switch vigorously a few minutes seemed to make them begin to function just as reliably as the one I had taken the sandwich apart to mess with, and sound as they should to boot.
I imagine that frustation over this may be why the original owner decided to just list the thing on Ebay when it is basically still brand new, but it really only took a little problem-solving. I also can't say whether or not these problems were initially user-error in that regard either.
Once I had everything working, one of the first things I noticed was that the switches (initially) felt a little rougher than an original Model F, but still far better than an M. I'm attributing this to this being a brand new board and the old Fs being all 30+-years-old. After typing on it for some time, quite a few of the alphanumeric keys already feel just as smooth as my original F boards.
Once I began comparing the feel in smoothness against one of my F ATs and my F XT, I noticed immediately that the weighting of the new boards actually feels even lighter than the original Fs, by a noticeable amount. I imagine there's a minor difference in the spring specs. My next, and most interesting, observation is that the actuation point, and tactile event, is actually quite a bit higher than that of the originals. Very close, in fact, to a Model M. I don't believe that there's a big enough difference between M and F caps to be the source of this, but perhaps? My original Fs are almost at full travel by the time that they actuate. This board is closer to a mid-high actuation point in my estimation. I couldn't quite believe this myself and initially attributed it to the lighter springs, but it was apparent even when comparing them side by side and seeing how far the cap would dip compared to the others before reaching the tactile event. I suppose that, with this design, a difference in springs may even slightly modify the point at which those springs buckle, even if the entirety of the rest of the design were identical. In all other regards, they feel just like the originals.
The difference in sound between the F77, F XT, and F AT is interesting, to say the least. The XT, of course, is extremely high-pitched and pingy. The F AT is the deepest and most subdued of the three. The F77 seems to have some characteristics of both. In spite of the entire case being made of metal, that metal is very thick, and it seems to simultaneously keep the overall pitch lower than the XT, but still almost as pingy and reverberant. Mine came, from the original owner, with nothing on the spacebar stabilizer, so it is a little wobbly and squeaky. I'm not one to care much at all about that sort of thing, but I imagine I'll just slap some dielectric grease on it and call it good if I ever bother with anything.
These things are wonderfully solid, and very thick. I think I own RIFLES that weigh less than this slab of zinc, and it is a joy to experience that. My stepped drill bit was having trouble just hacking through this thing. Overall build quality is top notch.
I think these are fantastic boards overall, and worth every penny. I imagine I'll be using this one (and at least another once my direct order ships) heavily for many, many, many years to come.