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iOne Scorpius-M10 review

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karlito:
The iOne Scorpius-M10 seems like a very study well constructed keyboard that will last a long time.  The key caps are a standard textured key cap and the lettering of the keys is printed on so I would imagine the lettering will wear off.

The keys are indeed blue stemmed Cherry mechanical switches. After about 1.25mm - 1.5mm of travel the keys click letting you know a key was registered.  The keys have about 2.5mm-3mm of travel before they bottom out.  

The feel of the clicking is great and is vastly superior to that of black stemmed cherry (linear) mechanical key switches and any membrane keyboard I have ever used.  That being said the key switches are stiffer than I would like. In fact they are noticeable stiffer than the keys of my Logitech G15.  Note that I am very picky about key stiffness; they are less stiff than any keyboard I have ever used save for the G15.

Now for the sound of the click, it is quite annoying.  It's a somewhat high pitch clicking noise.  It is very similar to lifting up the clip on a pen cap and letting it smack back down onto the cap.  As the typist you could get used to the clicking sound except for one major flaw, the space bar is about two or three times louder than any of the other keys.  I found this to be extremely distracting, every time I would hit the space bar I would think about how loud it was.  As the space bar was driving me nuts I removed the cap for it thinking I would find two or more switches under it but there is only one so I don’t know why it’s so loud.

Another thing to note about the sound of the key switches is that a lot of the noise comes from bottoming out the keys.  There’s a plastic on plastic thud when you bottom them out, which is also present in the black stemmed cherry key switches.  I think it would be great if Cherry added some sort of rubber shock absorber so when you bottomed out it didn’t make any noise cause all you really need is the “clicky” sound when the key registers.

I opened up the Scorpius hoping that I would be able to remove the numpad or at the very least remove the key switches and put them into my SMK-88, which uses linear switches.  Sadly removing the numpad seems like it would be impossible and changing out the key switches would require a whole lot of soldering which I’m not sure I’m willing to do yet since the SMK-88 seems to have supply issues.

As far as registering key presses for gaming it is capable of registering at least 5 keys at a time.  I did not try more than 5 keys as I only have 5 fingers on my left hand so what’s the point?

So all in all if you want a low priced clicky mechanical keyboard this seems to be the way to go.  However, it will not be replacing my G15.

I got mine off of eBay from ergogeekcom ($10 cheaper from eBay then their own website ergogeek.com) for $40 + $10 shipping.  I ordered on a Sunday and they shipped it Monday via UPS ground (sigh no choice in shipping method or courier).

Whiskey in the Jar-o:
Nice review. Sounds just like the white Alps switches in my Northgate Evolution. The hard landing shortly after the click really bother me.

mr_sf_applet:
Really informative review, karlito. Thanks. Great pictures too. Hope you didn't have any problems putting the keyboard back together.


--- Quote from: karlito ---Now for the sound of the click, it is quite annoying.  It's a somewhat high pitch clicking noise.  It is very similar to lifting up the clip on a pen cap and letting it smack back down onto the cap.  As the typist you could get used to the clicking sound except for one major flaw, the space bar is about two or three times louder than any of the other keys.  I found this to be extremely distracting, every time I would hit the space bar I would think about how loud it was.  As the space bar was driving me nuts I removed the cap for it thinking I would find two or more switches under it but there is only one so I don’t know why it’s so loud.
--- End quote ---

You know, that would also be the one issue I have with the Avant Stellar, the fact that the space bar is noticeably louder than, and sounds different (sort of a low-pitched thud when it bottoms out) from the rest of the keys. I haven't taken it off to see what's underneath. But it was the very first thing I noticed when I started typing on the Avant Stellar, and boy, did it distract me. I've sorta gotten used to it after all these months, but it stll bothers me when I notice it.

mr_sf_applet:

--- Quote from: karlito ---The feel of the clicking is great and is vastly superior to that of black stemmed cherry (linear) mechanical key switches and any membrane keyboard I have ever used.  That being said the key switches are stiffer than I would like. In fact they are noticeable stiffer than the keys of my Logitech G15.  Note that I am very picky about key stiffness; they are less stiff than any keyboard I have ever used save for the G15.
--- End quote ---


I wonder if the light tactile brown Cherry MX switches that I've been looking into might be more your style. Except, of course, that they don't seem to be found on any keyboards that are readily available in the US except for the Kinesis.

xsphat:
Nice review, I think I'll be picking one of these up after all.

Do most of you other clicky keyboard users not bottom out the keys? I think I do on the majority of my keystrokes. I really enjoy a good solid click followed closely by a spring. It reminds me of an old typewriter.

The space bar is almost always the loudest key, except on my SMK 85 - strangely enough the loudest key on that one is the backspace.

Keep the reviews coming, and keep doing them like this  :D

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