geekhack Community > Keyboards
What keyboard do I want? I'm about a decade behind.
HungerMechanic:
--- Quote from: N8N on Mon, 03 May 2021, 19:42:14 ---So today my Bobas showed up. These are the 62g ones, with the clear "RGB" tops.
THANK YOU. These are perfect. Super silent. Quite tactile. I may not need heavier springs in fact, although if they don't break in I may take this apart again and lube the switches. I feel just enough scratchiness to be worth mentioning. The /dev/tty caps look amazing too. No pics yet because I still have some fine tuning to do.
--- End quote ---
I'm glad it worked out!
Cutting the pins off switches is routine by now, especially with 3-pin hotswap. Fortunately, the newest hotswap keyboards have 5-pin hotswap, so cutting of pins is no longer necessary with those.
Bent pins are also common, but many stores ship things properly.
U4 Bobas are great switches, but they do have inherent shuffling and friction inside because of the dampening and the tactility. The good news, as you've noticed, is that Bobas actually do become a little smoother and less resistant over time.
Silent tactiles have come a long way, and the Bobas are the most modern design. So you came in at the right time. Since you prefer higher weights and stiffness, you're in luck because that's easy. It's harder to make the U4 Boba softer and lighter, because there are limits, but there's nothing untowards about putting a 78 G spring or something in a Boba.
Thanks for reporting that the Bobas are quiet in a GMMK. Haven't tried that yet. They aren't quiet enough for me in a stock Rakk Lam Ang Pro, but they are pretty quiet in an Archon AK89.
I wish I could help you with your spacebar issue, but sadly I don't have experience in that regard. Hopefully someone can chime in if you post images. As for springs, you might want to buy a TX spring sampler. I wish I had, as it would have saved me money in the long-run.
N8N:
--- Quote from: HungerMechanic on Mon, 03 May 2021, 22:35:15 ---
--- Quote from: N8N on Mon, 03 May 2021, 19:42:14 ---So today my Bobas showed up. These are the 62g ones, with the clear "RGB" tops.
THANK YOU. These are perfect. Super silent. Quite tactile. I may not need heavier springs in fact, although if they don't break in I may take this apart again and lube the switches. I feel just enough scratchiness to be worth mentioning. The /dev/tty caps look amazing too. No pics yet because I still have some fine tuning to do.
--- End quote ---
I'm glad it worked out!
Cutting the pins off switches is routine by now, especially with 3-pin hotswap. Fortunately, the newest hotswap keyboards have 5-pin hotswap, so cutting of pins is no longer necessary with those.
Bent pins are also common, but many stores ship things properly.
U4 Bobas are great switches, but they do have inherent shuffling and friction inside because of the dampening and the tactility. The good news, as you've noticed, is that Bobas actually do become a little smoother and less resistant over time.
Silent tactiles have come a long way, and the Bobas are the most modern design. So you came in at the right time. Since you prefer higher weights and stiffness, you're in luck because that's easy. It's harder to make the U4 Boba softer and lighter, because there are limits, but there's nothing untowards about putting a 78 G spring or something in a Boba.
Thanks for reporting that the Bobas are quiet in a GMMK. Haven't tried that yet. They aren't quiet enough for me in a stock Rakk Lam Ang Pro, but they are pretty quiet in an Archon AK89.
I wish I could help you with your spacebar issue, but sadly I don't have experience in that regard. Hopefully someone can chime in if you post images. As for springs, you might want to buy a TX spring sampler. I wish I had, as it would have saved me money in the long-run.
--- End quote ---
I'm quite honestly amazed. I don't know if these are any more tactile than the dampened cream Alps in my Granite, but they are definitely significantly more quiet. Could I go back in time and get a brand new board maybe that would be a more fair comparison, but unfortunately we can't do that. Really the main sound I hear is a little swishy/scratchy noise as I type which I assume is the internals of the switches sliding against each other, and then the stabilized keys, now rather than being significantly quieter than the other keys have a very faint thock that the others do not, I assume again because of the stabilizers bottoming out before the key switch does. In any case this is by far the quietest keyboard combo I've ever used, and the tactility is still great.
You're right, things have come a LONG way in the last few years apparently! It's too bad this isn't a "mainstream" switch that you can just buy in a new Filco, Leopold, etc. keyboard like the typical MX Black/Blue/Brown, but it deserves to be.
HungerMechanic:
Haha, yes, the bane of my existence! That Leopolds and Varmilos don't come with Ergo Clears, Bobas, Jades, Durock Medium Tactiles, etc...!
N8N:
--- Quote from: HungerMechanic on Tue, 04 May 2021, 08:48:58 ---Haha, yes, the bane of my existence! That Leopolds and Varmilos don't come with Ergo Clears, Bobas, Jades, Durock Medium Tactiles, etc...!
--- End quote ---
You laugh but a coworker was thinking she would buy her husband a new keyboard for his birthday and asked me what I was typing on and I had to explain... yeah, you can't just go on amazon and buy this thing, it's a three piece deal, and each piece of the puzzle involved personal preference...
That said, this is what a board with MX browns or clears tries but fails to be.
Maledicted:
Congratulations on a board you like even more than your old Filco. I can't take credit for recommending Bobas, I have never tried them myself. I haven't found enough of a reason to try the more boutique MX tactiles, with my tastes.
--- Quote from: N8N on Tue, 04 May 2021, 07:32:11 ---You're right, things have come a LONG way in the last few years apparently! It's too bad this isn't a "mainstream" switch that you can just buy in a new Filco, Leopold, etc. keyboard like the typical MX Black/Blue/Brown, but it deserves to be.
--- End quote ---
I think most of the best switches available are not commonly available in OEM boards, unfortunately. Are there even any boards that offer box jades yet? Clicky box boards are almost always box white, for some inexplicable reason. I think most people looking at companies like Filco and Leopold are probably still predominantly first time mechanical users who haven't even tried the 3 major switch types yet, much less have any inclination of which switches they may prefer, just like the gaming board brands ... just to a lesser degree. If Cherry switches sell, than those are what the big name OEMs will keep putting in their boards.
If you do use that new board for a period of time, and then use the SGI board for a period of time, and update this thread with your impressions, I may be motivated to give MX boutiques more of a chance.
I have a bunch of Matias boards you could try, if you're near Wisconsin. I think this V80 I'm using right now might be the only one that still has unmolested dampened tactiles in it though.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version