Author Topic: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice  (Read 1814 times)

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Offline glitchathon

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Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« on: Fri, 12 February 2016, 18:16:28 »
My wife is looking for a mechanical keyboard normal layout and size (including tenkey). I wanted to check in to see what other brands I might look at besides WASD or DAS, which are two I am looking at. My wife likes the color customization of WASD so I am leaning towards them.

My wife enjoys the feel of my Cherry brown and reds (I have the Truly Ergonomic in browns and two Kinesis Advantage, one with reds and one with browns).

One of the most important things is I want one that has the lowest chance of chatter. My Truly Ergonomic chattered a lot, registering double/triple presses in less than a year. I have a hunch it is the firmware.

I am wondering if people here who ise Cherry MX's have had chattering issues and if there are some keyboard makers that do a good job of eliminating it with firmware. Both of my Kinesis are problem free after 5-7 years but my Truly Ergonomic was a big disappointment. Would like to avoid that with this next keyboard.

Any advice is appreciated!

Offline Altis

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #1 on: Fri, 12 February 2016, 20:24:23 »
I've heard of quite a few problems with the Truly Ergonomics, strangely. Chatter typically happens inside the switch itself, as far as I know. I've never had a problem with any of my mechanical boards (see signature).

I would imagine that MX clones would be more prone to issues compared with genuine Cherry MX since they take such pride in their brand. I know the smaller DAS keyboard uses Greetech clones but the full size uses Cherry MX.

Does she use the numberpad that much? These days I'd be inclined to get an external numberpad and a tenkeyless keyboard. Far more flexible and only place it when you need it.

As for other brands, there are all sorts. I wonder if she would like a full size Topre keyboard! Corsair has a full size with some nice RGB backlighting.
WhiteFox (Gateron Brown) -- Realforce 87U 45g -- Realforce 104UG (Hi Pro 45g) -- Realforce 108US 30g JIS -- HHKB Pro 2 -- IBM Model M ('90) -- IBM Model M SSK ('87) -- NMB RT-101 & RT-8255C+ (Hi-Tek Space Invaders) -- Chicony KB-5181 (Monterey Blue Alps) -- KPT-102 (KPT Alps) -- KUL ES-87 (62/65g Purple Zealios) -- CM QFR (MX Red) -- Apple Aluminum BT -- Realforce 23u Numpad -- Logitech K740 -- QSENN DT-35 -- Zenith Z-150 (Green Alps)

Offline FoxWolf1

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #2 on: Fri, 12 February 2016, 20:45:46 »
Yes, firmware can make a significant difference to when chatter appears, regardless of switch type. For example, there was a whole generation of Noppoo boards, back when they were still using 100% genuine Cherry switches, that would almost always develop chatter issues in a very short period of time. I suppose the opposite might also be true, with some makers doing a better job of debouncing. Various Chinese boards experimented with variable debounce-- so that you could have very fast response while your switches could handle it, and then slow things down a little as they aged-- but I'm not sure if it ever worked properly in anything that implemented it, and the feature seems to have gone out of fashion.

All that said, if you really hate chatter with a passion and a vengeance, and want to make sure that it does not occur regardless of what should happen to your keyboard during its life, you might consider a keyboard that has no contacts to chatter in the first place, but instead uses capacitive, optical, or magnetic sensing (the last of which AFAIK you can't get in a reasonably-priced currently available keyboard these days). If you want full-size capacitive with the ability to use MX keycaps for customization purposes, then you're looking at Noppoo or Royal Kludge. Various Bloody models (e.g. B720, B740) use optical switches, which your intended recipient might enjoy if she is a fan of linear action. Can't say I've seen one I liked the look of yet, though, and life expectancy of the emitters in their optical switches is unknown.
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Offline glitchathon

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #3 on: Fri, 12 February 2016, 20:53:17 »
Thanks for the responses guys.

Altis, I agree tenkeyless is a better option. I even have a tenkey Kinesis with browns that I offered her. But she wants a full sized slab... it is just what she is used to.

FoxWolf1, I do think the Truly Ergonomic problem I had was firmware-related. The issues were rampant. I never bothered to contact customer service since I heard they were not very responsive. But I would not say I hate chatter with a vengeance. But a situation like the Truly Ergonomic would feel like switching keys would not even help.... quite frankly, I treat it as a bad purchase.

But on the other hand, if occasional chatter means I have to break out the soldering iron every few years to swap out a switch, I can handle that. I am pretty good with soldering so easy repairability of a keyboard would be a significant positive feature. Thanks for the recommendations. I will look into Noppoo, Royal Kludge, and Bloody. A quick search shows they are within my price range so I will take a look for sure.

Offline rowdy

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Offline chyros

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 14 February 2016, 06:32:21 »
I think I read somewhere that Cherry MX chatters like hell anyway. I don't know too much since I don't really care too much, and don't use Cherries very often, but if chatter is a very serious problem for you you might want to consider other switch families, for example those that are naturally chatter-free.
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Offline bocahgundul

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 14 February 2016, 06:37:39 »
Do consider topre or the older switches like alps but I think your best bet is topre cause I never heard a chatter issues with topre

Offline chyros

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 14 February 2016, 12:31:18 »
How about Key Tronic foam and foil?  :))
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Offline ResonantPixel

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 15 February 2016, 05:56:32 »
My wife is looking for a mechanical keyboard normal layout and size (including tenkey). I wanted to check in to see what other brands I might look at besides WASD or DAS, which are two I am looking at. My wife likes the color customization of WASD so I am leaning towards them.

My wife enjoys the feel of my Cherry brown and reds (I have the Truly Ergonomic in browns and two Kinesis Advantage, one with reds and one with browns).

One of the most important things is I want one that has the lowest chance of chatter. My Truly Ergonomic chattered a lot, registering double/triple presses in less than a year. I have a hunch it is the firmware.

I am wondering if people here who ise Cherry MX's have had chattering issues and if there are some keyboard makers that do a good job of eliminating it with firmware. Both of my Kinesis are problem free after 5-7 years but my Truly Ergonomic was a big disappointment. Would like to avoid that with this next keyboard.

Any advice is appreciated!

How about something like the CM Storm Quickfire TK? It uses a numpad and has the same footprint as a tenkeyless! It's also availible in all the mainstream swtich types! (I have even seen it with greens before!)

Offline berserkfan

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 15 February 2016, 06:43:49 »


I am wondering if people here who ise Cherry MX's have had chattering issues and if there are some keyboard makers that do a good job of eliminating it with firmware. Both of my Kinesis are problem free after 5-7 years but my Truly Ergonomic was a big disappointment. Would like to avoid that with this next keyboard.

Any advice is appreciated!

TECK is known as the Butt keyboard here.

It is a total ASS.

I won't use it even if you paid me $2 for every hour I used it. And most geeks feel the same way.

Fortunately, almost every board is superior to the Buttboard. Quite frankly, you can just go to ebay, pick up a secondhand Rosewill for $25 shipped, and almost certainly have a good enough board to use for the next 10 years.

Don't ask the geeks here, because it is their custom to spend $1000 to customize their boards and you will wind up with a 7lb metal casing monster, covered with all kinds of ridiculous customized keycaps, bluetooth function even though your wife sits next to the computer, fancy LEDs that you don't dare turn on because everyone at the office will laugh, etc.
Most of the modding can be done on your own once you break through the psychological barriers.

Offline glitchathon

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Re: Looking for mechanical keyboard advice
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 16 February 2016, 13:03:57 »
Thanks for the advice guys. Once my wife saw the color configuration options for the WASD, she decided that was what she wanted. I talked her into a tenkeyless though :D.

I think the chatter/bouncing of my TECK is not the norm. I will treat that keyboard as the lemon that it is. I even just tried flashing the firmware to the latest and still got chatter-galore. What a waste of a $250 keyboard.