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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 28 November 2010, 12:29:48

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 28 November 2010, 12:29:48

When you have an MX brown or blue board, do you prefer the space bar to be the same weight or to be heavier (MX gray or green, respectively)?

I've found with MX browns that when you use a brown switch for the spacebar that it just clacks too much. It's not that I'm averse to noise, it's just that it's usually not a really pleasant sound, the way a switch clicking is. It's just a "TACK dadadadadadaTACK dadaTACK". Sounds cheap. While on my boards with gray switch spacebars the spacebar just makes a soft "dooka" sort of noise that blends into the flow of typing much better.


What do you think?

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: Soarer on Sun, 28 November 2010, 12:36:10

Green is a lot lighter than either grey, it's roughly a blue switch with a black spring.
Why they picked a grey space to go with browns, I really don't know :-/
But the green switch goes nicely with blues, IMO :)

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: lowpoly on Sun, 28 November 2010, 12:53:28

I prefer same weight. You can silence the space bar somewhat by applying grease to the stabilizers.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: Lanx on Sun, 28 November 2010, 12:57:40

heavy plz.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: squarebox on Sun, 28 November 2010, 19:22:19

I prefer heavy too...

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Mon, 29 November 2010, 06:19:30

Rippy did you make a guide yet how to mod it :/ ? converting brown to clear for spacebar.

If it's not too hard, i'd like to give it a try.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: JBert on Mon, 29 November 2010, 16:36:00

The smaller the difference in weight, the better.

The Cherry clear keyboard I'm typing on right now has a gray switch for the spacebar. It doesn't bother me as much as on a brown Cherry board.

Same with the model F, really.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: spolia optima on Mon, 29 November 2010, 22:49:20

+1 for same weight as alpha keys.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 30 November 2010, 07:29:07

Same weight as the rest of the keys.  Heavy spacebars are weird.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: HaaTa on Tue, 30 November 2010, 08:11:31

Heavy spacebars :biggrin:

Currently typing on my modded Cherry MY (to 20-25cn). Didn't modify the spacebar.


But really, I don't mind either a heavy spacebar or a same weight actuation.

I believe I have 3 keyboards that have heavy spacebars atm, and I have no intention of modifying them to same-weight.


The problem I believe with same-weight spacebars, is that the weight is really not the same, as the spacebar is a heavier key in general (I don't really have any data to back this up, anyone?), and thus will make the keypress even lighter than the rest of the keys.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: keyb_gr on Tue, 30 November 2010, 14:06:16

Somewhat heavier spacebars per se are not a bad thing. They only bother me when the "regular" switches are already on the mid-heavy to heavy side to begin with.

Thus I don't mind a green spacebar switch on a board with blues at all, but am bothered slightly by the grey ones on boards with clears or blacks.

One case where the spacebar does seem to feel slightly lighter is a Model M. That's fine though. And G81 spacebar = best part of the whole keyboard by far.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: 8_INCH_FLOPPY on Wed, 01 December 2010, 00:59:36

Either the same or heavier, just as long as it is not lighter.

Title: Light spacebar or heavy?
Post by: Konrad on Wed, 01 December 2010, 04:24:34

Heavy for me.  I've "modded" cheapo boards with bits of foam and cut-down ballpoint pen springs to add some manly oomphf.  Of course I don't use pansy wrist-rests, so there's more weight behind my thumb punches.