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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: George7 on Thu, 24 February 2011, 13:53:28

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Thu, 24 February 2011, 13:53:28

I've now received my Cherry G80 with MX Blues after waiting a month for it! First impressions are OK. I was expecting the keyboard to be slightly heavier if I'm honest. It's actually quite a light weight board. So far I'm quite liking the MX Blue switches. They feel a lot sharper and clickier than the Black Alps in the AT102W I use at work. The tactile feel is more defined. The only question I have is, the enter button and the space bar seem a little bit stiff compared to the rest of the keys, is this normal for them to be a bit stiffer and will they loosen up over time? It's not a huge issue for me, but admittedly I'd prefer them to be slightly lighter to the touch. I'm notoriously hard on keyboards and my last board (Logitech Wave) was completely knackered in about a year, so only time will tell how this board fares.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Thu, 24 February 2011, 18:12:46

Thanks! I guess a different switch in the space may be likely. I might try removing the space bar at some point, just to see if it is a different switch. It feels very similar in terms of action to the other keys, it's just a bit stiffer and softer, more of a numb feel may be the best way to describe it. It may be due to it simply being a larger key I guess. I'm finding it's bothering me less and less the more I type though.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: Tony on Thu, 24 February 2011, 19:13:21

Yes, new space and enter are stiffer than alpha keys. In a few months they will gradually feel the same. Or you will get used to it.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: godly_music on Thu, 24 February 2011, 19:58:17

I lubed all my stabilizer keys on a G80 MX Black. They all feel a bit heavier than the regular keys, and with a faint bump compared to total linearity. But this keyboard hasn't been used a lot and I expect them to get a bit lighter with use.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Fri, 06 May 2011, 18:15:31

Just going to give a quick update! Been using the board for about 2 and a half months now and I absolutley love it. I can happily say the space and enter seem to have loosed up a fair bit since I posted this thread. I've grown to like the Cherry Blues more and more since I've started using the board, every keystroke is a pleasure and my keyboard at work, the AT102W, now feels inferior to type on in comparison (although to be fair, the AT102W feels like it could survive a nuclear explosion). My only slight concern I have at the moment is that I'm not sure how well the lettering will last as I don't really know which method they've used to print the caps (does anyone know?). I'd say the only minor complaint I have about the board so far is the feel of it when you pick it up, it's quite a flimsy board; however, as it's never carried or transported anywhere and stays in the same position 24/7 I can't say this bothers me much :)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: nocturn4l3030 on Fri, 06 May 2011, 18:25:05

you can always get black double shots if the lettering is starting to fade!

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: keyb_gr on Sat, 07 May 2011, 18:13:25

It takes pretty heavy use for the lasered lettering to wear off (though obviously less than for doubleshots or dyesubs), so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Sun, 08 May 2011, 07:44:33

I don't think it's lasered as I can feel the letters, but I can't see the edges at all. I know very little about the processes of printing lettering on keys, but on my previous keyboards I could always see the edges of the labels. I would post a picture, but I've left my camera in the back of a friends car :(

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: keyb_gr on Sun, 08 May 2011, 14:57:28

Quote from: George7;343275

I know very little about the processes of printing lettering on keys, but on my previous keyboards I could always see the edges of the labels.

We like to refer to this as "decals" on here, though of course it's actually some kind of printed lettering covered with abrasion-proof transparent plastic. Common in inexpensive boards and pretty abrasion-proof. Check the "All about keys" wiki for labeling techniques.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Fri, 27 May 2011, 12:28:47

After reading the rather excellent keycap wiki, I've concluded that I've got lasered keys with the spurgey infill. Hopefully this means they will wear nicely :) Here is a pic of the board after 3 months use for anyone who is interested! As you can probably see from the picture, the L key is a little darker than the others, it wasn't when I first received it so I don't quite know what's happened there! Also, in the picture, the plastic looks odd, this is just dust :)

(http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/5700/dsc06994z.jpg)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Fri, 27 May 2011, 13:47:43

Any decent way of cleaning them? I'm not too bothered either way, but it'd be nice. I reckon once this board is a year old, it'll be a sorry sight!

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: mbc on Fri, 27 May 2011, 18:40:18

Alcohol is quite good for cleaning those stains

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Fri, 27 May 2011, 19:00:41

Just tried alcohol and unfortunately got the wrong side of the 50/50 chance. It has made little to no difference! Can't say I'm too bothered though, my old Wave had about a third of the main letter decals missing and it didn't bother me much :)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: mbc on Thu, 02 June 2011, 05:38:46

Gonna try for myself and report back. Having same probs with zowie

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: spolia optima on Thu, 02 June 2011, 07:54:28

Good choice. Yeah that lazer infill isn't great... But I like the texture it brings to the otherwise slippery PBT

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: patrickgeekhack on Thu, 02 June 2011, 13:33:02

I am glad you like your keyboard. The G80 was my favourite keyboard for a very long time. Now, I seem to prefer my Das because it's plate mounted.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Thu, 21 July 2011, 08:02:47

Here comes the 5 month update! The excitement! Since I last posted, a few more decals have got stained so the board is currently looking a bit rough. It's very annoying but I guess there's nothing I can do short of buying new keycaps. It makes me very paranoid about having anything but 100% clean hands when typing. I'm still absolutely loving the feel of the Cherry Blues, almost to the point of wanting to buy another Cherry Blues based board for usage at work. Following on from the keycaps looking crap now, is there anywhere I can buy replacement Cherry keycaps without buying an entire board? It's not something I'll probably bother with unless I could pick up a set of doubleshots for a decent price. My other consideration would be to get beige keys for the letters, it'd look kinda cool, in a weird way, but I probably won't do that.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: Farsiite on Thu, 21 July 2011, 13:07:49

Quote from: patrickgeekhack;354740

I am glad you like your keyboard. The G80 was my favourite keyboard for a very long time. Now, I seem to prefer my Das because it's plate mounted.

what's the appeal of having it plate mounted? i mean, i understand why it's there. it's just that i think i'd have to hammer down on top of my g80 with the strength of andre the giant or someone to be able to even flex the thing. how hard are you people mashing down on your keyboards? or am i missing something all together?

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: spolia optima on Thu, 21 July 2011, 13:21:20

I've always been a big fan of the green spacebars.
my thumb always rests there anyway + my thumb is at least 2x strong as my other digets
so I don't see what the big deal is.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: spolia optima on Thu, 21 July 2011, 13:25:34

Quote from: Farsiite;384792

what's the appeal of having it plate mounted? i mean, i understand why it's there. it's just that i think i'd have to hammer down on top of my g80 with the strength of andre the giant or someone to be able to even flex the thing. how hard are you people mashing down on your keyboards? or am i missing something all together?

The appeal of plate mnounted is durability, for sure. They feel way more "solid" than PCB mounted boards
The down side is the harsh landing, which hurts fingertips after a while
Another down side is lack of modability
Another down side is the price
There's also the ping, but that's neither here nor there. Some peopre rike ping.

I'll take PCB mounted cherry switches anyday.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: Mr. Perfect on Thu, 21 July 2011, 18:45:25

I hadn't noticed this thread before, but it's actually a lot of fun reading about your impressions over time. Usually people get a new board, share their new purchase euphoria and then don't mention anything about the board again.

Quote from: George7;384691

Following on from the keycaps looking crap now, is there anywhere I can buy replacement Cherry keycaps without buying an entire board? It's not something I'll probably bother with unless I could pick up a set of doubleshots for a decent price.

If you watch the group buy section here at GH, round four of double shot keycap orders should start sometime soon. If you order quick, they might be here in time for the one year retrospective post!

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Thu, 28 July 2011, 03:47:21

I'll take some pics when I get home. I'd say approximately half the letters are stained now. Once they're all stained it won't be so bad, but either way I'm tempted to go for a set of blanks or even some doubleshots! The staining annoys me grealtly.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Sun, 31 July 2011, 07:54:04

Here is a picture of the key which is stained the worst (F). The other keys which are badly stained are E, L and R. All the other keys are partially stained apart from U, Q, Z and X. It doesn't look 'that' bad in this picture, but compared to the colour of the non stained keys, it's quite noticeable. I guess once they're all stained it'll look OK :p

(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/george_hopkins/DSC07220.jpg?t=1312116038)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: N8N on Sun, 31 July 2011, 08:21:29

Those look like doubleshots; have you tried pulling the key caps and cleaning them?  (hot soapy water or soak in hot water w/ denture tabs - or for a quick clean just wipe with soft cloth and rubing alcohol.)  If those are doubleshots they ought to clean up nicely without too much effort - only thing that can really happen to them that's permanent is that they will get shiny as they wear, other than that there's not much bad that can happen to them permanently (that's why people like them so much!)

The reason that I suspect that you have doubleshots is that the "F" and "J" keys don't appear to have the typical nubs on it for index finger location but instead are scalloped deeper - I've only seen that on Cherry doubleshots.  Do you have a "H" in the part number for your keyboard?  e.g. G80-3000HPBUS or similar?  Or just pull one of the letter keys and see if you see both white and black underneath.  If so you have doubleshots and you should be quite happy!

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: Tony on Sun, 31 July 2011, 08:32:15

I use Ninja keycaps because of the same stained key problem. Or otaku - totally blank keycaps.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: The Solutor on Sun, 31 July 2011, 08:58:09

Quote from: George7;390343

Here is a picture of the key which is stained the worst (F). The other keys which are badly stained are E, L and R. All the other keys are partially stained apart from U, Q, Z and X. It doesn't look 'that' bad in this picture, but compared to the colour of the non stained keys, it's quite noticeable. I guess once they're all stained it'll look OK :p

Show Image

(http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j275/george_hopkins/DSC07220.jpg?t=1312116038)

Just wash them with hydrogen peroxide and ammonia, just hydrogen peroxide, vanish oxi action...

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Fri, 05 August 2011, 14:22:39

I'll try a bit of vanish on them at some point, I think I have some in a cupboard somewhere. Not a lot of point though, as they're just going to get stained again, and if I've put effort into getting them clean, getting them stained again will become much more frustrating! I'm now seriously considering a set of blanks; could anyone point me to a UK/EU based supplier of G80 blank keys? Thanks :)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Sat, 17 December 2011, 11:24:57

10 Month (& probably last) Update!

The staining has kinda plateaued, but I can't say the stained keys bother me much anymore anyway. The board is suprisingly unworn; I know that after 10 months, all the heavily used keys were shiny on my Wave but the Cherry seems to have held up very well. I still love typing on the board and haven't felt any great urge to try something different, which is unusual for me. I occasionally have pangs of regret for not going for something which looked fancy, had backlit keys, but overall I'm glad I went for the G80. It's a really excellent keyboard and I'd highly recommend it.

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: squarebox on Sat, 17 December 2011, 11:32:40

My mildly stained G80-3494
(http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k221/undarken/G80-3494/rare.jpg)

Title: Just received my Cherry G80
Post by: George7 on Wed, 21 December 2011, 16:04:19

I quite fancy buying a set of Russian keycaps. I don't need to see the letters, as I touch type, and Russian characters look epic.