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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: weipim on Wed, 27 July 2011, 02:17:07
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Hi all, as some of you might already know me, I am a seller on GH that's passionate in Mechanical keyboards just like you guys. I just receive from Noppo their new Choc Pro mechanical keyboard with their own switch type, they call it white switch for a test drive.
Since I am not selling this product yet and therefore please take this thread only as an opinion and not thinking i'm trying to sell you guys this product haha.
ddd
Esthdetic and Built Quality:
i hadve to say that the majority of mechanical keyboards look very similar to each other, the current trend on the look for a full size keybaord is thin brezel such as Filco, dudcky, SS, and this noppoo is no exception. Everythign is just like its competitor, however the only difference is that it uses POM keycaps with Gold lasered legends. Which I ddthink it's pretty awesome along with the white logo: Choc Pro on the top right corner. The built quality is very solid, the case material used feels better than the duckies 9000 series in comparison to my ducky 9008 year of the tiger. the blue LEDs for numlock and caplock and scroll lock does not feel too bright or dim if you don't look it from perpendicular. The keyboard is very heavy as well, they claim to be 1.0kg however I think it's really more than that. I don't have a balance yet but they are heavier than filco that's for sure.
the Noppoo White Switch:
For being a mechanical keyboard manufacturer, it is inevitable for Noppoo to suffer the same problem as others, which is the consistency of the product supply depends heavily on the supply of cherry mx switch. It isn't super hard to find a good enough product, but it's hard to be able to buy it, for instance Filco mx red has been constantly out of stock, ducky mx red is extremely rare and etc. Therefore, according to Noppoo, they would like be more independent from this issue and integrating this white switch into their mainstream product is a start. They price it similar to their mx black product, which is on the lower end of the price range for a mechanical keyboard. The actual feel of it, however is pretty different. I am comparing it side by side to the choc mini 84 mx brown, and they feel closer. the white switch is more like a mx brown, but with lower traveling distance. precisely, it's like a mx brown but you hit the bottom right after the subtil tactile feel of the brown. And it's almost impossible to touch type on this, because of its travel length. In addition, the white switch feel like it need a little extra force to press down than the browns, therefore lets put is this way, its like a mx brown but heavier and shorter, or a slightly lighter mx black with tactile.
I am typing this short review with this keyboard and to be honest sometimes I double register the keys although I wasn't conscious about, it will take me a week or two to get used to and then i'm able to tell you more accurately.
Although it's not from a Cherry MX Switch, but you can still use keycaps made for cherry mx switch on it, it should be 100% compatible.
here are some pics I attached.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]22491[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22493[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22492[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22494[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22495[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22496[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22497[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22498[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]22499[/ATTACH]
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Wait a minute... This keyboard doesn't look like a mechanical keyboard at all. It looks like a rubber dome keyboard. How much does this sell for?
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I know, from the structure it looks closer to a rubber dome than a mech. board, however it is far for being one.
in China it's like 80-90 usd ish, same price as the choc pro mx black.
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Interesting, no one before mentioned the the Chock Pro wasn't a microswitch keyboard.
Looks as a topreish RD mechanism, likely not bad.
Can you post a detailed photo of the dome ?
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hmmm， i maybe can do this tomorrow, need a screwdriver and a camera lolll
but i have now clue what you just said in your thread lolll, can u elaborate please? sorry i'm sooo noob
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but i have now clue what you just said in your thread lolll, can u elaborate please? sorry i'm sooo noob
The "mechanical" definition is more or less a pointless definition, and even the microswitch one is debatable..
Anyway currently are considered mechanical al the boards that are not based on a rubber dome or scissor switch mechanism. And this one looks like a rubber dome ones.
Likely a rubber dome build better than the usual, like happen with the topre boards, that are also based on rubber domes but are based on capacitive sensing rather than the usual contact.
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yeah exactly, they are capacitive sensing, but not as exactly like the topre.
it types a lil bit like RD, but feels way comfy than other rds
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Given the diodes on the backside I doubt it's capacitive
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Interesting, no one before mentioned the the Chock Pro wasn't a microswitch keyboard.
Looks as a topreish RD mechanism, likely not bad.
Can you post a detailed photo of the dome ?
Taken from (I think) weipim's choc pro review at pcwaishe.
Basically the choc pro was a lot of switch options and this home made one is one of it.
As you can probably guess, the color of the word denotes which cherry mx switch it is. The one with the tick is this switch type since it's the OP's pic
(http://i.imgur.com/W87SD.jpg)
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Nice thank you.
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Strange, looks like nobody cares about this novelty...
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I think it's interesting.
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Looks like a waste of diodes to me.
No ask for rip-o-metering, are you fine ? :party:
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Probably 65g and feels just like any other rubber dome.
I have some doubts about the feeling.
Clearly is not a membrane based RD so, as happen on topres, there's more room to improve the dome shape, then if they did a good jwork is a question that has to be answered.
Surely is nice to see the dome modularity, so should be easy enough to replace/swap any worn dome.
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Like I said, needs better pics.
Already asked for them
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Yea I don't know, They look more like plain old thin membrane domes. The only selling points seems to be the actuation mechanism that pushes the domes from under the keycap. I'd venture that the keys are probably more stable than normal membrane keyboards due to this.
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I'd venture that the keys are probably more stable than normal membrane keyboards due to this.
The goal should be to have more stable keys than cherrys, most membrane boards are way less wobbly than cherry boards.
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Looks to be made exactly like my old BTC domes keyboard. It also had a pcb instead of membrane. It was like they had some left over parts from the old foam and foil ones, and just stick a rubber dome instead of the foam. On the bottom of the cup there was a little metallic spot glued to make a contact. The sliders design was nearly the same as on this one, but not mounted on a separate plate, part of the top body piece. It felt better than a lot of rubber domes, but soon as I had enough mechanical keyboards for all my pc I took off the caps and threw it away. Last ps/2 keyboard too.
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I think the keyboard is very interesting, thanks for sharing weipim. Nice to see some new switches developed!
Same goes for the new Rapoo, I think you should bring a bunch of Rapoo V7 to the US, if the price is cheaper than the PLU87 they should sell really good.
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The price for these are more than PLUs
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Really? qtan is selling Rapoo's for $53 plus shipping (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?19458-QWERTY-to-Colemak-via-hardware.-USB-key-or-built-in-hardware-firmware) from China. PLU ML-87 are usually sold for at least $20 more.
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Looks to be made exactly like my old BTC domes keyboard. It also had a pcb instead of membrane. It was like they had some left over parts from the old foam and foil ones, and just stick a rubber dome instead of the foam. On the bottom of the cup there was a little metallic spot glued to make a contact. The sliders design was nearly the same as on this one, but not mounted on a separate plate, part of the top body piece. It felt better than a lot of rubber domes, but soon as I had enough mechanical keyboards for all my pc I took off the caps and threw it away. Last ps/2 keyboard too.
I was thinking just that when I saw the pics. Looks identical to the BTC foam+foil slider housings (I have a couple of these boards), but I hadn't seen a BTC rubber dome board to recognize that part of it. I wonder if it uses carbon contacts just like TV remotes.
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I wonder if it uses carbon contacts just like TV remotes.
Looking at the actual photos is likely, maybe not a round pad like on remotes, maybe something like the horned contact seen on mitsumi switches.
(http://deskthority.net/download/file.php?id=860)