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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: siouxscout on Tue, 30 August 2011, 12:08:22

Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: siouxscout on Tue, 30 August 2011, 12:08:22
Mehhh.

I switched one of my mx11800's to clears using brown springs and really there isn't must diffrence. Cant really feel anything, infact I think prefer browns. Its hard to make a judgement because they feel almost excatly the same. Was worth trying them though, even if I did destory one board in the process.

Think blues will be my next one to try or a Model M if I can get my hands on one.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 30 August 2011, 12:16:04
I find clears with brown springs to be tactile to the point of almost being sticky.  It's not really my thing, but to each his own.  I find browns to be tactile enough, but I've been typing on them for over two years, so I'm pretty used to them and that might make clears feel drastically different when they're not..
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: czarek on Tue, 30 August 2011, 13:22:57
Get your hands on Model M and you'll never look back unless you want a quiet board. For be browns are fine but they lack a lot in tactility. Blues are better but their high pitched sound is irritating and compared to proper Model M it feels a bit el cheapo to me ;)
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 30 August 2011, 13:37:55
I have two Model Ms.  They lack in ergonomics (read: too heavy).  I like the sound and tactility, but they become tiresome to type on all day.

I will agree, though, that Cherry blues sound cheap and plasticky.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Chobopants on Tue, 30 August 2011, 14:05:53
Quote from: siouxscout;407495
Mehhh.

I switched one of my mx11800's to clears using brown springs and really there isn't must diffrence. Cant really feel anything, infact I think prefer browns. Its hard to make a judgement because they feel almost excatly the same. Was worth trying them though, even if I did destory one board in the process.

Think blues will be my next one to try or a Model M if I can get my hands on one.

Actually kind of glad to hear this. So many people hyped about ergo clears and I didn't see the appeal. This decreases my desire to try them.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: oddsratio on Tue, 30 August 2011, 14:55:17
I'm halfway done with this mod on my goldtouch keypad. I still have to resolder when I have the time, though I did put them back on the plate to try them out. I definitely do feel a slight difference, though it's not as much of a bump as I thought it would be.

The extra tactility is nice, FWIW, but I don't know yet whether this difference is worth it to go through the trouble of doing this to an entire keyboard. PCB mounted, though, I'd recommend it, but I hate the layout of cherry boards. Also tried the regular clears and they feel more like blacks to me-- I can barely feel the bump on the heavier spring.

Your compaq is PCB mounted, though, so that saved you some time at least.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Chobopants on Tue, 30 August 2011, 15:13:14
Quote from: oddsratio;407604
I'm halfway done with this mod on my goldtouch keypad. I still have to resolder when I have the time, though I did put them back on the plate to try them out. I definitely do feel a slight difference, though it's not as much of a bump as I thought it would be.

The extra tactility is nice, FWIW, but I don't know yet whether this difference is worth it to go through the trouble of doing this to an entire keyboard. PCB mounted, though, I'd recommend it, but I hate the layout of cherry boards. Also tried the regular clears and they feel more like blacks to me-- I can barely feel the bump on the heavier spring.

Your compaq is PCB mounted, though, so that saved you some time at least.

Wow you tried a lot of different Brown boards! Guess you were sold on the switch and just wanted to try different layouts?
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 30 August 2011, 15:17:23
Quote from: Chobopants;407609
Wow you tried a lot of different Brown boards! Guess you were sold on the switch and just wanted to try different layouts?

Keyboard users' evolution:

Try every switch

Try every 'board with your favorite switch(es)
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: noodles256 on Tue, 30 August 2011, 15:37:23
pinging
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: czarek on Tue, 30 August 2011, 16:14:43
Quote from: itlnstln;407612
Keyboard users' evolution:

Try every switch

Try every 'board with your favorite switch(es)

3. Mod / tweak your favourite board (and switches) to suit your tastes best and live happy ever after.
I'm glad to be in happy ever after state with bolt modded 1390131 sporting Unicomp's springs and pivot plates.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Chobopants on Tue, 30 August 2011, 16:17:06
Quote from: itlnstln;407612
Keyboard users' evolution:

Try every switch

Try every 'board with your favorite switch(es)

Haha, I thought I was going to end up doing that as well but after trying the Leopold I learned very quickly that things can go awry and not everything is as high quality as a Filco. That said I'm actually really excited if/when WASD comes out with a tenkeyless backlit board, I'd grab that thing in a second. Based on the great feedback on his boards I've already begun recommending them to everyone I know that's looking into getting a mech.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Ekaros on Tue, 30 August 2011, 16:31:25
I need to get a few springs, like 17... Hmm, does the blacks have same as browns? Hmm, 6G is too plate mounted :( No easy way for my G80-3000, modding...
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Lanx on Tue, 30 August 2011, 17:30:37
ergoclear and buckling spring are like total opposites, low force vs. high force/ silent vs. click
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Tue, 30 August 2011, 18:46:07
Quote from: itlnstln;407612
Keyboard users' evolution:

Try every switch

Try every 'board with your favorite switch(es)


Most people seem to insert "Try every [Cherry] switch"

Which is not anywhere near all of them. I still have a few, like montereys, to get in order to have tried all the more or less easily attainable ones.

There isn't much in the way of different space invader (besides the super rare ones I didn't know existed, I have only found pics for ones identical to this one) or buckling spring boards, so all that's left for those is to mod them.

There is alot more variation for regular alps though, and you can do alot yourself to them to make things that don't exist far out of what you can do to cherry switches.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: oddsratio on Tue, 30 August 2011, 19:50:30
Quote from: Chobopants;407609
Wow you tried a lot of different Brown boards! Guess you were sold on the switch and just wanted to try different layouts?

Yeah, chalk it up to curiosity. I've been able to trade or sell the other ones, save for the X-Armor, where I basically had to file a dispute to get my money back on it.

I'd give preference to the ergo clear, but it's the kind of thing I just wish came out of the box. I'm not sure about the quality of my soldering job to risk the DAS, or if the feel is worth the half day it'll take to put it together. We'll see when I turn the goldtouch back on.

I'm curious about other switches, like Alps, but I'm big on being able to customize aesthetics too, and finding keycaps for those seems like a pain. Though I think the group buy is offering an alps option?
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: nolliepoper on Tue, 30 August 2011, 21:58:32
The only mechanical keyboard I own is a Das Ultimate Silent with browns.
I'm interested in "ergo" clears but I wish I could try them out first before buying a full set of stems and soldering my new keyboard.
Title: Clears. My judgement.
Post by: Magna224 on Wed, 31 August 2011, 00:08:56
I prefer clears to browns, I like the heavier switch. My Clears definitely felt different from the tactile feel of the browns though I don't really know how to explain the difference. I gave away my board with clears and I have the one with browns in my dresser and haven't used either in a long time. All of my friends that have tried my keyboards selected ALPS as their favorite switch then Clears and they said they disliked my MX brown, black and blue switches equally.