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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Mysteric on Mon, 05 September 2011, 17:14:05
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I really want a Filco Majestouch 2 tenkeyless with browns but the price is putting me off big style. I think the main problem is that they are seen as niche products and thus not many sellers in Europe stock them. I'm not saying they're worth the money, but for the money I would save I am tempted to just buy the recently released Razer Blackwidow Stealth Edition. It's non-glossy, has brown switches and is at a more affordable price (£40-£50 cheaper depending on where you look). I know they don't exactly have a good reputation but any mech keyboard has to be better than my G19.
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I would wait a bit on getting the Stealth, considering the issues people found with the Blackwidow upon release. There are options that will save you some cash over the Filcos, with comparable quality, but I'm not well versed in EU shippers. Maybe The Solutor has a better idea of what your options are? I think one of these commonly mentioned vendors is located in EU. Keyboard Company, I think. http://www.keyboardco.com They have all sorts of boards.
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For what price have you seen the razer blackwidow in the UK? From my experience they are much more expensive here and in europe than they are in the US and thus less attractive of a deal. You can get a tenkeyless filco from the keyboardco.com for £90 with free shipping in the UK. Which is nice... I bought mine one month ago and had to pay £108. For some reason they reduced the prices right after that...
Anyways, I definitely think it was worth it, the £108 (=
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The £90 is excluding VAT (That option is automatically chosen when viewing). Razer currently has the new Blackwidow listed as 80 Euros but apparently they're likely to put it on Amazon or similar for £60-£70 (Round about the same price as the current non-backlit Blackwidow with blues). I know the Filco would be better and it is worth the price but with me building a new PC soon I'd rather spend more on the PC.
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I would recommend a Rosewill RK-9000BR over Razer Blackwidow Stealth. They are almost around the same price point, yet the design and build quality of Rosewill seem quite a bit better than Razer. But I have no idea whether Rosewill keyboards are sold in EU.
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It is funny for me because my keyboard is 2/3 of the price of my PC almost ^^ I put together a cheap machine a few months back (still quad core, 4gb ram, 9800 gtx video card, 250 gb hard drive all for about £170) with parts from ebay <3
Buuut i look at this from this point - I dont get to touch my components all the time unlike my keyboard. Plus the only game i play really is Starcraft 2 (I know it can run better on a better machine but meh ^^ )
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Think of it in terms of something that will last much longer than any of those other parts. Besides a switch or a keycap here or there your keyboard can last you many years. Those video cards and RAM and CPUs will be antiquated before they're even out the door.
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as usual everyone is putting hate on the razer ninja stealth .. before even seeing it. I've got the older razer blackwidow and think it's BETTER then the top end mech kb's I've played with. I've had no issues with it whatsoever and have had it since it was released. That said you might prefer other brands over it, but I definitely don't think it deserves the write offs, especially since everyone recommending it hasn't even SEEN it yet.
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It takes many dead keys and many unsatisfied users to build the current brand image for Razor. It will also take many good keyboards and many happy users to reverse that image. At the moment, Razer keyboards aren't associated with top quality. Before Razer improves its quality control on new keyboards, we won't put Razer on our highly recommended list.
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There are a couple used Filcos on ebay right now that might go cheap.
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Leopolds are a bit cheaper than Filco's I think and are basically the same quality. Ducky tenkeyless keyboards are also cheaper but the build quality is not as good as Filco or Leopolds. Both Leopolds and the Duckys are tenkeyless, and come with either brown, blue or black switches. Or you can get a Razer BW Stealth, but as others have said there has been many reports of some keys not working etc.
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I was in exactly the same position - and eventually ponied up for the Filco Tenkeyless Brown. It's a lovely keyboard, no doubt.
My considerations were:
- price, like you say.
- layout - it's not absolutely necessary to have a UK, but I kind of like the large Enter, £-sign etc, but you can get used to other layouts.
- locality - basically the hassle of sending it back to an overseas supplier if you get a problem (or swallowing the loss).
- the fact that I was quite impatient at the time!
Weighing those things up - the other options I considered was the Noppoo Choc Mini and the PLU tenkeyless ones - they're available from various international sellers on ebay. I've been stung with VAT and import duty before when ordering stuff from overseas, and when you add that on to the ebay price, they don't work out that much cheaper - you might save about £30 over buying a Filco in the UK.
If I were buying again, I might go for the Noppoo, but I think it would be a close call.
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I really want a Filco Majestouch 2 tenkeyless with browns but the price is putting me off big style. I think the main problem is that they are seen as niche products and thus not many sellers in Europe stock them. I'm not saying they're worth the money, but for the money I would save I am tempted to just buy the recently released Razer Blackwidow Stealth Edition. It's non-glossy, has brown switches and is at a more affordable price (£40-£50 cheaper depending on where you look). I know they don't exactly have a good reputation but any mech keyboard has to be better than my G19.
The stealth BW is a way less expensive way to test the insipid brown switches, and to decide to buy something else.
Take a look at the cherry G80 boards, they are way less expensive than Filcos, they came with wat better keycaps and they are available with the cherry clears switches (better than browns in the stock configuratio, hugely better if moded to ergo clears).
If you aren't scared by the clicks you should take a look to the qpad mk80 too, expansive as a Filco but way better featured (backlight, better keycaps, usb hub, wrist rest, keycap remover additional orange keycaps, media keys, no ring, no ping)
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ping
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The stealth BW is a way less expensive way to test the insipid brown switches, and to decide to buy something else.
That's the other reason why I might go for something different next time - I'm not sure that the tactile feel of the browns amounts to very much. Yes you can feel it when you press the key gently, but at normal tying speed I'm not sure it adds anything. There's nothing actually wrong with it, but I might go for the Cherry reds if I were buying again (or one of the other options) - which would probably mean not getting a Filco if you want a short board. One thing I don't regret at all is getting the tenkeyless - although, like most of this stuff, it's all about personal preference.
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What passes for a "trophy-wife" might be a little different these days:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]26000[/ATTACH]
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i heard the ducks there were very quacky
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I just throw the other TKL-options in the ring which are considered good boards.
Noppoo Choc mini and kbc poker.
I can at least vouch for the noppoo to be really good but I don't own a poker (yet).
You might want to consider them as well if you don't want to pay the filco-price.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
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What's TKL?
Sent from my Personal Computer (PC).
Do you try to loose your title as number 1 expert?
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I have good taste in wives.
It's your wife that has bad taste in husbands...:tongue1:
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I'm not interested in keyboards like the Choc Mini whatsoever. I have big hands and I wouldn't like to use a keyboard that small.
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The keycaps aren't any smaller on most of the compact boards, you just use the modifiers more frequently for function/media/numpad purposes.
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I'm just assessing my options at the minute. I don't need to save space but I don't really use the num pad that often so the extra desk space will be welcome. Wanna see if I can find a UK layout Duck 1087 w/ blues if they even exist.
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Anyone know if it is possible to get a hold of a Ducky 1087 tenkeyless with blues and the UK layout with the big Enter key?
This is the Enter key style I mean:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/KB_United_Kingdom.svg)
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Sell a liver or some organs and grab an ipad also..
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So much clicky under that key. Also: omg dust.
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It's just that as I said I am in the process for saving for/buying parts for a PC build and I've pretty much settled on the parts and don't want to change anything so I was looking for something a bit less expensive. I was going to get cherry browns but I do a load of typing so blues will probably be better. Just looking for a decent keyboard w/ blues with the UK ISO layout.
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Just looking for a decent keyboard w/ blues with the UK ISO layout.
Qpad mk-80 if you want a modern keyboard, Majestouch 2 if you want a retro one.