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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Daze on Sat, 25 February 2012, 10:17:26

Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Sat, 25 February 2012, 10:17:26
I'm looking to buy my first tenkeyless mechanical keyboard that I will use predominantly for gaming. I don't want to spend ~£120 for Filco so I was looking at the CM Storm Quickfire Rapid with Cherry MX Red switches, then I stumbled across the Key Cool Tenkeyless keyboard with Cherry MX Reds on eBay. I need some advice on which one is the better keyboard, or if there are others at a similar price that are of better quality? Thanks
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Av180 on Sat, 25 February 2012, 11:33:47
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=special&filter=spacesaver
Leopold Tenkeyless are good, cheaper than filcos and international shipping.
Im debating if I should get the Leopolds as well. Probably going too though.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Sat, 25 February 2012, 15:04:52
I'm subscribed to a guy on YouTube that has the Leopold with cherry reds, I'm seriously considering it also.

Any more opinions on this would be welcome
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Sat, 25 February 2012, 16:31:44
64 views and only 1 reply?
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: spikeh on Mon, 27 February 2012, 01:41:59
Define better.

They (Filco, Leopold, Ducky, &c) are all pretty similar visually, have thin ABS caps that get shiny, plate mounted switches, and even made by the same OEM. Some regard Filcos to have a higher build quality and warrant the pricier tag while others disagree; your subjective opinion may vary. See ripster's hypothesis of weight being proportional to perceived build quality.

Just spend however many quids as you're willing and able to afford. Getting the right switch is the bigger question, really.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: thegunner100 on Mon, 27 February 2012, 01:48:26
I'll vouch for the CM Quickfire since I have the MX blue version and I've been loving it so far. The build quality is very high, but you might not like the excessive branding if you dont switch out the stock keycaps. As for the Keycool, it is a cheap alternative but has some QC issues. Keep in mind that the CM quickfire uses costar stabilizers whereas the leopold and keycool use cherry stabilizers. The general consensus is that most people prefer the costar stabilizers.

Go here for a review on the keycool:

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:25768&highlight=keycool
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: fossala on Mon, 27 February 2012, 02:06:33
Just get a quick fire. You can get them in the UK easily and there not supposed to be bad boards. Saying that you can get official cherry boards from the keyboard co for quite cheap.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: zirb on Mon, 27 February 2012, 03:07:22
Quote from: Daze;525917
64 views and only 1 reply?

I laughed out loud.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Mon, 27 February 2012, 14:28:55
Quote from: zirb;527795
I laughed out loud.

How come? Is there something wrong with you?
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: spikeh on Mon, 27 February 2012, 18:05:32
That, and your most recent reply, reveals something deep about your delusion of self worth.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Lin on Mon, 27 February 2012, 22:36:17
I have a Leopold w/ reds and it has a nice clean look, simple and quite charming with a few customized keys, but i appreciate the "flatness" of the QF more, plus Costar stabilizers. I have no problem with the branding if not for the "quickfire" spacebar thing. I'm sure if it wasn't there they would have placed it somewhere else, so i'm not complaining. :tongue1:

Also, Cooler Master should've offered a standard windows key logo with the spare keycaps, what were they thinking.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Horgath on Tue, 28 February 2012, 11:16:33
my opinion: read about the different switches (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=START+HERE+--+The+Geekhack+Mechanical+Keyboard+Guide+-+Includes+Glossary+and+Links) ...choose the one you like...and buy a keyboard that fits your budget :)
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: thebilgerat on Tue, 28 February 2012, 11:38:59
Leo's have 18KRO over USB - thats teh mad notez for teh gamez.  You can, like, press a bunch of keys all at once that makes the zerg rush 64% faster.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Tue, 28 February 2012, 17:30:13
Quote from: Lin;528899
I have a Leopold w/ reds and it has a nice clean look, simple and quite charming with a few customized keys, but i appreciate the "flatness" of the QF more, plus Costar stabilizers. I have no problem with the branding if not for the "quickfire" spacebar thing. I'm sure if it wasn't there they would have placed it somewhere else, so i'm not complaining. :tongue1:

Also, Cooler Master should've offered a standard windows key logo with the spare keycaps, what were they thinking.

I think the branding is what's putting me off the CM Storm. I'd love to get all black keys apart from a red WASD and have a nice clean looking keyboard, but I think the CM Storm logos etc would ruin that clean look.

Thanks for all the replies! :)

Quote from: Horgath;529460
my opinion: read about the different switches (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=START+HERE+--+The+Geekhack+Mechanical+Keyboard+Guide+-+Includes+Glossary+and+Links) ...choose the one you like...and buy a keyboard that fits your budget :)

Thanks man, that was a good read.

Quote from: spikeh;528541
That, and your most recent reply, reveals something deep about your delusion of self worth.

Pretty ironic for you to be mentioning delusion in a post like that. I'd feel bad for someone else looking for a bit of advice in a thread that over 100 people had viewed and only one person had replied.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: zirb on Wed, 29 February 2012, 02:23:11
Quote from: Daze;529789
[...] I'd feel bad for someone else looking for a bit of advice in a thread that over 100 people had viewed and only one person had replied.


Still only 16 replies with about 500 views :(
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: Daze on Wed, 29 February 2012, 08:03:28
Quote from: zirb;530550
Still only 16 replies with about 500 views :(

Thanks for pointing that out, I would never have noticed that on my own.

The replies I've got have more than answered my question so I don't mind.

Your posts in this thread have been really productive, must have taken a lot of thought to come up with them.
Title: Need advice for choosing a keyboard
Post by: popol on Wed, 29 February 2012, 08:36:59
Just make sure to choose a big ass enter key keyboard.