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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Siken on Thu, 26 April 2012, 21:28:41

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: Siken on Thu, 26 April 2012, 21:28:41

Hi!

I'm about to buy my first mechanical keyboard and I've my eyes set on a Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless, but I have a hard time deciding if I should get one with black or brown switches. I do a fair amount of programming and overall typing so that aspect is important to me, but I also game a lot. I mostly play World of Warcraft (Combat Rogue) nowadays, so there is an awful lot of spamming/mashing the same buttons repeatedly going on.  

Now, from what I've been able to gather the brown switches seem like the better choice of the two. However, I've never tried the brown switches in person (only black), so I'm unsure whether or not this type of switch is suitable for the constant button spam that comes with playing a Rogue. Would I be better off with black switches?

Thanks for any input or advice!

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: Awful on Thu, 26 April 2012, 21:35:21

For Rogue don't you use a madcatz searing wheel? :llama:

I play wow a whooooole lot, with browns (and blues) I prefer the lighter springs (45grams) in the browns for spamming buttons as opposed to the stiffer black switches (60grams). The tactile portion of the browns isn't anything massive. Imagine the blacks with a "grain of rice" feeling on the way down, and a lighter feel.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: zeDoktor on Thu, 26 April 2012, 23:55:33

I jumped in with both feet and got blacks. They're miles better than my G15 but sometimes I think that browns would have been better for me. In a (gaming) crisis sometimes I actually don't press keys quite hard enough. Typing is just fine but I feel that the tactile feedback would make it a lot better as sometimes I think that I bottom out the keys out of habit and not really knowing where they will engage. There are quite a few pro gamers that use browns and blues for what it's worth.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: exousia7 on Fri, 27 April 2012, 02:39:45

If you consider a typing a major aspect then I highly recommend going for brown switches. Even though you play games too, blacks may be claimed to be the "gaming" switch, but you can game with brown switches just fine. In terms of typing experience brown is better than blacks because of the tactile feeling. In the end it's all up to personal preferences. I'm responding to this post with black swithces atm and I'm fine with it @@

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: furry_angina on Fri, 27 April 2012, 03:03:41

Um yeah, try browns.  I played SWTOR with Filco blacks (I consider myself to be heavy handed) and after 4 hours of play my fingers were sore... lol

and no, I never got used to it after 2 weeks.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: stingrae on Fri, 27 April 2012, 03:05:06

I think you should go for browns it's the safe switch. Sure if you have tried every switch you might find the 'one' but I don't think anyone asside from tp4tissue can say browns aren't a good middle road switch. It can take a while to get to like browns as if you aren't a model m or mx blue user already you can feel the tactile point but it's not worth questioning whether reds or blacks are better. There is nothing wrong with blue switches for gaming but browns being lighter probably won't annoy you ever.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: Siken on Fri, 27 April 2012, 06:24:38

Thanks for the replies everyone! Blue was never an option because of the click, I just needed to know if the brown was suitable for spamming. Since it seems to be even better suited than the black for it, I've just placed an order for one with Browns. Should be a nice change from my Logitech G510. :)

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: ksufiji on Fri, 27 April 2012, 10:08:11

I too play combat rogue, and went with the browns. It is also my first mechanical keyboard, and comes in today :)

4-5 hours of sinister strike spam (raiding) and having sore fingers (blacks) doesn't seem like fun to me.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: ksufiji on Sat, 28 April 2012, 01:03:40

Just got it in...

Ducky Shine with browns. So far so good!

Just gotta figure out how to stop bottoming out the 1 key, with my ring finger(bound to sinister strike for WOW). Keys are very easy to spam.

Go with browns imo for rogue spammmy goodness.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: big_bopper on Sat, 28 April 2012, 09:10:38

Quote from: ksufiji;584617

Just got it in...

Ducky Shine with browns. So far so good!

Just gotta figure out how to stop bottoming out the 1 key, with my ring finger(bound to sinister strike for WOW). Keys are very easy to spam.

Go with browns imo for rogue spammmy goodness.

Either of these should help you with the bottoming out:

Soft-Landing Pads Firm/Gray (http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,slpads&pid=sl120_cf)

or

Rubber O-Rings Switch Dampeners (http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/keyboard-accessories-2/cherry-mx-rubber-switch-dampeners.html)

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:04:01

Quote from: Siken;583749

Thanks for the replies everyone! Blue was never an option because of the click, I just needed to know if the brown was suitable for spamming. Since it seems to be even better suited than the black for it, I've just placed an order for one with Browns. Should be a nice change from my Logitech G510. :)

The blue "click" sound is nothing compared to the Bottom out noise that occurs with EVERY cherry-mx switch.

SOUND is not an issue with the blues


The tactility is the ultimate difference between the switches.

Cherry mx brown is NOT like mx red with a grain of rice.

It's like mx-red with a grain of sand at best, (and we're talking very fine beach sand, and not like a pebble)


That said, cherry mx brown is a terrible switch. just terrible, If you intend to type fast, you're gonna hate yourself for not going with the blue.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: demik on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:14:21

You seriously need to stop trying to pass off your opinions as fact.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: funxion on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:22:39

Quote from: tp4tissue;584914

The blue "click" sound is nothing compared to the Bottom out noise that occurs with EVERY cherry-mx switch.

SOUND is not an issue with the blues


The tactility is the ultimate difference between the switches.

Cherry mx brown is NOT like mx red with a grain of rice.

It's like mx-red with a grain of sand at best, (and we're talking very fine beach sand, and not like a pebble)


That said, cherry mx brown is a terrible switch. just terrible, If you intend to type fast, you're gonna hate yourself for not going with the blue.

I haven't read a more biased post on GH than this.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:25:47

Quote from: demik;584922

You seriously need to stop trying to pass off your opinions as fact.

Fact has always been , Cherry-MX brown is the f***-up-bastard child of linear and tactile. With a face that a mother Couldn't love.

If you listen to any of those sound comparison videos of Brown vs Blue, it's quite clear that they make nearly the SAME amount of noise due mainly to the bottom out noise.

Thereby the tactility is the primary difference between them.  

Cherry MX blue FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:27:40

Quote from: funxion;584926

I haven't read a more biased post on GH than this.

Cherry MX brown is shait, it's even got the same color, there can be no clearer indication than that, you twat.



This has all gone down already in my MX-brown hate thread.. so you're also wrong about it not having already been on GH

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: Nighted on Sat, 28 April 2012, 13:29:28

Blues are fun for typing. Gaming is a different story because they ARE loud! Nothing gets on my nerves more than gaming for a while and that 'click-click-click". Love my blues though, reds for gaming. Red is just so soft.

Oh I guess I should say something about browns. I think if you can't decide then browns are the way to go. Besides, you'll be buying more keyboards later. lol

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: ekw808 on Sat, 28 April 2012, 14:43:51

This guy is raining cold hard facts everywhere. He sounds like a die hard religious salesman at your doorstop, please continue preaching to me about your opinions, they are so insightful. I find it very hard to take people who have over 500 posts within 3 months of joining seriously, some people just love to abuse the freedom of speech amendment.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: tp4tissue on Sat, 28 April 2012, 19:27:23

Quote from: Nighted;584931

Blues are fun for typing. Gaming is a different story because they ARE loud! Nothing gets on my nerves more than gaming for a while and that 'click-click-click". Love my blues though, reds for gaming. Red is just so soft.

Oh I guess I should say something about browns. I think if you can't decide then browns are the way to go. Besides, you'll be buying more keyboards later. lol

I'd feel guilty if I had a keyboard I'm not actively using.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: exousia7 on Mon, 30 April 2012, 11:50:07

Quote from: tp4tissue;585155

I'd feel guilty if I had a keyboard I'm not actively using.

I totally know how that feels. I have a Cherry g80-3000 with blue switches that I have boxed away while I am actively using my CM Storm QFR with black switches. I'd love to use both of them but I just dont have space for 2 keyboards at a time and the Cherry keyboard is just so big and space consuming.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: derek trousers on Wed, 02 May 2012, 17:22:23

Quote from: tp4tissue;584928

Fact has always been , Cherry-MX brown is the f***-up-bastard child of linear and tactile. With a face that a mother Couldn't love.

I don't know enough to agree or disagree, but it made me laugh.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: lrch on Wed, 02 May 2012, 18:49:19

Quote from: big_bopper;584749

Either of these should help you with the bottoming out:

Soft-Landing Pads Firm/Gray (http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=access,slpads&pid=sl120_cf)

or

Rubber O-Rings Switch Dampeners (http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/products/keyboard-accessories-2/cherry-mx-rubber-switch-dampeners.html)

I can see how they are mechanically different, but how noticeable is the difference between these two dampers for daily use?

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: frankfrank on Thu, 03 May 2012, 02:04:11

yeah, try browns.

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: fohat.digs on Thu, 03 May 2012, 08:19:06

I loved that quote about


"passing off your opinion as fact"


hate to think that somebody at geekhack would ever do THAT

Title: Brown or black, need some advice
Post by: Tony on Thu, 03 May 2012, 22:57:23

I have tried both and as I type more, I stick to brown.