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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Lunartuna on Fri, 26 April 2013, 11:08:58

Title: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Lunartuna on Fri, 26 April 2013, 11:08:58: Hey guys, I have attracted some attention from the higher ups and co-workers with my bright ass ducky. They want to get a couple boards in here to try out.

I'm wondering on your opinions on durable mechanical keyboard for the office.

Mainly we need long lasting legends on boards that won't fail too quickly.

104 key.

No backlighting neccessary.

Probably going to bring in Red, Blue and Brown switch variations.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Lunartuna on Fri, 26 April 2013, 11:18:27: Oh yeah and when price was brought up, my boss goes "So how much to these boards cost? About 150 bucks?"

Me:
(http://www.gifcrap.com/g2data/albums/Forum/Jeremiah%20Johnson%20nod.gif)
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Rule16 on Fri, 26 April 2013, 11:53:59: Unicomp would do great keyboards if he doesn't mind the noise, plus they're cheaper.
( You could also tell him that no one would be able to play games in the office on them because they're only 2kro :)) )
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: CPTBadAss on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:06:19: I use a Filco MJ2 104 with blues at work. It had valentine's on it at one point too ^__^
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: AKIMbO on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:07:37: Anything with a permanently attached cable. Constantly shifting around keyboards is murder on micro-usb ports. Nearly killed a Rosewill at my job pushing it away from the edge of my desk and into a stack of papers.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: daerid on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:51:10: Quote from: AKIMbO on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:07:37
Anything with a permanently attached cable. Constantly shifting around keyboards is murder on mini-usb ports. Nearly killed a Rosewill at my job pushing it away from the edge of my desk and into a stack of papers.

FTFY
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: OwnageHN on Fri, 26 April 2013, 13:43:33: Quote from: AKIMbO on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:07:37
Anything with a permanently attached cable. Constantly shifting around keyboards is murder on micro-usb ports. Nearly killed a Rosewill at my job pushing it away from the edge of my desk and into a stack of papers.

I think this is a Rosewill specific issue due to the poor quality construction of the connection.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: TheProfosist on Fri, 26 April 2013, 13:52:26: How about a KMAC+KPAD for everyone :P
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: AKIMbO on Fri, 26 April 2013, 13:54:08: Quote from: daerid on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:51:10
Quote from: AKIMbO on Fri, 26 April 2013, 12:07:37
Anything with a permanently attached cable. Constantly shifting around keyboards is murder on mini-usb ports. Nearly killed a Rosewill at my job pushing it away from the edge of my desk and into a stack of papers.

FTFY

I'm always confusing the two.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Dreamre on Fri, 26 April 2013, 14:42:12: I'd just get a Filco :D.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Grim Fandango on Sat, 27 April 2013, 04:07:58: Quote from: Lunartuna on Fri, 26 April 2013, 11:18:27
Oh yeah and when price was brought up, my boss goes "So how much to these boards cost? About 150 bucks?"

Me:
Show Image
(http://www.gifcrap.com/g2data/albums/Forum/Jeremiah%20Johnson%20nod.gif)

LMAO.

I just have a Filco with browns at work with o-rings. Same one I have at home (but with a numpad instead of tenkeyless). I wanted to make sure that the one at work looked normal and did not attract too much attention, so they keycaps have a normal color scheme (no custom keys with happy faces lol) and the case is just simple and black.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Lunartuna on Sat, 27 April 2013, 07:39:57: Anybody have any experience with these boards?

(http://i.imgur.com/5xs02nC.jpg)

NCIX is having a good sale on them, might be good to use these ones to test switches in the office.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: IvanIvanovich on Sat, 27 April 2013, 12:12:01: 3800 are ok, but the very low flat profile keycap could be possibly annoying. I personally hate that style keycap and find them irritating to type on, though they are priced well and damn sight better than any domes.
How many are you buying for? Some of the more sell to business oriented places you might get a volume discount to get similar price or possibly better if you will be buying at least 20 on G80-3000 models which I would recommend more. Though they don't easily come in the 3 switch types you mentioned.
G80-3000LSCEU for blue, LPCEU for black, and LQCEU for clear are most easy to get. There is no model with brown anymore that I am aware of and red is special order item usually.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: eth0s on Sat, 27 April 2013, 13:32:01: Quote from: IvanIvanovich on Sat, 27 April 2013, 12:12:01
3800 are ok, but the very low flat profile keycap could be possibly annoying. I personally hate that style keycap and find them irritating to type on, though they are priced well and damn sight better than any domes.
How many are you buying for? Some of the more sell to business oriented places you might get a volume discount to get similar price or possibly better if you will be buying at least 20 on G80-3000 models which I would recommend more. Though they don't easily come in the 3 switch types you mentioned.
G80-3000LSCEU for blue, LPCEU for black, and LQCEU for clear are most easy to get. There is no model with brown anymore that I am aware of and red is special order item usually.

I agree with Ivan Ivanovich. Try to get some G80-3000 keyboards from a discount B2B wholesaler. Check Taobao maybe? Or Alibaba. And you should look to get Cherry keyboards with lasered keycaps, because you cited keycap wear as your most important criteria, and lasered keycaps will be more durable than pad-printed ABS. Also make sure that your bosses understand that the very best options (i.e., a keycap that will NEVER lose its legend) would be either ABS double-shots or even better PBT dye-subbed keycaps (because they take forever to become shiny), but that both of those options are most likely cost prohibitive. Thus lasered keyaps (either ABS or POM) would be the second best option, but will also be the most cost feasible option. Eventually the lasered caps may lose their legends too, but you will be covered, b/c you can tell them "I told you so". Always CYA when dealing with the boss, is my advice.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Hak Foo on Sat, 27 April 2013, 14:19:44: I'd point you back to Unicomp for two reasons:

* They do dyesub, which is more durable than even a lot of lasered lettering.
* They have the proof already of durability. It's trivial to drag out 15, 20, 25 year old Model Ms. While MX SWITCHES are rated for 50 million uses, there seems to be a lot of issues where the boards are the weak point-- all those Coolermaster boards with bad alt keys, for example.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: CommunistWitchDr on Sat, 27 April 2013, 14:29:17: Build them ErgoDoxs.

Or more seriously anything durable with doubleshot/dyesub/sideprinted caps. They may not like the expensive board losing its labels and probably won't shell out for aftermarket caps.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Leslieann on Sat, 27 April 2013, 16:47:42: In terms of durability, the switches are pretty similar, so as long as you stay away from LED backlighting, most will last a long time. As mentioned the keycap printing is the biggest longevity issue, unfortunately manufacturers love to charge a premium for decent caps. They charge an arm and a leg for a keyboard, knowing the caps will only last a fraction of the switch life they advertise.

Look into the non-backlit Ducky keyboards, they offer some with double shot ABS. The double shots will get shiny but never wear out. They can be found for about $130, however many places with them are currently sold out.

I would recomend a few things though, as mentioned before, CYA.
Before going whole hog, I would let your boss borrow one of your keyboards first and let him see if he feels it's worth it. Most feel the cost isn't really worth it, and considering how cheap you can buy normal keyboards these days, it may be hard for him to justify. Keyboards get spilled on, food dropped in them, and if the keys wear out, it's only $5 to replace. While mechanicals can be cleaned and repaired, it's not nearly as simple as just grabbing another $5 keyboard.

I would recommend against blue or buckle spring switches. I love buckled spring and they are the perfect office keyboard were it not for the noise. An office full of them could get quite noisy and some people are extremely sensitive to it. Remember, when they came out, they were phasing out typewriters, so they were actually quieter, that isn't the case anymore. Not only can it be hard to hear on the phone for everyone, many people have trouble hearing whenever there is lots of background noise. There is also what is known as noise aggression, which can make people go a bit nuts.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: TotalChaos on Sat, 27 April 2013, 22:24:15: Quote from: Leslieann on Sat, 27 April 2013, 16:47:42
In terms of durability, the switches are pretty similar, so as long as you stay away from LED backlighting, most will last a long time. As mentioned the keycap printing is the biggest longevity issue, unfortunately manufacturers love to charge a premium for decent caps. They charge an arm and a leg for a keyboard, knowing the caps will only last a fraction of the switch life they advertise.
+1

Quote
I would recommend against blue or buckle spring switches.
+999

Silence is Golden.

Quote
There is also what is known as noise aggression, which can make people go a bit nuts.
We don't want u to get killed in an office shooting because you bought noisy keyboards. That would be sad.
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: Leslieann on Sat, 27 April 2013, 23:50:47: Quote from: TotalChaos on Sat, 27 April 2013, 22:24:15
We don't want u to get killed in an office shooting because you bought noisy keyboards. That would be sad.
It's not as rare as you think.

I'm sure a room full of clicky keyboards, ringing phones and people talking on the phones, you could create enough noise to be problematic for some. Even if they don't go into a rage and start throwing things, work performance can suffer. It doesn't need to be loud, just annoying and constant. What you find pleasant or unpleasant, another may not, I can handle finger nails on a chalk board, however a constantly ringing phone makes me want to jump in front of a train.

From Wikipedia
(Noise pollution)
"Noise pollution affects both health and behavior. Unwanted sound (noise) can damage psychological health. Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful effects. Furthermore, stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems."

and

(From Health effects from noise)
"The most significant causes are vehicle and aircraft noise, prolonged exposure to loud music, and industrial noise. In Norway, road traffic has been demonstrated to cause almost 80% of the noise annoyances reported."
Title: Re: Best MK for durability in the office?
Post by: TotalChaos on Sun, 28 April 2013, 00:38:03: I keep my keyboards padded and lubed for maximal quietness.