geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: arte on Tue, 21 October 2014, 08:21:43
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Hello everyone, I have had a Cherry G80-3000 with clear switches for the past 4-5 years I think but I broke it today (and my fist together with it I think, really sturdy keyboard.)
Now I loved it very much but it was very big and hard to carry around to LANs and tournaments, I'm looking for a replacement, possibly tenkeyless, preferably cheap and with switches similar to the ones I had
Can someone suggest me anything? Back then when I bought my keyboard the only "mainstream gaming" brand with mechanical switches was Steelseries I think but now there are quite a lot of them and I don't know where to look at.
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Off the top of my head the KBDParadise V 60 and V80 come to mind. Both solid keyboards. There is also the CODE, which is fine if you don't mind mega ping
Edit: oh yeah and KUL, probably the best keyboard in that price range
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It depends on what you mean by "cheap". About the cheapest TKL board in MX Clear you're going to get is a KUL ES-87 for $130 USD.
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Forgot to add that I'm italian so I need an european layout, either DE or IT or whatever has the small left shift and the >< key before Z.
I have been looking around and I have seen both mechanical Cooler Masters and Corsair keyboards in a webshop near my home. How are those as far as build quality goes? Any particular gaming brand I should be looking at that makes quality keyboards?
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Forgot to add that I'm italian so I need an european layout, either DE or IT or whatever has the small left shift and the >< key before Z.
I have been looking around and I have seen both mechanical Cooler Masters and Corsair keyboards in a webshop near my home. How are those as far as build quality goes? Any particular gaming brand I should be looking at that makes quality keyboards?
Coolermaster makes solid keyboards. They're built by costar in Taiwan (same mfg as Filco). You won't be able to find a Coolermaster or a Corsair with MX clear, but MX brown might be fine if you don't mind lighter switches.
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I'm afraid there aren't any ISO layout TKL boards with Clears that I know of. The KUL ES-87 is a great board and the PCB has support for ISO layout, but I have yet to see one offered in ISO. WASD Code is another good board that comes with Clears, but again, no ISO layout.
I have used UK ISO layout, Finnish ISO layout and US ANSI layout and in fact switch between them quite a lot and I like US ANSI most. It's pretty easy to get used to, so I don't think it should be such a big issue if the board you want doesn't come in ISO. It's also much easier to find good keycaps in ANSI layout.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a plate mounted TKL board will feel very different to your old Cherry G80. The G80-3000 is very.... flexible and soft feeling. Plate mounted boards are "tighter" and more precise. The KUL ES-87 or WASD Code will feel like a weapon compared to the G80.
If you're good at soldering, you could get any TKL board that you like (CMStorm QuickFire Rapid for instance) and replace the switches with Clears: http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=597
With some boards you may have to cut the little plastic protrusions off the bottom of the switches to mount them. The ones I linked to are PCB mount, they seem to be out of stock of the plate mount Clears which don't have those bumps.
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Only out of the box option for ISO Mx Clear is WASD V2 keyboard but it's expensive for europeans .
Desoldering is probably the cheapeast options if you have the tools to do it .
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the KUL87 is a solid keyboard and can be had with MX clears.
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the KUL87 is a solid keyboard and can be had with MX clears.
He wants ISO
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Thank you all for your answers, I think I will either go for another G80-3000 with clears that has grown to 55€ now compared to the 35 I paid back then or a CM storm Quickfire TKL with either Blue or Black switches.
And since I made a thread already do you people think someone might be interested in buying my broken keyboard? The switches are all fine, I smacked it with an open palm in the center and now around 1/3rd of the keys don't register but I think it's the PCB that is broken at this point as the switches function very well.
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Yup, I'd be interested :D
I'll send a PM..
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Thank you all for your answers, I think I will either go for another G80-3000 with clears that has grown to 55€ now compared to the 35 I paid back then or a CM storm Quickfire TKL with either Blue or Black switches.
And since I made a thread already do you people think someone might be interested in buying my broken keyboard? The switches are all fine, I smacked it with an open palm in the center and now around 1/3rd of the keys don't register but I think it's the PCB that is broken at this point as the switches function very well.
Can I get like ~5 clear switches from them ? it is pcb mounted right ? if not then it's okayyy
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Yup, they're PCB mount. If the OP doesn't want to desolder them and if he sends me the board I can desolder some for you. If you would prefer unused ones I can send you a few new ones I have.
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Yup, they're PCB mount. If the OP doesn't want to desolder them and if he sends me the board I can desolder some for you. If you would prefer unused ones I can send you a few new ones I have.
Ah, the new ones. That would be great.
I just need a few to replace the "going to be faulty" ones on my keyboard. I just need a few, not many. :)
I'll drop you a pm.