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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Entropia on Wed, 30 November 2016, 13:53:18

Title: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: Entropia on Wed, 30 November 2016, 13:53:18

I'm asking this because I own a Tesoro Durandal G1N, which is made my Max Keyboards and I find the long keys feel and sound exactly like they should, with no difference from the rest of keys.

On the other hand, once I tried a Cherry G80 and I returned it because the long keys felt terrible, mushy and with no mechanical feel or sound. Is that what I should expect from any keyboard with Cherry stabilizers or is it just an issue with this specific brand and model?

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: FrostyToast on Wed, 30 November 2016, 13:56:26

It would help greatly to provide pictures of the stabilisers in question before anything is said.

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: Entropia on Wed, 30 November 2016, 14:19:05

I don't have photos. I have never removed the long keys from my keyboard. I'm scared I could break anything or not being able to reinstall the keys.

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: saxophone on Fri, 02 December 2016, 02:14:23

Tesoro uses costar stabs. They have a thinner wire than the usual costar ones however.

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: Entropia on Fri, 02 December 2016, 05:45:22

Then, for my new keyboard maybe I should take this into consideration and demand Costar stabilizers as a priority.

Is there any list where I can see what is used in every brand / model? I know Filco uses Costar and Leopold Cherries. I think that Ducky also uses Cherries, if I'm not wrong.

Should I avoid Cherry stabilizers?

Are these (Costar and Cherry) the only stabilizers brands that I could expect to find in most keyboards?

What is commonly used in more gaming, cheap or mainstream mechanical keyboards?

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: davkol on Fri, 02 December 2016, 12:04:01

Costar and Cherry are two major stabilizer *designs* in keyboards with MX-compatible switches.

Costar stabs are used on keyboards made by Costar; Cherry stabs are used on keyboards made by, uh, Cherry and some others (KUL, Leopold,…). Most others are similar or clones. For example, iOne keyboards (pre-2013 Razer BlackWidow, the Tesoro board in question,…) have wire stabs similar to Costar, but thinner and flimsier.

Wire stabs are annoying, when removing/installing keycaps and may grind against keycaps/switches, thus I'd avoid them and stick to Cherry. If you don't like the damped/mushy feel of Cherry stabs, those can be clipped to get crisp feel (Ducky does something like this in production). Tape/lube helps with rattle in either design.

Title: Re: What kind of stabilizers do Max / Tesoro keyboards use?
Post by: Entropia on Fri, 02 December 2016, 14:27:43

Thanx for the info. I'm actually very happy with the stabs in my Tesoro, although I have not tried many mechanical keyboards to compare. One of the main candidates to be my new keyboard is the Ducky One grey non-backlit with thick pbt keycaps, but I was a little worried about what people say about Cherry stabs. However, if you say that they've been improved for better feel, that's good news. To be honest, I don't want to spend a lot of money in a great keyboard and have the long keys feel like rubber domes, as happens with the Cherry G80 model.