Keyboard hasn't arrived, but should I buy O-Rings?

[xquisit]

Wierd question, but there is a group buy that has closed and some extras are posted (2 out of 5 of the packs are left, and very few remain):

I've typed on blues, reds, and blacks at Frys before placing my order on Cherry Mx Blues (KBT Race) and I also ordered an extra key cap set (in a different color, since I heard caps aren't easy to come by for that setup; that's similar to the noppo choc mini84).

I know blues are known to be clicky, but I'm not sure if they were more audible than bottoming out on reds. At the moment, I use the computer at night and my room is close to my family member's rooms.  I was wondering, is it worth the $10 investment in O-rings prior to having the keyboard(it should be here in a month)? I'm asking because I truthfully don't know how difficult it is to install them, and how durable they are. I'm clumsy and wouldn't be able to order extras due to lack of funds.

Furthermore, how much of a smoother feeling will I get bottoming out with 40a rings? Do some of you prefer to bottom out without o-rings, due to the bottom out point being reduced?

Thanks for your time, and sorry for not searching(just being honest).

[omuerte]

The answer is Yes. Yes, spend the $10, doo eet.

Serious Cat Face: you'll enjoy typing on 40a o-rings, if you don't I'll buy them from you for $10.

e: they're annoying to install, but pleasant to type on.

[PixelVandalism]

Do not do it
I hate the feeling of o-rings..
They make the keys feel too mushy.
Blues are going to be loud,
whether you bottom them out or not.

[omuerte]

My experience has been that o-rings aren't about noise so much as typing feel. The feel of blues or browns has been that bottoming out is harsh. My recommendation would be to try 40a o-rings or nothing - to me 50a feel annoyingly mushy and have reduced travel, 40a feel nice and snappy. Like I said, it's about feel and preference.

[PixelVandalism]

My experience has been that o-rings aren't about noise so much as typing feel. The feel of blues or browns has been that bottoming out is harsh. My recommendation would be to try 40a o-rings or nothing - to me 50a feel annoyingly mushy and have reduced travel, 40a feel nice and snappy. Like I said, it's about feel and preference.

What you said doesn't make much sense, the 40a o-rings should have a mushier feel to them.
I have some 50a o-rings, and I think they make the keyswitches, browns, blues, and ergo clears feel terrible.

[omuerte]

What you said doesn't make much sense, the 40a o-rings should have a mushier feel to them.
I have some 50a o-rings, and I think they make the keyswitches, browns, blues, and ergo clears feel terrible.

Oh, right.

So based on the 50a and 40a rings I've tried it seems that 50a feel mushy to me because they reduce travel and 40a feel "snappy but with a reduced bottom out shock" because they don't reduce travel as much.

That's what I've noticed, take it as you will.

e: the 40a I've used are the o-rings from elitekeyboards, the 50a are from mcmaster-carr. the feel is consistent across cheap abs keycaps as well as old thick cherry doubleshots. I should have some pbt to play with in a few days.

[xquisit]

I just ordered 90 o-rings for my KBT Race (82 keys), is that enough for a noobie? How easily do they break?

They are: 40A, 3/16" ID, 1/16" W

What's the best way to try them?Should I apply them to half of my arrow keys, and fiddle around with those four keys?

[PixelVandalism]

How do you apply them to half of a key?
I don't see how you could break them,
just put them on the stem of the keycap,
then put the keycap back on the keyboard.
I hope you like them.

[xquisit]

Thanks, and I think I'm going to do this theme with my keyboard - what do you guys think? I order white keycap set as well, so both black and white will illuminate (blue LED)



EDIT:

Or like this:

[PixelVandalism]

If you were going to go with that theme, I would do the spacebar and escape key as well.
I never realized that these had larger than usual escape key.

[Mugen]

Dont like o-rings personally, for blues especially.
it feel like they ruin the experience because they shorten the travel distance of the switch. i've tried them on blues, and it did not help, i live in a 1 bedroom apartment and my girlfriend is sleeping in the next room. the woman sleeps like a bear but it still woke her up.
especially if youre gaming or something, you pound on your keys and the orings mute maybe 10% of the noise.
the only switch i can see them successfully working is Blacks and Reds, but Reds are so fun, it would be painful to ruin the experience.

Hope this helps,
Enjoy.

[vurt]

It amazes me that people are so concerned about blue switches making noise. I love the noise. I'm all about nostalgia.

This post brought to you by a KBC Poker with MX Blues.

[xquisit]

I hope you all can take into consideration.. I only have touched four mechanical keyboards, and that was all in one experience. (1 hour at Frys).


I don't even know if I'm getting the right switch type, let alone if the o-rings are worth it:

I was hoping to get some insight.  I didn't buy them mainly for sound dampening, but truthfully didn't want to miss out on the opportunity on getting 90 of them for $10.  I'm broke and usually an impatient person, so I thought I would jump on them since omuerte is kind enough to buy them from me if I don't like them.

Interested into seeing who uses MX Blues with O-rings, and if you could share you're experiences as well; I'd appreciate it, thanks in advance!

[dippingriz]

I had the 50a with blues.  I hated it. I'm about to try the 40a with browns.  I predict I will not like it either.  The best thing you can do for your keys is to get pbt caps.  I really like the way they sound.

[tp4tissue]

I hope you all can take into consideration.. I only have touched four mechanical keyboards, and that was all in one experience. (1 hour at Frys).


I don't even know if I'm getting the right switch type, let alone if the o-rings are worth it:

I was hoping to get some insight.  I didn't buy them mainly for sound dampening, but truthfully didn't want to miss out on the opportunity on getting 90 of them for $10.  I'm broke and usually an impatient person, so I thought I would jump on them since omuerte is kind enough to buy them from me if I don't like them.

Interested into seeing who uses MX Blues with O-rings, and if you could share you're experiences as well; I'd appreciate it, thanks in advance!

Make a small set of my ghetto rings,,,


I had to relearn the feel of the keys after I installed my rings, because the rings I made are very thick 2mm. So my travel overall is reduced 1.7-1.8mm

But if you're JUST getting the keyboard for the first time, you're gonna be getting used to a new thing anyway.


The blue will make noise than other switches no matter what you do. the Rings definitly helps by removing the bottom out noise to a very dull thud.

[tp4tissue]

I had O-rings with my burger but they were soggy.

The coffee stout was good though.

I bet you're a bit of a fattie.

All those onion rings, and kids, and wives


Suppose keyboarding is the only exercise you get.. LOLOL

[tp4tissue]

Nope.

Put in my bike trainer miles today.

KL is a bit pudgy though

Bike trainer?? LOL, that's not exercise,, jump-rope,, now that's exercise,, Willing to bet most people can't do more than 5 minutes

[tp4tissue]

You Mohammed Ali?

No, but I been doing the ropes for over a year now.. Easy on the hips and knees..  I also work on a dense rubber surface to further reduce the impulse. KINDA like o-rings... Oh yea,, i brought it back,, mmmhmm..

[demik]

jumping rope kicked my ass in my muay thai class

[tp4tissue]

jumping rope kicked my ass in my muay thai class

Are you not good looking enough to get women for shallow reasons?? From just a defense standpoint, It's Gun FTW,

[demik]

what the **** are you talking about?

[xquisit]

Seriously, I'm lost... this went from o-rings to onion rings to hey brah do you work out?


I already bought the O-Rings, I just need to hear some opinions on the best way for me to try them out?

My idea: Put o-rings on 2/4 of the arrow keys and start the comparison. Yes/no?

They need to hurry up and get those Races to iMav... I'm trying to be patient, but everyday I anticipate getting shipping info for the group buy.  I just got in on the group buy a month after it closed, I wonder how the people who paid in October 2011 feel ^^

[Autolyze]

I think if you really want to get a feel for o-ringed keys, you just have to man up and try them on all the keys for a day or two. Definitely try the keys bare for a few days first though.

Edit: It's pretty much the same with trying different switches in my opinion. You'll feel a difference if you're just pressing one or two keys, but it's not really the best representation of them unless you're doing the full board for a while.

[tp4tissue]

I think if you really want to get a feel for o-ringed keys, you just have to man up and try them on all the keys for a day or two. Definitely try the keys bare for a few days first though.

Edit: It's pretty much the same with trying different switches in my opinion. You'll feel a difference if you're just pressing one or two keys, but it's not really the best representation of them unless you're doing the full board for a while.

Get two keyboards from amazon. put o-rings on one of them.. And when you're done,, return one of the keyboards.

[tp4tissue]

what the **** are you talking about?

Idk, it just seems like all the guys at martial arts class are really ugly dudes, so one could only assume they're trying to put martial arts on their resume for conversations.

I'm not saying that's you or that you're definitly ugly, LOLOL...


But martial arts in this day and age.. Not a very efficient form of exercise.. and defending oneself is impractical, because you're better off handing over your wallet // phone

Even assuming you COULD defeat your mugger with martial arts,,, the time + resources expended to learn it will never equal the amount a mugger would take from you.

So say it's $30 a lesson, you go once a week, become proficient in 2 years. that's $360

Then there's extra food that you eat due to extra calories burned during practice.

A mugger would take from you at most your phone, $200, a wallet, another $200

You're honestly better off just giving him the stuff,, NOT have to practice anything,, and the diminished aggression during the exchange is FAR FAR safer than a fight, EVEN if you are likely going to win.

[demik]

You're looking TOO much into it.

I take it for the work out, the self defense is just a bonus. Simply going to the gym is incredibly boring to me. Thinking of taking up biking too.

Anyway, this is definitely off topic. Sorry op.

[Elissar]

Funnily enough I got my first mecahnical a few weeks ago. I chose brown as it was a mix between noise/typing/gaming. When i got it, i said to myself as i tried it for the first time;
I love this BUT i feel like I would enjoy a slightly short keypress and a softer landing. O rings offer that, So i got some. I haven't tested yet, but for $10...well, you'll always have them
if you ever so chose a blue/brown/red/black/clears that may be improved with them.

[omuerte]

Can we get back to "Hey brah do you work out?" that was clearly the most on-topic part of the thread.

[xquisit]

*just finished some excercises*
/flexes

I think I'll just make the arrow keys o-rings, and in a week or two I'll change all of them to the o-rings.

I think Neptune offered to send me a keycap puller, so I'm going to go message him before the keyboard/orings arrive!

[sordna]

e: the 40a I've used are the o-rings from elitekeyboards

elitekeyboards never carried o-rings, just the square soft-landing pads. Did you mean to say you got the 40a o-rings from wasdkeyboards ?

Anyway, no o-ring I tried made the keyboard feel mushy. I would describe an action as mushy if it involved a substantial portion of the key travel having a gradually increasing resistance. The black soft-landing pads (which are pretty thick and extremely soft) are mushy. However that is not the case with o-rings; they only alter the last .3mm or so of key travel, and the increase in resistance is very distinct and dramatic. I think that some people just like the key clacking, and call mushy everything else, but it's an exaggeration.

[suprsmo]

^^ Sordna know's whats up

[xquisit]

I'm so curious to see how the board with feels with and without them!

I don't know how you geekhack members do it:
Wait for your first mechanical to arrive! People in the group buy, I participated in, have been waiting since october & I got in on it after it closed one week ago; Due to extra being ordered, and I'm quite thankful (but trying to stay patient).

[xquisit]

How about that for a layout?

When the white keys get dirty (if they do), I can just swap out the blacks for whites and whites for blacks. (i ordered extra white keycap set for my black keyboard).

[dippingriz]

Calm down, lol.  This is like when people get their first ar15.  They think of all the accessories to buy and all the ninja stuff to put on it.  Type on it for a month and get used to it, then start changing **** out.  Where's ripster's mcrip effect?

ETA: Hope Ripster doesn't mind, but you're on this path.
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?23217-Announcing-the-LATEST-Ripster-Keyboard-Theorem-The-quot-McRip-Effect-quot-!