Alright so, it has now month 3 with my Deck Legend Cherry MX Clear board. I had the honor to pick up this bad boy in person and test out their 82 w/ black keys and so forth.
Anyway, moving onto the board and the reason for this topic. I want to say I don't like this board/switches but I truly can't say such a thing due to not having enough finger feel for different types of boards/switches. I bring this topic up because I have just dropped a lot of money into a new rig and I finally want to get a keyboard that I can settle down with, maybe have a few kids etc. Basically even after reading up on tons of different boards, switches, guides, eavesdropping on what people hate and line up for. I still feel like I need a more personal approach and advice on what I should settle with so I'll make a list of sorts with my history, what I'm looking for, etc.Non-Mech keyboard History1.Satek Eclipse2 - 3 years
~No opinion/First non-walmart board back when I was 14
2. Razer Lycosa - 5 years
~First keyboard I took time looking into, lotta love stories with it including a lot of WCG tournaments. Probably the only bubbletop I'll ever touch again.
Mechanical keyboard History3. Razer Black Widow Ultimate /w cherry mx blue - 3 weeks
~First mech keyboard, started lurking geekhack. Board broke within 2 weeks with keys registering other letters and sticky keys
4. Deck Legend Ice tactile - 3 going on 4 months
Personal Conclusion After finger feeling Bubble top, Cherry mx Black, Cherry MX blue, and cherry mx clear I feel like i haven't even touched the spectrum of keys as i sit here typing on my clears which I very specifically went out of my way to obtain due to the keyboard guide saying "they are a slightly stiffer brown and closest to bubble tops". Now I've never had the opportunity to type on browns although they are what I keep edging at next to Topre and Reds
Browns, reds or topre. I don't know what it is or why I don't "like" the feel of the clears otherwise, I get slightly fatigued on them. Perhaps the tactile bump feels like their fighting with me, or that the bump gets stuck slightly on the way up if I don't floor them. Maybe it's because of how my arms are bent up at the board and my angle makes them tougher than they should be. I am in a terrible posture for them which leads me to conclude that all the boards people like with the slant style that they wield would be a bad choice for me. Due to the fact that the deck legend board has a depressed spacebar & Linear rows which I feel sits perfectly for my positioning, although I have not typed on a good slanted mech and I just can't debate it. Anyway, the reason why I'm afraid to go into the lighter section of cherry keys is due to my experiences with cherry mx blues. When I'm playing any type of game, my hands normally rest on my keys. When I rested my hands down on the cherry mx blues, sometimes the keys would depress(not to mention they are in fact TERRIBLE for double tapping)
The deck legend /w clears are some pretty tough keys, they clearly bounce right back into my fingers with ease, although I have no problem bottoming them out. At the same time, if attempting, I have no problem keeping them from bottoming out as well. The Keys do in fact have a very very loud pinging sound, which I find amusing because a few weeks ago I accidentally spilled a little soda on my QWEASD keys. Using a guide I got from these forums actually kept them from rusting out. Now my QWEASD are the only keys that make zero pinging sound at the cost of losing the tactile sound(not the feel). To add insult to injury, this board is ****ing massive. I use a G9x mouse with a super high DPI and 1:1 ratio (the way you're supposed to use/calibrate your mice if you don't already know: Google mouse 1:1 ratio) and normally don't move my mouse around more than 2 inches from its position with next to zero pad space. Regardless, the board just feels so big. Even with my skinny long fingers, I consistantly find my self stretching across the board to hit keys while gaming. This board is heavy and guaranteed to knock someone out then continue typing without faults right after. The board is indeed great to type on, I normally push out 120-140 GWAM and it's been such a pleasure being absent of a bubbletop. Over the course of a few months, I have much aquired less fatigue but still, I can't help but go on these forums all the time judging my self. Seeing everyone else talk great about this cherry, or that cherry, or this board, or that board, or OMG TOPRE, without feeling the itching addiction of "must buy every board and try every switch". Then looking back down at my board like it's a piece of junk just waiting for scrutany.
So in conclusion I want to take a real shot at seeing if the grass is greener for my fingers. One thing I would like to add is, when I had the opportunity to type on cherry mx blacks at the TG3 Offices, it felt like the blacks were MUCH lighter than mx clears. I don't recall if it was due to them not having a tactile bump or what not although out of all 3 of the switches I've tried I felt the blues were the lightest. then the blacks, then the clears. Either way, the price of the board is of no concern to me. What is of concern, is buying a bunch of boards and trying them all out and not liking any of them. Thus is the reason for this post, trying to shave down the numbers as much as possible. Although, I probably don't plan on ditching my mx clear board due to the TG3 offices literally being a 20 minute drive away. I also don't plan on having walls upon walls of boards. In turn, this is why I seek the professionals at geekhack. Those whom have typed on linear and tactile, from board to board until their fingers have finally felt glory. Although I don't mean this in an insulting way, I just don't want the opinions of those whom only own 1 type of switch and defend their fingers sports team like a drunken frat boy. People whom have done that are why I'm at wit's end thinking there are greener pastures then the one I'm on."Preferences"-illuminated keys(not just a backlight) ~ Yes i know most of you cringed, but there is nothing like a nice crisp glow that matches my PC towers ecomaster
FANS. Having non-illuminated/backlit keys is debatable to me if the board really is that perfect. (Side note: I love Sifo's Translucent keys /w LED Avatar. Something about translucent and LED's since the old purple translucent gameboys get me revved up like a pre-teen girl)
-Black shells ~ my entire rig from 3 monitors, level 10 GT, G35, G9x, are all black.
-MX Red, MX Brown, Topre. ~ I really wish i could sit on MX blacks for a while just to try them out, but I also don't wanna just throw away the tactile feel
-Price max: $200
-10keyless that's not too cramped (like a filco tenkeyless majestouch)
-PS/2
-A Case that's not too bland, I know a lot of people like that whole basic look but as far as looks go the deck is great in my eyes. It's Just too big and the 82 too small. Nothing glossy like a Das and no rubber. I read nothing but great things about filco and they seem perfect but to me they are just so...bland. In my eyes, I see too little of a difference from a filco majestouch & Leopold FC200R in the looks department.
-How to get that awesome 3D skull keycap everyone seems to have
Brands I've looked into: Filco, Ducky, CMStorm, WASD, RealFeel, HHKB, Leopold, iOne, Unicomp,
Boards without LED's i have ALOT of interest in: Filco Majestouch 10TL, Topre Realforce 86U, Topre HHKB, WASD.
Boards WITH LED's i have interest in: iOne Xarmor U9BL, Storm Quickfire Rapid, Deck 82 (If i end up liking Blacks), Ducky Illuminated
Things I don't care much about and would be an added bonus: Media keys, detachable PS/2, Windows keys (bleh)
For those who dont know meThe alias is omerta, but my name is Cody. I'm 22 and a pretty outgoing guy with a day by day growing fascination outside of my normal computer hardware addiction for the wild world that is keyboards, thanks in part to such a blossomed Geekhack community. I've lurked here for at least 2 years now on and off. I like to build PC's for my self and others and i'm very efficient with all hardware(software not so much..), i'm a sewing contractor with my own business, and i know my way around a dremmel like it's nobodies business.
Think of this as my formal hello to all, and I look forward to healthy discussions with everyone :yo:
