How long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches?

[delobe]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches, say, after 10 years or more on membranes?
Completely comfortable, as in not bottoming out, making mistakes, or feeling unsure of key weight etc.

[epzy]

Why would I not bottom out?

[ideus]

What are you talking about? Just type it. MX boards are for typing, if you have been typing for 10 years you are going to be typing pretty much the same in minutes. Unless you were as picky as your post appears to be.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches, say, after 10 years or more on membranes?
Completely comfortable, as in not bottoming out, making mistakes, or feeling unsure of key weight etc.

If "not bottoming out" is a requirement of your version of "comfortable" then I guess I'm still not "comfortable" with any keyboard I type on...

Taking that out of the equation, however, it's still a difficult question to answer, as it really depends on if you've found your "ideal" switch type.  For example, my first MX board had Blacks, and despite typing on it for many months as my main keyboard, I never really got "comfortable" with it. Consistently made lots of mistakes/mistypes due to being unsure of key weight, and not being a fan of linear switches in general.

Now, when I type on anything with MX Blues, it's totally different. There's something about the tactile + auditory feedback that makes typing on them extremely comfortable for me. This applies also to buckling springs (though not an MX switch, it's still the most comfortable switch type for me to type on).

[jameslr]

on MX? Took no time at all really, but I wouldn't call it comfort. Topre is the king of comfort imo. Cloud of boobs = ulimate comfort.

[divito]

If "not bottoming out" is a requirement of your version of "comfortable" then I guess I'm still not "comfortable" with any keyboard I type on...

Same. I don't predict there are any circumstances where I'm not bottoming out on a keyboard, regardless of comfort or experience. Whether you chalk that up to typing style or what have you, not bottoming out is far more uncomfortable and error-producing than any aspect of bottoming out, in my personal case.

As for time to adjust to MX switches, it was almost instant. Having tried linear switches, which do not feel good to me, and don't produce a superior typing experience for me, moving to Blues provided instant satisfaction and feedback, and comfort arrived shortly thereafter.

Having gone through to Greens (heavier Blues), and now Clears, comfort has been easily attained so far.

[BlueBär]

I think switching from rubberdomes to MX Browns took me like a week or two. I did a lot of spelling mistakes at first and even had some very slight cramps - must have been the force difference. I guess this would have been worse if I had gotten heavier switches. Changing from one type of MX board/type to another takes me about 3 days (in those 3 days I usually do a few more mistakes than usual) I would say.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

If "not bottoming out" is a requirement of your version of "comfortable" then I guess I'm still not "comfortable" with any keyboard I type on...

Same. I don't predict there are any circumstances where I'm not bottoming out on a keyboard, regardless of comfort or experience. Whether you chalk that up to typing style or what have you, not bottoming out is far more uncomfortable and error-producing than any aspect of bottoming out, in my personal case.

As for time to adjust to MX switches, it was almost instant. Having tried linear switches, which do not feel good to me, and don't produce a superior typing experience for me, moving to Blues provided instant satisfaction and feedback, and comfort arrived shortly thereafter.

Having gone through to Greens (heavier Blues), and now Clears, comfort has been easily attained so far.

I like your taste in keyswitches good sir.

[kansas city shuffle]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches, say, after 10 years or more on membranes?
Completely comfortable, as in not bottoming out, making mistakes, or feeling unsure of key weight etc.

Never, once I tried a Topre, never looked back.

[Sinzz]

Took me about a month of using Cherry MX Blacks to get used to not bottoming out, but then switching from Blacks to reds has me bottoming out a lot more than usual. I am almost to the point where I don't bottom out unless I'm gaming, or when I'm concentrated on writing things (eg essays, long posts.) but for the most part, when chatting online and average use of my keyboard, I rarely bottom out.

I probably bottomed out typing this post like.. 7 times? not including backspaces.

[Linkbane]

I got a mechanical just for typing speed increase, but now I get them for feeling. It took me a few months from when I was told not bottoming out was conducive to speed to start doing that, but it was about a year or so overall. Learning to not bottom out is the only way to fully use a mechanical board's potential, otherwise you're just getting it for the feeling and using it like a rubber dome.

[BlueBär]

...otherwise you're just getting it for the feeling and using it like a rubber dome.

Yes I use my keyboard like I would use a rubberdome, I use it to type. I don't need to be a fast typist. So what?

[epzy]

...otherwise you're just getting it for the feeling and using it like a rubber dome.

Yes I use my keyboard like I would use a rubberdome, I use it to type. I don't need to be a fast typist. So what?

If you don't type over 100 wpm you're unworthy of a mechanical keyboard as well, in his opinion - just ignore him. (I type over 100 wpm, no butthurterino).

[irendulic]

On MX Reds, never. After two months I sold the damn thing.
On MX Browns, a couple of days.

[delobe]

Hi, really interesting to hear your personal views. The comforts of blues (clears), buckling spring and topre, different typing styles between membrane and mechanical (anyone never used membrane before just mechanical?) Nice to hear about these things because I initially found my first board strange, and a bit of a challenge to type on (maybe partly to do with the board profile).

I guess I am interested to find out if I end up using it enough that typing on a membrane keyboard will feel weird and unpleasant....hehe...I don't know?

On MX Reds, never. After two months I sold the damn thing.
On MX Browns, a couple of days.

You still have the Brown? It's what I'm using... was thinking of trying black, too.

[BlueBär]

If you don't type over 100 wpm you're unworthy of a mechanical keyboard as well, in his opinion - just ignore him. (I type over 100 wpm, no butthurterino).

I should bow down to him, I type about 50wpm on a good day )

I guess I am interested to find out if I end up using it enough that typing on a membrane keyboard will feel weird and unpleasant....hehe...I don't know?

For me, most membrane keyboard feel weird now.

[divito]

I like your taste in keyswitches good sir.

Same to you

[aref]

If memory serves this elder statesman, it took me about a week to feel comfortable with MX Blue switches.
I've used/owned MX Red, Brown, Blue, Black, and Green keyboards; and of the series, I think I prefer Cherry's
black (linear) switch. I have some MX Clear switches on order in that I will use to mod an MX Red CMQFR (thanks
to Spam Ray for his assistance in doing the upcoming mod).

I bottom-out when I type. I've tried using a light-touch method, but it's not for me. I come from the days of manual
typewriters, and one had to bottom-out each key press to actuate a key strike; and if you were using carbon paper
to make duplicate copies, you had to use a tad more down force.

These days I prefer the feel of Topre (55g) key switches on Realforce 87U keyboards. 

[mougrim]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches, say, after 10 years or more on membranes?
Completely comfortable, as in not bottoming out, making mistakes, or feeling unsure of key weight etc.

I think bottoming out is at least half of joy

Oh, and about half a month, I think

[irendulic]

You still have the Brown? It's what I'm using... was thinking of trying black, too.

Yes, I just purchased a Leopold with browns a couple of weeks ago, was reluctant to return to mechanical keyboards after being disappointed with reds, but glad I did it.

You should definitely borrow someones or at least try the blacks out before purchasing. I really like the tactile blacks and blues, but dislike the linear reds.

[SonOfSonOfSpock]

I spent about 8 months on MX Reds and it was rare that I'd not bottom out. Heavier and more tactile switches help with not bottoming out, but even with them it still happens for me. Now it's more of a gentle bottom out instead of the Hulk-Smash bottoming out that I did when I first started. In general it took a board with the right switches for me to become comfortable.

[hashbaz]

Avoiding bottoming out has never been a goal for me.  I was instantly comfortable with full speed and accuracy on MX switches.  Or at least let's say that I didn't notice any drop in accuracy or speed since I don't pay close attention to those things.  In fact I wasn't really aware at the time of my first experience with them that I was typing on something fundamentally different -- I just knew I liked how it felt and sounded better than my old keyboard.

[rowdy]

I bottom out all the time, on greens and blacks too.  Maybe slightly less on greens.

As soon as I used a modern mechanical keyboard I was hooked, and pretty much adapted to the improved typing experience straight away.

[delobe]

I think bottoming out is at least half of joy

Oh, and about half a month, I think

nice

[Photoelectric]

I think switching from rubberdomes to MX Browns took me like a week or two. I did a lot of spelling mistakes at first and even had some very slight cramps - must have been the force difference. I guess this would have been worse if I had gotten heavier switches. Changing from one type of MX board/type to another takes me about 3 days (in those 3 days I usually do a few more mistakes than usual) I would say.

I had the same experience.  My first Cherry MX switch was Brown, and it took me around a week to feel comfortable with my new keyboard in terms of the keycap height and spacing, and how the switches felt.  It felt wonderful though after that week, coming from an old rubber dome keyboard.

[eth0s]

Typing without bottoming out is a myth, like unicorns, well not like unicorns, 'cuz those are real, I guess it's more like leprechauns. 



Well, leprechauns might be real too, and I don't want to miss my chance at a pot 'o gold, so I can't say they aren't real for 100% certainty.   



Maybe typing without bottoming out is more like bigfoot.  Well, not really, 'cuz bigfoot turned out to be a hoax perpetrated by that guy in a furry suit in the '70's.

 

Now that they have conventions for furries, they don't have to meet surreptitiously in the woods for anonymous sex anymore.

Anyway, you got me sidetracked with your mythical creatures. 

Typing on MX does not require any special time to acclimate.  You type and you adjust.   Going from rubber membrane to MX is like turning on the lights in a dark room.  You'll be angry at yourself for wasting 10 years fumbling around in the dark. 

[Photoelectric]

Typing without bottoming out is a myth, like unicorns, well not like unicorns, 'cuz those are real, I guess it's more like leprechauns. 

I do it on stock Clears very successfully   Part of why I love that switch.

[zig_ziglar]

I have had my brown board for around a year and I still have to concentrate to avoid bottoming out. As far as typing speed and accuracy goes, there was no period of adapting - I was equally as fast and accurate immediately and only improved upon my original skill over time. When I'm gaming, I bottom out non stop because I'm either spamming key presses or I'm pressing keys very suddenly in response to a surprise or something. For this reason I use either browns or reds for gaming - might as well be easier to press if I'm only going to bottom out.

I use blues at work where I do the majority of my typing and even though, to me, these switches feel tacky and odd (I think the click and bump must remind of me of something cheap and defective, like a piece of plastic has broken off inside) , the feedback they provide just feels superior for typing and the fact that they are so completely different to rubber domes gives them a kind of hipster appeal haha

I feel that buckling spring offers all of the tactility of blues without any of the tackiness (allbeit a figment of my imagination) and from my experience I rate buckling springs as the king of typing switches and I feel that they take less getting used to to learn to not bottom out vs any other switch I've tried. I haven't tried greens, mind you, which would probably be a closer experience than blues as they would be easier to decelerate after activation than blues. I also haven't owned a board with clears, but I tested them out and preferred blues.

I have not tried topre.

[daerid]

Typing without bottoming out is a myth, like unicorns, well not like unicorns, 'cuz those are real, I guess it's more like leprechauns. 

I do it on stock Clears very successfully   Part of why I love that switch.

This. Stock clears are a wondrous switch (they're no Topre, but what is really?) The other MX switches I actually can't stand unless I bottom out.

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I guess I'm flexible, I can adapt to most any switch I've encountered so far in little to no time at all.

[strict]

I've had MX Reds now for about 6 months and, to be totally honest, haven't totally adjusted to touch-typing on them. They are so light I still make more typos than I would like. Not to say they aren't nice to type on, it's more that they aren't my personal ideal choice for all the typing I do in the office. Which is exactly the reason why I built a Phantom with MX Clears. I adjusted to those almost immediately and can touch-type much faster with far fewer mistakes. Regardless, going from either reds or clears to rubber domes feels awful, like typing on mashed-potatoes.

[Smasher816]

When I first moved from a rubber dome keyboard to an MX Brown board it was horrible. For the first few days my accuracy was like 70% or something (I think it was due to the lighter force needed). After a week or so I got used to the new key weight and my typing speed and accuracy went back up to what they used to be. Right now I am typing on a 45g topre board which took no time to adjust to coming from the browns.

[tbc]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

Spent about 3 months on blues on my first board and really couldn't get used to not bottoming out.  It was about 70% of the time.  Then I got stuck with a Green board for about 6 months and it was outrageously heavy for me and I never truly got used to it and was like a third of my usual typing speed.   After that though, I finally got my blue shine 3 and not bottoming out was a breeze (~10% of the time and ~30% of the time if I was really typing in a rush).  On my topre though, I always bottom out because it's a nice feeling and okay sounding landing and it's WAY too hard trying not to.

basically, without spending time on my green, I'm sure I would have never learned to not bottom out.

In terms of typing speed, it took me about 2 weeks to get used to it.  Although, ENJOYING the typing experience was instant from the moment I tried a blue filco.

[ideus]

When I began to type on a mechanical board was a Poker X with reds. Many changes happened at once: The soft feeling of the reds, the lightness of the small Poker, the full size keys. Coming from a flat, full size, Logitech. I may say that I love the small mechanical keyboard the instant I began typing. Typing speed was pretty much the same, I am not a fast typist, thus not a factor for the adaptation here. Overall, I may say that it was pretty much a smooth change. I have been reading insteresting different experiences.

[BlueBär]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

No, I don't bottom hard so it doesn't make that much of a difference. The sound really depends on the keyboard case and the material the keyboard is sitting on from my experience.

[ideus]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

No, I don't bottom hard so it doesn't make that much of a difference. The sound really depends on the keyboard case and the material the keyboard is sitting on from my experience.

Yeah, I can confirm that the case, and the plate, if any, make a lot of difference in the sound of the assembly. I do not find it anoying though. I am typing in a FC660M with browns, ABS DS vintage cherry, and the assembly sound awesome. This thing is build like a tank. Very solid.

[daerid]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

Personally, it's one of the things I love the most about Cherry MX switches. The only switch I don't mind not bottoming out on is stock Clears.

[divito]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

I have misophonia, and it's definitely not even close to the worst sounds. Bottoming out isn't a bothersome sound at all to me. Attempting to not bottom out drastically slows down my typing speed and error-rate.

[Linkbane]

Do people who bottom out not get bothered by the bottoming out sound?  It's one of the absolute worst sounds I've heard.  It's not going to be the end of me, but I CAN avoid it, so I've learned not to bottom out.

I have misophonia, and it's definitely not even close to the worst sounds. Bottoming out isn't a bothersome sound at all to me. Attempting to not bottom out drastically slows down my typing speed and error-rate.

Like all things of finesse, it requires practice.

[dustinhxc]

Never, switched to Topre. 1st day!

Jk both are great if lubed w krytox.

[billnye]

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to become completely comfortable on mx switches, say, after 10 years or more on membranes?
Completely comfortable, as in not bottoming out, making mistakes, or feeling unsure of key weight etc.

I would say it took me around a week or 2. My first mech had MX blues, and other than the noise difference, I didn't have a hard time adjusting from the rubber dome I was using.

[davkol]

Reds and stock clears? No time required, it felt right immediately. Rare, if any bottoming out, ~99% accuracy.

Blacks? I liked pressing individual switches, but couldn't get used to typing on them, until I tried them again after stock clears. You need some muscles in your fingers, you know...

Browns? It was okay from the beginning, but I've never been a fan of that switch.

Blues? Never ever. I hate them with a passion, just like every other clicky switch. MX Blue, buckling spring, complicated white ALPS... I'd tolerate them if and only if muted, with very light springs and soft bottoming out.

[compgeke]

Never. Still not used to MX Blacks which is all I currently own.