I have owned several Filco MJ1 and MJ2's over the years. These are by far and away my favorite board. However, I recently purchased a KUL ES-87 because, like you, I wanted some more modern features. I wanted to try out a board with MX greens, and Filco does not make the MJ2 equipped with those switches.
The Filco MJ2 TKL is a fantastic board. Very sturdy, extremely well made, and good looking. I have owned these in both MX black and MX blue.
My thoughts on the ES-87 are as follows:
- First off, it is very sturdy. It actually weighs more then my Majestouch 2. I'm sure that if I needed to, I could defend myself in the event of a break in armed with only my ES-87.
- It is a nice bonus to have some media controls. This is something most boards have nowadays, however the MJ2 is ill-equipped to handle.
- Being the dork that I am, I also really appreciate the fact that they have different color top plates to choose from.
- As nice as the Costar stabilizers are in the Filco, I was very interested in having Cherry stabs for ease of keycap replacement. I like that the KUL is equipped with the Cherry stabs, however I was surprised upon receiving it to find out how "squishy" they feel in the ES-87. I had had Cherry stabs previously in a Poker 2, and they felt very crisp and quite nice. I ended up modding my KUL by "clipping" the stabilizers in order to get rid of that squishy-ness. It was an easy mod, and now it feels as excellent as I was hoping.
- The only real issue is that I kind of prefer the led's on the outside of the case for caps and scroll lock (as they are on the Filco), because I am the kind of chap who likes to switch out keycaps. The KUL is meant to be used with windowed keycaps, which most keycap sets are not compatible with. This of course is a very small issue but still an issue nonetheless as it means that the LED's are nearly invisible underneath a set of DSA keycaps, for instance.
- Lastly, I do also really appreciate the DIP switch settings, and the detachable usb cable.
Best of luck in your purchase and I hope the ES-87 is everything you wish for!