Got my China-made SiiG Space Saver today, about an hour after I shipped the Taiwan-made SiiG Minitouch with Monterreys. The crystal came off of the logo plate, leaving a flat logo instead of a bubble. (Digi, this is FYI, not a complaint. Would be totally unfair to complain about this when you sell them NIB, shrink wrapped). There's definitely a $150 difference IMHO. I'm envying my Monterrey buyer.
Chinese SiiG has a crisper feel, and a firmer touch than the Monterreys. I have to pound the keys like a Model M. It's crisper than my Northgate Omnikey 102, which was New Old Stock when I got it. I imagine the age could account for this ... But then the SiiG is NOS too. I've been used to Cherries lately; even black Cherries have nothing on white ALPS. The firm touch required on these ALPS makes me lose a character about once per sentence, from not enough force on the ALPS. Oddly, on the Taiwan Monterreys, I was missing the H a lot, and on the white ALPS I'm missing the T key. Since both of these use a strong index finger, this isn't about finger strength; it's definitely about habit.
The Monterreys were more crunchy, less crisp, as if there was a non-instant click point, or the blue Monterreys clicked over 1.0 mm of travel instead of 0.1 mm (or whatever).
The [strike]keyboard controller[/strike] EDIT: USB adapter on both appears to have the same design flaw; I cannot shift-cursor letter by letter to select a word. The first character gets selected, then further cursoring simply moves the insertion point with nothing remaining selected.
I'm glad I had the chance to try out the white ALPS while the blue Monterreys were till fresh in my mind. However, I'll probably sell this before long because white ALPS is not my style, especially with the cursor selection problem in the controller. I'll entertain offers in PM if you wanted a new SiiG MiniTouch and don't get one before Digi sells out.
-eof-
