Chicony KB-5160 Blue Alps debacle - no thanks to Deskthority wiki

[Philister]

Came across this on German eBay.

Checked the Deskthority wiki and everything fit the description of KB-5160C - Alps SKCM Blue - which I'd been hunting for in an affordable and reasonably clean incarnation for about two months now. Not wanting to lose out to another (the listing was only about an hour old), I went for it, not even bothering to suggest a lower price than the 79€ asked, which seemed like a bargain.

Weeeeeell, here is what I got:





Effing Mitsumi miniature mechanical switches!
In all honesty, this is the worst keyboard I have ever laid my fingers on, virtually unusable even though it is in near-mint condition. If you want to know the details, check out chyros' Youtube review here.

As you can imagine, I am now seriosuly depressed - no blue Alps and the best I can expect is to sell this piece of junk at half the price to someone on these forums who wants to take it apart or see for themselves how bad it really is.

As therapy, I'm working on my first contribution to the Deskthority wiki to save fellow humans from falling into the same trap...

There, story told. If anyone has a usable blue Alps board, preferably ISO layout and not too expensive, feel free to let me know.

[merlin64]

Were there any stickers on the back?

[digi]

/rekt

[Philister]

Stickers:

[merlin64]

I guess you didn't see the sticker before you bought it huh? All of the other FCC IDs have letters after them. This one doesn't.

[Philister]

What source / list of FCC IDs per variant are you referring to? I guess I'm being a bit thick...

[tkim]

damn - hope you get some luck when you resell it

[fohat.digs]

My understanding was that no Chicony could be depended upon for any particular switch.

I bought a 5181 once assuming that it was SMK blue "Monterey" (like at least 3-4 that I had previously owned) but it was blue Cherry.

[chyros]

My understanding was that no Chicony could be depended upon for any particular switch.

I bought a 5181 once assuming that it was SMK blue "Monterey" (like at least 3-4 that I had previously owned) but it was blue Cherry.

That's usually the case with Chicony, yes, although the 5581 seems to have always come with MX blue and the 5591 always with Montereys.

[digi]

My understanding was that no Chicony could be depended upon for any particular switch.

I bought a 5181 once assuming that it was SMK blue "Monterey" (like at least 3-4 that I had previously owned) but it was blue Cherry.

I think the one's made in Taiwan ROC have Monterey's..

[taylorswiftttttt]

removed

[Tuntematon]

Ahhh the Mitsumi troll, classic. My condolences.

[Philister]

Okay, I've learnt to be extremely careful with Chicony boards and to double-check with the seller.

As per merlin64's reference to FCC numbers, would it be safe to assume that if it had been the KB-5160C variant, it would have said C somewhere on the sticker or are these letters usually only found inside the case, e.g. on the PCB? Or was merlin64 trying to tell me that alls C variants have E8H5IKKB-5160AT on the sticker, rather than just E8H5IKKB-5160, like mine?

Thanks!

[Tuntematon]

Okay, I've learnt to be extremely careful with Chicony boards and to double-check with the seller.

As per merlin64's reference to FCC numbers, would it be safe to assume that if it had been the KB-5160C variant, it would have said C somewhere on the sticker or are these letters usually only found inside the case, e.g. on the PCB? Or was merlin64 trying to tell me that alls C variants have E8H5IKKB-5160AT on the sticker, rather than just E8H5IKKB-5160, like mine?

Thanks!

The problem here is the missing serial number. It would probably have been informative.

[Philister]

Further research has revealed that the Blue Alps variant's FCC ID on the sticker does end in -AT (thanks, Merlin64), which probably means that it is AT only while my Mitsumi miniature one has a working XT/AT switch (hopefully a redeeming feature when it comes to selling it...) and the FCC ID has no letters at the end.

[ander]

Too bad, dude. Yeah, unfortunately Chicony was all over the place.

Sorry you don't like the Mitsumi Miniatures, too. I have some in a Monterey board I found, and think they're just great. But tastes differ. I imagine you also have a somewhat negative association with them, having expected something else, which may be influencing how you feel about them.

[Philister]

In this board at any rate, the switches are a mess. Strokes frequently don't register unless pressed really hard and dead center (see link to video review above). Maybe Chicony just did something fundamentally wrong in the way they combined them with the other components...

[smithyithy]

That's a damn shame man those keycaps look nice too