Chose too late, now nothing is in stock, a testing kit and Ducky Shine 3 blue...

[noideawhatimdoing]

Chose too late, now nothing is in stock, a testing kit and Ducky Shine 3 blue...led with red switches. Checked quite a few stores and none of them have that combo in stock anymore. Doh...and Amazon's 6 switch tester is out of stock too. It comes with rings as well to try, so I would be able to try red/brown/black/blue/clear/white (I believe). Grrr.

I  notice a LOT of you have the TKL versions. Is there a reason for it? Are those more moddable or something? I figured I would use the numpad to program macros and put special keys there instead of using it as a real numpad. Is that something you can do with Ducky Shine? I have read that you can, but I get easily confused >< so I just want to confirm it. If it's not possible to make keys on the Ducky Shine macro keys, then I will probably just go TKL too.

Thanks for all your help, this forum is crazy about keyboards (a good thing)...<3

[pichu23]

I went for a TKL as my first board.
I think the main reason is that I prefer a mouse closer to my keyboard. Not that it matters, but then again the numpad might come in handy when you're punching in figures.
But now after using 60%, the only board I'd go back to is my TKL. Not sure if Ducky's TKL are "moddable", if you're saying lubing and clipping the stabs then yes, it is possible.

[Puddsy]

I don't own anything (that i use regularly, anyway) that's not a TKL.

I just like them because I need the extra desk space.

[noideawhatimdoing]

What do you guys think of this board:

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/review/product/list/id/103/category/4/

Not "pretty" but it's a keyboard

This world of mechanical keyyboad keeps getting bigger and bigger. Oh, by moddable I meant put macros there or assign a different function to them.

[Razor Lotus]

That's a cheap starter board to get, except there's not really much to go from there except maybe change the keycaps or add on designs to your casing. I'm not sure if you can get like a metal casing for that or if those sold in the group buys would fit those.

Also, they come with cheap feeling ABS caps. You might feel like this isn't much of an issue yet but once you've had tasted PBT, you might not want to go back to those!

Good thing is that it's a cheap mechanical keyboard, and you get to customize the keycaps to your liking.

You can buy the switch sampler from there I think, OP.

Also, why i think alot of people use TKL's is cause they strike a good balance between size and functionality. Not all of us use the numpad extensively so you can get rid of it and save some space on your desk. Also, for people who play games and all that, you still get to keep the arrow cluster or the pageup page down home etc for typing word or surfing the net and all that. You just don't have the numpad to play with when processing number heavy excel docs for example. And you can always get a standalone numpad later in the future if you really do need it, or just get a whole new keyboard altogether lol.

EDIT: I just took a look at the price again. It's $150, so it's not exactly that cheap. But you still get all the customization options!

[saint_james]

What do you guys think of this board:

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/review/product/list/id/103/category/4/

Not "pretty" but it's a keyboard

This world of mechanical keyyboad keeps getting bigger and bigger. Oh, by moddable I meant put macros there or assign a different function to them.

I have one of those WASD v2 keyboards.  It seems to be well made and I like mine (except for the keycaps).  I would recommend the WASD barebones as being a better value (at ~$100 US) than the regular keyboard with ABS keycaps, especially if you are planning to add PBT or POM keycaps of your own choosing.

Stock WASD keycaps are thin ABS with UV-cured printing... they seem to have a nicer texture than other ABS caps (probably due to the coating) and showed no indications of shine or smooting for the three weeks I used them.  I replaced those ABS keycaps with Leopold thick PBT front-print keycaps, just to see what the difference is.. I far prefer the PBT myself, although other members of my household don't seem to find any difference.

By way of external examination, the keyboard seems to be made as well as the Filco MJ2 and KUL ES-87 I tried... and slightly better than the QFR I own.  Case components are fitted together well and made of robust materials (the QFR has a strange rubberized coating that I don't like much, but this is a minor point).  Keyswitch actuation and overall board stiffness/solidity seem to be comparable among all four aforementioned boards.

Internally, the WASD uses a single-layer PCB while the Filco and KUL use dual-layer PCBs. Judgning by the quality of fabrication, I would place the KUL as first in quality, followed closely by both the Filco and the WASD, with the QFR in fourth place.  In my opinion, there is no functional quality difference between the WASD and the KUL/Filco if you do not plan on modifying your internals by desoldering or resoldering components.  If you do plan on putting a soldering iron to the boards, I believe the KUL and FILCO will be slightly more tolerant of sloppy soldering technique due to the more robust PCB... but all are very capable of being successfully modified by skilled hands using the right techniques and tools.

[noideawhatimdoing]

I just saw this board is PBT? Not sold out, so I'm wondering if the community at large just isn't into this type of board? It's a Deck Haussium Pro. I'm going to search the forum for info on it. I'm not into the huge fonts, but they have it in blue and red and brown switches in stock unlike the Ducky Shine atm...they are made by Deck. Kind of mind boggling LOL. I wonder how long it will take them to get the Ducky Shine's back in stock that they are sold out on.

[Puddsy]

Deck Hassium is a pretty good board. Deck is TG3's mass market division. TG3 makes the cop keyboard, so that should be some indicator of quality.

If you can get past the awful font, the Hassium is a pretty good board.

[keyhopper]

Chose too late, now nothing is in stock, a testing kit and Ducky Shine 3 blue...led with red switches. Checked quite a few stores and none of them have that combo in stock anymore. Doh...and Amazon's 6 switch tester is out of stock too. It comes with rings as well to try, so I would be able to try red/brown/black/blue/clear/white (I believe). Grrr.

I  notice a LOT of you have the TKL versions. Is there a reason for it? Are those more moddable or something? I figured I would use the numpad to program macros and put special keys there instead of using it as a real numpad. Is that something you can do with Ducky Shine? I have read that you can, but I get easily confused >< so I just want to confirm it. If it's not possible to make keys on the Ducky Shine macro keys, then I will probably just go TKL too.

Thanks for all your help, this forum is crazy about keyboards (a good thing)...<3

Love the TKL layout. Mostly because it is:

• Small, yet have no nonsense navigation keys (missed sorely when working on a laptop. For example, when using CTRL+PageDown to navigate tabs in browsers and other programs)
• Easier to handle and make corrections to the angle of typing during the day (I mean, who works tens of hours, back straight, sitting upright 90°, shoulders parallel to the monitor !?!?, I change angle/position every hour unconsiously for comfort, and constantly adjust the keyboard angle with respect to me). You can do this with a larger keyboard, but smaller keyboards will always be easier to handle.
• Comfortable for right shoulder and arm (all they say about reduced strain after days of switching the right hand rapidly from keyboard to mouse is 100% true, in my experience, though YMMV according to your usage pattern).

If it helps to make the jump, you can always get a separate numpad?
(though as I understand it, it needs to be one that outputs true numpad codes for you to easily map those keys to macros on PC, without interfering with the number keys on your keyboard).

Cheers!
.KeyHopper.

[shifted]

I have a Ducky Zero Shine with red switches and like it a lot.  I think it is similar to a Shine 3 but doesn't have as many lighting functions.  It also can't do macros. 

There is a Ducky Zero Shine Zone available with red switches and blue leds on mechanicalkeyboards.com right now (https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=869).  I also have one of those boards but with brown switches.  It has a few more lighting modes than the Zero Shine but again doesn't do macros.  It is kind of like Ducky's entry level board and rep[laced the Zero Shine this past year I think.  The media keys on the Zero series are better for me than the Shine 3 in my opinion.(Mute, volume down, volume up and calculator without having to use Fn or whatever)  The Shine 3 (and 4?) has Calculator, My Computer, E-mail Client, and your default browser’s Home Page which I am sure is better for others..

I have been interested in a TKL board but it is too expensive to keep trying keyboards just for the heck of it, lol.  I already have three and sold two others.  Mostly I want one for space.  My keyboard tray in my desk is large enough to comfortably use a full sized keyboard and mouse but I have wondered how it would be to give my mouse even more room or be able to move the keyboard more toward the center of the tray.  I just can't justify $120+ on it though right now, lol.  Maybe once I have finally decided which switch is right for me (Tried black, red, brown and clear switches in the past year) I will start thinking about a TKL more

[rowdy]

I have a Ducky Zero Shine with red switches and like it a lot.  I think it is similar to a Shine 3 but doesn't have as many lighting functions.  It also can't do macros. 

There is a Ducky Zero Shine Zone available with red switches and blue leds on mechanicalkeyboards.com right now (https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=869).  I also have one of those boards but with brown switches.  It has a few more lighting modes than the Zero Shine but again doesn't do macros.  It is kind of like Ducky's entry level board and rep[laced the Zero Shine this past year I think.  The media keys on the Zero series are better for me than the Shine 3 in my opinion.(Mute, volume down, volume up and calculator without having to use Fn or whatever)  The Shine 3 (and 4?) has Calculator, My Computer, E-mail Client, and your default browser’s Home Page which I am sure is better for others..

I have been interested in a TKL board but it is too expensive to keep trying keyboards just for the heck of it, lol.  I already have three and sold two others.  Mostly I want one for space.  My keyboard tray in my desk is large enough to comfortably use a full sized keyboard and mouse but I have wondered how it would be to give my mouse even more room or be able to move the keyboard more toward the center of the tray.  I just can't justify $120+ on it though right now, lol.  Maybe once I have finally decided which switch is right for me (Tried black, red, brown and clear switches in the past year) I will start thinking about a TKL more

When you next can, or need to, get yourself a TKL keyboard.  You know you want to, anyway.

Then you can find out if you like TKL form factor.

I switched from full size to TKL, and haven't looked back!

The only thing I used to use the numpad for was entering IP addresses, and occasionally pressing the numpas Enter without having to move my hand from the mouse.  That last bit is probably the only thing that I really miss from a full size keyboard.

[noideawhatimdoing]

So I'm gathering that the Haussium Pro and Ducky Shine 3 can make macro keys using the FN key from what I've read, not the Zero though. I scoured all day today for a tester kit for switches even on alibaba and could't find crap.. sigh....

We have to have a Bay Area meetup and soon!