Its official: Cherry Corp double-shots are DEAD

[sixty]

As you see it even includes the recent special editions such as the G80-1800 Chinese Pro gamer boards and a few other recent models. RIP.

Note: Original source is from a Chinese vendor, I just called up Cherry Germany and they sadly confirmed this. Few months back I called them up and they said they were still available in black for OEM orders. Not anymore.

[isp]

congrats to the lucky owners ;-)

stock value just went up!

[Mental Hobbit]

That list is more surprising to me than the news. I wasn't aware there were any current models with doubleshots other than the pro-gamer boards. On the other hand, those pro-gamer boards seem to sell very well in Asia, so this decision doesn't seem to make much sense.
In other words: A typical Cherry move.

Luckily I have more than enough ds keysets for the rest of my life now. Still sad that the only way to get a perfect Cherry board is building a Frankenstein out of 20 years old pieces.

[Rajagra]

Damn bean counters. Ruining the world one cost-cutting move at a time.

[didjamatic]

They've been dead for a long time, but the amount of people contacting them must have been overwhelming enough to get them to release that announcement.  Want proof that it was a result of the keyboard community?  Internally Cherry refers to them as "2-shot" not "double shot" but this announcement says "Double shot" which is what the community at large calls them.  This is in response to hundreds of people contacting them wanting double shot win keys for their Filcos and key sets for other boards.

It's a shame that their reaction is to formally announce they have been discontinued rather than consider reproducing them.

Thanks Cherry Corp Sales Manager

[sixty]

They've been dead for a long time, but the amount of people contacting them must have been overwhelming enough to get them to release that announcement.

Actually they were still around as of December 2009 and early January. Those Chinese gamer boards were produced in 2009 and all had full doubleshot keys. A bunch of the big POS boards (8xxx) series were also still made with doubleshots in 2009. I have one here myself somewhere. I called them in December last year and asked a bit about their minimum orders and customization possibilities. At that point they said that double shot keys are still possible, but only in black.

But yeah, this seems to be a direct reply caused by the increasing inquiries going by the wording.

[washuai]

I'm really never gonna get a G80-1800HUMUS -_-.

[nads93uk]

well, i guess its even more of a reason to buy the two black stemmed cherry boards for £3.50 each, anybody want any?

[Mental Hobbit]

Damn bean counters. Ruining the world one cost-cutting move at a time.

Amen. It's generally becoming more and more impossible to get any decent quality stuff, even if you're willing to pay a premium. Has been pissing me off for a long time.

I'm so tired of having to buy crap that gets on my nerves for a year with it's crappiness and then needs to be replaced with another piece of crap.

[bionicroach]

It's generally becoming more and more impossible to get any decent quality stuff, even if you're willing to pay a premium.

Seems to be the case.  Apparently the numbers just aren't there, even though it's hard to believe when you participate in any any sort of "enthusiast" community, whatever the interest might be.  In "enthusiast" circles, there are always tons of people complaining about the dearth of quality products and declaring that they'd be willing to pay for the good stuff if only someone would manufacture it, but I guess it's easy to forget that hobbyists are a tiny segment of the population.  (Even though they spend a LOT more money in whatever market they're into than the average consumer does.)

I suppose every generation says the same thing, but it truly seems like almost nobody cares about making stuff that will become "classic" anymore.  Much easier and less risky to just try to make a quick buck and then move on to figure out where the next quick buck might be made.

[audioave10]

So sad yet so true. Some of the generic audio electronics companies used to make better quality stuff including high end tube equipment. Only the esoteric companies do it now and the units may cost thousands.

[kriminal]

well, i guess its even more of a reason to buy the two black stemmed cherry boards for £3.50 each, anybody want any?

eh? pics.. linky?

oh well good thing i got the ds board from didj

[Rusty Rat]

Hi guys, first post (from Australia) After reading this topic I pulled the keys off my G80-11800 HRMUS and surprise they are double shots, I thought they were die sublimation. The G80 is lousy to type on but fits in the notebook bag unlike the proper keyboard which weighs more than the notebook.

I think Cherry keyboard codes must relate to layout and I can imagine being arrested for shouting ‘HRMUS’ in a public place.

[Rusty Rat]

At least Australia is on Internet V1.2!

Judging from the speeds we get I think we are still on the beta version!

[washuai]

Heh @ Beta and Welcome Rusty Rat.  
It is depressing about the dearth of quality products, but I get it.  Cheap crap makes more money, than a quality item and its repairs.  To make a quality product eventually leads to being a parts and repairs business.  I've had the same TV, which was given to me for years.  On the other hand, I've ran through more than five computer monitors (not all the same company and I think two of them were used).  The point was I spent more money on the monitors total, than the original cost of the television, which displays the general lack of profitability in quality products.

[Rusty Rat]

Hey 'ripster' thats Kiwiland, we use IBM ATs for the Internet.

Please ship all your IBM Minis to me in plain boxes marked as 'gift' by way of apology.

Years ago we even had an IBM plant in Victoria assembling AS400 and PS2 personal computers. They built a few PS2 50s here for shipping to other parts of Asia.

In a previous life I was a Sales Manager at Commodore Australia.

[Mental Hobbit]

Cheap crap makes more money, than a quality item and its repairs.  

The fun part in this case: They still do make MX boards, which are very durable. They just feel and sound rahter crappy during their long lifespan due to the thin keycaps.

Many manufacturing companies have some high-end items in their product lines. They don't sell well, they don't make them much money. But they give those companies a reputation as maker of the the best product in their category. Which helps them selling their cheap crap cash cows to the masses.

[Nonmouse]

See the Geekhack Wiki for a handy dandy Cherry Corp Product Code deciphering guide.

Don't, however, trust it for deciphering which switch a board has- Cherry seems to change those nearly at random.  G80-8113HRBUS, for example, can have black, brown or white switches.

[Rusty Rat]

Thanks for the advice guys. I pressed the button on a Filco Tenkeyless with Blues. Picked it up today rather than wait for the Courier. Supplier had a blue and brown to tap on to compare the noise. Not a very scientific test but I was making more noise with the browns bottoming out. Will give it about a week to get used to it. Thought perhaps I might write up straight compare against a Model M later on.

Are we allowed to post supplier links here? There is now an Australian distributor which means no more overseas shipping and 12 months warranty in Australia.

I asked the supplier whether he had considered Unicomp and the answer was yes but the shipping costs from the USA were prohibitive and the end price would be too expensive. It seems shipping anything from China or Asia is a lot cheaper sea freight wise than from the USA.

[002]

I think you'd be allowed, but if you're not can you PM me the info?

Edit: I asked google and the result was auspcmarket
http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_image_products.php?input[category_id]=1838

[Rusty Rat]

That’s the one. I am fortunate to live only a 30 minute ride from them. Its more of a warehouse style of operation but unlike the big stores that are now unlikely to even have keyboards displays let alone know anything about them other than “its got three thousand multi media keys” its more reassuring when someone knows the differences between blues, browns and blacks, also has DAS and can talk about reliability problems between certain brands and when you mention Unicomp does not look at you as if you are speaking a foreign language.

Personally unless the price is grossly different I also prefer dealing here because of any potential warranty issues. I don’t know what consumer protection exists in the USA but over here we have some pretty strong laws regarding warranty and who is responsible for it.

[002]

We let them retire here - consider yourself lucky

[Rusty Rat]

Over in the US we let the Brits spill their oil all over the place.

That's coz they are not silly enough to do it in the North Sea. BP probably thought you wouldn't notice a little more polution.

[Rusty Rat]

We confine them to LA.

Show Image

I know you must really love the Brits because you are speaking and writing using the Beta version of English, the one that was released about three hundred years ago.

[Rusty Rat]

English is a mongrel language anyway.

If the Brits had held off those Saxons it wouldn't be such a mess of a language.  Practice your longbow!

And the Vikings and French Normans. Mix it in with ancient Celt and goodness knows what else. Still the most widely used language in the civilised Western World if we include America.

Have been following up on the history and effectiveness of the English long bowman, no wonder the French did such nasty things to the English bowmen when they captured them. Sort of a Model M vs rubber domes analogy of ancient weapons.

Contrary to popular belief the ’two finger’ salute was in use several hundred years before Agincourt. No doubt the English archers also used it to torment the French at Agincourt.

[Rusty Rat]

Anyway, aren't we supposed to be insulting Ockers in this post?

That's a dangerous occupation, small population but do we have to take the Americas Cup again. The only reason we have tough immigration policies is to stop 250 million Americans from migrating here.

[Nonmouse]

That's a dangerous occupation, small population but do we have to take the Americas Cup again. The only reason we have tough immigration policies is to stop 250 million Americans from migrating here.

Last time I checked, y'all were still paying skilled immigrants to move there...

[Rusty Rat]

Last time I checked, y'all were still paying skilled immigrants to move there...

That’s right. I didn’t mention the other 60 million that were OK.

[Dwhangkhui]

I see G83 at the list.
Double shot rubber domes. How ironic