HANSUNG TFG Art or Archon AK87 - Korean guys, help!

[phinix]

Does anyone have any of thesekeyboards?
I'm trying to hunt one down, but its really hard. Amazon is out of stock in UK, only in US, but they do not ship to UK.

[treeleaf64]

My friend has one of them , what do you want me to ask him? He got it from Amazon (lives in US)

[phinix]

My friend has one of them , what do you want me to ask him? He got it from Amazon (lives in US)

If he wants to sell it

[HungerMechanic]

It's too bad that they are out-of-stock on Harum.io. The Archon AK87/89 are available, but the TFG Art is sold out. Art BOX switches are still available, though.

[phinix]

It's too bad that they are out-of-stock on Harum.io. The Archon AK87/89 are available, but the TFG Art is sold out. Art BOX switches are still available, though.

Are those Archon AK87 any good?
I just saw some youtube videos - their case looks identical to CM Quickfire rapid! This could be hot swap pcb for it!

Is that Harum.io shop legit? is it safe to order stuff to be shipped to europe?

[HungerMechanic]

I don't know if Harum.io is legit with regard to Europe, but they do ship successfully to Canada and the U.S.

They may contact you after an order and ask you to confirm - there are customs charges following their order that they are not themselves responsible for.

I am learning about the AK87/89, and may be able to offer you some insight later.

[1391406]

I live in the US and ordered a TFG ART (in white) from Harum.io a week ago. My order just arrived today. I was originally going to order one from Amazon but they're only available in grey. One thing I'll say about this keyboard is that it's heavy.

[HungerMechanic]

My Archon AK89 just arrived in the mailbox [apparently], so I'll let you know what the kit is like.

It's going to be a while before it is assembled, though.

[phinix]

I live in the US and ordered a TFG ART (in white) from Harum.io a week ago. My order just arrived today. I was originally going to order one from Amazon but they're only available in grey. One thing I'll say about this keyboard is that it's heavy.

Cool. Could you please do some photos and let me know how do you find this kit?
I would like to order one but couldn't find any reviews of it.

My Archon AK89 just arrived in the mailbox [apparently], so I'll let you know what the kit is like.

It's going to be a while before it is assembled, though.

Please do a little review, I'll do mine, once it shows up.

[HungerMechanic]

Everyone's thinking the same for some reason right now... wanting full-size / TKL hotswap keyboards from Korea.

Maybe it's because of another season of work-from-home, positive reviews, and a lack of TKL and full-size kits. Especially the latter.

I only had about 12 hours to pay customs upon receiving a notice at literally 1 AM, so I have to negotiate with DHL to get my shipment. But should it arrive, I will post my impressions.

[phinix]

Everyone's thinking the same for some reason right now... wanting full-size / TKL hotswap keyboards from Korea.

Maybe it's because of another season of work-from-home, positive reviews, and a lack of TKL and full-size kits. Especially the latter.

I only had about 12 hours to pay customs upon receiving a notice at literally 1 AM, so I have to negotiate with DHL to get my shipment. But should it arrive, I will post my impressions.

I ordered mine but for some reason I have weird notice when tracking:

The piece has arrived later than normally scheduled and cannot make its expected planned movement / delivery cycle.
The shipment will be processed in the next available movement or delivery cycle

Never seen this before, I hope they will release it oon.

[1391406]

I live in the US and ordered a TFG ART (in white) from Harum.io a week ago. My order just arrived today. I was originally going to order one from Amazon but they're only available in grey. One thing I'll say about this keyboard is that it's heavy.

Cool. Could you please do some photos and let me know how do you find this kit?
I would like to order one but couldn't find any reviews of it.

I'm not sure what you're specifically interested in knowing, but feel free to ask any specific questions you want me to cover about the board.

Here are some images:

[stimuz]

lol, I also got a TFG art white off harum about a month ago to try to train myself to like MX before my GBs arrive. Also ended up with the MT3 set, funny enough. Put HPs in mine though.

[1391406]

lol, I also got a TFG art white off harum about a month ago to try to train myself to like MX before my GBs arrive. Also ended up with the MT3 set, funny enough. Put HPs in mine though.

Cool. I ordered some Kailh BOX Silent Reds a couple of days ago. In an ideal world, I'd be able to transplant 35-gram electro-capacitive switches into it. Personally, I love the look of the white TFG with the MT3 set.

[phinix]

I live in the US and ordered a TFG ART (in white) from Harum.io a week ago. My order just arrived today. I was originally going to order one from Amazon but they're only available in grey. One thing I'll say about this keyboard is that it's heavy.

Cool. Could you please do some photos and let me know how do you find this kit?
I would like to order one but couldn't find any reviews of it.

I'm not sure what you're specifically interested in knowing, but feel free to ask any specific questions you want me to cover about the board.

Here are some images:

Looks very nice, thanks for those photos

How is the quality? Is it sturdy, how does it sound? Did you add any foam? Being plastic, I don't think you would hear a lot of pinging, apart from switch springs if not lubed?
Is it possible to open it, for example to add foam?

[1391406]

How is the quality? Is it sturdy, how does it sound?

Due to the weight of the board, it feels extremely sturdy. The weight is no joke, by the way. It's legitimately heavy. On my scale, it weighed 3 lbs 10 oz. Wherever you lay this keyboard, it's not going anywhere, especially given that the bottom of the keyboard has an attached rubber base that provides for some additional grip. Additionally, there's very little case flex.

As far as sound is concerned, the board currently uses Cherry MX Silent Reds, so while I could try and describe the sound, I thought it best to create a couple of samples for context. The first clip is the Hansung TFG Art with the aforementioned MX Silent Reds. The second clip is the NIZ Plum X87 with electro-capacitive switches.

 MX Silent Reds.mp3 (652.65 kB - downloaded 134 times.)
 Electro-capacitive Switches.mp3 (652.65 kB - downloaded 101 times.)

Did you add any foam?

No.

Being plastic, I don't think you would hear a lot of pinging, apart from switch springs if not lubed?

I don't really hear any pinging, but that's me.

Is it possible to open it, for example to add foam?

Maybe, but I don't know how. The rubber on the bottom of the keyboard covers any potential screw holes that may be present, and I don't see an obvious way to remove the rubber without damaging it, but that's simply my initial impression.

[phinix]

How is the quality? Is it sturdy, how does it sound?

Due to the weight of the board, it feels extremely sturdy. The weight is no joke, by the way. It's legitimately heavy. On my scale, it weighed 3 lbs 10 oz. Wherever you lay this keyboard, it's not going anywhere, especially given that the bottom of the keyboard has an attached rubber base that provides for some additional grip. Additionally, there's very little case flex.

As far as sound is concerned, the board currently uses Cherry MX Silent Reds, so while I could try and describe the sound, I thought it best to create a couple of samples for context. The first clip is the Hansung TFG Art with the aforementioned MX Silent Reds. The second clip is the NIZ Plum X87 with electro-capacitive switches.

(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)

Did you add any foam?

No.

Being plastic, I don't think you would hear a lot of pinging, apart from switch springs if not lubed?

I don't really hear any pinging, but that's me.

Is it possible to open it, for example to add foam?

Maybe, but I don't know how. The rubber on the bottom of the keyboard covers any potential screw holes that may be present, and I don't see an obvious way to remove the rubber without damaging it, but that's simply my initial impression.

Haha, thanks for audio recordings, sounds pretty good. Sounds like you dont need to add a foam.

[HungerMechanic]

I'm not sure what you're specifically interested in knowing, but feel free to ask any specific questions you want me to cover about the board.

Here are some images:

Thanks for the info! Did you have to assemble it? Were you able to lube the stabs, or was that not necessary?

[1391406]

Did you have to assemble it?

No, it came preassembled.

Were you able to lube the stabs, or was that not necessary?

They include a tube of lubricant, but the stabs were already lubed.

[HungerMechanic]

Okay, my AK89 arrived today. Maybe I'll post pics later.

First, Harumio is legit. This is 2/2 orders I received successfully from them. It's relatively painless as long as you pay customs in time.

Second, it all arrived unbattered.

Third, the case is light and plasticy. The weight and sturdiness reminds me of a GMMK, even though the construction is different. It's nowhere near as heavy and sturdy as a Leopold / Varmilo / Filco.

The sound is a bit hollow, especially when the board is unpopulated. But it's not bad with some switches. I saw evidence of dampening foam beneath the hot swap slots.

The hotswap slots appear to be aligned correctly. I mean, the Cherry logo is right-side up on the switches.

More information to come.

[HungerMechanic]

Some further observations:

As said earlier, the case material and general construction is not optimized for endgame sound. It can sound echoey, or at best, plasticy. It's not something you will use to show off your lubed Alpacas. With well-lubed switches, you can feel any vibration or imperfection in the board.

Tactiles can be noisy, but they are noisy on most boards. Cherry tactiles [MX Brown and MX Clear] are less offensive in sound. MT3 ABS actually works okay here with Cherry tactiles, especially Ergo Clears. Decent sound.

One tactile that surprised me was TTC Gold Brown V2, which was light and pleasant on this board. Loud, though.

The optimal switch for this board is a quiet one. I tried out stock 62 G Silent Alpacas, and lubed 63.5 G Silent Alpacas. They were both fairly pleasant to type on, and quiet. You can hear every imperfection in the switch, so you might want to be careful lubing them.

I also tried out 55 G Silent Sky stems in the Boba housing. That is a very quiet switch. 55 G is barely enough to reliably return them using some keycaps. However, Cherry-profile usually works well with these.

Unfortunately, there is something stopping this board from being great with Silent Alpacas / Bobas. It could be quiet, but the stabilizers are noisy.

The stabilizers rattle like badly-tuned Costar stabilizers. The stabilizers on the Archon are the metal wire ones that you need inserts within the keycaps to clip on to at the bottom. I don't have evidence that they are lubed.

Consequently, even if you use silent switches [which can succeed on this board], the stabilizers ruin it. In order to make this board usable, I would have to get at the stabilizers and lube them.

[HungerMechanic]

Stabilizers

I looked into it, and these are using plate-mount stabilizers of possibly a hybrid type. [Similar to those on the Zhuque, for those who are familiar.]

I figure I have two options:

1. Remove the plate-mount stabilizers, disassemble and modify / lube them into acceptability.

2. Replace them with lubed Cherry plate-mount stabilizers.

I favour the second option. However, it's not always an option. The Rakk Lam Ang Pro, for example, is said to have conflicts with Cherry plate-mount stabilizers, despite itself using a plate-mount setup.

[phinix]

Wow, thanks for your review, sounds like a good keyboard anyway.
Stabs - this is a real pain, even for me and my DROP CTRL - I need to find some cherry plate mount stabs.
Zeal has some but they are expensive, including postage and then customs etc it would be like £40.

Few shop sell cherry stabs but I'm not too sure if these are authentic.

My AK87 is already in town, hopefully DHL will deliver it Monday.

[HungerMechanic]

Maybe I can learn from your experience. I have little experience with stabilizers.

Yeah, it's a pretty solid keyboard. I exaggerated its flimsiness compared to Filco / Leopold. Truth is, it's pretty sturdy on its own, just not excessively so like the high-end pre-builts. Weighs almost as much, I'm sure. Even has dampening.

Silent switches are performing surprisingly well, I just need to deal with the stabilizer issue.

[phinix]

Maybe I can learn from your experience. I have little experience with stabilizers.

Yeah, it's a pretty solid keyboard. I exaggerated its flimsiness compared to Filco / Leopold. Truth is, it's pretty sturdy on its own, just not excessively so like the high-end pre-builts. Weighs almost as much, I'm sure. Even has dampening.

Silent switches are performing surprisingly well, I just need to deal with the stabilizer issue.

OK, I got my Archon keyboard working now.
How the hell do I enable right CTRL?
Apparently it doesnt have WIN key on the right, just Fn and Menu, but right ALT and CTRL is not working.
Where can I find translation of that manual?
Anyone can traslate this?
Does it say anything about resetting right ALT and CTRL?

[suicidal_orange]

Guessing looking at the manual maybe FN+W swaps between English and Korean?  It's that or it's Win lock for gaming (which has an LED to say it's enabled(disabled?)) but surely that should be on FN+Win...

Other than that the usual debug of checking it's not a defective switch applies, it's hotswap so just swap the switches for known good ones.

[phinix]

Guessing looking at the manual maybe FN+W swaps between English and Korean?  It's that or it's Win lock for gaming (which has an LED to say it's enabled(disabled?)) but surely that should be on FN+Win...

Other than that the usual debug of checking it's not a defective switch applies, it's hotswap so just swap the switches for known good ones.

Switches are fine. swapped and worked fine - I found out that Korean keyboards have as standard set this up - these two right ALT and CTRL keys are for switching to something in their language, like second layer of signs or something.

[phinix]

Guessing looking at the manual maybe FN+W swaps between English and Korean?  It's that or it's Win lock for gaming (which has an LED to say it's enabled(disabled?)) but surely that should be on FN+Win...

Other than that the usual debug of checking it's not a defective switch applies, it's hotswap so just swap the switches for known good ones.

Fn+W changes WASD to arrows:(

[suicidal_orange]

Fn+W changes WASD to arrows:(

Of course it does, a very useful feature

Hopefully a helpful Korean comes along soon!

[Sup]

What is so special about this keyboard?

[phinix]

OK, I spent some time finding out how to type these on Google translate and here is what I got for right ALT:
한 영 - means "one spirit" ... or Hanyoung...
Then for CTRL its 한ㅈㅏ - which means hanja?

I think I need some Korean fella with Korean keyboards to confirm if this can be turned off...

[1391406]

What is so special about this keyboard?

Which one?