Hello everyone. Recently I have got a BTC Foam and Foil keyboard (Tactile variant) and I want to share my impressions with you.
Built quality - it's built like a tank comparing to modern keyboards, which is not unexpected due to the old weird but nice tradition of overengineering.
Layout - this keyboard features Big-Ass Enter key, 2U Backspace, 7,25U Spacebar, 1,5U Control and Alt keys (both left and right), 1U Backslash key on the right bottom corner of the 60% block (I don't know how to call it properly) and the MACRO key on the left bottom corner, which is EXTREMELY ANNOYING and you need to get used to it. As for the MACRO key, it's also works as Enter key for some strange reason. This keyboard also features 1,25U Escape key, which is something like a visit card for the BTC keyboards.
Switches - as I mentioned in the beginning of the topic, these are BTC Foam and Foil switches (Tactile variant which features buckling rubber sleeves). First of all, they are smooth, very smooth (because there is nothing to scratch). Secondly, these are extremely tactile, which is really nice. But these switches have some disadvantages either. They are way too stiff. At first I thought that this is good (I am huge fan of heavy switches), but THESE heavy switches are not pleasant to type on, maybe it's because you need to bottom out on this keyboard due to the design of the switches. Intersting fact: there are some lighter buckling rubber sleeves on this keyboard, but these are for Enter key (This key features 2 slider design) as I can remember (I have replaced them on the backspace and left shift keys), and extremely heavy sleeve for the spacebar. I really don't know what's the point of making a bottom-out-only switch heavy, that's neither pleasant nor comfortable. I really want to find a way to to replace these heavy buckling rubber sleeves with lighter sleeves. The second disadvantage is simple - this keyboard sounds not as nice really. Way too loud on the upstroke, but as I know it can be fixed with topre orings
Keycaps - these are cool abs doubleshot keycaps with dope cyrillic lettering. They feel like some pbt keycaps for some strange reason. However, you can't place them on the other keyboard because of the profile - it's DCS, which is pretty rare as I know. Moreover, the stabs are simple wires so you can't place stabilised modifier keys on the other keyboard.
All in all, this keyboard is pretty cool. Although it has some disadvantages, it's still pretty usable.
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So... do you know how can I modify this keyboard? I want to make the switches both silent and light.
