Author Topic: Just got my iOne XArmor U9BL!! (Read 4837 times)

hfcobra · « **on:** Fri, 12 November 2010, 18:42:40 »

Wow, compared to that POS logitech G110 this keyboard is awesome!! I have been typing on it for the past 30 minutes and I haven't typed on anything that felt so good! I really cant wait for the Brown version to be released in January next year so that I can try that out!

Moogle Stiltzkin · « **Reply #1 on:** Fri, 12 November 2010, 19:12:28 »

Nice.

hei make a review and post some pics

would be interesting.

hfcobra · « **Reply #2 on:** Fri, 12 November 2010, 23:00:33 »

Quote from: Moogle Stiltzkin;246144

Nice.

hei make a review and post some pics would be interesting.

there is one on here already i believe....

here--> http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=11160

although i have to say that my personal review not having ever owned a mech keyboard before it is truly a dream to type on, and i just love the click!!

hfcobra · « **Reply #3 on:** Fri, 12 November 2010, 23:03:04 »

btw, anyone else seeing this can you tell me what is the difference between blues and browns? is there much difference other than the lack of sound? I really like the click that these have and i haven't noticed that the keys do not work sometimes while gaming if you do not release them all the way. Some people seem to have this problem though, so if both of these things were ignored then the browns are basically just slightly lighter blues?

rantenki · « **Reply #4 on:** Fri, 12 November 2010, 23:49:45 »

Quote from: hfcobra;246193

btw, anyone else seeing this can you tell me what is the difference between blues and browns? is there much difference other than the lack of sound? I really like the click that these have and i haven't noticed that the keys do not work sometimes while gaming if you do not release them all the way. Some people seem to have this problem though, so if both of these things were ignored then the browns are basically just slightly lighter blues?

The actuation points differ, full details in the wiki here: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Cherry+switches+and+boards#Regular+key+types

hfcobra · « **Reply #5 on:** Sat, 13 November 2010, 00:10:35 »

Quote from: rantenki;246203

The actuation points differ, full details in the wiki here: http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Cherry+switches+and+boards#Regular+key+types

i have read all of that but i was wondering is the difference really that noticeable? I really love these blues but since they are the only ones that i have tried i do not have a way to really know how the graphs shown "feel" if you know what i mean. Basically browns are lighter and the pressure point comes slightly earlier in the keypress shown in the graphs, but that is all i can see in the graphs and i still dont know how they feel... for blues as far as i can tell the fact that the reset point is a little before the actuation point really doesn't make much of a difference, so i don't know what people say when they say that these can be bad for gaming because of that.

chet0 · « **Reply #6 on:** Sat, 13 November 2010, 02:24:44 »

Quote from: hfcobra;246214

Basically browns are lighter...

Words cannot satisfy the curiosity of actually typing on a keyboard. Just go and buy it... and while you're at it, buy a Model M and... then...

Ah heck!!! Just go out and buy ALL of them. You will eventually anyways.

hfcobra · « **Reply #7 on:** Sat, 13 November 2010, 18:01:39 »

Quote from: chet0;246238

Words cannot satisfy the curiosity of actually typing on a keyboard. Just go and buy it... and while you're at it, buy a Model M and... then...

Ah heck!!! Just go out and buy ALL of them. You will eventually anyways.

if only if only i had some money

hell, if someone would just let me borrow every one that would be great, but no one i know owns a mechanical keyboard

i am really loving these blues though

the browns might be too light because these are already EXTREMELY light compared to the G110 that i used to type on.

Ulysses31 · « **Reply #8 on:** Sat, 13 November 2010, 20:10:34 »

Curious about the durability of the keys; I read another review that said they were rubber-coated? If this is the case and the coating wears (to reveal the translucent white plastic material underneath) then how hard would it be to get replacement key-sets?

http://blog.controlspace.org/2010/08/review-xarmor-u9bl-illuminated_11.html

Senor_Cartmenez · « **Reply #9 on:** Mon, 15 November 2010, 07:12:24 »

Congrats!

Please carefully monitor the keys on your board and please do remember to post back here in a couple of months and tell us how the rubber coating holds up.

@ripster

I think iOne would be more on the Filco side of key-replacement. I base this solely on my talking to the company and the fact that they try to carve out a niche in the market. Not on actual facts or anything, that would just be boring

Senor_Cartmenez · « **Reply #10 on:** Mon, 15 November 2010, 09:28:35 »

the most important thing I learned from my days at university was:
When you have no facts or it would be too tough/time consuming to obtain them, make an "educated guess".

Educated guesses make the world much simpler

Senor_Cartmenez · « **Reply #11 on:** Mon, 15 November 2010, 09:36:24 »

I would make an educated guess here and say that you won't find anything like this stated in a book used for higher education...

But several of my teachers told their students so on several occasions. At first I kind of thought "they got to be ****ting me". Thinking this was kind of part of their lackluster stance, being dutch teachers and all

After a while in life, I saw the wisdom in this though. It is often enough just not possible or at least not feasible to get "all the facts". As a result, you either do nothing until it becomes possible/feasible to do so, or you make an "educated guess". Depending on "how educated" the guess is, this can either result in total missinformation and lead to bad decisions or it can be remarkably close to the actual facts.

nmd · « **Reply #12 on:** Tue, 30 November 2010, 15:57:04 »

Been lurking here a while, took the plunge and ordered an Xarmor U9BL from Buy.com for $119/free shipping and it arrived earlier today. Wow is all I can say. The rubber coating on the keyboard enclosure is smooth as silk. It's similar to the coating used on the SteelSeries Xai(which was previously my favorite texture, now this is.) The key caps have quite a bit more grip but very nice over all. I replaced the Escape key with one of the included orange key caps -- the profile is ~1-1.5mm lower with the orange key cap.

To those with problems regarding shift-f1 -> shift-f6 being the media keys, it's only the left shift. The right shift doesn't activate the media keys.

The leds on the other hand get super bright at the 6-8th level(6-8th are indistinguishable to me.) I've been using it at a brightness level of 2 which is comparable or higher than any other keyboard I've used, and I've used most of the offerings from Logitech/Microsoft/Razer/etc. Past that the brightness is distracting.

About the key cap durability I sent an email asking them about it and if the warranty covered it, I received a reply within 2 hours.

Quote

Thank you for contacting us,
For U9BL series keyboard, we use real rubber coating on the top enclosure.
Bottom enclosure is ABS plastic.
As for the keycap it is molded with translucent ABS plastic
added black matte rubber coating before we laser the key legend.
final touch will be a clear UV coating on top of the keycap to prevent the legend from fading.
We cover full 1 year warranty on our keyboard. If there is any issue with the key being faded, we will send replacement keys.

We have been selling our U9BL keyboard for 4 months and we have no complain on the keys or rubber coating being peeled off.

Please kindly let us know if you have further questions.

This is my first keyboard that uses Cherry MX switches, they're pleasant to use.

Background info: I've programmed in the past and have played games professionally. It was nice finding this site a couple months back because I felt like I was the only person in the world with a peripheral fetish(for lack of a better word, seriously I've spent way too much money trying to find that perfect keyboard or mouse.)

nmd · « **Reply #13 on:** Tue, 30 November 2010, 19:42:13 »

I might do just that! I'm loving it.

Curious, I've been trying to search and find out but I'm not seeing the information I'm looking for. Does anyone know if the Filco replacement keys from EliteKeyboards(specifically the lavender WASD cluster) will be the same profile as the alpha-numerical keys on the U9BL? I'm wanting them but only if the profiles are the name and they aren't raised or lowered.

If not, anyone have a link explaining how to measure my keycaps accurately so I can compare them to the Filco measurements?

kite · « **Reply #14 on:** Tue, 30 November 2010, 19:46:49 »

Wow congrats to your mech keyboard

I wish i could just order a mech keyboard too xD *walks in circles and waits for..something*

Thanks for the info regarding the keys. Hope this stays true after a couple more months ^^

PRISONER 24601 · « **Reply #15 on:** Wed, 01 December 2010, 02:59:12 »

I really like Filco's high profile caps. Better overall typing experience IMHO.

Senor_Cartmenez · « **Reply #16 on:** Wed, 01 December 2010, 05:10:25 »

Congrats to the X-Armor and welcome to Geekhack

Review or not, please do remember to come back here every couple of months or so and drop a quick "The rubber coating is holding up nicely!" or a "Everything is going to ****s!". That would be very helpfull as this is still the biggest concern with this board, although ricer gave us somewhat of an "all-clear" signal saying his x-armor's rubber coating is holding up nicely after roughly 6 months.

News:

Author Topic: Just got my iOne XArmor U9BL!! (Read 4837 times)