I got some black G81-7000 labeled G81-7920. I thought I would try both the MY mechanism and the compact layout.
I'm not sure I like the MY mechanism all that well. A few years ago I switched to cherry MX from the "quiet" rubber model M's. I use the clears and browns often and can get used to blacks. The MY takes a different style of typing, with more deliberate aim, to use reasonably. The MX and quiet M don't seem to be as particular about your keystroke mechanics.
I'm also used to some kind of tactile feel in the mechanism, and when I'm using black MX I tend to bottom them out which is rather easy. The MY takes a lot more force to bottom and I'm missing keystrokes because I don't know where the actuation point is and don't want to hurt my hands by banging every key to the bottom.
One of the boards arrived with a broken key so I got a chance to take it apart. My brown and clear boards are G80-8200 and G80-3000. None of them have plates and now I see why those who prefer the metal plates do. It makes the keyboard very heavy and will not slide around on the desk as much.
The MY mechanisms are held into the plate using an expanding rivet kind of device. To release the switch from the plate you must push the center dowels out of each rivet. I used a dental pick for this and did this from the top. The little plastic dowels easily reinsert from the top. Get them started before replacing the switch on the plate, and once it's in position, push them down to expand the rivet.
My G80-8200 is a MultiBoard V1 and as such can be programmed with Cherry Tools to redefine keys and program macros. I don't know if this keyboard is the MultiBoard V2 or not, it has a much smaller (simpler) controller inside than the 8200 and does not have any hardware macro support. There is a pair of USB-A ports installed on the control board but there is no cutout provided in the keyboard housing to allow access to these ports. It looks like the mag stripe reader appears as a separate USB device in this model and there is no way to have the card data come out as keypresses the way the older PS2 models do. Also, the keyboard firmware and country tables cannot be updated.
The keycaps are a tight fit on the MY switches. I'm going to try to use a dremel to remove some of the broken stem material from the keycap, maybe I can dig it out and reuse it. I still need a silder, though, did any of you scrap any MY boards & willing to sell/trade me a switch?
