How do Clicky White Alps compare to Cherry Blues?

[cometbus]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, or has been gone over before. I searched and only found somewhat piecemeal info...

Anyway, the story is, my first mechanical was a Filco with browns that I got a few months ago. I did, and still do love it. Then along came my discovery of a local second-hand store that regularly gets in old computers/keyboards. My most recent find there was an FK-2000 Plus, with the cover, in near-mint condition.

I popped off the keys, gave it all a good cleaning(it didn't need much), and was originally planning on just trying to list it on the classified board. When I was testing it, however, I realized I really, *really* like the feel of the clicky white Alps.

While I love the feel of the switches, I'm not a huge fan of the keyboard's layout. The 8 directional buttons, with "Turbo" in the center is more a novelty than a nuisance, since I rarely use the arrow keys anyway, but my biggest issue is with the huge Enter key, placement of the Backslash key, and tiny right Shift key.

This is getting long-winded, but my question is, how similar are Cherry Blues to White Alps(I believe they're complicated White Alps)? I know it's very hard to convey a switch type's feel via words, but what are your opinions on the differences between the two?

I'm curious because a Filco with Cherry Blues may likely be in my future, as I'm becoming quickly converted to the clicky side(they're just so satisfying...). I'm a huge fan of the build quality and layout on the Filco with Cherry Browns I already have, but Cherry Blues just might be what's been missing in my life all these years...

Thanks for any feedback/opinions! Maybe tomorrow I'll take some photos of the FK-2000, when the light is better. :biggrin:

[cometbus]

Actually, just your info on Clicky Complicated White Alps being rather different from Cherry Blues is pretty useful. On the downside, that probably means I'm going to end up spending more money on a board with Cherry Blues at some point down the road, lol.

One interesting thing I've noticed, however, is that while I know what people mean by most Alps being more "frictiony" than Cherry switches, the switches on this board feel surprisingly smooth. I've only tried two boards with Alps switches, the first was a Dell AT101W with Black Alps, and I definitely felt the "frictiony" factor with that. With this FK-2000, the keys feel much smoother.

Whether that means I've just got some kind of placebo-effect going on, or if it has to do with the fact that the board was remarkably clean when I got it, I'm not sure. I was actually really surprised with how clean it was once I popped off all they keys. No hairs, no crumbs, just a tiny bit of dust. It must've been sitting with that cover on most of its life, and hardly used at all...

Regardless, thanks for your input! I think I'll be hanging on to this Focus board for a while, at last until I manage to snag something with Cherry Blues, so I can get a good idea of the differences between the two.

[CurtisLeon]

ALPS switches actuate near the top of the keystroke, forcing you to put more pressure into a keystroke. This is why most people complain about bottoming out too hard on a typical ALPS board. Cherry switches actuate more in the middle, making it easier to not bottom out while typing. They also tend to be softer on the hands, with the exception of Cherry Blacks.

[cometbus]

That makes a lot of sense. I can feel a lot of travel-room in the White Alps after the actuation, it seems like it would just be like getting used to something new all over again.

I'm just going to have to try out some Cherry Blues myself to get a final verdict.:party:

[Pylon]

Cherry Blues and White Alps feel a lot different.

Alps "let go" at a fairly high point. Cherry MX Blues do it towards the middle of the stroke.
 
But then, Cherry Blues are considerably lighter and you'll definitely bottom out on them too. If you bottom out on blues, IMO they feel less tactile than white Alps.

Also Cherry MXs have a high pitched sound; Alps have this nice deep click+clack that's quite satisfying.

Definitely try both.

[RickyJ]

Was in Best Buy today and saw they had the Black Widow on the shelf.  Never having tried Cherry switches before, I tried the arrow keys out to see what blues were like.  Higher pitched than my Alps white and blue switches, and not as loud.  They didn't feel as tactile as my Alps, and the switch hysteresis was quite evident.  I'd have to try out a complete board with Cherry blues to get a better opinion for them, hopefully sooner than later.

[MKB]

I went to fry's and they had a SIEG mechanical....

Quality of board not up to a Filco...  However the white alps keys are very nice and feel a lot like my Filco Tenkeyless zero...  Which has white Fukkas.

They also had the black widow and its arrow keys sticking through the box...

Very diffrent...

My Unicomps that have buckling springs are the closest to the fukkas I can find.  However I like the FILCO layout and quality...

[ch_123]

Personally I'd rate clicky complicated Alps over Blue Cherries, as they feel far more buckling spring like. Blue Alps are quite smooth, but hard to find.

If you want a quality clicky Alps board, I'd suggest trying to get some flavor of Northgate.

[keyboardlover]

They definitely feel very different...so if you know you like the white alps it probably makes sense to go with them. I personally don't like them and much prefer blue cherries.

[cometbus]

I appreciate all the feedback on this!

Also Cherry MXs have a high pitched sound; Alps have this nice deep click+clack that's quite satisfying.

Definitely try both.

I've spent a few days typing on the FK-2000, and while I definitely enjoy the deeper "thock" sound and feel, I've also picked up more on the "frictiony" feel that goes along with Alps as compared to Cherry MXs. I also prefer the actuation point more with the Cherries I've been able to try firsthand (only Browns so far).

It's gotten me to thinking whether or not the deeper sound/feel of White Alps, and the lighter feel/sound of Cherry MXs is at least in part the type of plastic the keycaps are made from? I realize the switches themselves play a large part in the actual feel, but I'm curious as to whether a PBT key just naturally has a lower sound, and ABS naturally higher, and how much of a difference it makes on different switch types.

I've typed plenty on both types of keycaps, but I've never been able to type on PBT keys with Cherry MX switches. This is probably a no-brainer for someone who has been able to type on all these switches/keycap combinations, but it seems like if the type of plastic used in the keys changes the sound/feel enough, that might be the sweet spot for my own personal key/switch nirvana.

Once again thanks for all the feedback, very helpful. :smile:

[Voixdelion]

If you want to live vicariously through my switch trials (all clicky except for the Del AT101 with black alps) just start a search of my posts and start from the first one.   Its a journey through about $1000 worth of questions and switch discovery - at the end of it all my current daily driver is  a blue cherry and is the best for doing stream of conciousness typing fast enough to keep pace with my brain. I like the alps but they 'catch' a little more than the blues do, so I don't feel quite as flighty on them.   The blues feel more energetic to me because they sort of "push back" a little more bouncy than the Alps or something that feels faster to me - just less inhibiting somehow.  For sentences and transcriptions I think the blues are a teeeny bit more satisfying to me.   YMMV, of course.

[False_Dmitry_II]

I would say you could do that with mine, since mine is shorter, but I stopped doing the 'I just got x' threads after... the first board I bought apparently. Oh well.