XArmor U9BL-S My first mechancial keyboard (with a few bugs)

[Zzz]

Hi folks! I wanted to both review my experience with my new XArmor U9BL-S and maybe solicit a bit of help at the same time. ^.^

Some positive notes:
This keyboard is unlike any rubber dome keyboard that I've used in the past. I don't get that cheap feeling plastic creaking after I bottom out a key and then press harder. These cherry MX brown switches feel so controlled and light. I don't need to bang on each key like other keyboards. The letters actuate noticeably faster; I find that when playing StarCraft II, I would give a hotkey command just milliseconds second before I select the unit to give it to because I'm used to the key not actuating until it bottoms out. This is a good problem to have and I look forward to playing that much faster once I get used to it!

Some cons:
The font is noticeably misaligned on the keys. For instance, the 9 character is printed at least a millimeter higher than the 0 character on the adjacent key. Shown here:
http://i.imgur.com/ay7YL.jpg

The space bar touches and hooks onto the right alt button such that hitting the space bar also actuates the right alt key. I had to file them both down so that I can hit the space independently of the alt key. Then I raised the Alt key just a couple millimeters above where it normally rests so that it always sits above the space bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgZi_n9903Y

The scroll lock key will not actuate when connected to my work laptop in it's docking station. Every other keyboard does. I understand that the scroll lock key isn't used often nowadays, and may not have been fully tested before this went out the door. After some trial and error, I noticed that holding down SL, hitting a combination of any 2 arrow keys, releasing SL and then hitting SL one more time actuates the SL key.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQpmTyOcb8Q&feature=related

When hooked up to my desktop computer, this keyboard only registers with the device manager half the time. To resolve it, I have to plug in a second keyboard into the USB port, restart the computer, then plug this XArmor keyboard back in. XArmor tech support says it's because of the motherboard. All my other PS/2 keyboards work without a problem. I have reset the CMOS, updated bios, and reinstalled windows without success. I ended up using the PS/2 to USB adapter and had to forgo N-key rollover and interrupt based typing.

Conclusion:
I have figured out workarounds for defects that should not exist on a such a keyboard. If anyone knows a better solution to any of my cons, please let me know! With these workarounds in place, this keyboard is a great tool. I will add that typing on this keyboard as I'm doing now is a zen feeling. However, I'm not sure what percentage of that is due to the switches themselves vs the entire keyboard package.

[noodles256]

wlcm 2 gh

[BaconKnight]

Luckily it looks like the only con that seemed major was the alt/spacebar thing, although that is a pretty weird deal. Glad to hear you managed to work around it with.

[The Solutor]

XArmor tech support says it's because of the motherboard. All my other PS/2 keyboards work without a problem.

 
They are obviously right, I doubt you have any other keyboard which drains this amount of power.

Some mainboards doesn't provide enough power to keep up with the USB specs, and this usually lead to problems with any high consuming devices like smartphones, HSDPA modems, portable HDD and also keyboards with 100+ leds.

[Zet]

Greetings, and welcome to GeekHack!


Nice review as a first post

[Xibal]

so not are your against certain brands, but your also against the chinese

[The Solutor]

Looks more like a bad day at the CAD station.

 

Giving random replies to the people that ask your help doesn't affect xarmor's reputation, affect yours.

This is clearly a switch with a bent stem or a switch soldered while not perfectly sitting on its hole.

Is also possible that the ALT keycap itself is bent because hit by something during the keyboard transport.

If were a CAD issue all the users were affected.

[Zet]

thanks for sharing this with us, really. I now feel a lot more ez about having spend double what I wanted on the beginning when I was between XArmor or Das and ended up getting a Filco.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against them, I still want to get a Das, but if I bought them and I had the same problems when they arrive, damm I would be mad, really mad...

[Zzz]

They are obviously right, I doubt you have any other keyboard which drains this amount of power.

Some mainboards doesn't provide enough power to keep up with the USB specs, and this usually lead to problems with any high consuming devices like smartphones, HSDPA modems, portable HDD and also keyboards with 100+ leds.

Actually, it took me a min to figure out why the backlight wasn't working, then I RTFM and realized that the there's a secondary USB plug for LED power and to act as a USB hub. *facepalm*

Are there known issues with MSI X58 Platinum boards? I can say that I've used this USB port to recharge my smartphone before.

Looks more like a bad day at the CAD station.
Chinese Design Engineering and QC in action.

I'd agree with you. It seems that this keyboard was engineered without enough room between these two keys. They still rub on each other but I made sure there's no ledge for the spacebar to catch on. I'm also Chinese and have been known to complain about Chinese QC while spending my summer in Shanghai. ^.^

This is clearly a switch with a bent stem or a switch soldered while not perfectly sitting on its hole.

Is also possible that the ALT keycap itself is bent because hit by something during the keyboard transport.

How can I determine if a stem is bent or if it's not sitting right? Also, I swapped the two Alt keys around and the same issue is present, so it's not the keycap.

Oh, here's a weird thing. I noticed that if I "restart" my computer, the keyboard doesn't register with windows device manager but if I shutdown and power on again, it works! (Windows 7 x64 SP1 btw)

[The Solutor]

How can I determine if a stem is bent or if it's not sitting right? Also, I swapped the two Alt keys around and the same issue is present, so it's not the keycap.

 
Remove the keycaps from ALT, FN and Menu and look if the stem are parallel, look also if the black part of the swithc is parallel to the plane.

IMHO is the switch not soldered correctly (moved during the soldering process) but also a bent switch is possible.

In the first case fix it is matter of 5 minutes (just melt the two soldering point while pushing the switch). In the second case the switch has tyo be replaced (or swapped with an unused one, like SysRq )

[The Solutor]

And what I meant about a "bad day at the CAD station" is the keys may be a tad oversized.  The way for that would be to stack bottom to bottom with another key.

 
Definitely not a CAD issue.

Look at my alt key (sorry for crap quality and dirty keys) but I'm in the middle of a new mod.

[Zzz]

thanks for sharing this with us, really. I now feel a lot more ez about having spend double what I wanted on the beginning when I was between XArmor or Das and ended up getting a Filco.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against them, I still want to get a Das, but if I bought them and I had the same problems when they arrive, damm I would be mad, really mad...

Schadenfreude T.T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQGQ5qBQTA

[oddsratio]

I wanted to chime in on my experience. I posted on OCN about my Xarmor troubles. Today I finally sent the damn thing back. I have amazon prime, so I'll be going one day on a rubber dome until my filco gets in tomorrow.

I could have loved it and I was really gaining an appreciation for the keyboard. But when I was pulling the keycaps, I noticed that there were white stress marks along the stem, where the plastic is really thin. I had pulled five keys that had visible cracks along the stem. (I got some pictures, but couldn't focus it with my P&S; I'll try to see if I got one that's usable)

I had pulled these a few times to take pictures, but I'm not a gorilla. Even if I was, I would think that at least the caps could withstand being pulled more than a few times.

I could have just requested a replacement set of keycaps, but I didn't know why I should bother doing this if the same thing was going to happen again. It just made the overall quality of the keyboard feel cheap. Even if Filco's keycaps coming in aren't that great, at least I could feel confident about replacing them without feeling that the keyboard itself is junk.

The reason I was removing the keycaps yesterday was because I had picked a TG3 to try out blacks and for the dye-sub keycaps. When the filco comes in, I'll probably replace the alpha keys with the sub-dyes as they look pretty nice in normal light.

What made the whole thing so frustrating was dealing with ergo-geek. I think it's ripster or the wiki that says that your first board should definitely be with a seller that has a good return policy. I wish I had bought the blue switch version instead of the brown if only because Amazon was handling the blue transaction and would have made the return so much easier.

The 15% restocking fee on a $130 keyboard is a lot to swallow and makes you just want to like the keyboard because you don't want to lose 30 bucks sending it back. With Amazon at least, you don't have to document every justification for returning the board. At least I hope the crappy keycaps makes this a 'defective' return and not an optional one.  /rant

[Zet]

oddsratio, I think you did good if you felt like that about the keyboard. I think it is really important to feel comfortable with the product if you spend a lot on it.
It happened me once with a mouse I've got... so after that I spent even more and got the one I'm love with right now can't be happier.

[Zzz]

But when I was pulling the keycaps, I noticed that there were white stress marks along the stem, where the plastic is really thin.

The 15% restocking fee on a $130 keyboard is a lot to swallow and makes you just want to like the keyboard because you don't want to lose 30 bucks sending it back.

Thanks for the input, I'll have to check for that as well later tonight.

I thought about returning it, but unfortunately, my choices are limited because of my requirements. I'm looking for a Cherry MX Brown (or Red but that's unlikely) with backlit keys because I tend to play in the dark. It's difficult to hit that "I" key for Infestation Pit with my left hand. >.<

[ricercar]

Excellent first post. Welcome to Geekhack. I like the clean lines of your Avatar.

The font is noticeably misaligned on the keys. For instance, the 9 character is printed at least a millimeter higher than the 0 character on the adjacent key.

This is endemic of piss-poor process control. My 6 key is high and my 9 key is normal. You'd think that they'd be consistent enough that the same key would be screwed up on all the boards.

[The Solutor]

This is endemic of piss-poor process control.

 
Yeah...

Look what a strange shade of cyan on my keyboard... :smokin:

My 6 key is high and my 9 key is normal. You'd think that they'd be consistent enough that the same key would be screwed up on all the boards.

You have an old model, which is full of misaligned legends.

Here looks like just 9 is slightly not aligned i noticed it after reading this post.

[Zet]

I thought about returning it, but unfortunately, my choices are limited because of my requirements. I'm looking for a Cherry MX Brown (or Red but that's unlikely) with backlit keys because I tend to play in the dark. It's difficult to hit that "I" key for Infestation Pit with my left hand. >.<

Ever thought about changing the hotkeys configuration, to the one that you use qwer,asdf,zxcv only? you use the key where the picture in the menu is, like if q is the top left, and r the top right, and same with the others.

[Zzz]

I like the clean lines of your Avatar.

Glory to the Almighty Tallest!

[Zzz]

Ever thought about changing the hotkeys configuration, to the one that you use qwer,asdf,zxcv only? you use the key where the picture in the menu is, like if q is the top left, and r the top right, and same with the others.

Grid? I thought about it, but it's like learning to type again. I "33+SHIFT+V", "22SVVVDDZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" without even thinking about it now. kekeke

Here looks like just 9 is slightly not aligned i noticed it after reading this post.

The 9 key is only the most noticeable because it's by the 0 but the entire keyboard is just slightly off. E.g., T is slightly rotated.

[BucklingSpring]

Glory to the Almighty Tallest!

Forget the motherboard issue, this thing seams to be faulty enough for a RMA. Can you get it replaced?

If you try fixing it yourself and you fail, the XArmor guys will put the blame on you and you can kiss goodbye your warranty.

[Zzz]

Forget the motherboard issue, this thing seams to be faulty enough for a RMA. Can you get it replaced?

If you try fixing it yourself and you fail, the XArmor guys will put the blame on you and you can kiss goodbye your warranty.

I thought about that. However, it seems the troubles I ran into are inherent in this keyboard and a replacement would either exhibit the same behavior or the errors wont be reproducible which means that I'll be charged a fee then given the same keyboard back.
-PS/2 restart issue is a motherboard windows issue, I realized today after a bit of direction from Ripster. I'll have to figure out how to force Win7 to load PS/2 drivers even when a PS/2 device isn't detected.
-Shift + alt key seems like the keyboard was simply planned with not enough room between the two. The only solution, I think, is a shorter space bar. I actually asked XArmor Tech support to see if that's a possibility - to mail me a replacement space bar. No luck/reply. I wonder if anyone else with a U9BL-S can confirm this with a pic of the space between their Alt and Space.
-Scroll lock only happens on my laptop, and not reproducible on my desktop or my friend's desktop.
-Key font misalignment is cosmetic and a new keyboard would just have different keys misaligned.

[oddsratio]

Thanks for the input, I'll have to check for that as well later tonight.

I thought about returning it, but unfortunately, my choices are limited because of my requirements. I'm looking for a Cherry MX Brown (or Red but that's unlikely) with backlit keys because I tend to play in the dark. It's difficult to hit that "I" key for Infestation Pit with my left hand. >.<

 
Yeah, that's why I got this; didn't want to get the Deck just because of the size (I figured out later that I could replace the legend with caps from the TG3).

[The Solutor]

The 9 key is only the most noticeable because it's by the 0 but the entire keyboard is just slightly off. E.g., T is slightly rotated.

 
I see. Your legends are definitely weird. I notice F6,F7,F8.

What serial number is your keyboard ? (last three/four digit)

There are two options here

A Your keyboard is one of the very first and the CNC laser was not properly calibrated

B Your keyboard is one of the latest and the machine got miscalibrated during the production.

[Zzz]

I see. Your legends are definitely weird. I notice F6,F7,F8.

What serial number is your keyboard ? (last three/four digit)

There are two options here

A Your keyboard is one of the very first and the CNC laser was not properly calibrated

B Your keyboard is one of the latest and the machine got miscalibrated during the production.

Is that on the back? It ends with 0059

[The Solutor]

Is that on the back? It ends with 0059

 
Look more the A option. Mine is 171 and the legends are inside reasonable tolerances.

[Zet]

my advice is to return it, and for the same price, get a Leopold, unless you really need the keypad. It's better to get a non backlight keyboard, and if you really need to see the keyboard at night, and you don't want a full light on your room, get a small desk lamp and put it low just to light the keyboard, not your face or screen.

Any day[9] fans here? :x

[The Solutor]

my advice is to return it, and for the same price, get a Leopold, unless you really need the keypad. It's better to get a non backlight keyboard, and if you really need to see the keyboard at night, and you don't want a full light on your room, get a small desk lamp and put it low just to light the keyboard, not your face or screen.

 

I got a backlit keyboard because I need it.

Going to a stone age keyboard just because a single bad experience is someting like using a ship to cross the Atlantic because sometimes a plane crashes.

I also found the thenkeyless more pointless than tenkeyless.

If you dont need the numpad go for a true compact board, if you need it buy a filco mini which is lightly larger than a tenkeyless but is as useful as a full board.

That said consider that mech boards are a niche, backlit ones are also a niche.

A backlit mech is a niche of a niche, and you can't consider it a true industrial product, they are more or less artisanal products.

You can't expect the support given by, say, logitech.

[ricercar]

Uneven keycaps are easy to check.  Just swap em.  

Maybe the switch backplate is wonky?

 
No, were talking about the printing, not the switch position.

[johndoe]

I think it is really important to feel comfortable with the product if you spend a lot on it.

All this Xarmor talk is making me uncomfortable. lol

Anyway my 2 cents on this keyboard. my 9 seems to sit abit higher, T is abit rotated but neither are really noticeable coz im a keyboard scrub. #072
The LED for my E is either fading or has always been slightly dimmer than other keys
No clipping of Alt whilst pressing spacebar (sorry no photo, brothers took camera to Japan) There is a small but noticeable gap between the keys?
Spacebar was really squeaky whilst gaming but is less prevalent now. My main concern would be the weak stabilisers and all that. Also there is a tiny ridge along the border of this board that makes cleaning dust off a hassle.

On a side note, are the stabilisers and slots for stabilisers replaceable/repairable? I saw BuckklingSpring looking for these parts and thought i could do the same.

[Zzz]

Any day[9] fans here? :x

[video=youtube;AfZKbjUPrSg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfZKbjUPrSg[/video]

[oddsratio]

Bwahahaha.

Xarmor threads are even more entertaining than people that stick their keyboards in buckets of Windex.

[Zzz]

Remove the keycaps from ALT, FN and Menu and look if the stem are parallel, look also if the black part of the swithc is parallel to the plane.

IMHO is the switch not soldered correctly (moved during the soldering process) but also a bent switch is possible.

In the first case fix it is matter of 5 minutes (just melt the two soldering point while pushing the switch). In the second case the switch has tyo be replaced (or swapped with an unused one, like SysRq )

Looks like the keys are on straight. Also, notice how the alt key is half a millimeter above the space bar. It's gotten a bit dirty so I'll have to go get some Windex and a bucket later.

But when I was pulling the keycaps, I noticed that there were white stress marks along the stem, where the plastic is really thin.

I took off half the keys randomly and I didn't notice any white stress marks. Whew!

That said consider that mech boards are a niche, backlit ones are also a niche.

A backlit mech is a niche of a niche, and you can't consider it a true industrial product, they are more or less artisanal products.

You can't expect the support given by, say, logitech.

Does this niche-niche keyboard make me a hipster? I don't want to have to wear tight jeans.

In both cases I told people not to do that so I know when the Rapture occurs tonight I'm heading heavenward.

May I have that Filco cherry red on your way out? ^.^

[The Solutor]

Does this niche-niche keyboard make me a hipster?

 

No but you can't get rid of ripster :-)

Seriuously, I bought an Xarmor and I'm the happiest person on the planet, 5 days later I bought a R.A.T. 9 (one of the most pricey mouse out there) and other than being an idea of a jenius realized by an idiot, it arrived dead, and after 35 days I'm still waiting for a replacement or a refund.

Just a suggestion take the suggestions from zealots and elitists with a grain of salt, here as elsewhere, and you will be happy.

Xarmor has one of the most durable legends ever built. The urban ones

[Zet]

@Zzz
you made me cry laughing watching that version, I didn't knew that remixes of it were going on, and I wasn't there on that preshow where Sean did that xD

@The Solutor
please, take it easy, I have nothing against XArmor, remember I wanted to get one? but after seen so many people in such a short time complain about it, and only you and XArmor fighting like tigers to make others respect the brand, I ended up looking somewhere else. And I'm glad you need and have a backlight keyboard, I couldn't care less, I was writing my personal advice to someone else so don't worry, I'm not taking yours away, or asking to return it.

@Zzz(again)
I don't own a mechanical keyboard yet, but I have payed and ordered mine already, and it is on its way to me, and after a lot of researching, I ended up settling for a filco keyboard that was worth 2x what I was originally thinking to spend, I wanted to get browns or reds and because of a comment (nah just kidding) of "cloud of boobs" I ended up picking reds

[Zzz]

Just a suggestion take the suggestions from zealots and elitists with a grain of salt, here as elsewhere, and you will be happy.

I'm relatively happy with it, already decided to keep it. ^.^

I wanted to get browns or reds and because of a comment (nah just kidding) of "cloud of boobs" I ended up picking reds

Why not just take the keys and top off a rubber dome keyboard? There's 104 mini boobs for you right there! Anyone out there thinking of a gel-filled soft rubber mod?