Filco, Ducky or KBC Poker for red switches?

[docvic]

hi all,

first time posting on geekhack but have been reading for quite some time and decided on get my latest purchase, a filco majestouch 2 tenkeyless with cherry mx browns, based on popular opinions here. suffice to say i absolutely love it. i also own a razer bw and much prefer the brown switches.

i really want to try red switches though, and i have trawled the forum and still can't decide which option is best for me:

Filco Majestouch 2 Linear R tenkeyless ($187 AUD)
Ducky DK9000G2 ($139 AUD)
KBC Poker with red switches ($70 AUD, my cousin is going to china soon...)

i know ducky isn't very popular here, but is the filco worth the price premium?

thanks in advance

[reaper]

Welcome to GH and from you list, personally I'd go with Filco reds but that's just me tho.  =D

[noodles256]

wlcm 2 gh!

quackk.

[morethanless]

Can you only type: "wlcm 2 gh!" ?
This is the only thing I read from you

[docvic]

thanks for the replies and welcome!

Welcome to GH and from you list, personally I'd go with Filco reds but that's just me tho.  =D

i have been very impressed with my current Filco's quality, but i notice you have a Ducky KB and a KBC Poker; how is the quality of those?

just wish there was a bricks and mortar shop here in Australia so I can try these things out. Kind of buying by faith at the moment..

[noodles256]

wlcm 2 ocn doesn't roll off the keyboard quite as well.

[reaper]

i have been very impressed with my current Filco's quality, but i notice you have a Ducky KB and a KBC Poker; how is the quality of those?
just wish there was a bricks and mortar shop here in Australia so I can try these things out. Kind of buying by faith at the moment..

For me it goes like this Filco > Poker > Ducky.  I have all of them (in my sig) but my Ducky could be from an earlier batch so the quality isn't that great (it's the Ducky tenkeyless 1087).  They may have improved since then.  I'm looking to get another Ducky just to give it the benefit of the doubt.

[litster]

Reds are nice.  There is a seller on ebay selling Filco tenkeyless reds in black or white.  They are a lot more expensive than the other brands though.  Also, according th diatec.co.jp, they are  not making any more red, at least for a while.  So they will be harder to find.  Meanwhile, a lot of newer Chinese brands are starting to make reds.  So Maybe Filco will make more later.  Maybe Filco is just waiting for more red switches from Cherry in Germany.

[Larry Dallas]

I have a Ducky 1087 with browns and a Poker with reds. I haven't used the Ducky in the couple weeks since I got the poker, but it seems like the build quality is similar. The Poker might be slightly better. The main differences are in the layout and price. You have to use function keys to access arrows, f-keys, esc and delete on the poker, and the Ducky costs quite a bit more.

I find the Poker layout pretty easy to get used to, it keeps your hands near the home row, and the small form factor makes it easy to carry around, but it's definitely not for everyone. The Ducky does the job, but doesn't seem like it's worth the price premium over Poker, Noppoo, Plu etc. If you really want a Ducky, I'd wait until PCHome has the $10 shipping specials and buy it there.

[docvic]

i did notice the filco reds on ebay, although i can get them for a cheaper price delivered within australia from an online retailer. not the white ones though, they look pretty slick.

thanks for the comments, it certainly seems like ducky quality is quite a fair way behind the filcos. i'll probably get onto ordering a filco limited R then, some time this week. thankfully this retailer has a few in stock. i'll give some feedback as to how i find it when it arrives.

i'd love to know how the ducky dk9000g2 compares with it but i guess i'll never know.

[calavera]

Filco's are plate mounted so it's the most sturdy of the bunch. (not sure about duckys) The poker is just on PCB and more compact but less sturdy. This affecta the overall feedback of the switch. I always prefer plate mounted over PCB. But this is personal preference.

[docvic]

Filco's are plate mounted so it's the most sturdy of the bunch. (not sure about duckys) The poker is just on PCB and more compact but less sturdy. This affecta the overall feedback of the switch. I always prefer plate mounted over PCB. But this is personal preference.

AFAIK the Ducky keyboards also have plate-mounted switches, but I can safely say I'd prefer plate-mounted keys over PCB-mounted ones. I'll probably still get  KBC Poker in the near future, just for funsies.

Just as a side-question, is the sound of bottoming out the same for the browns and reds?