Why wouldn't I like a Noppoo Choc Mini 84 ?

[enoy21]

Here is what I want :

Filco TKL in Cherry Red MX switches



Here is what I don't want :

Quality and feel off or lower than a Filco ( just going off reviews and conversations all over the web about Filco quality )



What I currently have and really like is a WASD in Blues


So , What are some things about a Noppoo Choc Mini 84 that might turn me off ?
What are some drawbacks to this board over others ?  


The Price seems great and the Red switches seem to be available.... So ... What's not to love ?


Thanks

[Atenacius]

I really like my Choc Mini with MX Blacks which I use for AutoCAD at work. The quality is pretty good for the price. I don't think it's significantly lower than the Filco. The letters may fade slightly for some keys but overall they don't wear out as quickly as most people claim. The layout also takes a bit of getting use to as it's not a traditional tenkeyless, especially if you use the Delete, Home and End keys.

[alaricljs]

My first board was a Choc Mini w/ browns.  I sold it within days and bought a Filco, here's why:

Layout:  
Don't like that the F-keys aren't clustered, I'm used to it and don't want to change.
Shrunken Win-key.  I like the modifiers all the same size.
I would prefer Home and End to be physical.  The 3 different LED keys could have been Fn-d.

When I got mine the key-print was really very dim.  If they haven't fixed it (I hear they have, but haven't seen it) then that would be a complaint as well.  Built quality was great and I loved the feel and sound of the keys.  This led me to get PBT caps for my Filco.

[enoy21]

I think my biggest thing is that I already have enough miniature sized items in the area of my keyboard shelf.   Would adding one more really make me more of a man ?  

Seriously , I am concerned with it being TOO small , and the location of the arrow keys being so close.  I like TKL because everything else is pretty much standard location and should be small enough to allow more comfort when gaming.

But I'm pretty sure that I really want REDS. So I'm considering what alternatives I have in the Filco quality range.

[alaricljs]

CM Storm Rapid/Quick wtf? Fire...   PCHome is selling them and it comes to ~$110 shipped to the US.  Nifty red plate too...

[BababooeyHTJ]

The Noppoo is a quality keyboard. Check out this review. I also prefer these thick POM keycaps with a rougher texture to the thiner ABS keycaps with a satin finish on the filco. The filco keycaps have more resilient lettering though. Other than that the only two gripes that I had with the Noppoo is the non standard layout and the fake numberpad. I like a standard keyboard so that I never have to look for anything. The lettering also makes the keys look almost blank when its just a little dark so that doesn't help matters. When logging into windows for some reason number lock likes to pop on so before typing in my password I always had to remember to turn it off. Not a huge issue but annoying still.

[spdx]

One thing I don't like: [Home] = [Fn]+pPgUp] and [End]=[Fn]+[PgDn], which are frequently used editing keys in most editors.

[hashbaz]

I have both a Filco and a Choc Mini.  Love both of them.  The Filco is definitely more solid, of course, but the Choc does not feel cheap by any means.  I do dislike that home and end are on the function layer, and that it won't work on a Mac without adapters.

[enoy21]

CM Storm Rapid/Quick wtf? Fire...   PCHome is selling them and it comes to ~$110 shipped to the US.  Nifty red plate too...

I don't much care for the Corsair due to the Function keys being domes.  

Some of that is my concern with the Noppoo. Function keys and the placement of the Directional arrows.  I don't use the function keys all that much , but I do use them and I tend to use the arrows alot.  I'm still learning to type more effeciently as is and a different key lay out than what I use at work or on other Keyboards would likely cause an issue.  I'm just not sure how MUCH of an issue and therefore and wondering how quickly others adjusted or how they do when going back and fourth between the two.

[alaricljs]

I don't much care for the Corsair due to the Function keys being domes.

Ermm.. the CM Storm is a completely different brand than Corsair.  It's basically a Filco clone that's cheaper, has a silly key font and in the case of the red switch model has a red plate.  Non-red switch models have a silver/grey case instead of black.

Here we go.

[enoy21]

Do'h... My mistake then.   I'll take a look

That looks pretty nice. I had seen that review , but it was early on and not much information was given on it.



I would be interested to see what  updates they may or may not have done and also to see whre it's available with english speaking websites ( seeing as I don't know any other languages )

[Mazora]

It depends, for me the layout is important. Noppoo fails at it. Also, keycaps + font colors are both terrible, which makes me rate this keyboard way below the Filco.

Its true though that I had to change the keycaps of the filco because the stock ones sucked badly. But can you change the keycaps on the Choco?

[alaricljs]

You can change the caps on the Choc, only issue is that they are Cherry height/profile and not Filco/SP/everyone else height/profile.  So getting a full set with matching height and matching legends pretty much requires that you get in on the group buy for a full set rather than trying to piece together a set from elsewhere.

[alaricljs]

As far as availability (in english) you're looking at ebay and qtan's shop (vendor forum - e-lite gaming... )

[Captain Hat]

When logging into windows for some reason number lock likes to pop on so before typing in my password I always had to remember to turn it off. Not a huge issue but annoying still.

That's something you change in your computer's BIOS settings, not something to do with the keyboard.  If you haven't got experience with changing BIOS settings I wouldn't recommend fiddling with them, but in the "advanced" or "boot" page of your BIOS menu you should be able to set the default NUMLOCK state on startup.  I almost always switch it to "off" with my computers as almost the first thing I do, even before I start playing with the clock speed...

Thinking of getting a gaming board myself, the Choc Mini looks like a decent choice, relatively cheap for a fully mechanical NKRO board and with all the keys I need to play most of the games I like.  Might even think about selling my old ALPS BS board if I get one and decide I like it...  maybe.