Cherry Switch Tester Holiday Tour 2011!

[dewcorps]

I just got back from school, and found the pad sitting on my kitchen table. After drumming my fingers on it for a while, I've grown to like clears and reds. I don't actually like ergo clears as much as I thought I would, but it makes me think I would like a board of greens. I like the click of the blues, but the force of the blacks. Also, a couple keys are pingy, so anyone who hasn't been exposed to that will be able to experience it firsthand! I'll add a fun picture to this post when I take one! Luckily, I have the longest span of time to do so, since I got it on a Friday! :biggrin:

XD I completely overlooked your post.

  I see you are selling a mx brown filco, any reason you are not keeping the keyboard? I was wondering how it compares to the blues in your opinion. Also if it turns out that I like the browns when the keypad arrives at my place, I would be very interested in buying the filco from you.

[Quarzac]

XD I completely overlooked your post.

  I see you are selling a mx brown filco, any reason you are not keeping the keyboard? I was wondering how it compares to the blues in your opinion. Also if it turns out that I like the browns when the keypad arrives at my place, I would be very interested in buying the filco from you.

I bought it for my friend, but he lost interest. Browns are like subtle blues, in my opinion. They basically tone down blues. Less noise, less tactility. Definitely more gaming-friendly, but I love the sound of blues too much to change over to it. Feel free to buy it sooner. I'm trying to get it out of my hair before Black Friday.

[cxxpsu]

tester received!
will update review and pics later

[Quarzac]

Alright, so I'm back for a definitive say on the tester:
I very much like it. Not only did it allow me to test a couple other switch types, but it also gave me an idea of the WASD keycaps, which was a nice bonus. A couple of the keys ping, but not a big deal. The blues sound very crisp, a touch higher than the ones on my Razer Blackwidow. The reds do have a nice balloon-y feel. The blacks are actually a lot nicer than I expected. Overall, a very nice experience.

As for my picture:
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ] 32460[/ATTACH]
A bit of a cop-out? Maybe. The girl in the picture asked me to go with her to get a tattoo, and we were supposed to go somewhere fun to take pictures with the numpad afterwards, but the evening was cut short, so I did the best I could.

[tsangan]

High school students getting tattoos

[demik]

should have made the tattoo artist hold the tester!

[cxxpsu]

You should take a picture of the tester with the new tattoo :smokin:

As for my picture:
(Attachment Link) 32460[/ATTACH]
A bit of a cop-out? Maybe. The girl in the picture asked me to go with her to get a tattoo, and we were supposed to go somewhere fun to take pictures with the numpad afterwards, but the evening was cut short, so I did the best I could.

[Quarzac]

should have made the tattoo artist hold the tester!

The tattoo artist was much less interesting than her. Plus, I left it in the car.

You should take a picture of the tester with the new tattoo :smokin:

The tattoo was kind of bleedy. Did not want to risk blood on the tester. That probably violates some sort of rule.

[demik]

just out of curiosity, what was the tattoo of?

don't have to answer if you dont want to.

[hashbaz]

So the real question is when are you seeing tattoo girl again.

[Quarzac]

just out of curiosity, what was the tattoo of?

don't have to answer if you dont want to.

A yin yang symbol without the outer circle for the white part. And no white.

So the real question is when are you seeing tattoo girl again.

The real question indeed. Though I'll see her at school on Monday, so... Monday?

[hashbaz]

The real question indeed. Though I'll see her at school on Monday, so... Monday?

Ok so you've shown her the numpad.  Step two is to get her to pull doubleshots with you for your group buy.  Once she sees the high-contrast legends and thick Cherry plastic she won't be able to resist you any longer.

[tsangan]

Ok so you've shown her the numpad.  Step two is to get her to pull doubleshots with you for your group buy.  Once she sees the high-contrast legends and thick Cherry plastic she won't be able to resist you any longer.

I couldn't help but laugh at that comment :rofl:

[hashbaz]

I couldn't help but laugh at that comment :rofl:

Seriously though it could happen.  Chicks dig geeks these days.  Quarzac, just don't show her your Blackwidow or she might think you're a nub.

[Quarzac]

Ok so you've shown her the numpad.  Step two is to get her to pull doubleshots with you for your group buy.  Once she sees the high-contrast legends and thick Cherry plastic she won't be able to resist you any longer.

:rofl:
Though, I COULD use another hand... Hmm...

Seriously though it could happen.  Chicks dig geeks these days.  Quarzac, just don't show her your Blackwidow or she might think you're a nub.

I'll remember that. All I need now are some more nerdy keycaps. I don't know if she likes Portal. Though *****es love Portal.

[demik]

Order a triforce!

If the panties don't drop at the sight of triforce, something is wrong.

[cxxpsu]

Before I got the tester I only have experiences with browns (filco mj2 and xarmor u9) and blues (razor). Now among the new types I'd say I like the ergo-clears best. It somehow feels close to brown but has more tactile and slightly less force. It's very enjoyable under fast typing.
The reds and blacks are the only ones without tactile. They feel good but I prefer the tactile ones since I type a lot and don't do much gaming.
Greens are also tactile and clicky, but require more force than the blues.
Tacto-blacks, by name, are blacks with a tactile feel. Somehow I couldn't feel much difference between tacto-black and grey -  they are just heavy with tactile.
sorting by the strength of tactile feel, ergo-clear > clear > tacto-black ≈ grey > brown
in terms of required force, I feel grey > clear > tacto-black > brown > ergo-clear

so, if I get a chance to buy my next mechanic kb, I will try ergo-clears ;-)

Now I'm done with the review part. As a newbie I just couldn't write anything more professional...
On the way of taking the tester to some interesting places ;-)

[litster]

Good review, cxxcpu!  Good to see my baby arrived safe and sound.  I am also interested in opinion about the numpad layout.  

With the limitation of the numpad, I sorted the switches by tactile feedback and then by weight.  So red and black on top, then brown, ergo clear, clear, and tacto-black (aka panda clear).  Blue IMO is very different than everything else as its stem has a piston.  Because it is clicky and different than all other switches, I put it on the left and they take up only 2 switches.  And the green and the grey switches are inlcuded as most people don't get to try them even if you have a modern keyboard for every Cherry switch color.  Another arrangement I could do would be to replace green and grey switches with a full column of blues.

The color of the stems are showing through in your picture.  But usually I can't see them that well in person.  I like Hashbaz's color keycaps.

[demik]

How easy is it to find these gold touch numpads? And what's usually the going rate for one?

[hashbaz]

I got mine for $20 on Amazon, but it was refurbished.  I believe they are around $40 new.  I haven't seen any other refurbs available since I got mine.  This one on ebay is $15 shipped, has 21 keys (vs. 22 on the Goldtouch), and is PCB mounted (thus waaaay easier to mod).

[demik]

thanks, going to buy it tomorrow and mod the switch to ergo clears or something else.

[Retox]

Anyway I could get in on this or is it too late?

[hashbaz]

Where do you live?

[cxxpsu]

Today I brought the tester here to visit the ancestors of nowadays computer
We started with the calculators in 1940s.


This is another calculator dedicated to solving differential equations :-)


The ABC, world's first digital computing device:


The tester sat with the IBM System/360, the first mainframe that costed $150,000 at that time:



The tester with UNIVAC, the first commercial computer in US:


The test with LGP-30. look at the keyboard, those are pure mechanic keys


The test with MIT LINC, the first personal computer :-)


(to be continued)

[demik]

Wow, the tester couldn't have made a better first stop!

[cxxpsu]

Some interesting keyboards I saw in the museum:

The maltron left-handed keyboard



The safe-type ergo keyboard (vertical ones..). The mirrors are there so that the positions of the keys can be seen...



The DVORAK "homebrew" keyboard:


This one is actually a cherry kb!


The IBM butterfly machine, it's said to keep a comfortable size of the keys the engineers created such a butterfly design

[hashbaz]

Epic man, thanks for the pictures!  I've been meaning to check this place out.  Now I have to go if only to see all those sweet early keyboards.

[cxxpsu]

Epic man, thanks for the pictures!  I've been meaning to check this place out.  Now I have to go if only to see all those sweet early keyboards.

There are some, but not  many early keyboards in the museum. The reason is keyboards were not invented with computers - they existed long before the computers were ever born ;-)

[hashbaz]

There are some, but not  many early keyboards in the museum. The reason is keyboards were not invented with computers - they existed long before the computers were ever born ;-)

-___-

Ok so early was the wrong word.  I meant old computer keyboards, like the ones in your pictures -- UNIVAC, System/360, etc.

[litster]

Today I brought the tester here to visit the ancestors of nowadays computer

OMG!  Great pictures with my tester!  I was smiling the whole time as I read through your posts.  Thank you.

I don't know how other people in line will be able to top this.  I look forward to pictures from them to attempt to one up you :-)

[SirClickAlot]

Why isn't this thread sticky??? Over at deskthority both threads are ;-)

[litster]

Maybe it should be.  But there aren't any sticky in the Keyboard forum.

[Skoobs]

wait... one of the keypads has greens on it? which one? the east coast one or the west coast one?

[hashbaz]

The west coast tester has a single green switch and a single grey switch.

[cxxpsu]

I have shipped the tester to RogueThunder.
The tracking number is 9101 1288 8230 0001 5398 36

[hashbaz]

Thanks!

[demik]

thanks again to both of you for doing this.

[hashbaz]

thanks again to both of you for doing this.

:yo:

[demik]

i'll be in the bay area celebrating if the 49ers win the super bowl this year, lets set up a keyboardcon!

[Danny356]

Is there anywhere i can buy one of these cherry samplers? Either a number pad like this or a full keyboard, idc. I would LOVE to have one of those

[hashbaz]

Is there anywhere i can buy one of these cherry samplers? Either a number pad like this or a full keyboard, idc. I would LOVE to have one of those

They're not available commercially, no.  You have to make one yourself or buy one from someone who made one.

[Danny356]

Sorry, I worded it incorrectly. I meant to ask if anyone would know of anyone or be willing to make one for me

[hashbaz]

Sorry, I worded it incorrectly. I meant to ask if anyone would know of anyone or be willing to make one for me

I'm willing to assemble one for you if you pay for all the parts plus something reasonable for me for doing the legwork.  Though honestly if you get a PCB-mounted numpad like this one it's not hard to do the switch mod yourself (no soldering required).  Shoot me a PM if you're interested and we can discuss it.

[Skoobs]

i will probably make a number pad if i end up liking clears or ergo clears or some kind of combo. that way i can get a keyboard with whatever i like (clears are only available on tenkeyless leopolds, or i will make an ergo clear poker)

super excited that i get to try out green and grey as well.

[Skoobs]

i think it comes to me towards the end, but i can throw in a 50a o-ring and a firm soft landing pad for people to try in the next round.

they can be tried separately, but I prefer to use them at the same time. my keyboard has both installed- the o-ring holds the soft landing pad on the key.

[hashbaz]

That would be great, thanks Skoobs!

[Mr. Perfect]

Though honestly if you get a PCB-mounted numpad like this one it's not hard to do the switch mod yourself (no soldering required).

That's a Cherry switch numpad? For $15? Wow. Separately, the switches alone would cost more then that. Any idea what color switch they are?

[hashbaz]

I think ripster said they are blue.  Could be wrong though.

[litster]

That's a Cherry switch numpad? For $15? Wow. Separately, the switches alone would cost more then that. Any idea what color switch they are?

If you need switches, you can join the Phantom group buy.  You can order just switches if you want.  Click my signature to goto the Phantom group buy thread.

[Mr. Perfect]

I think ripster said they are blue.  Could be wrong though.

I should have guessed, there's something about numbers work that demands the click.

If you need switches, you can join the Phantom group buy.  You can order just switches if you want.  Click my signature to goto the Phantom group buy thread.

Hey, you've got almost every color too. Which grey is that? The linear, or the tactile?