Cherry Switch Tester Holiday Tour 2011!

[Lmnr]

Finally :O lol hopefully it will determine my next kb purchase...

[wcass]

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[AKIMbO]

I just got back from wcass's place where I got to try some buckling spring keyboards (Model M and Model F AT).

Impressions:
Browns= Gritty reds...not smooth at all.  Very unsatisfying.
Blues= Very crisp switch.  Almost as good as a Model M & Model F.
Blacks= Very spongy but very smooth.  My third favorite switch.  
Reds= A very light switch.  I really like this switch.
Clears= The bump makes the switch very rough.  Possibly the roughest switch on the tester.
Ergo-clears= Just a tad smoother that the clears...but still incredibly rough.

I have to say that trying cherry switches side by side with buckling springs sealed the deal for me.  There is no comparison to buckling springs.  Every cherry switch fell short.  Even the blue switch, which is the most comparable to buckling springs, didn't hold a flame to the real deal.  I will now be keeping my eye out for a good deal on a Model F AT.  Reds are good for gaming...but buckling springs just feel so smooth.

[wcass]

i've been on a computer since 1981 and most of the keyboards i have used are "vintage" simply because i have collected some long lasting boards. i wanted to try the Cherry Tester to see what all you youngsters are raving about and i find myself ... unimpressed.
 
i have had an ibm Model M and a Focus 2001 since about 1990. the controller on the Focus died about 8 years ago and i got rid of it, but i think i like the Alps in that better than any of the Cherries.

i just recently picked up and started using an ibm model F AT and find it to be the most enjoyable to type on - though i dislike the key layout. if any company built a modern equivalent to this board, i would pay big bucks for it in a heartbeat  (hay Unicomp, you listening?). as no one does make a modern equivalent, i guess i will just have to make one.

so to get back on topic, i would have to say that the key tester helped me to find the right switch for me – even though that switch is not a Cherry.

Thanks hashbaz!

[hashbaz]

Browns= Gritty reds...not smooth at all.  Very unsatisfying.

A man after my own heart.  I'm not a fan of browns.

I have to say that trying cherry switches side by side with buckling springs sealed the deal for me.  There is no comparison to buckling springs.  Every cherry switch fell short.

The tester has been successful!  Thanks for the review.

[hashbaz]

so to get back on topic, i would have to say that the key tester helped me to find the right switch for me – even though that switch is not a Cherry.

Thanks hashbaz!

No problem, glad you guys were able to get together on this.

[AKIMbO]

Tester has been mailed off to Lmnr.

[Lmnr]

I have recieved the tester and after a good 30 minutes I can tell which ones im thinking of getting.
#1 BLUES - Not as loud as people make them out to be. great crisp feeling and light.
#2 BLACKS - Very smooth.
#3 REDS - same smooth feeling but lighter.
#4 ERGOS - unique feel and clear bump.

browns and clears I did not like..

Will be adding a pic and maybe a vid.

[xrxxxr]

So excited to see it in my mailbox tonight.
I like the blue switches most and enjoy the crispy clicks and my girlfriend likes the ergo clear. We both like the clicking feelings.

In terms of the bump feelings (most obvious to less so):
Blue (Very crispy)
Ergo clear (obvious bump)
Brown ("gritty")
Clear (slight bump)
Red (smooth)
Black (Very smooth)

Thanks Hashbaz for sharing the tester around. Comparing them side-by-side is very helpful and I made up my mind without any hesitate.

This is the tester sitting with my GF's kitties:

[hashbaz]

Thanks for the review and the pic!

[yttrium]

Sign me up for round two, this looks like a fun opportunity. New Jersey.

[Exort]

Sign me for second round. Canada BC.

[hashbaz]

The tester is on its way back to me.  I'll start trying to figure out round 2.  What does everyone think of a deposit system to ensure the replacement of the tester should someone decide to be a jerk and keep it?  I'm thinking something like gifting me or litster $30 before you receive the tester, and then once you've shipped to the next person, we gift it back.

[fohat.digs]

I have been on the waiting list since Thanksgiving.

If no one has ripped you off by now, why should they start?

[hashbaz]

We thought the tester was gone for about a month.  It's made me cautious.

[litster]

I have been on the waiting list since Thanksgiving.

If no one has ripped you off by now, why should they start?

Or we can use post count or join date to decide who get to be on the list or not.  Or we don't do any tour at all.

[fohat.digs]

OK, it's your deal. My understanding was that the hiatus was due to a medical emergency. It would have been nice if there was notice, but even a huge deposit would not have changed that situation ......

[Appeac]

What use would someone possibly have for a keypad with various switches that don't do anything!? Scumbags of the earth...

I'd rather go for a deposit system if it is required. I've been lurking for a long time and I hope not to miss out on a great opportunity because of it!

[wcass]

my 2 cents ...

one of the keyboard vendors should sponsor this in the form of replacement costs if lost. it would cost that company next to nothing, but build the brand's reputation and good-will with the community.

[Roguemaster8]

WASD Keyboards might.

I would be okay with the deposit, but could it be a little lower, like $20?

[The Ricker]

I think a deposit is prudent. Not only does it cover replacement if it's lost, but it encourages shipping the tester on time as well to keep things moving.

[oldCrow]

$30 deposit feels steep to me. I'd rather see a $5 donation, to get yourself on the list, and then if it goes missing, chances are the tester-providers have covered their costs, and may even stand to make a little money for their efforts.  With shipping that would mean about $11 for most US-US cities, and that seems like a fair price to me for a switch tester "rental."

[litster]

You would rather pay $5 to rent, instead of putting $30 deposit down and getting the whole $30 back when the person next in line receives the tester?  Interesting concept.

[oldCrow]

Yeah. You still lose some money with PayPaling back and forth (they take their cut); and frankly, I think y'all are doing us a great service with the testers, and I'm willing to pay a small fee for the privilege of benefitting from the builders' time and money spent. If they get a small reward for it, I consider it a "rental" fee.

When the tester goes missing, $30 likely won't pay for it, where as the donation model could.

Instinctively, I'd rather send away $5 than $30, but of course that's short-term thinking...!

I'll roll either way, I just thought I'd put it out there.

[Exort]

So We have to trust who mail it to you and who you will being mailing to?
If someone really want to keep it for himself, it would just say he never got it and it is last person's fault. Or pretend he send it to the next person.

[Roguemaster8]

So We have to trust who mail it to you and who you will being mailing to?
If someone really want to keep it for himself, it would just say he never got it and it is last person's fault. Or pretend he send it to the next person.

I think this is where post count, feedback, and join date might be useful. Though I'm not sure WHY anyone would want a multi-switch number pad, other then to be a douche. It certainly would be a pain in the ass to use on a daily basis.

[hashbaz]

Yeah. You still lose some money with PayPaling back and forth (they take their cut); and frankly, I think y'all are doing us a great service with the testers, and I'm willing to pay a small fee for the privilege of benefitting from the builders' time and money spent. If they get a small reward for it, I consider it a "rental" fee.

When the tester goes missing, $30 likely won't pay for it, where as the donation model could.

Instinctively, I'd rather send away $5 than $30, but of course that's short-term thinking...!

I'll roll either way, I just thought I'd put it out there.

I don't think Paypal takes a cut of gift payments.  I have considered charging a rental fee before, but I thought a deposit would be more desirable to you guys.  And yeah, I did put quite a bit more than $30 into this thing.  At any rate I didn't do this to make money, but a simple fee would avoid the hassle of confirming shipping and refunding deposits and whatnot.  I've started working on a full-size keyboard tester as well, maybe the rental fees could fund that project.

So We have to trust who mail it to you and who you will being mailing to?
If someone really want to keep it for himself, it would just say he never got it and it is last person's fault. Or pretend he send it to the next person.

Refunding the deposit would happen after I confirm that you have shipped.  So you'd have to send me the tracking number and I'd have to verify it was going to the right city, etc.  If it gets lost in the mail you still get your deposit back.

[litster]

Most people who would need/want to try a tester are new folks joining the forum.  More often than not, these members do not have high enough post count or old enough join date to be a recognized member of the community.  I have been working with many different long time members here and I frequently send paypal money as gift or send out stuff to people before receiving payments.  

The honest truth is we don't know the people who want to join the tester tour well enough.  In time we will.  But to make it easy and efficient to run the tour with a level of certainty, a $30 deposit sounds very reasonable to me.  As hashbaz said, it cost more money to create the tester than $30.  You can't buy a Goldtouch numpad for $30 right now, let alone getting all the different switches that are needed, and the time to mod it.  You can't pay me enough to make you a tester.  A $30 deposit that you will get back is way more than reasonable.

[SirClickAlot]

Ah yes. I see hashbaz is going through the same 'trust' thing I have been going through.

I already lost 2 items due to people not following the rules.( A perfectly good original topre keychain and my self-made SwitchTryBoard )

Several solutions were offered in my thread here. At the end of the 'brainstorm' I liked ascaii's suggestion best -> if the chain of trust gets broken, the whole chain of participants makes sure there will be compensation for the original provider of the switch try item so he can create another one and the chain is linked again. 1 4 All and All 4 1. Chivalry inside mechanical keyboard land. Who would have thought.... This makes sure the process isn't in the way for the 99.9 percent of the people who follow the rules.

@hashbaz : You might want to try this as well, I know I'm going to implement the 14All^All41 rule for my sinklist items to be sent out in May/June.

Regards.

[Djuzuh]

I'm afraid this method may remove some of the moral incentives of not stealing the item, because
- There will be a replacement object, so everybody will try it anyway
- The owner won't suffer the loss
- You have to pay back a part of the object

This helps to remove the guilt, and thus promote the stealing a bit.

It's sad however to not being able to trust the community

[hashbaz]

Thanks SirClickAlot and Djuzuh for bringing up good points.  I've been considering something along the lines of "one for all and all for one".  The more I think about it, the more I don't want to do the deposit.  It's a lot of extra work and it won't stop someone who truly just wants to steal the tester.  The main reason I don't like it, however, is that it embodies a distrust in the entire community which I just don't feel.

I know that most of you are stand-up guys who will treat borrowed items with respect.  I don't like punishing the community to account for the possibility of a few jerks among us.  And fortunately I think there are enough of us interested in this that replacing the tester wouldn't be very painfully financially if a bunch of you chipped in a few bucks each.

[hashbaz]

The tester arrived back home to me a few days ago.  Unfortunately I've been too busy with the moogle kit group buy to get the next round organized.

But FORTUNATELY, I was able to get a sweet deal on two more Goldtouch numpads which should be arriving today, and which I will be turning into testers.  So we will have four testers total burning through the now quite large sign-up list shown in the OP.

I'm going to start sending PMs to everyone in that list to find out who is still around and who is still interested.

[yttrium]

Looking forward to it, and I'm glad we don't have to make the immediate deposit - I prefer the one for all policy much more.

[litster]

I am going up to Vancouver, BC this Friday.  If you can get me the first person's name and address, I can get the Canada tour started right away.  It would be great if it is someone in the Vancouver/West Vancouver/Richmond area.  Let's start from the west coast and move toward east.

[hashbaz]

I am going up to Vancouver, BC this Friday.  If you can get me the first person's name and address, I can get the Canada tour started right away.  It would be great if it is someone in the Vancouver/West Vancouver/Richmond area.  Let's start from the west coast and move toward east.

Will do.

[litster]

In Canada, there isn't something like USPS's Priority Mail with a free, nice box, is there?  If so I will have to supply a box, and people may need to replace the box while the tester is on tour.  Any recommended shipping option for shipping within Canada?

[nar]

Canada Post does have prepaid XpressPost shipping envelopes. You could probably fit the tester in one, though I'm not sure about how good the padding/protection would be.

Smaller Envelopes are $10-$15 depending on the destination. The largest envelope definitely will fit the tester and has padding too, but it's closer to $30.

[wiredPANDA]

Sign me up for round two, as well.    [Baton Rouge, LA]

I'm new to the GH community, but I'm trying to dive in where I can between work and home.  These keyboards are pulling me in quicker than I thought.  I just got a Leopold TKL with browns and I'm eyeing the Filco Maj, now; just don't know if I want to stick with brown switches or try something else.  Sadly, there aren't many places to test boards around here.

And I'm fine with whatever method for 'trust' you decide on.

[hashbaz]

Sign me up for round two, as well.    [Baton Rouge, LA]

I'm new to the GH community, but I'm trying to dive in where I can between work and home.  These keyboards are pulling me in quicker than I thought.  I just got a Leopold TKL with browns and I'm eyeing the Filco Maj, now; just don't know if I want to stick with brown switches or try something else.  Sadly, there aren't many places to test boards around here.

And I'm fine with whatever method for 'trust' you decide on.

Added you to the list.

Also, I received the extra numpads today.  I'm taking inventory of what extra switches I have laying around and will be modding them soon.  Also preparing the Canadian tour.

[yttrium]

Oh, cool, I just realized - I can take a picture of the tester at the M&M's factory.

[hashbaz]

Oh, cool, I just realized - I can take a picture of the tester at the M&M's factory.

Nice!

So I'm starting to mod the two new testers in preparation for the multi-pronged round 2.  I've ordered some red switches from WASD, which are the only ones I didn't have sitting around.  I haven't heard back from all the Canadians yet on their shipping addresses.

Early on in this thread I solicited names for the original tester, but I didn't really like any of them.  Now that there are going to be three of them (four, counting litster's), I feel like they need matching names.  The only thing I've come up with so far is Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  Lame, I know.

Anyone have better suggestions?

[Game Theory]

Something like
Sweet/Wild Cherry - Prunus Avium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_avium
Cherry Blossom - Prunus Serrulata - East Asian Cherry -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_serrulata
Sour Cherry - Prunus Cerasus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_cerasus
 + ?
Cherry Laurel - Prunus Laurocerasus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry-laurel

[litster]

Sweet/Wild Cherry - Prunus Avium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_avium

Is that how PrinsValium got his name?

Actually, berry names sounds good.  Strawberry, Blackberry, Boysenberry, Raspberry, Blueberry.  What other berry names?

[yttrium]

Elderberry.

[hashbaz]

I will try to get the new testers finished this weekend.  In the meantime, check out the Topre Switch Tester tour!

[noisyturtle]

Interested in this when she starts making the rounds again.

[Shogunner]

I too am very interested in this.

[ahjota]

I would also like to try this out. Fairfax, VA.

[hashbaz]

Interested in this when she starts making the rounds again.

I too am very interested in this.

I would also like to try this out. Fairfax, VA.

Added you guys to the list.

[NorrisB]

you think you guys could hurry up a little