tt esports Meka G-Unit gaming keyboard

[ThufirTwo]

Moin!
Since I got many useful information here on geekhack it's time to give back - here is my review on the Tt esports Meka G-Unit mechanical gaming keyboard:

My old Lenovo "IBM" keyboard was giving up on some keys and my flat notebook-like keyboard is ruined after one year - so I was looking for a solid mechanical keyboard. I decided to get the ttesports Meka G-Unit. After reading some reviews, I thought the G-Unit would combine everything you can hope for in a keyboard: solid cherry blacks, some fancy backlighting, media and macro keys and all keys fully programmable. So what did I get?

First thing: It is ugly - maybe teenagers like this kind of design but I have my doubts: My teenage daughter asked me first thing she saw the keyboard: "do you really think this is cool?" After spending 130 euros I cleared my throat and mumbled: "well, kind off..." - I sometimes lie to my kids and anyhow - keyboards simply have to work, right?

Picture - couldn't upload - link to very good pictures at the end of text...

Next: the G-Unit sure does ring - since no review mentioned this, I don't know if it's only my specific model - but mine rings like a bell and on every key! I am typing (professionally) with a very individual and chaotic 8 finger system - pretty fast but also hard. So when I type, the keyboard really starts to sing. But also when trying to touch-type - the metalframe will vibrate on any key you let go to fast...

Additionally the singing was accompanied by the hollow-plastic-drum-sound of the palm rest after every movement of my hands. But since the palm rest can be opened by unsrewing 5 screws, it feels very solid now filled with foam and stripes of heavy sound surpressing foil.

And I don't like that the ö ä ü keys on the german layout are imprinted in a slightly different position to the other keys - maybe that is smallminded, but hey - it would have been easy to do it right.

So - was buying this keyboard a mistake? I don't know yet:

I like the sheeted detachable usb-cable, the two usb-ports and the audio jacks (I didn't check them, for I use a Sennheiser usb-headset - but good to have, why not?).

Backlighting on a desktop keyboard is only a gimmick imho - so the limited 3 zone backlighting is just that, a nice to have gimmick - but it looks like it's made for working (on games that is) not for showing off - which is an attitude i prefer.

I really do enjoy the 12 macro-keys that you can program to 3 easily switchable profiles in the so called "normal" mode. So if you can remember the bindings (sic!), that's 36 functions in easy reach. In "game" mode (extra toggle-switch) the WIN-Key is disabled and you get 8 more macros per profile, which can be bound to any key on the board - in total 60. On top of that, but only in "game" mode, you are free to assign all keys to different ones - in "normal" mode you are restricted to the 12 additional "t-keys". The GUI works fine after some tuning with Kaspersky: antivirus has to learn there is no bad keylogger working - which makes sense.

A very good feature is the on-board memory for the macros and key-bindings - just take the keyboard and your settings to the next computer (well, for sophisticated macros and launch program settings, the paths to the folders have to be identical - but that comes not as a surprise...).

Resumé: The G-Unit sure doesn't have the classy look of a Filco or Das but unlike my daughter I have a soft spot for underdogs and therefor sympathy for the functional-work-beast-look of this G-Unit thing (and Filcos do ring as well - ha!).

I appreciate the many extras compared to "regular" keyboards. The overall built is very solid appart from the palm rest - if you fill it up with foam, it is still cheap plastic but it feels different. Since I couldn't wait I paid 130 euros when it was first offered in an online store in europe two weeks ago (ditech). It is now available for 100 euros (caseking), which is a very reasonable price.

BUT I will keep the keyboard only if I can get rid of the ringing frame: I ordered soft o-rings from WASDkeyboards and will open the mother up and see what I can do to the ringing frame: tape, silma® KF-25 foil, bits of foam and rubber - we will see.

couldn't upload pictures so have a look here, where they even opened the keyboard:

edit: damn - can't even set links - so you have google for pictures...


Regards - ThufirTwo

[pitashen]

Ping* ?

Congrats with the new mech board.

The ping/ring sound usually occurs when the keys rebounded from the depressed position. I personally doubt the o-ring will help it.

ping/ring issue is very individual dependent. It has to do the way you type and how sensitive you are to the sound/noise. That being said, pretty much all mech boards make ring/ping sound if you look for it.

[flaming_june]

Supposed to come out in Mar, I mean May, I mean Aug, I mean Xmas in NA, right?

[ZorK]

Hi there...Is there any black coating?or any sign of letters wearing off till now?

[ThufirTwo]

Hi there...Is there any black coating?or any sign of letters wearing off till now?

No coating. Keys are fine after (only) 7 weeks, but i'm sure they will wear off after some time since the letters are imprinted, save for the few led-keys.

What the ring/ping is concerned I was able to get rid of it (almost): I stuffed the case with rubber-foam and fixed "heavy-foil" (don't know the english expression - it's similar to the kind of bitumen-mat that is used to dampen noise/vibration in speakers or computer-cases) to all reachable parts of the metal-plate and the inner casing (it's the "corpus" of the instrument - right?). Soft o-rings on top and now only the space key still rings when it is released.

But I still can't believe the ring/ping is no issue for so many here on geekhack - the manufacturers simply would have to dampen vibrations of the pcb and the metal-plate and the problem would be done with. Keyboards definitely shouldn't sound like a zither - which reminds me of a great movie: "The Third Man" ...

[flaming_june]

Thufir I've got one now too.  Hate blacks but what can I do?  Need them macro buttons.  Maybe next summer I'll convert it to browns.

I also hate reds.

[ThufirTwo]

Right, Rispster, there are no dead bodies on my desk...^^ (corpus was my misleading direct translation from the german word Korpus)
But I doubt that dampening the PCB and Plate has to get that messy when you do something against it while assembling the board.

And congratulations flaming_june - but changing the blacks to browns is probably not worth the effort and money - there is a good chance, that there will be other keyboards around next summer that might suit you better. And I must say, I like the blacks more and more the longer I work on them...