Hello everyone, decently long lurker for the past couple months and thanks to you guys i finally just got back from driving to the TG3 Electronics factory in kenosha (50 minutes from my house since i live in wisconsin) and picked up my Deck legend ice tactical (MX Clears).
After having a terrible experience with the razer blackwidow ultimate (cherry mx blues) with the switches completely breaking on them (the clicking completely stopped and the keys starting doubling over repeating each key twice) i decided to look into the browns & clears. The reason why i picked the clears over sticking with blues or going with browns is due to the fact that i have been using membrane keyboards for over a decade and i kept accidentally pushing keys down just resting my hand on my blackwidow keys. To top it off it was almost impossible to double tap keys for certain games. I used to be a super die hard razer fan, but after having a terrible experience with my lycosa, my lachesis, and now my blackwidow ultimate i can safely say that razer going viral has turned their manufacturing into sub-par garbage and the only things worth buying from them now are their older versions of their mice & vespula mouse pad.
Although after reading around i was seriously contemplating getting the blackwidow stealth edition due to the brown key switches & the keyboard actually being backlit thanks to you guys i found out about deck and can not be happier with the keyboard i am using to post this topic right now.
Onto the Deck..It was a fantastic pleasure to actually go to the factory in person. I got to meet a whole bunch of the staff and mess around with their mx clears and blacks and take a good look at their deck 82 (which i might add i should of got). Being a sewing contractor and having my own facility you take real pride in products that are made by people who have pure passion for their work. Their keyboards are bar none & top of the line, daskeyboard although is a seriously awesome and well built keyboard they still do not match the sheer construction put into these masterpieces. The secretary literally handed me a keycap remover and let me go to town on 3 of their keyboards and i spent a good 30 minutes just typing blankly on their keyboards getting a feel with the clears over the blacks. The deck is an expensive keyboard but i can not stress enough, there will not be a single regret when you purchase this keyboard other then if the switches are not right for you.
For those who are contemplating MX Clears: I have read alot of people saying the clears will cause fatigue and i will add that this notion is actually fairly true. I have also noticed that over the past couple of days the switches have gotten less stiff. I was told at TG3's offices that the clear switches normally start off pretty stiff but loosen up quite a bit over time and i found this to be true (no its not just me getting used to the keys they are getting easier to press) I feel people are getting the wrong idea on how the key resistance actually works (i did) if the keys are linear the only thing that is making the keys hard to press is the springs which only get harder the farther you press the key down. If the key has a tactile bump the actuation is really all that you should be focusing on anyway. Example: The blacks have a high press weight ONLY if you bottom out, the blacks are much easier at the start of your press then the mx clears due to to the blacks having no tactile bump. Although, if you are using your clears and you are bottoming out on them it will feel as if the clears weigh 2x as much as the blacks. In the end if you dont bottom out your clears or blacks the blacks will feel super light compared to the clears. Due to the blacks being linear & having no tactile bump (aka resistance is what i call it) they are near impossible not to bottom out on them.
Blues: They are light before the click then you get slight resistance, then even lighter after the click. You will bottom out pretty easy on these and resting your hand on the keys has a high chance of activating them
Blacks: Was super easy to type on them, the keys felt like they activated with ease. The problem that comes from these is 1. you will always bottom out 2. it is hard to know when the key actually is being activated without actually bottoming out. After you do spend time with the blacks and learn when the key activates and teach your self not to bottom out on them the blacks can be much better choice then clears due to them having no resistance fatigue.
Cherry MX Clear personal opinion: If you are coming from using a membrane keyboard i highly suggest your first keyboard being clears. Cherry mx blues, browns, and even blacks will click down if you try resting your hands on them. After typing on mx blacks to mx clear comparison it actually feels like the blacks were as light as blues. I find the reason why the clears have a lighter actuation is due to the fact that the actuation point is so high, and the clears having the black springs does an extremely good job at stopping me from bottoming out. There was nothing stopping me from bottoming out AT ALL on the blues or blacks. I find that the clears actually having an actuation point is what lets me rest my fingers on the keys without them being pushed down. To top it all off, my clears are an absolute perfect balance for typing and gaming, i double tap keys with ease and the tougher feeling switches makes me type great. I find my self making much much less typing errors then on any of my previous switches. Although i was typing faster then i have ever typed before on my blues the clears are clearly(get it?) right behind them once i master not bottoming out my keys. If you are a home-row typer the clears are also completely ideal for you due to the high actuation point practically feeling like im typing on a touch screen with how early the keys activate, but if you bottom out on your keys you will feel like the clears are the heaviest cherry switches. If you dont bottom out you can love tap your keys to get them to activate but at the same time you can rest your fingers and not worry.
How to help your fatigue with clears: First, get a wrist wrest. I was using the lycosa for so long and having it's built in wrist wrest had my hands hanging freely on my new deck, after purchasing a nice wrist rest to balance my hands out not only did it make it even easier not to bottom my keys out it dropped my wrist fatigue practically in half. If you have typed without using a wrist rest try it. If you dont like it then push your keyboard just slighter farther back then what you are used to. Second: Dont bottom out! Not only will you get your GWAM up by 10-20 but you will drop your wrist fatigue even more by not bottoming out. The clears honestly do feel like the heaviest switches even heavier then the blacks (not gonna lie the blacks felt even lighter then the blues due to being linear, although i really do like the blacks as well me not being able to rest my fingers on my keys is what drove me away from browns/blacks/reds)
Anyway, i have clearly rambled on endlessly in this thread.
TL;DR The deck legend keyboards are the closest damn thing to an IBM board build quality(without buckle) while having a sleek, professional, and sexy night life and can't imagine a single keyboard that can match it other then their 82 small form factor & Razer is a piece of ****.
PS. There is speculation during my visit to their offices that they might stop production of their MX Clear switches and might experiment with others or mod their own switches. So if having one of the best keyboards on the market with clear switches is on your waiting list, i dont suggest waiting much longer!
Clicks, Clacks, & Love
-Omerta
