Anywhere in the Detroit area to sample some keyboards?

[mkaresh]

No one seems to ask this sort of question, likely for a good reason, but I'll give it a shot: is there anywhere in the Detroit area I could go to check out the feel of boards with different switches?

I gather that if such places existed, so many people wouldn't be ordering board after board from China. But if there's somewhere I could go near Detroit, please post or PM me.

Ordering a keyboard for my wife...based on my preference since she "doesn't care." Thinking choc mini with browns, to play it a little safe. But perhaps I love her enough to get her the blues, even though we work at home together? Also, if she doesn't like the keyboard, then it'll be mine.

FWIW I didn't realize mechanical keyboards or fans of them existed until a few days ago. But back when I bought my first laptop I bought a Winbook because of how the keys (same as the much more expensive IBM Thinkpad) felt. The keys on every laptop I've had since have been awful in comparison.

I also wasn't aware that there were tenkeyless boards. But I much prefer the tenkeyless board built into my laptop to the full keyboard built into my wife's laptop. Hate how the latter forces you to sit off-center. When I need a number pad, I attach one.

[Human]

No one seems to ask this sort of question, likely for a good reason, but I'll give it a shot: is there anywhere in the Detroit area I could go to check out the feel of boards with different switches?

I gather that if such places existed, so many people wouldn't be ordering board after board from China. But if there's somewhere I could go near Detroit, please post or PM me.

Ordering a keyboard for my wife...based on my preference since she "doesn't care." Thinking choc mini with browns, to play it a little safe. But perhaps I love her enough to get her the blues, even though we work at home together? Also, if she doesn't like the keyboard, then it'll be mine.

FWIW I didn't realize mechanical keyboards or fans of them existed until a few days ago. But back when I bought my first laptop I bought a Winbook because of how the keys (same as the much more expensive IBM Thinkpad) felt. The keys on every laptop I've had since have been awful in comparison.

I also wasn't aware that there were tenkeyless boards. But I much prefer the tenkeyless board built into my laptop to the full keyboard built into my wife's laptop. Hate how the latter forces you to sit off-center. When I need a number pad, I attach one.

If you really love her ENOUGH. Close your eyes and order a Realforce 87U with anodized aluminum casing.

p/s: Be ready to eat bread for the next few months.

[Crowat]

Check your local MicroCenter in Madison Heights.  

The one around me had the new Corsairs open (so you could test Red and Brown switches) and some Ducky model (not 100% sure which one Mfr Part #:782904).  

They also had a SIIG and Adesso in stock (not sure what type of switches those use or on the quality).

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?Ntt=mechanical+keyboard&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

[mkaresh]

Check your local MicroCenter in Madison Heights.  

The one around me had the new Corsairs open (so you could test Red and Brown switches) and some Ducky model (not 100% sure which one Mfr Part #:782904).  

They also had a SIIG and Adesso in stock (not sure what type of switches those use or on the quality).

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?Ntt=mechanical+keyboard&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

Excellent, thanks for the tip.

Out of desperation I dropped by a BestBuy today, where I could sample the three MX blues exposed by the Razor box. Compared to what I expected, much lighter feel and not as noisy. The browns must feel super-light. Madison Heights is quite a drive for me, but I might have to do it.

Checked the MicroCenter site. Looks like they have the Corsair with the reds, the Razor and Adesso with blues, and the SIIG which likely has an ALPS type switch. Which board might have browns?

[mkaresh]

Turns out my wife and I weren't far from Micro Center today, so I did the really smart thing and had her test a couple of blues and a red. (Saw nothing there with browns.) She really liked the blues...until she tried the reds. Which she's quite certain are the ones for her, without trying any others.

She did feel it was necessary to type using the full keyboard to evaluate them, so the num pad currently touring wouldn't have done the trick for her.

Now a question of Noppoo, Leopold, or CMStorm. Unclear when the CMStorm will actually be available in the U.S. Like aspects of the Noppoo, but the current sale on the Leopold is enticing.

[N8N]

Wow, there's a Micro Center with a selection of good keyboards?  The one in Fairfax, VA only has the SIIG keyboards, no MX based ones at all, and it's been that way for as long as I've been shopping there.  They have tons of keyboards, mind you, but every single one is a rubber dome or maybe a few scissor switches except for that one lonely SIIG model.  The Micro Center in Fairfax actually is where I bought the SIIG that I was using for a while before I really started researching keyboards.  It was the purchase of a new computer and the complete ****tiness of the keyboard that came with it that prompted me to first buy the SIIG, then hop online and find an old Model M, and then I needed a keyboard for work because that one sucked too, and, well, it was all downhill from there...

[mkaresh]

Well, most BestBuys have the Razor. But Micro Center did very helpfully have the Corsair, which is also a better looking board.  But need tenkeyless, so it'll likely be the Leopold.