Filco Flex Broken - 6months

[skyride]

Hey guys. I got a Filco Majestouch 105 key back in August. Absolutely amazing keyboard, and up until now not a single complaint and money well spent. However I noticed earlier this week the flex is now completely broken. I move it about a fair bit, but surely the insulation around the flex should not be breaking after just 6 months? Has anyone else had this experience and what has been your experience with getting it replaced?

Cheers, Adam

[daerid]

What is this.. "flex"?

[jellowiggler]

The plastic re-enforced part where the cable goes into the chassis of the keyboard?

[alaricljs]

Does your KB get exposed to extremes of temperature or direct sunlight?  That'll do more to destroy that soft rubber than you flexing it.

[daerid]

I've had my MJ2 w/ browns since May of last year. Been moving it around quite a bit, not a single problem.

[Deadly55]

Does your KB get exposed to extremes of temperature or direct sunlight?  That'll do more to destroy that soft rubber than you flexing it.

^this would be my guess..

[skyride]

The plastic re-enforced part where the cable goes into the chassis of the keyboard?

Yep. Exactly.

Does your KB get exposed to extremes of temperature or direct sunlight?  That'll do more to destroy that soft rubber than you flexing it.

Not at all. I live in scotland, but I wouldn't say it's notably cold in any way. Also it sits out of direct sunlight.

I move between houses twice a week, so it definitely gets flexed a fair bit, but it's not like i'm unreasonably harsh with it or anything. My previous microsoft keyboard (which is more than a year old) doesn't even have any signs of fatigue. I'm just a bit miffed that my £110 "quality" keyboard has lasted so much less time than a regular £30 MS keyboard.

[skyride]

Here's a couple of photos for reference:

[byFd]

do you carry the board just by holding the cable and let the board hang under it? o.O

[skyride]

do you carry the board just by holding the cable and let the board hang under it? o.O

Nope. Wrap the wire around the board (leaving plenty of slack) and stick it in a backpack. As I say, I'm not treating it any differently than my old MS keyboard and that thing didn't even show any signs of fatigue after a year when I got this Filco.

[skyride]

I don't remember wrapping the cord around the keyboard and sticking it in a backpack being in the instructions.

But most of it was in Japanese so I might have missed it.


This thread reminds me of the one where the guy carried his Filco in his backpack and complained when the ESC key broke off.

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?22973-A-key-cap-stem-just-broke-clean-off-on-my-Filco

Adding this one to my The McRip Effect post.

Ye mate. You're right. I'll go out right now and buy a Filco Approved (TM) keyboard carry case. /sarcasm

It's quite apparent the flex is crap. I thought it felt pretty crappy when I bought the thing but just ignored it. My old £30 Microsoft keyboard handled this kind of treatment no problem for over a year. Why is that unreasonable to expect from one that costs 4x the price?

[fossala]

Did you get it from thekeyboardco? If so send it back, it's got a years warranty.

[Armando Penblade]

Ye mate. You're right. I'll go out right now and buy a Filco Approved (TM) keyboard carry case. /sarcasm

It's quite apparent the flex is crap. I thought it felt pretty crappy when I bought the thing but just ignored it. My old £30 Microsoft keyboard handled this kind of treatment no problem for over a year. Why is that unreasonable to expect from one that costs 4x the price?

It's not unreasonable to expect that, ripster's schtick is being a sarcastic ass, albeit a very entertaining and informative one.

You should contact your original seller to register a complaint. They'll either replace it or they won't. Admittedly, I think a lot of CS departments would consider moving it in a backpack twice a week "abuse," but a nice element of a lot of non-imported mech keyboards is that the little vendors who sell them are really, really into good customer service. You've got a decent chance of a one-time replacement.

That said, if and when you go that route, you might want to consider modifying how you carry it. Whether or not it should withstand that environment better than a cheapo MS keyboard, it clearly does not, and you'll need to compensate for that if you can get a freebie out of your vendor.

[daerid]

Dude, I spent $150 on my MJ2 (not including shipping). I'm not going to "wrap the cord around it and stick it in my backpack". Are you f**in nuts? They give you a cable tie for a reason, use it.

I kept the box and plastic shield, and I always transport my board in it's original packaging.

[skyride]

It's not unreasonable to expect that, ripster's schtick is being a sarcastic ass, albeit a very entertaining and informative one.

You should contact your original seller to register a complaint. They'll either replace it or they won't. Admittedly, I think a lot of CS departments would consider moving it in a backpack twice a week "abuse," but a nice element of a lot of non-imported mech keyboards is that the little vendors who sell them are really, really into good customer service. You've got a decent chance of a one-time replacement.

That said, if and when you go that route, you might want to consider modifying how you carry it. Whether or not it should withstand that environment better than a cheapo MS keyboard, it clearly does not, and you'll need to compensate for that if you can get a freebie out of your vendor.

I got the keyboard at a LAN from an online store that come and set up shop at every event. They are amazingly sound in terms of returns, it's just the next event isn't until April and I don't imagine it lasting that long. Suppose I'll just need to shoot them an email and see what happens.

To clarify, I pretty much just live between 2 houses. It's simply dumped in a bag for ~30 mins in the time it takes to drive from one to the other. But ye, I'll definitely have to work something out. What I'm also considering is maybe trying to either return it for a different mech keyboard, or just getting my money back and going for a different one with a better flex. As you can see from the photo I've got a 3rd party 37 key set, so as long as I get another with MX blue's it should feel pretty much identical right?

[alaricljs]

Mostly you'll end up with the same issues unless you change how you treat the KB cable or get a KB with detachable cable.

[Armando Penblade]

Other Costar-based fullsized Cherry keyboards should, generally speaking, take your keycaps. The 37-keys should actually fit just about any Cherry board ever, but stuff like modifiers and whatnot can be a bit more unique (since some keyboards use funky Cherry-style stabilizers instead of the Costar ones in your Filco).

Beyond that, if you do get a board with a removable USB cable (for instance, the Rosewill RK-9000 series have them *and* are made in the same factory as the Filcos were, making them virtual clones of the Majestouch 1 line), please be sure to treat the connector with respect. If jarred constantly or yanked around, it might come loose inside from the soldering/wiring/circuitry it uses to communicate with the keyboard's controller.

Mind you, it's not exactly easy to do, but if you're careless or needlessly violent, you definitely can cripple a second keyboard.

[pitashen]

Nope. Wrap the wire around the board (leaving plenty of slack) and stick it in a backpack. As I say, I'm not treating it any differently than my old MS keyboard and that thing didn't even show any signs of fatigue after a year when I got this Filco.

Wrapping a cable around is always a bad idea. However, it does suck that it breaks off this quick.

[fohat.digs]

Bad design.

Any junction where things flex at different pressures and rates is a problem waiting to happen. The cheapest keyboards have the cord run through a hole with only some sort of grommet, yoke, or escutcheon to prevent slippage. I would expect this to be the most durable solution in an "abuse" situation.

I have a major philosophical problem with detachable cables, not because it is a bad concept, it isn't, but because plugs and jacks are ALWAYS the VERY FIRST things to break on almost anything!

And the fact that most are straight, rather than 90 degrees, just makes for all that much more powerful of a LEVER ARM working directly against you.

Although I do not like much of Apple's stuff, the power cord on my wife's MacBook with a simple, right-angle, magnetic, non-mechanical connection is a spectacular solution to a very common problem.

[Armando Penblade]

Does this mean I lost your vote?
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?26781-Do-you-think-Ripster-is-the-1-Keyboard-Expert-on-Planet-Earth

Ah well, truth hurts.  The McRip Effect post edited.

Naw, I rather like your sarcastic assery and still think you're a great big expert. Apparently not so good at reading comprehension though

[Tony]

Keyboards deserved to be loved and taken care for. After all, they are expensive toys.

[iJustin]

If you're going to wrap the keyboard, be smart and don't bend the joint. You can still wrap the cable and have the cable stick out slightly at the back of the keyboard. For repairing it, I would just put some heatshrink over it.

[Deverica Wolf]

Next time, try making the cord little and tie it up with a twistie-tie. And maybe put in it in a bag so the cord doesn't touch anything. Some backpacks or book-bags have laptop compartments which would be perfect.

[Graeme]

Hi,

Keyboardco spotted this thread and suggested (putting 2 and 2 together) it's likely purchased from our store, Kustom PCs, that you bought the keyboard from?

If so, please email us right away and we can organise either sending a replacement cable to you (it's detachable inside the keyboard) or having your keyboard mailed in for repair, we will be able to handle this no problem.

Thanks,

Graeme
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk

[Lolcakes]

Hi,

Keyboardco spotted this thread and suggested (putting 2 and 2 together) it's likely purchased from our store, Kustom PCs, that you bought the keyboard from?

If so, please email us right away and we can organise either sending a replacement cable to you (it's detachable inside the keyboard) or having your keyboard mailed in for repair, we will be able to handle this no problem.

Thanks,

Graeme
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk

Oh hi there! Thats pretty neat customer support you got there I dont know how I didnt know you before ^^. I will certainly bookmark your web page.

[laffindude]

Proactive customer service. +1 in my book.

[Armando Penblade]

No, but really, that's flat-out impressive. Very nice, Kustom PCs!

[Graeme]

No huge difficulty on our part, but it was keyboardco that alerted me that there was an issue reported here, so kudos to them on this one.

Clearly too much time on their hands, if they're able to sit and surf forums all day...

Of course, I jest