Big thanks to WASD for shipping this the very day I placed the custom order. This is my first (modern) mechanical keyboard. I couldn't wait for the next "switch tester" tour so I gambled and took a chance on Cherry MX Reds.
Thoughts & design
I was able to try a Razer Black Widow with blues at my local Best Buy and while I've used a loud tactile keyboard in the past and liked it, my tastes have changed. In those days I was single and there was nobody around to annoy with the loud clicky clacky. Now there's a wife and two kids, in a small house
So that ruled out blues. I decided against browns because I wanted to kick it old school, remembering how much I enjoyed the linear feel of switches on systems with decent quality keyboards (Xerox Alto II, Xerox 820, Suns, old terminals...) Also, I always bottom out the keys when I type. So I wanted blacks or reds and that was the toughest choice. I thought the blacks would require a little too much force. Turns out the feel of the reds is perfect for me.
I started with the canned "old school remix" board and modified it from there. I wanted the most-frequently used characters to have the brightest backgrounds (good for my aging eyes in low light); then wanted progressively darker for the surrounding keys until getting to the least-used (and the ones that are easily discernable due to size, such as shift, enter, backspace). The only other colors are red escape (for a pop of color) and Ctrl/Opt/Cmd. As this is for a Mac, I deliberately labeled the modifier keys Control, Option and Command, doing away with Windows keys. Since I swap back and forth between Mac and PC (home and work), I have a hard time differentiating/remembering the positions of the Opt/Alt/Cmd/etc. keys, so I went for different, bright colors on those keys to help me find/remember them quickly. If I need Opt (frequently used on Mac) I just look for yellow, period. Lastly, as a nod to unix and C / obj-C programming, I went for lowercase letters on the A-Z keys. It's odd to have lowercase letters in the upper positions of the key caps, as those should be reflect the shifted (uppercase) versions, but I felt that labeling them only on the lower corner would be odder. I could have just centered them but that's too, um, centered. Wow, that was quite a detailed description. Yes, I'm obsessed.
Performance and first reactions
I prefer a quiet keyboard (and family would be annoyed by loud ones), and am used to a Logitech illuminated slim keyboard which is very quiet - so I definitely didn't want blues (loud), and I'm used to no tactile so decided against the browns. Figured reds would be plain, simple, and I always bottom out my keys anyway. I had a hard time choosing between black & red but went with red almost on a toss-up. Using them now (been only a few hours since I hooked up the board), I think blacks would be too much. Reds are not so light that they're "too light." Very happy with that choice.
I have only two gripes. First, since I'm used to the Logitech illuminated slim keyboard with VERY little travel, the 4 mm travel on the reds seems pretty long. But that's something I will get used to and it's also quite normal for a keyboard. This is the only reason a blue or brown switch may have been better... keys would travel less if I didn't bottom them out. But I'm a bottomer-outer and that's not likely to change. Second, they are louder than I was expecting. Again, this is likely due to the characteristics of the Logitech that I've been using for the last couple years (very quiet), but I find them a bit too loud.
My desktop is a solid piece of wood with a cabinet underneath, and it really tends to let the board resonate/amplify the sound. I placed a thin cloth underneath the board and it made a big difference - it muffles/absorbs a lot of the sound. There's still a definite loud tap at the end of the travel. I picked up some rubber O-rings at the hardware store this morning - they fit perfectly over the keycap posts. They didn't have 104 in stock so I took home 10 as a test and installed them on a row of keys to see if that would quiet things down. The effect is very subtle but yes, they do muffle the loud tap at the end of the keys' travel. I'm going to grab a bunch at another hardware store shortly and will do the entire board with them. I think this will make the keyboard as close to perfect as I can possibly get.
The board has a good amount of weight to it - definitely feels solid and almost heavy. The keys feel linear and solid with no slop or wiggle or flimsy feeling to them.
I am very happy with this board. People who are trying to decide between black & red seem to have one main concern: the reds might be too light and the blacks too heavy. Personally I find the reds heavy enough - based on my experience, I'd start with reds and move to blacks only if you feel the reds are too light, but based on same experience I say the reds have plenty force required. I don't think I would want more force.
(edit - I just added O-rings. Travel slightly reduced (nice!), keys feel lighter (now blacks might be pretty good), and sound is dampened very nicely. I love it!) - added a couple more pics
