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Author Topic: First Mechanical Keyboard  (Read 2958 times)

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Offline FrozenQore

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 01:42:15 »
Hey guys,
I'm having trouble deciding on my first mechanical keyboard, I live in New Zealand so choices are a bit slim.
Was thinking of getting a Leopold with Cherry Reds from EliteKeyboards for about $160? (Shipping to NZ is a killer) also sort of wanted media keys.
There's also the Corsair Vengeance K90 which is also around $160 from a local store but the rubber dome keys puts me off.
Was wondering if there was a way to turn the right alt or windows key into an fn key like on laptops and use the f-keys as media keys or else I might have to deal with the rubber domes on the Corsair keyboard :/

Cheers
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Offline Nunez

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« Reply #1 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 01:55:51 »
In most media players you can make your own hotkeys.
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Offline anselben

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 06:49:33 »
From my experience buying my first mechanical was that it was definitely worth it to spend a little more money to make YOU completely happy. If I had decided to go the slightly cheaper route I don't think I would be as happy as with my keyboard now.
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Offline fohat.digs

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« Reply #3 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 09:56:30 »
I used to like media keys and use them a lot.

So far, I have been able to do all the same things with keyboard shortcuts.

The only thing I miss is the "rubbery" feel of the keys (not switches) which Compaq usually provided. I love rubbery keys and will not buy a calculator with anything else.
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Offline tp4tissue

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 11:51:18 »
Quote from: fohat.digs;556228
I used to like media keys and use them a lot.

So far, I have been able to do all the same things with keyboard shortcuts.

The only thing I miss is the "rubbery" feel of the keys (not switches) which Compaq usually provided. I love rubbery keys and will not buy a calculator with anything else.


I miss the fact that my old volumn control was a wheel thingie on top of my Logitech g11,, Cuz then I knew how much I'm adjusting by,, NOW,, i'm flying blind.
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Offline hxu1

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 12:30:36 »
i bought a filco for my first mechanical keyboard and i love it
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Offline wiredPANDA

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 13:01:39 »
I went Leopold TKL with MX Browns for my first mechanical, and I have no complaints, as of yet.  Love the build and the feel of the brown switches.

Leopold was more affordable for my entry, but I really want to pick up a Filco TKL with blues.
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Offline tp4tissue

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« Reply #7 on: Sun, 25 March 2012, 19:58:21 »
Quote from: wiredPANDA;556331
I went Leopold TKL with MX Browns for my first mechanical, and I have no complaints, as of yet.  Love the build and the feel of the brown switches.

Leopold was more affordable for my entry, but I really want to pick up a Filco TKL with blues.

Brown is the worst mechanical switch, as confirmed by my mx-brown hate thread
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Offline mickd

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 00:24:26 »
Quote from: tp4tissue;556604
Brown is the worst mechanical switch, as confirmed by my mx-brown hate thread

I'm sure by now you know it's all preference! I've tried browns, reds and blues and I still prefer my browns.
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Offline CaptainChunk

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 03:21:28 »
Quote
There's also the Corsair Vengeance K90 which is also around $160 from a local store but the rubber dome keys puts me off.


Actually, the K90 isn't a rubber dome board. It uses Cherry MX Reds.
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Offline frankfrank

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #10 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 03:35:42 »
it is worth.
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Offline Nunez

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« Reply #11 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 03:45:57 »
I went Razer BWU, regretted it instantly when it didn't work and then the replacement wasn't that great either... I did however love the fact it was mechanical. Replaced it 2 weeks after with a Leopold FC200R.
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Offline hella

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 03:53:04 »
Quote from: Nunez;556974
I went Razer BWU, regretted it instantly when it didn't work and then the replacement wasn't that great either... I did however love the fact it was mechanical. Replaced it 2 weeks after with a Leopold FC200R.

What do you think about the quality differences between leopold and filco?  Do you think the filco justifies it's price difference?
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Offline Nunez

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« Reply #13 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 05:54:28 »
Thats a personal choice to be honest. In my case yes... though I'm terrible with money, so I don't mind putting extra into "the best", not saying Filco IS the best. I haven't tried enough boards to say which is :P

Leopold is a solid board, but limits your aftermarket key choices due to the space bar. I do prefer the costar stabilizers over cherry, but the difference is rather small. If you know exactly what switch you want.. go for a Filco if you can justify the price premium. Otherwise go for something cheaper, as you will most likely get something else later.

CoolerMaster Quickfire Rapid is a decent board, crappy branding but similar to Filco.
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Offline Lmnr

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #14 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 06:25:41 »
Go with the quickfire with reds its supposedly the best money to functionality and quality ratio.
plus a pretty cheap kb to start with.
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Peripherals:
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Offline Tony

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #15 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 06:29:32 »
For mech keyboards do not try to buy cheap keyboards since you will buy the best anyway, and then it's hard to sell the cheapo.

Get a Filco then you have no need to try other keyboards, so it's more economical in the long run.
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Keyboard: Filco MJ1 104 brown, Filco MJ2 87 brown, Compaq MX11800, Noppoo Choc Brown/Blue/Red, IBM Model M 1996, CMStorm Quickfire Rapid Black
Layout: Colemak experience, speed of 67wpm

Offline stingrae

  • Posts: 267
First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #16 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 07:16:09 »
Get a quickfire rapid, I am sure you can get one there if I can get it in South Africa.

If you want to save yourself money and curiosity take it from experience (where my curiosity got the better of me) and get a filco with mx browns.
« Last Edit: Mon, 26 March 2012, 07:22:28 by stingrae »
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Filco Ninja Tenkeyless  -Noppoo Choc Mini - Cm Storm Quickfire Rapid

Offline FrozenQore

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #17 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 07:30:46 »
I think I've seen one or two stores with the quickfire rapids but only with black or blue switches, was looking at either reds or browns. Would be great if I could get a filco majestouch 2 ninja from keyboardco but I'm not sure how much the import tax is. Hopefully it isnt too much, buying stuff in NZ is such a pain. Or else I guess i'll have to go with the leopold, decided against the k90 just cause if your going to get a mechanical kb it should be fully mechanical.
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Offline Henry Allen Venture

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #18 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 07:35:38 »
I used to think media keys were really important but, thanks mainly to /mu/, I'm now the kind of guy who just chooses an album and lets the whole thing play, so the skip buttons are now useless.
As for volume, I have a knob on my speakers, or a dial on my headphones. Play/pause would be handy, but in an emergency I just cut the volume. Otherwise, its not really much effort to switch windows occasionally.
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Current collection:
Filco Majestouch 104-Key, w/ MX Browns
IBM Model M 52G9700
Leopold FC200R, "white" w/ MX Clears
Ducky DK9008S \'Shining\', white backlit w/ MX Blues
Cherry G80-3494(LCYUS-2), w/ MX Reds for Portal Mod

Not mine, but I\'ve got access to:
Filco Majestouch Linear R Limited Edition, w/ MX Reds
Filco Majestouch 2 \'Ninja\' Tenkeyless, w/ MX Blues
Leopold FC500R, w/ MX Browns

Offline Tycn

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #19 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 08:24:18 »
Media keys? Bloody plebs.

http://www.autohotkey.com
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Offline Tycn

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #20 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 08:54:02 »
Don't buy a Filco. I bought two, but that was before the CM came out and the Quick Fire has more features but identical build quality.

Don't even consider importing a Filco. That's approaching the cost of a Realforce. If you spend so much on a keyboard you'll be lucky to get half back when you resell it to fund the new thing that's caught your eye, and you will.

If you can't find a brown/red CM Quickfire locally, and I would be surprised if you couldn't, you could always buy one from PChome. Should still be less than half the cost of importing a Filco but it's just as good a board.

Hell I'd be willing to ship a board over for you if you cover price + shipping.
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Offline mickd

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #21 on: Mon, 26 March 2012, 09:31:59 »
Quote from: Tycn;557118
Don't buy a Filco. I bought two, but that was before the CM came out and the Quick Fire has more features but identical build quality.

Don't even consider importing a Filco. That's approaching the cost of a Realforce. If you spend so much on a keyboard you'll be lucky to get half back when you resell it to fund the new thing that's caught your eye, and you will.

If you can't find a brown/red CM Quickfire locally, and I would be surprised if you couldn't, you could always buy one from PChome. Should still be less than half the cost of importing a Filco but it's just as good a board.

If you're going to get it from PCHome, I would spend the $30 extra on a Filco. But it's up to you. Without shipping its ~$90USD for a non-red qf, ~$100 for the reds, and ~$125 for a Filco TKL. Their stock isn't that great though.

If, however, you can get a qf for closer to the $65 that they can in the US/CAD, then by all means, jump all over it :P
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Offline Tycn

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First Mechanical Keyboard
« Reply #22 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 03:49:37 »
Oh, good point. If the price difference is that small then by all means get the Filco.
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