Mechanical Keyboard Comparison Test for YouTube Release

[samwisekoi]

I just sent the e-mail below to Unicomp, Filco/Diatec, Rosewill and WASD Keyboards.  I expect to hear back from Unicomp (Zack) and WASD (Weyman).

This should be interesting.  None of the testers are keyboard folk, although one of the touch-typists is a professional keyboard player in multiple bands.

 - Ron | samwisekoi

---

Greetings!

Stand Sure Systems (via our YouTube channel 724supportTV and our blog) will be publishing a multi-vendor comparison of six (6) different mechanical keyboards:

a) 1993 Model M buckling spring keyboard
b) Unicomp Classic buckling spring keyboard
c) Filco Majestouch v1 NKR full-size keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches
d) Rosewill RK-9000BRI White full-size keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches
e) WASD Keyboards v1 full-size keyboard with Cherry MX Brown switches
f) WASD Keyboards v1 full-size keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches with O-ring modification

All but one of the above were purchased by Standsure, not loaned by vendors.

The test will be performed as follows:


Testing location:
On a typical "wood-surfaced" computer workstation, in front of a bank of monitors used by our 724support System Admin.  Video will be shot from above, and sound will be recorded by a professional-grade boom microphone above the keyboards and visible on the video.

All keyboards will be located and recorded identically.  They will all use PS/2 connections directly or via a passive adapter.


Test Methodology:
1) A non-touch-typing system administrator will do his normal work.
2) A touch-typing network engineer will do his normal work.
3) A touch-typing executive will do his normal work.

Keyboards will be rotated to allow each person to use each keyboard.  Because of the obvious visible differences in keyboards, this will not be a blind test, except that the WASD keyboards will not be marked to differentiate the Brown and Blue plus O-ring versions.

Each typist will rate each keyboard for feel, accuracy, noise and desire-to-own.

Observers from workstations 5 and 15 feet away will rate their remote impressions of each keyboard for relative noise and annoyance factor.


Results Publication:
All of the above will be tabulated, then a video will be uploaded to YouTube and a more detailed results write-up will be posted on our blog.

Each vendor (except IBM/Lexmark) will be notified before and after the test, and will be provided an opportunity to comment on the results.

Thanks and very best regards,

 - Ron

[fohat.digs]

Great Idea!

However, if possible, you should try to use a pre-1989 Model M since that is the heavier version with wire stabilizers - a 1993 blue label M is considerably closer to the Unicomp product.

Also, it would be nice if Alps switches were represented.

[samwisekoi]

Great Idea!

However, if possible, you should try to use a pre-1989 Model M since that is the heavier version with wire stabilizers - a 1993 blue label M is considerably closer to the Unicomp product.

Also, it would be nice if Alps switches were represented.

Thanks and thanks for the input!

The '93 is my daily driver, but I am now looking at buying an older Model M 1391401 from CLiB that I could swap in.

Re the Alps, I've gathered the keyboards already, and want to constrain this to a couple of variables, specifically B/S vs Cherry Browns and old-vs-new B/S.

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[tp4tissue]

Um... Let's say you "get" the data..

Then this data only reflects the opinion/preferences of the 3 users you've tested with.

What exactly will this prove??

It'll hardly end any of the typical arguments, namely Cherry MX-BLUE is infinitely better than ALL OTHER SWITCHES... Topre can go su(k it....

[longweight]

Why are you doing this?

[samwisekoi]

Um... Let's say you "get" the data..

Then this data only reflects the opinion/preferences of the 3 users you've tested with.

What exactly will this prove??

It'll hardly end any of the typical arguments, namely Cherry MX-BLUE is infinitely better than ALL OTHER SWITCHES... Topre can go su(k it....

This is exactly why I didn't bother to test Cherry MX-BLUE versus (e.g.) Topre.  Clearly THAT has been decided, and Cherry MX-BLUE is better than all other switches, past, present and future. 

Prove?  Totally subjective; can't prove anything.  What I can do is a controlled test under consistent conditions with decent sound equipment.  That seems useful.

FYI, I am none of the testers.  And none of the testers are keyboard-brand knowledgeable, so I am interested in knowing (and perhaps showing) which of a fairly representative sample of clicky keyboards appeals more, and which are more or less objectionable.

At some level I am attempting to address some of the issues in the hundreds of keyboard sound test videos on YouTube.  Naturally in the process, I will generate more issues of my own.

The weirdest thing I've discovered so far is that the company I thought would be the least interested has jumped right in -- Rosewill.  As the least expensive keyboard in the show, they are the underdog, but they expressed great interest in our testing and publishing the results, without any concern for what the results might be.  I'll admit I am not a Marketing Man, but I was quite surprised.

Anyhow, I hope it will be at least interesting. 

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[fohat.digs]

Rosewill would sell more keyboards if they would change that hideous logo.

[samwisekoi]

Rosewill would sell more keyboards if they would change that hideous logo.

You say "poe-tay-toe"...











... and so does everyone else I know.

Hate the logo!

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not anticipating the audible difference between various MX brown keyboards to be of any real value. Not least because you're comparing three plate-mount keyboards. Swap out the Rosewill (or Filco, since Rosewill are actually keen) for a Cherry G80-3000 or similar PCB-mounted keyboard (though Cherry don't sell the G80-3000 with browns at the moment) – significantly dampened and deeper and more resonant sound, and softer feel without the violent bottoming out. PCB mount removes the sharp, piercing clack from Cherry switches.

MX brown is NOT a clicky switch. Comparing the loudest clicky keyboard on the planet with comparatively quiet tactile switches seems odd. If you want to compare for sound, you should be comparing MX browns with Topre regular and silenced and the new Matias Tactile switch to see how people rate quiet switches, and the level of significance in tradeoffs for sound vs feel. Throw in an MX clears board (G80-3000 or Leo) to investigate how ordinary people unaccustomed to mechanicals feel about featherweight brown vs heavyweight clears.

Throw in an MX blues board in the middle as well to gauge the irritation level of blues compared to the others.

It would be interesting to see how people rate MX brown plate-mount vs black Alps plate-mount, as the latter have a distributed frequency spectrum even when plate mounted, while the sound from plate-mounted MX switches is very sharp and potentially much more irritating. Sadly, complicated Alps CM is no longer sold, so this would only be of interest to anyone who'd consider a big bad Dell AT101W (which does come in black!)

[tp4tissue]

Um... Let's say you "get" the data..

Then this data only reflects the opinion/preferences of the 3 users you've tested with.

What exactly will this prove??

It'll hardly end any of the typical arguments, namely Cherry MX-BLUE is infinitely better than ALL OTHER SWITCHES... Topre can go su(k it....

This is exactly why I didn't bother to test Cherry MX-BLUE versus (e.g.) Topre.  Clearly THAT has been decided, and Cherry MX-BLUE is better than all other switches, past, present and future. 

Prove?  Totally subjective; can't prove anything.  What I can do is a controlled test under consistent conditions with decent sound equipment.  That seems useful.

FYI, I am none of the testers.  And none of the testers are keyboard-brand knowledgeable, so I am interested in knowing (and perhaps showing) which of a fairly representative sample of clicky keyboards appeals more, and which are more or less objectionable.

At some level I am attempting to address some of the issues in the hundreds of keyboard sound test videos on YouTube.  Naturally in the process, I will generate more issues of my own.

The weirdest thing I've discovered so far is that the company I thought would be the least interested has jumped right in -- Rosewill.  As the least expensive keyboard in the show, they are the underdog, but they expressed great interest in our testing and publishing the results, without any concern for what the results might be.  I'll admit I am not a Marketing Man, but I was quite surprised.

Anyhow, I hope it will be at least interesting. 

 - Ron | samwisekoi

That's cuz rosewill knows that it's got nothing to lose.. LOLOLOL

They already arguably have the "Best" "Cheapest" full size cherry mx keyboard.

[Skull_Angel]

I like the basic idea of showcasing different switch types and their sound profile, but think that having the people rate the boards on switch feel is somewhat pointless due to differences in personal preference for everyone.

[samwisekoi]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not anticipating the audible difference between various MX brown keyboards to be of any real value. Not least because you're comparing three plate-mount keyboards. Swap out the Rosewill (or Filco, since Rosewill are actually keen) for a Cherry G80-3000 or similar PCB-mounted keyboard (though Cherry don't sell the G80-3000 with browns at the moment) – significantly dampened and deeper and more resonant sound, and softer feel without the violent bottoming out. PCB mount removes the sharp, piercing clack from Cherry switches.

MX brown is NOT a clicky switch. Comparing the loudest clicky keyboard on the planet with comparatively quiet tactile switches seems odd. If you want to compare for sound, you should be comparing MX browns with Topre regular and silenced and the new Matias Tactile switch to see how people rate quiet switches, and the level of significance in tradeoffs for sound vs feel. Throw in an MX clears board (G80-3000 or Leo) to investigate how ordinary people unaccustomed to mechanicals feel about featherweight brown vs heavyweight clears.

Throw in an MX blues board in the middle as well to gauge the irritation level of blues compared to the others.

It would be interesting to see how people rate MX brown plate-mount vs black Alps plate-mount, as the latter have a distributed frequency spectrum even when plate mounted, while the sound from plate-mounted MX switches is very sharp and potentially much more irritating. Sadly, complicated Alps CM is no longer sold, so this would only be of interest to anyone who'd consider a big bad Dell AT101W (which does come in black!)

Daniel,

Much data density there.  Thank you.  I accept all of it as valid and thought-provoking; below are some of my immediate thoughts, with some explanation thrown in.

First, for me (and the other typists) feel is more important than sound.  So "tactile" is probably a better word for what I am comparing, really.  This is also why I am including a Blue keyboard in the mix.  I was advised that the "best" MX keyswitch coming from a B/S were the browns, so those are what I have.

The sound test seems to be (a) mandatory in keyboard comparisons and (b) always poorly done.  We have access to proper sound equipment, so we are using that instead of the much more common iPhone mic.    The utility I hope for is to find the best feel with the least co-worker hatred.  I don't have the volume of people, keyboards or money to get a statistically valid sample size, so I'm going to optimize for what I can actually accomplish.

That said, I've got a Blue in the mix, albeit with O-rings.  I'd be delighted to add a "big bad Dell AT101W", which seem to be readily available.  I'd also add a "Cherry G80-3000 or similar PCB-mounted keyboard", except that I don't know the Cherry line-up and there seem to be eleventy-seven varieties, almost none of which include switch-type in the tech specs I could find with a quick Google.  CDW has the G80-3000, but not in stock.  It IS in stock at a bunch of tiny vendors I don't know, so I'm reluctant.

If you can toss me a link or two for PCB-mounted MX tactile keyboards, I'll try to include one.  I do like that added variable.

Thanks very much for your reply.

Very best regards,

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[newtrekemotion]

I think this is awesome. More audio comparisons, especially high quality ones, would certainly be helpful to some people. Further, for people that are looking for a first keyboard the impressions given here (side note: Will you include the type of keyboard the testers regularly use? Even if they aren't "keyboard people" they might still use something better than a $10 rubber dome board.) could be of great help. When I first got into keyboards, I found here and lurked for months reading about things before making a purchase. I can imagine someone new seeing this data and instantly getting a better idea of what they might like.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

If you can toss me a link or two for PCB-mounted MX tactile keyboards, I'll try to include one.  I do like that added variable.

Cherry MX brown and BS are nothing like each other – BS is stiff and tactile, brown is limp and nearly linear. I've given up on browns – I'm using clears now, and I'm looking forwards to trying Matias Tactile switches once the ISO models are in stock. I'd certainly include the latter in the test as they're specifically designed to be tactile and quiet.

Cherry G80-3000LQC* family are the ones with clears. I think you'd want G80-3000LQCEU, which is US layout. G80-1865LXNEU-2 is US layout with browns, don't know whether it's PCB or plate mount though, probably PCB mount, which is what you'd want as a comparison.

It's interesting to note that Cherry now say "MX Brown Stem" and "MX Blue Stem" on their website when browsing available keyboards, so part of the company at least recognises the significance of the colour

[samwisekoi]

Cherry G80-3000LQC* family are the ones with clears. I think you'd want G80-3000LQCEU, which is US layout. G80-1865LXNEU-2 is US layout with browns, don't know whether it's PCB or plate mount though, probably PCB mount, which is what you'd want as a comparison.

It's interesting to note that Cherry now say "MX Brown Stem" and "MX Blue Stem" on their website when browsing available keyboards, so part of the company at least recognises the significance of the colour

Found a G80-1865LXNEU-2 in stock.  Odd layout; I'd not buy it for work just because my hands wouldn't find the Ins key when they went for it, so I'd be looking down all the time.  I suppose it would be fine if someone had only a single keyboard.  And a search for availability of the "standard" 104-key keyboard (G80-3000LSCEU-2 ) yielded "Currently Unavailable This item is currently unavailable from the Manufacturer."

So I'll keep looking for a G80-3000LSCEU-2 (blue) ; if for no other reason than to compare PCB-mounted to plate-mounted keyboards.

OBTW, I was at Apple for the decade where we made wonderful Alps keyboards.  Sadly, none survived my house moves and garage-purges since I left in 1997.

Thanks again for your advice.

I think this is awesome. More audio comparisons, especially high quality ones, would certainly be helpful to some people. Further, for people that are looking for a first keyboard the impressions given here (side note: Will you include the type of keyboard the testers regularly use? Even if they aren't "keyboard people" they might still use something better than a $10 rubber dome board.) could be of great help. When I first got into keyboards, I found here and lurked for months reading about things before making a purchase. I can imagine someone new seeing this data and instantly getting a better idea of what they might like.

Thanks very much.  They are mostly using big Dell 104 keyboards, so I'll include some sort of relative impression.  (I don't know what the Dell switches are, but the keycaps don't want to be pulled off...)

 - Ron | samwisekoi

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The big beige 104-key mechanical Dell is the AT101W. They use black complicated Alps, short switchplate (inferior design), and Alps keycaps are notoriously hard to remove, but a good tug will do it. Reasonably loud, reasonably tactile, yet they have a stiff and grungy feel. I would be surprised if multiple people in your organisation are voluntarily using these boards, but I forgot just how much some of their rubberdome boards sucked.

I was noticing earlier that if I hit a key too hard on my G80-3000, you can see all the keys move downwards as the PCB flexes. Unsightly, though it does feel better that way with MX switches Alps switches don't have the same hard bottoming out problem as MX.