Author Topic: Cherry MX brown keyboards?  (Read 4713 times)

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Offline iixwh3l4nxii

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Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 08:28:46 »
Hello, I'm new here and i'm a little intimidated by the amount of experts on Mechanical keyboards and other keyboards.


But I'm sick of membrane, I'm currently using a cheap Trust GXT 18 keyboard and it's horrible to type on so I want to upgrade to mechanical.


I've never used on before, the closest I have got to it is those old springy feeling keyboards from like the early 90's.


Anyway, from what research you can do on a keyswitch, I've decided that Browns would be best, I don't think I would like typing without some sort of feedback that the clears, browns and blues gives, but I also have to keep it fairly quiet for others I live with, so browns seem like the way to go.


I live in the UK so a lot of keyboards are expensive or hard to find, I'll settle for a US layout though, it's not too different from UK.


So anyway lol, sorry for going on.


Anyone know any good MX brown keyboards for a low price, I was thinking about getting the Blackwidow stealth and saving for a bit, but I can only find it on razers US website and it's stupidly expensive, not to mention I hate razer products.

The best thing I seem to have found so far is this new "HBE 87", it's a chinese keyboard with tenkeyless, no media buttons, printed keys, no wrist rest BUT MX browns and a very low price point, I've also heard it's well built.

Now for me, a selling point is a wrist rest(although you can buy aftermarket ones), laser etched keys and MX browns, but a huge bonus would be full layout and backlighting with a few media keys( why isn't the K90 brown switches? :'( )

sorry, I type on and on (painfully), so yeah, know any half-decent MX brown keyboards? (I'd say £100 is my limit, which is around $156, but stuff is expensive here, so call it $170 limit), the cheaper the better.

Offline ih8

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:24:12 »
don't waste your money on razer, I also wouldn't place backlighting as a huge weighing factor

http://www.keyboardco.com/

Offline IvanIvanovich

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:32:24 »
It's pushing your budget, but should have everything you want except built in wrist rest, Ducky Shine 2. If you don't mind forgoing the full size for tenkeyless, have a look at the Keycool 87 backlight which is quite a bit cheaper.

Offline pexon

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:33:49 »
I was looking at the Keycool boad on ebay... what are they built like?

Offline IvanIvanovich

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:40:46 »
Keycool are good quality, same oem as Leopold.

Offline pexon

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:45:11 »
Nice I am looking for a cheap board with blues to try some ghetto greens

Offline iixwh3l4nxii

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 10:58:40 »
I was just looking at the CM Storm trigger that I've just come across, it's only £90 and has everything I want and it looks cool.

Any ideas on how it's built, how long it will last?

I don't take pleasure in paying so much for something that lasts a month =/

Offline IvanIvanovich

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 11:12:15 »
Trigger is fine, it's made by costar.

Offline nullstring

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 11:29:28 »
Trigger is fine, it's made by costar.

Is it really? Both trigger and QFR are made by costar?

Offline iixwh3l4nxii

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 11:38:09 »
I F'ing hate this country, we have such limited computer stuff, I can only find the Trigger with black keyswitches -_-

I can get the Pro with brown(possibly), but I'd rather spend the extra ££ and get everything I want, It sucks so hard that I can't get brown switches, in america you can buy it for like $80-100, that means it should be like £40-60 here, but instead it's £100 and it's with limit switches, all you US guys are super lucky.

Offline IvanIvanovich

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 12:08:41 »
Don't buy the CM pro, that one is iOne oem like Razer, and they are not so good.
Yeah you don't have a lot of options to buy in UK. There is just some limited choices from keyboardco, scan, aria, and ccl.
I think a lot of it is due to most place will only stock UK layout keyboard, and barely anyone makes them.

Offline BucklingSpring

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 12:25:08 »
Since you don't mind the US layout. For ultimate quiet mechanical board, you may also consider the new Matias Quiet Pro.
http://www.matias.ca/quietpro/

But I don't know if they have distribution overseas
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
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Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline iixwh3l4nxii

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #12 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 13:44:31 »
that's a little expensive for a featureless keyboard, + never heard of their unique keyswitches and idk how they work, so idk.

the Trigger is $90 on newegg, that translates to £56!!!!!

£56 for the keyboard I really f'ing want but can't have even for £100

ARGH, I want to find the UK sales manager for Coolermaster who decided blacks was the best to be sold in the UK and kidnap him.

Any similar boards for the price? (£80-100)

Offline WhiteFireDragon

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 14:08:59 »
OP, if price is a huge factor, get a Rosewill RK9000BR and have someone in the US proxy it to you. They're essentially rebranded Filcos for half the cost. They're around $70-$100, depending on sale.

Offline stingrae

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 14:10:27 »
I can only recommend http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cooler-master-cm-storm-quickfire-rapid-mechanical-cherry-brown-mx-gaming-keyboard but it's overdue for stock which isn't a good sign...

Both keycool and HPE are 'ok' but honestly don't go hunting needless features, that's exactly why I bought a filco since it is simple, minimalistic and I can choose what I want it to do or not do via software.
Filco Ninja Tenkeyless  -Noppoo Choc MiniCm Storm Quickfire Rapid

Offline iixwh3l4nxii

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #15 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 15:12:19 »
Filco is good, but again, very expensive for a keyboard with no features

it's built just as good as a £60 keyboard, you're paying for the name with no media keys and no backlighting and NO wristwrest

I have my keyboard on my lap and my desk just holds my monitor, my bed next to me is my giant mouse mat so a built-in wrist rest is a big selling point for me.

I've found US sellers going for like £105-120 for the CM trigger, but I get £100 a month, I like at least £10 of that to go on food, £15 if possible for college, everything else is paid for, bus pas etc.

so unless I sell all my ****, I can't afford one and then I'll still have no money for food at college.

Backlighting isn't a selling point as such, but my sessions on the computer are mostly at night, but I can type without looking anyway, I only look when I've made an error, the reason I like backlit is because it means the keycaps are never going to fade, this means it can last me a long time.

i'm going to find a Quickfire Pro for like £90 with mx browns... it's like £70 with blacks which annoys me deeply

Offline alaricljs

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #16 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 16:23:55 »
the Trigger is $90 on newegg, that translates to £56!!!!!

£56 for the keyboard I really f'ing want but can't have even for £100

And you have crap timing unfortunately... It was on sale for $70 - $10MIR yesterday... you could have had it freight forwarded for your price.
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Offline cosmonauti

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #17 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 17:42:14 »
Don't buy the CM pro, that one is iOne oem like Razer, and they are not so good.

I have to disagree with you. I have a CM Pro with Reds and it feels extremely solid. Much more solid than my BWU.

I do, however, plan on getting rid of it because the partial backlighting just doesn't do it for me.
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Offline BucklingSpring

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #18 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 17:48:23 »
that's a little expensive for a featureless keyboard, + never heard of their unique keyswitches and idk how they work, so idk.
It features Quietness and a USB hub :-)

As far as the unique keyswitches... They are improved ALPS. Think of ALPS, a well known technology then make them more durable.
Matias unofficially rated them for over 40M cycles.
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
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Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline furosuto81

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #19 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 18:02:00 »
In case you missed it, I've posted a little comparison of the Ducky Shine vs Keycool 87. So far, the only thing I've found to detract from the Keycool is the keycaps. Whatever paint they used on them shows fingerprints/oil much more than the Ducky. Which also leads me to think the paint will wear faster. The rest of the build quality seems just fine.

I'd also second BucklingSpring's Matias Quiet Pro recommendation. Fantastic keyboard. The ALPS-based Quite Switch feels way better (to me) than MX Brown switches.
Keyboards: Matias Quiet Pro Matias Quiet Click  |  Apple Extended Keyboard II Dampened White ALPS  |  KBParadise V80 Olivette Matias Quiet Click  |  CMStorm QuickFire TK B&W Special Edition White LED Cherry MX Red  |  Ducky DK9087S Shine 2 TKL White LED Cherry MX Red

Offline Batmann

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #20 on: Sun, 14 October 2012, 18:03:11 »
Hi,
I have a noppo choc mini with browns to sell,
plate mounted, NKRO over USB, layout is fine imo
I'm selling it 60 euros (shipping to UK will be around 13 euros, I live in France)
PM me if you are interested

Offline wetto

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #21 on: Mon, 15 October 2012, 11:18:01 »
Don't buy the CM pro, that one is iOne oem like Razer, and they are not so good.

I have to disagree with you. I have a CM Pro with Reds and it feels extremely solid. Much more solid than my BWU.

I do, however, plan on getting rid of it because the partial backlighting just doesn't do it for me.

Well, if you bought it AFTER June, it should really be Costar-made and it's a great keyboard. All you should care about is whether or not it says "Made in Taiwan" (Costar) or "Made in China" (iOne).



But then again, the CM Trigger is an awesome option.
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Mice: Logitech G602, CM Storm Recon, CM Storm Spawn, Razer Naga, Ozone Radon Opto, Corsair M60, Tesoro Gandiva, CM Storm Alcor, Mionix Naos 8200.
Keyboards: Matias Secure Pro, Matias Mini Quiet Pro, custom modded Metadot Das Keyboard Model S Professional Silent (MX Brown, Costar), CM Storm Trigger (MX Brown), Noppoo Choc Mini (MX Red), Tesoro Lobera G5NFL Supreme, CM Storm Devastator.
Soon: CM Storm Quick Fire TK (MX Brown), CM Storm Trigger Z.
Boards I don't own anymore: CM Storm Quick Fire Rapid (MX Black), Logitech K800 (Membrane), Logitech G710+ (MX Brown), Thermaltake Meka G-Unit (MX Black), Corsair K70 (MX Red).
Mice I don't own anymore: Logitech G9x MW3, Corsair M65, Logitech G700, Roccat Kone Pure.

Offline swagpiratex

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Re: Cherry MX brown keyboards?
« Reply #22 on: Mon, 15 October 2012, 13:21:31 »
I think the people that bag on the pro haven't really given it a fair chance. I tried one at Fry's when I was first learning about keyboards and it felt really solid.