Question About my New Das Keyboard!

[GregyFace]

A good friend of mine owns a Das Ultimate (Mx blues) and I loved the feel of it so I decided to order my own. I went with the Professional version which includes lettering on the keys (also Mx Blues). Upon receiving my keyboard I noticed however that My keyboard felt significantly different than his, in a bad way. While his keys had a consistent light crisp feeling, mine on the other hand were much stiffer and very inconsistent. Some keys were harder to press down then others and even the most crisp feeling keys didn't quite feel like the keys on his board. I understand that sometimes the bigger keys such as space bar, delete, etc. can be a bit stiffer due to issues with the stabilizers, but this is nearly every key on my keyboard. We compared them side by side and the difference is very significant. So what I'm wondering is this

1. Will keys become lighter/more consistent over time? He has had his board for about 8 months.
2. Has Das keyboard changed something about their keyboards in the last 8 months? or could this be a difference between the Professional and the Ultimate version?

I already emailed Das about it and they gave me a generic answer about manufacturing differences. I just want to narrow down what would be making such a big difference in the overall feel of the keyboard?

[wetto]

Difference is that now it's made by iOne, while the old one was made by Costar. What difference that makes? Well, let's take a look at what both of them do.

This is made by Costar:






This is made by iOne:




It's just the fact that the overall quality of the keyboard itself went on a god damn downhill.


I myself have a Das Keyboard, but nowadays I wouldn't even dare recommending them anymore.

[cgbuen]

Here's something else that could contribute to the difference  (my post, regarding two Costar boards, and alaricljs's response):

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=35354.msg673231#msg673231

Cliffs: differences in spring batches.

[GregyFace]

Alright thanks guys. This clears some things up. I just checked with my friend and he confirmed that his board was manufactured by Costar. I've been disappointed with Das so far, and I'm thinking of just returning this board and going with a different company. I've heard all sorts of great things about Filco but they are a bit out of my price range as of now. Do you have any suggestions? I'm still looking for Mx Blues.

[sovano]

If a Filco or Leopold are out of your price range you should consider picking up a CM Storm QFR if you don't mind TKL.

[GregyFace]

If a Filco or Leopold are out of your price range you should consider picking up a CM Storm QFR if you don't mind TKL.

Hm. Leopold is quite a bit cheaper than Filco. But I've heard bad things about the cherry stabilizers they use. Have you experienced them at all?

[sovano]

No, I've personally never had the pleasure of using one. Anyways, referring to the cherry stabilizers, I believe you should read this.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=15482.0
More specifically this.
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=15482.msg298444#msg298444

[Hyde]

Well if you can find any left over Costar batch I'd still buy it.  Just look for ones with no media keys.

Media Keys = iOne
No Media Keys = Costar
Ultimate (Blank) = Costar
Mac Edition = Costar

Or you can gamble with Rosewill they claim the micro B connector is fixed.  So if the micro B connector doesn't break then it's a solid keyboard.

[rowdy]

A Ducky Shine II is a good solid board, with backlighting, if it is not too expensive.

[wetto]

Well if you can find any left over Costar batch I'd still buy it.  Just look for ones with no media keys.

Media Keys = iOne
No Media Keys = Costar
Ultimate (Blank) = Costar
Mac Edition = Costar

Or you can gamble with Rosewill they claim the micro B connector is fixed.  So if the micro B connector doesn't break then it's a solid keyboard.

The only question is, until when will the Mac and Ultimate versions be made by Costar?

Hell, if people start to boycott Metadot, send negative feedback, and the sales actually decrease by a lot, the idiots may even change back the OEM.

[rowdy]

Not necessarily.  Enough people who do not know better or otherwise will continue to buy these products, perhaps in some small part based on all the hype from when Das Keyboard first appeared.

Eventually sales might fall off, but probably not sufficiently quickly to reverse what was probably a fairly significant business decision to change manufacturers.

[sovano]

I'm an avid poster on TeamLiquid and I can say with some certainity that Das Keyboard will most likely have no future intentions to switch back to Costar. They have enough cash to sponsor eSports teams.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=377878

[itznfb]

You're spending $100+ already on a keyboard how is another $20 for a significantly higher quality Filco out of your price range?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[wetto]

I'm an avid poster on TeamLiquid and I can say with some certainity that Das Keyboard will most likely have no future intentions to switch back to Costar. They have enough cash to sponsor eSports teams.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=377878

The Das Keyboard is looking more and more like the god damn Razer Blackwidow. It's become a low-quality board with thousands of fanboys (who unfortunately don't know what happened with the new keyboards)...

*Sigh*

[Neo.X]

... While his keys had a consistent light crisp feeling, mine on the other hand were much stiffer and very inconsistent. Some keys were harder to press down then others and even the most crisp feeling keys didn't quite feel like the keys on his board......

That's exactly the feeling of my BWU, which is also made by iOne. I put some O-ring, that helps a little.

On this price range, I say go for Filco.

[m00nshake]

Too bad about Das switching to a lower quality board. I've got a Professional which I purchased just when the new boards were beginning to stock. It's a great board. I was thinking about selling it to help defer the cost of getting my Kmac built, but I might decide to just keep it.

[GregyFace]

You're spending $100+ already on a keyboard how is another $20 for a significantly higher quality Filco out of your price range?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

The only Filco boards I have seen go for about $180+ with shipping. I paid $120 for my Das and that was on the higher end of my price range. Unless I'm just looking in the wrong places for a Filco board.

[wetto]

You're spending $100+ already on a keyboard how is another $20 for a significantly higher quality Filco out of your price range?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

The only Filco boards I have seen go for about $180+ with shipping. I paid $120 for my Das and that was on the higher end of my price range. Unless I'm just looking in the wrong places for a Filco board.

Where do you live at?

[GregyFace]

US, Utah.

[wetto]

US, Utah.

Jesus, even with an international shipping here to Brazil, buying a Filco Majestouch 2 Ninja Cherry MX Brown 104 Keys from Hong Kong costs me about US$ 160, while my Das Keyboard costed me US$ 145.

There must be something wrong with that price.

[GregyFace]

US, Utah.

Jesus, even with an international shipping here to Brazil, buying a Filco Majestouch 2 Ninja Cherry MX Brown 104 Keys from Hong Kong costs me about US$ 160, while my Das Keyboard costed me US$ 145.

There must be something wrong with that price.

Where are you buying it from? The only place I've found that sells Mx Blue Filco's is Keyboard Co. I just double checked and the 104 key was 191$ with shipping.

[wetto]

US, Utah.

Jesus, even with an international shipping here to Brazil, buying a Filco Majestouch 2 Ninja Cherry MX Brown 104 Keys from Hong Kong costs me about US$ 160, while my Das Keyboard costed me US$ 145.

There must be something wrong with that price.

Where are you buying it from? The only place I've found that sells Mx Blue Filco's is Keyboard Co. I just double checked and the 104 key was 191$ with shipping.

http://linkecomputer.com/products/1016979/FKBN104MCEB2/Filco/

Click "Other Curriencies" to see the price in US Dollars. The price that appears on the website is Hong Kong Dollar, which is quite an inflated currency. It's shipped from Hong Kong and takes about 2-3 weeks to arrive.


But I bet other people know a better supplier in the US.