Filco ninja brown switch Vs Unicomp classic buckling spring

[samuelellis]

Im sure you get questions like this a lot but this is my current situation

At work i am a sysadmin and have been using a Dell membrane keyboard for the past 4years or so - to be honest its not been a bad keyboard but ive noticed that some of the keys dont respond fully plus it is missing a few keys and as the keyboard in my home laptop is starting to fail for me (fine for my mrs but with the amount of typing i do not for me) i figure this is the time to bite the bullet and pick up a mechanical keyboard that i use at home and work.

I have been looking at keyboards for a while and it have narrowed them down to potentially two keyboards


The Filco ninja Brown switch or the Unicomp 104 classic buckling spring

As i syadmin in a datacentre with Linux/Windows boxes i do a lot of typing and at home i run a mix of Linux/Windows machines (Heck i even have a linux pc in the car) so again i hit keyboards hard as i like the command line

Now as i will be taking the keyboards back and forth the Filco seems to be winning out on it looking a bit more portable and having quiet switches would not annoy my co-workers as much. Plus the printed labels on the front of the Filco keys look like it will be easier to modify the keyboard and re-apply the labels than on the Unicomp.

However i keep being drawn to the unicomp simply because it is a IBM model M in a new case as I always made a beeline for the PC's using the old model M keyboards when i was at school

Anyone got any advice or other keyboard recomendations along the lines of those two

[TheQsanity]

Well filcos not clicky and model m is clicky.

Why narrow it down to just two? Btw most mechanical keyboards are heavialer than you would think so they arent too portable. 

Looking for tenkeyless filco or fullsized?

There are lots of options out there.

My favorite switch are the. Cherry reds.

I have the poker and that is pretty portable, you should check it out along with the kbc rac and kbc pure. They are light and protable. The choc mini is another portable one.

Do you mind gaming brands? A lot of selection there and bigger price range also, maybe eeven 40 50 bucks ic you shop around.

I almost got the tenkeyless filco ninja myself.

[TotalChaos]

The Unicomp will make 40x the noise of one of your coworkers.  Can u live with that?

I don't care which keyboard u get.  Heck, you have a job.  Get both of them.  If u really hate one of them u can quickly sell it on here at a reasonable discount.  I won't pay top $$$ for a Filco but others might.

I use Cherry Reds myself.  I luvz my cli  as much or more as u do.

[samuelellis]

If it were my money and you were more interested in buckling springs I would skip Unicomp and find something new on Ebay or through clickykeyboards.com

When Model M's were out they ran around $250.  So just imagine that minus $150 worth of quality and that's what you've got.

I did give some thought to using a original ModelM but all the ones i have found 2nd hand are in the US so once shipping has been added they cost basically the same as a new mechanical keyboard

Well filcos not clicky and model m is clicky.

Why narrow it down to just two? Btw most mechanical keyboards are heavialer than you would think so they arent too portable. 

Looking for tenkeyless filco or fullsized?

There are lots of options out there.

My favorite switch are the. Cherry reds.

I have the poker and that is pretty portable, you should check it out along with the kbc rac and kbc pure. They are light and protable. The choc mini is another portable one.

Do you mind gaming brands? A lot of selection there and bigger price range also, maybe eeven 40 50 bucks ic you shop around.

I almost got the tenkeyless filco ninja myself.

Yea i know that they are a lot heavier than you would expect but as i only walk for about 3mins in my commute max then its no real biggie (I park right by the front door at work and at home)

To be honest the click is not really all that importaint, as long as it is tactile and from what i have been reading the brown switch gives you the tactile feedback without the click, i did try and see if i could get a Ninja with the blue switches but thekeyboardco dont stock them by the looks of the site, bit of a shame but as long as i get the tactile feedback them i would be happy.

Annoyingly i have become used to the numeric pad to such a degree i cant really use a keyboard without one, heck even my laptop has a numberpad so that makes it more awkward and limiting when hunting for a keyboard.

A gaiming keyboard would not bother me in the slightest if im honest, i did look at the corsair k90 as the backlight would be handy on night shifts but im not sure if the cherry red switch is something i would take to, from what i have read up so far it seems that the cherry red is a good switch if your coming from membranes but not as good as say the browns or the blues, is that right?

[linuxid10t]

If it were my money and you were more interested in buckling springs I would skip Unicomp and find something new on Ebay or through clickykeyboards.com

When Model M's were out they ran around $250.  So just imagine that minus $150 worth of quality and that's what you've got.

I did give some thought to using a original ModelM but all the ones i have found 2nd hand are in the US so once shipping has been added they cost basically the same as a new mechanical keyboard

Well filcos not clicky and model m is clicky.

Why narrow it down to just two? Btw most mechanical keyboards are heavialer than you would think so they arent too portable. 

Looking for tenkeyless filco or fullsized?

There are lots of options out there.

My favorite switch are the. Cherry reds.

I have the poker and that is pretty portable, you should check it out along with the kbc rac and kbc pure. They are light and protable. The choc mini is another portable one.

Do you mind gaming brands? A lot of selection there and bigger price range also, maybe eeven 40 50 bucks ic you shop around.

I almost got the tenkeyless filco ninja myself.

Yea i know that they are a lot heavier than you would expect but as i only walk for about 3mins in my commute max then its no real biggie (I park right by the front door at work and at home)

To be honest the click is not really all that importaint, as long as it is tactile and from what i have been reading the brown switch gives you the tactile feedback without the click, i did try and see if i could get a Ninja with the blue switches but thekeyboardco dont stock them by the looks of the site, bit of a shame but as long as i get the tactile feedback them i would be happy.

Annoyingly i have become used to the numeric pad to such a degree i cant really use a keyboard without one, heck even my laptop has a numberpad so that makes it more awkward and limiting when hunting for a keyboard.

A gaiming keyboard would not bother me in the slightest if im honest, i did look at the corsair k90 as the backlight would be handy on night shifts but im not sure if the cherry red switch is something i would take to, from what i have read up so far it seems that the cherry red is a good switch if your coming from membranes but not as good as say the browns or the blues, is that right?

I'd say you would probably be best off with browns coming from rubberdome and not needing to annoy coworkers.  I would suggest however that you get O-rings for it since the vast majority of MX Brown sound is from bottoming out.  They ought to be near dead silent then, yet feel very nice.  I definitely can not suggest as Unicomp if you need to work with people.  By the way, I would look at the CM Storm Quick Fire Rapid (with MX Brown) as it is a lot cheaper yet essentially the same thing is the Filco tenkeyless.

[fohat.digs]

Get a lightweight board with browns and O-rings for work. No matter how "close" you are to the door, lugging something big like a Model M is going to get tiresome.

Use the Model M at home. I disagree that the Unicomp is drastically inferior to the IBM, although I personally have several Ms and they are all heavy ancient IBMs. They are different, and each has advantages.

Also, if they have removable cables, buy extras and and leave them in place, so that you don't mess with cables any more than you have to.

And, on that note, a detachable cable is a guaranteed failure point, so avoid them or be careful.

[daerid]

How is it a guaranteed failure point?

[slakatak]

How is it a guaranteed failure point?

The plastic leaf springs on the keyboard side will break...eventually.  I have one from 1991 that still works, but it only gets used like once every year or two when I break the KB down for cleaning.  Unicomp sells replacement cables for $15, so I don't see what the big deal is really.  You're more likely to have problems with broken rivets on a keyboard that old.

[daerid]

Yeah, at that point I'd be more worries about the springs in the switches having issues. All parts wear out eventually.

[fohat.digs]

I have never had an SDL plug break on me, but I have bought a Model M with a bad cable.

Bought 2 SDL-to-USB cables from orihalcon and they are great. Too bad they are so $$, but he builds them himself.

Personally, I hate the mini-USB plug, in any case, although I suppose it is the right size for a camera. But I know that it is way too weak and dinky for a keyboard. Why not use a standard size USB plug?

Well over half of my "consumer electronics" failures have come from cable/plug related issues.

[samuelellis]

Ive been thinking - the filco ninja has the text on the side of the keys - what other keyboards on the market have enough space on the keys to accomodate something similar because as i was thinking of hydro-dipping the keys i would need to re-apply the key labels anyway

[jabar]

At that point why would you worry about needing legends on your keys?

[TotalChaos]

Ive been thinking - the filco ninja has the text on the side of the keys - what other keyboards on the market have enough space on the keys to accomodate something similar because as i was thinking of hydro-dipping the keys i would need to re-apply the key labels anyway

Well I would think that any profile of keycap would have room to write the legend on the front.  Its just that those Cherry Lowrider profile keys might require smaller fonts to fit the legend on.

There are 3 main profiles for keycaps.
06mm tall Cherry lowriders.  Very very short.
08mm tall SP (Signature Plastiscs) quite short
12mm tall "OEM Profile" tall keycaps.  These are awesome because they have room underneath to fit soft O-rings which greatly soften the impacts on your nerves and tendons.  Your hands will last an extra million miles with these babies

As a side benefit to 12mm profile keycaps there is more room on the front for writing proper US International layout legends with all the symbols that are missing from all the keyboard companies.

I am also looking for front printed keys today.  So if u find any tall front printed keys please tell me.

The filco keys are tall and front printed.  But they won't sell me the keys unless I buy their keyboard which is a cool $200.00   Hmmmm.... I will think about that a while...

I found some others but they appear to be short Cherry Lowriders so they are 100% useless to me.

WASDkeyboards.com will custom print anything anybody (except me) wants onto a set of keys for a reasonable price.  I want my US International Legends on the front of the keys but they won't do it.
They own the laser.  They own the software.  They own a keycap printing company.  They have customers.  But that is not good enough.

If I can't find anything today I will have to buy stickers or try to find a stencil so I can magic marker my legends on.

[TheQsanity]

Number Pad? A lot of us here have the Quick Fire Rapid. It does not have a number pad but is pretty cheap.

I would say browns are not as good a s the other switches. I don't know why but I guess it is because it is a compromise between clicky and linear. It is very much better than Membrane. It feels a lot like membranes though because of the bump. Most membranes have bumps.

TBH, you will love the way any keyboard you get feels. They are quite better than membrane.

IMO Reds are better.

[TheProfosist]

Ive been thinking - the filco ninja has the text on the side of the keys - what other keyboards on the market have enough space on the keys to accomodate something similar because as i was thinking of hydro-dipping the keys i would need to re-apply the key labels anyway

Well I would think that any profile of keycap would have room to write the legend on the front.  Its just that those Cherry Lowrider profile keys might require smaller fonts to fit the legend on.

There are 3 main profiles for keycaps.
06mm tall Cherry lowriders.  Very very short.
08mm tall SP (Signature Plastiscs) quite short
12mm tall "OEM Profile" tall keycaps.  These are awesome because they have room underneath to fit soft O-rings which greatly soften the impacts on your nerves and tendons.  Your hands will last an extra million miles with these babies

As a side benefit to 12mm profile keycaps there is more room on the front for writing proper US International layout legends with all the symbols that are missing from all the keyboard companies.

I am also looking for front printed keys today.  So if u find any tall front printed keys please tell me.

The filco keys are tall and front printed.  But they won't sell me the keys unless I buy their keyboard which is a cool $200.00   Hmmmm.... I will think about that a while...

I found some others but they appear to be short Cherry Lowriders so they are 100% useless to me.

WASDkeyboards.com will custom print anything anybody (except me) wants onto a set of keys for a reasonable price.  I want my US International Legends on the front of the keys but they won't do it.
They own the laser.  They own the software.  They own a keycap printing company.  They have customers.  But that is not good enough.

If I can't find anything today I will have to buy stickers or try to find a stencil so I can magic marker my legends on.

alot of us have asked wasd about side printing and he cant do it. My guess due to the jig to keep the surfaces flat being too comlex so chill its not just you.

Also go as qtan for some black with gold side print or white with black sideprint pbt caps ive had a set or two from him.

[TotalChaos]

alot of us have asked wasd about side printing and he cant do it. My guess due to the jig to keep the surfaces flat being too comlex

If they sold their keycaps as all same row profile then it would suddenly be really really simple, wouldn't it?

There is no reason for every row of keys to be a different shape, have a different angle and be a different height.

Also go as qtan for some black with gold side print or white with black sideprint pbt caps ive had a set or two from him.

I am about to order some.   Just shopping around to see if I should get anything else at the same time.  I will order them.  That is $50.00 that should have gone to WASD, going to someone else

[TheProfosist]

alot of us have asked wasd about side printing and he cant do it. My guess due to the jig to keep the surfaces flat being too comlex

If they sold their keycaps as all same row profile then it would suddenly be really really simple, wouldn't it?

There is no reason for every row of keys to be a different shape, have a different angle and be a different height.

Im sorry to say this but thats just idiotic these keyboards have been designed to have diferent rows being different height and angles. Have you ever typed on a cherry keyboard with say all R4 caps on it? Cause I have and there is a good reason they made them different angles and heights.

[slakatak]

Personally, I hate the mini-USB plug, in any case, although I suppose it is the right size for a camera. But I know that it is way too weak and dinky for a keyboard. Why not use a standard size USB plug?

Because that would put the leaf springs on the keyboard side.  Micro A/B are the only standard connectors that make sense for detachable cables, which is...yeah.

SDL + USB is an awesome combo if you're going to cart your keyboard back & forth.

[urbanus]

If it were my money and you were more interested in buckling springs I would skip Unicomp and find something new on Ebay or through clickykeyboards.com

When Model M's were out they ran around $250.  So just imagine that minus $150 worth of quality and that's what you've got.

Minus $150 of what, did you say?  Quality?  Sure: we all know that back in the day, IBM never used to sell stuff at inflated prices.  </sarcasm>

Unicomp makes excellent keyboards.  The fact that they have minus $150 worth of IBM sticker doesn't bother me in the slightest.