K70 Vegence Design?

[rlvampire]

Hello Geekhackers, I am in the market to buy a mechanical switch keyboard sometime in the near future. I have a roommate who has the K70 "Red" and I loved the design of the keyboard and how there is a defined separation between the board itself and the keys. Are there any other brand or keyboard manufacturer who make a similar style of keyboard?

I did some research here on the forum and have tested a few keyboards at a local store.  I've enjoyed the feeling of a Blue Cherry MX board I tested earlier however I think the brown would be more suited for my needs, any input from you guys and gals here would be appreciated. I'm curious about the Green and Clear switches in real world applied use how much more different are they from the other types. The last few nights I have read into and watched a few videos on the matter; I think that the user input on this forum would be more useful though.

Thank you for your time, I am looking forward to any and all replies/recommendations!

[tp4tissue]

@ geekhack..

all the "uber-pros" use Ergodoxes..

the "collectors" use tkl aluminum korean keyboards..

the "novice" use k70, quickfire, etc..


Welcome...

[rlvampire]

Thank you for the fast reply tissue and concerning the TKL boards, where do I find them or do I have to manually build them?

I know this is not a gamer website which was intentional, is the K70 DESIGN itself unique and not found in other boards unless you hand craft it? I dont care about marketing hype or gimmicks, I just want a nice feeling keyboard for a little bit of everything.

[SpecTP]

I have a K70 and they're decent for the price.  You can find them on sale ~$70 on newegg some times.  They're not 100% cherry MX keys though.

Check out the Ducky keyboards or some of the groupbuys on this forum.

[Oobly]

All the Corsair boards have non-standard bottom rows, so replacing keycaps (one of the joys of owning a Cherry MX board) is practically impossible.

Any plate mounted board with a low profile case will have that same gap between the caps and board, but there aren't a lot of low profile cases.

Tenkeyless boards (TKL) don't have the number pad, so they allow the mouse to be closer to the keyboard and the main typing area to be more central to the display. Better ergonomics, takes up less desk space.

If you want a good value TKL, the CMStorm QuickFire Rapid is a great choice. You can find them with Brown switches, but they don't make them with Clears. If you want to try Clears, the KUL ES-87 is your best choice. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Better build quality, better keycaps, etc.

There's also the Flashget G600 that has a low profile metal case, but I've only seen them with Blue, Red and Black switches:

http://www.banggood.com/FlashGet-G600-87-Keys-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-Switch-p-89317.html
http://www.banggood.com/Flashget-G600-Wired-Mechanical-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Red-Switch-p-79412.html
http://www.banggood.com/Flashget-G600-Wired-Mechanical-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Black-Switch-p-78658.html


Welcome to the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards! 

[frosty]

All the Corsair boards have non-standard bottom rows, so replacing keycaps (one of the joys of owning a Cherry MX board) is practically impossible.

Any plate mounted board with a low profile case will have that same gap between the caps and board, but there aren't a lot of low profile cases.

Tenkeyless boards (TKL) don't have the number pad, so they allow the mouse to be closer to the keyboard and the main typing area to be more central to the display. Better ergonomics, takes up less desk space.

If you want a good value TKL, the CMStorm QuickFire Rapid is a great choice. You can find them with Brown switches, but they don't make them with Clears. If you want to try Clears, the KUL ES-87 is your best choice. It's not cheap, but it's worth it. Better build quality, better keycaps, etc.

There's also the Flashget G600 that has a low profile metal case, but I've only seen them with Blue, Red and Black switches:

http://www.banggood.com/FlashGet-G600-87-Keys-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Blue-Switch-p-89317.html
http://www.banggood.com/Flashget-G600-Wired-Mechanical-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Red-Switch-p-79412.html
http://www.banggood.com/Flashget-G600-Wired-Mechanical-Keyboard-Cherry-MX-Black-Switch-p-78658.html


Welcome to the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards! 

wrong, all 104 keys are cherry. with additional membrane/rubber dome media keys.

i'm gonna warn op now that it is uber hard to find a keyset that fits the keyboard because of it's spacebar. a 6.5 unit spacebar is disgustingly hard to find, some may say it's pointless as it might not even exist

[Oobly]

....
wrong, all 104 keys are cherry. with additional membrane/rubber dome media keys.

i'm gonna warn op now that it is uber hard to find a keyset that fits the keyboard because of it's spacebar. a 6.5 unit spacebar is disgustingly hard to find, some may say it's pointless as it might not even exist

6.5 unit spacebar and different sized modifiers than normal = "non standard bottom row". I was referring to the keycap sizes, not the switches used.

[frosty]

could have sworn i saw non full mx board. my bad there.

[Oobly]

could have sworn i saw non full mx board. my bad there.

  no worries. I've misread a few posts myself.

[EvillePanda]

I bought a k70 with mx reds for my boyfriend.  Very good keyboard.  In retrospect, I should have gotten the blacks for him.  He's pretty heavy handed.  As an intro mechanical, it's great and all the keys are in fact switches.  Some of the other k series have membrane on the F keys, but this one is full mechanical.

[frosty]

for starters, a k70/65 is alright. as what the post above me has stated, it's one of those corsair boards that doesn't have membrane switches.

[C5Allroad]

I have a K70 and they're decent for the price.  You can find them on sale ~$70 on newegg some times.  They're not 100% cherry MX keys though.

Check out the Ducky keyboards or some of the groupbuys on this forum.

K70 is full mechanical now...
You're thinking of the K60 and K90 

[rlvampire]

I was mistaken about the TLK, thank you reiterating what it is. I have been looking into the Ducky Shine 3 as my first keyboard, does anyone know someone who sells or can make a aluminum face plate for it similar to the YOTD edition? I managed to find the clear/transparent replacement caps I was looking for to customize the keyboard on a different part of this forum!

I will avoid red and black switches because I didnt enjoy testing it out with my roommates keyboard; I am using my backup lycosa from many years ago and the typing is serviceable at best.

I use my keyboards for more than hardcore gaming; atleast every other day I spend an hour or two writing. The typing aspect I felt from the razer black widow which is suppose to be a blue switch was decent and the noise didnt bother me. I think the browns would be better after doing additional research as I am definitely going to O-Mod the keyboard in addition to putting on custom caps.

I like Banggood's prices, Is Banggood a safe buyer to purchase from? "I am guessing so because of the forum I am on now but I could be wrong." What is their service track record like based on your experiences everyone?

What are peoples experiences with the old IBM M, I remember typing on it a few times as a kid and it was a good experience. I know you can scour ebay for one and that Unicomp makes a similar quality clone of it.  What were the best production years I should focus on if I did want one?

After hearing that the k70 might have compatibility issues I figure it is just better to get a ducky or something else which will be a similar price anyway. I have no bias against any particular company or brand, except I know I wont be suckered by marketing alone which is why I had faith in Geekhack-> based on what I had read in the guides and topic posts.

The observations so far have been pretty helpful. How has the forum taken to DAS as a whole? Daskeyboard seem to be offering exactly what I am looking for in terms of construction and attention to detail.
 
I am kind of stuck on whither to get another CM product and upgrade later to a ducky, get a ducky now and suffer for a month or two,go custom through a group buy later or get a DAS and be done with it all for a few years.

Thank you for the responses so far, I'm appreciating the help!

[00zeRO]

Thank you for the fast reply tissue and concerning the TKL boards, where do I find them or do I have to manually build them?

Looking for a TKL with Browns (not backlit, it's backawesome), consider the following:

http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=914

For a great review of the Clear MX version check this out:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=59116.0

[Oobly]

DAS is not as good as they used to be. Seems their quality has dropped. I would actually put the latest DAS boards below the CMStorm QFR in terms of quality and value for money.

Ducky Shine 3 TKL, Filco Majestouch 2 and KUL ES-87 are all great products, with the KUL being the one I would buy right now.

Banggood is okay, their stock keeping system seems to be a bit unreliable, so they sometimes allow an item to be purchased that isn't actually in stock at the time of ordering and their free shipping takes a VERY long time to arrive (4 to 7 weeks, depending). I would order items again from them, but pay for tracked shipping.

The IBM model M is a great board, really nice for typing, but very noisy and perhaps not so good for gaming as you have to release the switch quite far to be able to press it again.

I still recommend a KUL ES-87 with Clears. The MX Clear switches are very tactile and great for typing and gaming, IME.

It's quite expensive and would be a lot of work, but you might be able to fit the KUL parts into this case if you really want that low profile look: http://www.gonskeyboardworks.com/housingscases/37-gon-ns-87-housing-only.html

Of course if you really want the best, just buy a complete GON NS 87.... Korean Custom boards are nice... but very pricey.

Or you could get one of those Flashget boards and salvage the case from it