Unpopular Keyboard Opinions

[iri]

Slightly less horrendous (typing this on an Asus)

[bigmaxnonions]

I think its weird when people post pictures of their boards on vendors Discord channels that do not have any products that said vendor sold. Eg posting a picture on, say, Novelkeys Discord, but its a CannonKeys board and keycaps. IDK, it just seems silly to be posting pictures of stuff on a vendors platform that you can't even buy from the vendor.

[Hak Foo]

The extension key set I want in your group buy isn't novelties.  It's packs of matching profile/colour wave blanks.  Relegendables are close, but they're gonna feel very different if you want to mix them next to regular caps.

[Mandan]

I actually like the "plasticky" feel of the IBM Model M better than the "pingy metal" feel of the Model F.

Too bad all the Ms have that abominable "inverted-T" layout, much makes them virtually unusable for me.

[wjrii]

I actually like the "plasticky" feel of the IBM Model M better than the "pingy metal" feel of the Model F.

Too bad all the Ms have that abominable "inverted-T" layout, much makes them virtually unusable for me.

Fingers are in a row, down is used more often than up.  The inverted T is ideal.  M's still have a numlock key and the low-effort secondary functions on the number pad.  If you really insist on a bad nav cluster, 122-key and Unsaver model M's generally have the five-key "full T."

You certainly win my personal award for living up to the thread title, LOL.  No hard feelings.   

[Osidian]

We like to color match our switches and stabilizers. Even though nobody will see, little details matter 

[LavenderB]

I tried new old stock blue Alps at a meetup and didn't like them all that much. It was like I could actually feel the click leaves bending away from my fingers. However, if I actually typed on them for an extended period of time I think might get used to the sensation and learn to appreciate them as others do.

[rxc92]

I tried new old stock blue Alps at a meetup and didn't like them all that much. It was like I could actually feel the click leaves bending away from my fingers. However, if I actually typed on them for an extended period of time I think might get used to the sensation and learn to appreciate them as others do.

That's a very rational take. We're all creatures of habit and very used to the switches we type on daily, and Cherry-style is still the most common by far. But give it a couple of days and I'm sure you could get used to a new switch type!
Reminds me of back in the day when I got the chance to feel out a pristine Model F. Totally unlike anything I had used, but the feel was absolutely delicious.

[TomahawkLabs]

I tried new old stock blue Alps at a meetup and didn't like them all that much. It was like I could actually feel the click leaves bending away from my fingers. However, if I actually typed on them for an extended period of time I think might get used to the sensation and learn to appreciate them as others do.

As someone who is a die hard Alps fan, and someone who just picked up some Blue Alps (in the mail currently), I see this as a hot take. I have been daily driving Alps Damped Creams at work for about a year now and much prefer it to my lubed Zealios from one of their first runs. It's a different kind of tactility for sure. It's been lore for as long as I have been in the hobby that Alps Blue SKCM switches are the "best" clicky switch and offer near unrivaled smoothness. But, we are also 10+ years further into the hobby and new plastics/molds/manufacturing may have made that less true.

[fohat.digs]

we are also 10+ years further into the hobby

Probably true, and in decades past the direct comparison that most clicky users made was between Cherry and Alps. Unfortunately, Cherry blue switches are dreadful and the noise was annoying. Landing pads helped a little but not much.

[TomahawkLabs]

Probably true, and in decades past the direct comparison that most clicky users made was between Cherry and Alps. Unfortunately, Cherry blue switches are dreadful and the noise was annoying. Landing pads helped a little but not much.
[/quote]

Cherry Blues are IMO the worst switch Cherry makes. The sound is both loud and piercing. I also find them too light for my liking. I was a fan of Cherry White and Cherry Greens. My favorite switch of all time is still (cleaned and lubed) Alps SKCM "Clicky" Whites. They feel amazing and give just enough of a "click". 10/10. I am not quite ready to share, but I have been doing some collection bolstering that I am very excited about.

[fohat.digs]

(cleaned and lubed) Alps SKCM "Clicky" Whites

Arguments have been made that there is no difference between the earliest generation of Alps white and blue.

[TomahawkLabs]

Arguments have been made that there is no difference between the earliest generation of Alps white and blue.

I have both pine and bamboo SKCM Whites. There is a difference. I need to refurb/lube the bamboo whites, but they feel significant less good, not bad, just less good than the pine housings.

[Rhienfo]

I tried new old stock blue Alps at a meetup and didn't like them all that much. It was like I could actually feel the click leaves bending away from my fingers. However, if I actually typed on them for an extended period of time I think might get used to the sensation and learn to appreciate them as others do.

I'm the same except they weren't nos blues. They just didn't feel impactful to me, I do have an alps board with my m0115 and I do like how the orange alps feel (well as good as bad alps can be lol) so maybe if I try them again I will like them more. I've also tried other switches with click leafs and have liked them so that's a sign that blues might be the same.

Cherry Blues are IMO the worst switch Cherry makes. The sound is both loud and piercing. I also find them too light for my liking. I was a fan of Cherry White and Cherry Greens. My favorite switch of all time is still (cleaned and lubed) Alps SKCM "Clicky" Whites. They feel amazing and give just enough of a "click". 10/10. I am not quite ready to share, but I have been doing some collection bolstering that I am very excited about.

I think the blues are fine, the worst are like the heavier whites and greens for me, just because the spring weighting is way to high. But the mechanism that's in them isn't as good as like click leaf or even click bar clickies, but that doesn't mean that they are bad really.

[grids]

High-profile keyboards should be discontinued.
Wireless keyboards should be discontinued.

[grids]

Mice are still very helpful.

[iri]

cats are more helpful though



^{I'll show myself out}

[Scrambler_S]

Rubrehaku "art" is lame AF.

[bigmaxnonions]

This ones a bit of a spicy opinion I thought of last night, the Float65 from Space was a sorry/sad attempt to regain some capital towards the end of Space Cables exit, rather than a fleshed out project. Realistically, it's a piece of stamped and folded sheet metal with a PCB magnetically attached to it, and was very pricey for what it was. Shame for the people who got scammed by it.

[knightjp]

I like my Bastron Glass Keyboard. Have been using it for a few years now, and its really good.
I've even used it at work where I type for a long periods of time and to be honest, I don't feel any fatigue or pain like some people would expect.

[bevbox]

70 percent keyboards (frl tkl)'s are one of the best layouts. Why? i dunno, i lik e em  )

[tzt]

Trackballs are uncomfortable. I see these keyboards with trackballs on them where you have to use your thumb. I tried one once and had pain to the joint at the base of my thumb.

[Mandan]

Many keyboards are dished.  IBM did that with the Model F and M, with the idea that business typists (their market) were typing in proper clerical desks or a typing stand that held the board a few inches above the thighs.    A lot of "proper typing" and key positioning has the implicit assumption that the user's forearms are free to move in all directions.  The most common modern arrangement is "forearms on the table", which limits mobility, particularly between the bottom and top rows.  Using the top row often requires bending the wrists back, wheres it is a simple finger motion on a low-positioned keyboard.

Keyboards don't need to be dished.  Many modern keyboards aren't, and work just fine.  Particularly laptops.

Frankly, I'd love to get a board that was curved up in the middle, so the top row would be *down*

[nptri]

Milktooth, Unikeys, MonacoKeys etc. etc. are being trash for not even get their switch specification correct, each page hold each housing material.

[clay]

TGR why can't you just give us a friggin F12 TKL? Why most gotta be F13?

[julimma]

I feel the same. However I find the backspace on the HHKBs to be more ergonomic than those from "normal" layouts. That's why I am trying to design an HHKB with directional keys.

[PandaKB]

You hate 60% because of no arrow keys. I hate 60% because my wrists are screaming at me to stop parallel-parking my hands.

Once you go split ergo with a thumb cluster, "row stagger" and traditional layouts start looking like stone-age relics. Real productivity is keeping your hands where they actually want to rest.

Hard agree on the Topre tax. Paying a premium for rubber domes that stiffen up into expensive tactile switches isn't the flex people think it is.