Quiet mechanical keyboard

[afton]

Hello all, I have a Das Professional atm, which is great, but my workmates
are starting to get annoyed by the sound.

Is there such thing as a quiet mechanical keyboard?

[o2dazone]

Browns don't have the click generated from the switch itself, but still make a sound when bottomed out. Topre capacitive are also quite, with the 'soft landing' approach

[rdjack21]

Like o2dazone stated look for a brown cherry board. It has a similar feel to it but is much quiter. He is right though that it does make some noise when bottoming out but still not as much noise as the cherry blues make.

I do agree that the Topre is quite but if you can train yourself to not bottom out the browns it should be quite enough. I used a brown Filco tenkeyless at work for awhile and got no complaints about it. I did get a few complaints about my blue cherry though. I now have a Realforce 86U at work and I don't get complaints about it either.

So I think it really comes down to how much you want to spend. Topre very expensive but worth it or Filco with brown cherry switches expensive but not really expensive like a Topre board.

[iggysaps]

For a cheaper alternative, there has been a long discussion about this particular keyboard. http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=6447

It's a key tronic designer P2.  It's not mechanical, but the tactile feedback seems to have satisfied those on the geekhack boards.  I purchased one too, and am waiting for it to arrive.  I purchased it for the same reason, I wanted a quiet keyboard, but do not want to splurge on a topre.  Hope this helps.

[afton]

Topre very expensive but worth it or Filco with brown cherry switches expensive but not really expensive like a Topre board.

I think I might try the Filco
Is this the one?
http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4370&

[molto]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation as you. Despite their great feel, most mechanical keyboards are too loud for me and I also like keys with a low height.
Right now, I'm trying to decide whether I should try a compact keyboard with Cherry's ML switches or skip this step and choose a laptop-like scissor-switch one instead.
I also suspect that some members of this forum exaggerate the merits of mechanical keyboards.

[ch_123]

I also suspect that some members of this forum exaggerate the merits of mechanical keyboards.

It's very much a case of YMMV, this of course is why different people like different switches.

[afton]

I don't mind spending money on a Topre if it's quiet and comfy.
Is it much more quieter than a Das 3?

[huha]

Did you listen to the sound samples in the keyboard audio clips board?
The Topre sounds quite nice, actually. Cherry blues are somewhat loud in my opinion, plus they don't produce a very "clean" sound like buckling springs for example.

-huha

[ch_123]

Browns are quiet IF you can train yourself to not bottom out.  Not as easy as it sounds though.

How bouncy are browns compared with blues? In fact, how bouncy are Topres compared with blues?

Cherry blues are somewhat loud in my opinion, plus they don't produce a very "clean" sound like buckling springs for example.

Yeah, they arent all that loud, but they make a rather unpleasant noise. Nicest sounding keyboards are Model Fs, but you would want to know your co workers very well indeed before using one around them =P

I think Topres are reasonably quiet. They make a "Thock" sound. There's some vids on youtube if you search for the Happy Hacking Keyboard.

[keyb_gr]

How bouncy are browns compared with blues?

From the force displacement graphs I'd say they should be about the same.

Since I bottom out blues frequently, my mechanical switches of choice for more noise-sensitive environments are clears on a Cherry G80-3000 (which is about the only board that may ship with them, though Deck recently announced a new one that apparently also uses these). Not much louder than blacks but tactile and easy not to bottom out. They still are somewhat noisier than a rubber dome of the quieter kind as they stop hard on upstroke, but obviously all the high-pitched clicking of the blues is absent so they're much quieter than these.
If I had to find a very very quiet board, I might settle for a Fujitsu-Siemens rubber dome (KBPC P2 or whatnot).

[ch_123]

Yeah, I just tap on them, I find it very easy to not bottom out on them, even coming from buckling springs. How about them Topres? Or was that what you were referring to?

[bitflipper]

This might work.  Benq scissor switch $40.

Show Image

Browns are quiet IF you can train yourself to not bottom out.  Not as easy as it sounds though.

New on Amazon for $9.99. Check the "new and used". One seller has new ones for $15.00 and dropped the price to $9.99 + $4.95 shipping. Some other yuk-yuk seller (91% positive feedback) jumped in and listed for $39.99 + $10.95 shipping. I bought one from the lower price seller a couple of months ago and it's indeed brand new.

[bitflipper]

Dang, that's a good deal.  

I assume these Benqs are pretty quiet.

Very quiet. About the same noise as a notebook 'board. Co-workers should not complain about any keyboard noises. If they do, then I advise you to start a new "whiny co-workers" thread and get some ideas from the creative GH'ers on how to encourage them to quit.

[rdjack21]

I find Topres similar in springiness to the Cherry Browns but the Topre has even more of a subtle tactile bump so I bottom out those suckers all the time.  But it's a soft landing and the conical spring helps I bet.  It is by far the quietest "mechanical" in my stash.

I find them to have a little more spring to them than the browns. I've also adjusted my typing force so I don't bottom them out as much as I used to. On a side note if you do look at a Topre board the HHKB is a little nosier than any of the Realforce boards. What I've noticed at work is that my 86U is quiter than most of my co-workers rubber dome boards. So you should not have anyone complaining about noise if you do get a Topre board.

[rdjack21]

This might work.  Benq scissor switch $40.

Show Image

Browns are quiet IF you can train yourself to not bottom out.  Not as easy as it sounds though.

The problem I have with scissor switch boards/laptop keyboards in general is the very short key travel. If you have a hard time not bottoming out cherry browns you will always bottom out on these boards. The short travel of the keys just really bothers my fingers when I type on them for any length of time. For general web surfing they are fine but if I really need to type on a laptop then I plug in a real keyboard and use that instead.

[patrickgeekhack]

Did you listen to the sound samples in the keyboard audio clips board?
The Topre sounds quite nice, actually. Cherry blues are somewhat loud in my opinion, plus they don't produce a very "clean" sound like buckling springs for example.

-huha

What do you mean by "clean" sound? I personally love the Blue Cherries. I have not used any Brown Cherries yet, but I have used a buckling spring Customizer. The Blues Cherries produce a more soothing sound to my ears. I guess it's a matter of taste.

[patrickgeekhack]

I find the Dell AT101W to be quite acceptable in an office environment, unless people are trying to be polite and not saying anything. The ABS M1 is a bit louder, not when bottomed out, but rather when the keys are springing back in their initial position.

If the Brown Cherries are like the Blue Cherries minus the click, I think they can be good candidates. Over time, you'll learn to bottom out your keys less and less or with less force if you do. Unless of course, you use a keyboard which require significantly more force at home and brown cherries at work. I used to bottom out my ABS M1 keys with a lot of pressure because the tactile bump is not as pronounced as the Blue Cherries. But, the more I use it, the better I'm getting at it.  I used to type more than 85 words per minute and gradually moved to over 90 WPM on my Cherry. But, on the ABS M1 because I was using more force, I was spending more time on each key and my speed was suffering it (less than 80 WPM). Now, I'm around 85 WPM on it.

[huha]

What do you mean by "clean" sound? I personally love the Blue Cherries. I have not used any Brown Cherries yet, but I have used a buckling spring Customizer. The Blues Cherries produce a more soothing sound to my ears. I guess it's a matter of taste.

BS have a very clean noise devoid of anything except the spring buckling and clicking (I don't have a board with ringing springs, but I actually think it sounds better if they ring a bit, though). My Endurapro is loud, but it's just the buckling spring noise.
The MX blues, on the other hand, produce a high-pitched and pretty loud click on top of the usual friction noises. The click really pisses me off, it's so harsh. Greens fare a bit better in that respect for reasons unknown to me. They don't sound that annoying, but their sound still isn't really nice. Real complicated white Alps--delicious. Nice feel, nice sound, nice switch. It's such a shame they aren't produced any more.
So based on sound, which switches would I like to sit next to in an office every day? [] denotes switches I haven't tried out myself, and as recordings vary considerably, I'm not entirely sure.

[1. Topre]
2. RCWhite Alps (yes, they do sound that good!)
3. MX blacks
4. RCBlack Alps
[5. Cherry clears]
6. Buckling springs
7. Cherry blues
...
20. Mushy rubber domes. Don't even like to hear them.

-huha

[patrickgeekhack]

...on top of the usual friction noises.

That's my favourite sound in the switch LOL.

[ch_123]

The blue Cherrys sound squeaky and artificial. I don't actually mind them that much, but I can see very easily how people would get annoyed for it.

Unicomps don't sound like the older IBM boards, all clack and no ping. On the other hand...

1) Get two people
2) Give the first a sledgehammer and tell him to whack a concrete wall once every second.
3) Give the second a half-filled jar of pennies, and tell him to keep shaking it really quickly.

This is the sound of me typing quickly on my Model F. =]

[patrickgeekhack]

The blue Cherrys sound squeaky and artificial. I don't actually mind them that much, but I can see very easily how people would get annoyed for it.

Blue Cherries can indeed annoy others. I think it's because of the crisp click compared to rubber domes.

[rdjack21]

Blue Cherries can indeed annoy others. I think it's because of the crisp click compared to rubber domes.

For me it is more the high pitch of the switch that bothers me. If it had a lower pitch it would not be quite as bad. But for what ever reason the pitch of the blues really gets on my nerves some days other days they don't bother me.

[huha]

Buckling springs are louder, but their pitch is much lower... they're just joining in with the flow of thoughts when writing. I hear them, but I don't care, as they just convey my motion of typing anyway.
Blues, on the other hand, can really piss me off with their high-pitched clicking noise. Greens sound slightly different and a bit less unnerving.

Indidentally, sound is heavily dependant on keycap construction--on my G80-3000, the original Cherry keycaps sound vastly different than Filco's (?) violet WASD replacement keycaps.

-huha

[Bollwerk]

You know those guys who hits the keys so hard, that you are wondering if the keyboard starts crying and bleeding?

Some time ago, some of my collegues sat in front of me and he typed with a hammer on his poor fujitsu-siemens-board. Same with the mouse.
This is the hell of annoying. Ok, you have to bottom out rubberdomes, but not to do roundhousekicks to send them 500meters into the earth.^^

I kinda envy you for having collegues who gets annoyed by clicky switches.
I use MY-Switches at work. I know, they aren't the preference here, but they are quite quiet.

[keyb_gr]

I use MY-Switches at work. I know, they aren't the preference here, but they are quite quiet.

One of their few true advantages, along with long life (the membranes aren't too fond of liquids though). The typing feel, however, isn't too pleasant, even compared to blacks. I guess you can type pretty well on them once you've adjusted, but most people tend to bang on them, trying to bottom them out.

[Bollwerk]

Like my collegue, who had that thing for about 4 years. Then he switched to a wireless Fujitsu-Siemens mouse/keyboard-combo. Well, the first thing, I've done, I picked up that G81-3000 and now it is mine.^^

They are pretty cheap here in germany anyway so it isn't that great of deal, but I rather have my keyboards at home instead, but most recently i shifted to the G80-1800 (Recently a picked up a new one at ebay for 18€^^) because of its space-saver capabilities. A shame, that they are only available with blacks. It is lound at work anyway, so nobody cares about things like that.
Blacks could be very quiet too, if not bottoming out.

[itlnstln]

Hello all, I have a Das Professional atm, which is great, but my workmates
are starting to get annoyed by the sound.
 
Is there such thing as a quiet mechanical keyboard?

You want a G80-3000 with Cherry browns.  Similar keyfeel to your blues but no click. The G80 is quieter than the Filco; it's almost silent.  In fact, it is quieter than the Dell rubber dome keyboards that my office-mates use (the Filco is about the same loudness, or maybe a little louder).  I use the Filco with brown Cherrys at work, and no one is ready to kill me, yet.
 
Although, I used my Northgate and Model M at work for awhile, so I am sure that the Filco is welcome change after that.

[itlnstln]

Indidentally, sound is heavily dependant on keycap construction--on my G80-3000, the original Cherry keycaps sound vastly different than Filco's (?) violet WASD replacement keycaps.
 
-huha

QFT to elaborate on my last post.
 
I kinda want to swap out my Filco and my G80 now.  I love that 'board.  At least until I get my blank caps for my Filco.

[molto]

You want a G80-3000 with Cherry browns.

I don't know if this has changed over time, but at least newer productions use white switches which are much harder/louder. It's quite ironic that you can't directly purchase keyboards with brown switches here in Germany, but have to resort to expensive imports.

[itlnstln]

I don't know if this has changed over time, but at least newer productions use white switches which are much harder/louder. It's quite ironic that you can't directly purchase keyboards with brown switches here in Germany, but have to resort to expensive imports.

Mine is less than a year old.  It was a custom run for DataCal.com.  Maybe it's just a difference in the clears/whites vs. browns.

[timw4mail]

The Dell AT101W's are decently quiet. They click when they bottom out, but its a lot more pleasant than the Cherry blue switches.

[itlnstln]

The Dell AT101W's are decently quiet. They click when they bottom out, but its a lot more pleasant than the Cherry blue switches.

This is a good choice as well.  I used one at work for awhile, too.  They are a little more resistant than the Cherry blues; however, but they're cheap, and you don't have to worry about people running off with it at work.

[CX23882]

I find that the most noise from the Dell AT101W comes from lateral movement of the keys. I tend not to bottom out on those, possibly because I'm used to the lighter touch of the Cherry MX blues. Black Alps are certainly stiffer, but I find that, on the Dell at least, they're quite receptive to the light gliding style of typing.

Does anybody have any idea whether it's the Alps key switch itself that permits the movement, or the fitting of the key caps?

[itlnstln]

I find that the most noise from the Dell AT101W comes from lateral movement of the keys. I tend not to bottom out on those, possibly because I'm used to the lighter touch of the Cherry MX blues. Black Alps are certainly stiffer, but I find that, on the Dell at least, they're quite receptive to the light gliding style of typing.
 
Does anybody have any idea whether it's the Alps key switch itself that permits the movement, or the fitting of the key caps?

Think it's the switch itself.  The Alps caps are the hardest to pull of any switch I have tried, so it would seem to me that they are very tight fitting.

[keyb_gr]

I don't know if this has changed over time, but at least newer productions use white switches which are much harder/louder.

As I wrote elsewhere, standard switch types on G80-3000s have always been blacks, blues and clears only. They may have come up with the browns for the G80-5000 series ergo boards - and I think both Maltron and Kinesis still use them.

Clears have a stronger spring than browns, so I'd expect more noise when the key snaps back. They are a bit louder than blacks.

It's quite ironic that you can't directly purchase keyboards with brown switches here in Germany, but have to resort to expensive imports.

Actually I found it quite surprising that browns seem to be quite common elsewhere. The main cause seems to be the venerable Compaq MX11800 though.

[patrickgeekhack]

My Dell AT101W is definitely the most tolerable at the office among my keyboards, followed by my ABS M1. Blue cherries are not that loud if you ask me, but what noise gets noticed more depend on the environment. Blue cherries produce a distinctive click that is noticeable even with all the PCs running. At home, however, my G80-3000 does not seem to bother my wife and child at night, but my ABS M1 does. The difference is the environment. At home at night, it's relatively quieter than at the office.

Like itlnstln pointed out, the Dell AT101W is a wonderful keyboard for the price. You don't have to worry about theft.

I will probably get a Filco with brown cherries at some point, but I'm worried it will get put aside after some time because I am fond of the blue cherries. On the other hand, I can always connect both and use the Filco when it's late at night :-) I am not too keen in leaving it at the office though.

[itlnstln]

I leave my Filco (and any other of my 'boards I have used at work) right out on my desk.  I don't think anyone knows what it is really, so no one would walk off with it.  Then again, people leave their laptops in their docks overnight all the time around here, too, and those don't walk off during the night, either.  Our security system is pretty good where I work, as well.

[patrickgeekhack]

I leave my Filco (and any other of my 'boards I have used at work) right out on my desk.  I don't think anyone knows what it is really, so no one would walk off with it.  Then again, people leave their laptops in their docks overnight all the time around here, too, and those don't walk off during the night, either.  Our security system is pretty good where I work, as well.

I'm not worried about theft, but more about who touches my keyboard :-)  By the way, is the Filco quieter than the ABS? I'm having a hard time fighting the idea of buying a Filco :boxing:

[itlnstln]

I'm not worried about theft, but more about who touches my keyboard :-) By the way, is the Filco quieter than the ABS? I'm having a hard time fighting the idea of buying a Filco :boxing:

In terms of the Filcos with brown Cherrys, they are much quieter. The Filcos with Cherry blues, though, are about on the same level. The high-pitched click is very pronounced* and could get very annoying to neighbors. Hell, I found them annoying myself.
 
* I do not know; however, if the click is more pronounced on the Filco than the Cherry G80-3000. My Cherry keyboard is quieter than my Filco, so it might be the same for the Cherry blues as well (that is, the G80 is quieter than the Filco).

[patrickgeekhack]

In terms of the Filcos with brown Cherrys, they are much quieter. The Filcos with Cherry blues, though, are about on the same level. The high-pitched click is very pronounced* and could get very annoying to neighbors. Hell, I found them annoying myself.
 
* I do not know; however, if the click is more pronounced on the Filco than the Cherry G80-3000. My Cherry keyboard is quieter than my Filco, so it might be the same for the Cherry blues as well (that is, the G80 is quieter than the Filco).

Thanks. I should have pointed out that I was talking about the Filco with brown cherries. I already have two G80-3000 with blue cherries and would like to try the brown for once. I love my blue cherries a lot.

[rdjack21]

I leave my Filco (and any other of my 'boards I have used at work) right out on my desk.  I don't think anyone knows what it is really, so no one would walk off with it.  Then again, people leave their laptops in their docks overnight all the time around here, too, and those don't walk off during the night, either.  Our security system is pretty good where I work, as well.

Same here I've always left my boards on my desk at work over night. Right now that is a Realforce 86U and no one bothers it. But then again I work in a small office and every one knows to leave my keyboards alone Whats really funny is when I bring in another board they all just look at me and say "What another keyboard whats wrong with the one you have?". Also all of them know how much I've spent on the Realforce boards so they really leave them alone. One of the guys got all excited when he got a new fancy rubber dome board last week then went on to brag about how he only spent around $50 for it. I just shook my head and thought to my self that I would throw up if I had to type on that piece of junk.

[patrickgeekhack]

One of the guys got all excited when he got a new fancy rubber dome board last week then went on to brag about how he only spent around $50 for it. I just shook my head and thought to my self that I would throw up if I had to type on that piece of junk.

I find this funny. Some of coworkers tend to bug me about how much I paid for my keyboards, and how much they paid for them and that in the end a keyboard will type letters on the screen. However, I point to some that they are ready to pay a couple hundreds dollars more for CPU faster by 0.1Ghz. While they are likely to notice the difference between a good and a bad keyboard, they are unlikely to notice the difference the 0.1 Ghz make.

[iggysaps]

Buckling springs are louder, but their pitch is much lower... they're just joining in with the flow of thoughts when writing. I hear them, but I don't care, as they just convey my motion of typing anyway.
Blues, on the other hand, can really piss me off with their high-pitched clicking noise. Greens sound slightly different and a bit less unnerving.

Indidentally, sound is heavily dependant on keycap construction--on my G80-3000, the original Cherry keycaps sound vastly different than Filco's (?) violet WASD replacement keycaps.

-huha

I couldn't agree more.  I use my Spacesaver a lot in the office, and to my own ears, I don't find it to be noisy, maybe because of the lower pitch.  I also have a G80-3000 with blues, but my Spacesaver gets a lot more use.  Probably becuse of the kind of sound it makes, and I find that I type faster and with less errors on it.

[talis]

I'm not worried about theft, but more about who touches my keyboard :-)  By the way, is the Filco quieter than the ABS? I'm having a hard time fighting the idea of buying a Filco :boxing:

The other option is the i-rocks if you want brown cherries (no personal experience with them).  NCIX has started stocking them, so they ship within Canada (cheaper shipping and no duty/brokerage/exchange), I'm tempted to pick one up myself.

[itlnstln]

I think my next keyboard will be the i-Rocks.  I like the smaller layout.  Now, if elitekeyboards starts carrying Cherry keyboards, and he has a G80-1800 with browns, that would trump the i-Rocks.  I still don't like how the i-Rocks is laid out on the lower right (specifically the ? and Right Shift keys being swapped).

[afton]

How about the Cherry black switches? Are they noisy?
I've heard the Cherry browns, they're not quiet enough if keys
are bottomed out. Topre is pleasant, but expensive.

Hence I'm wondering about Cherry blacks

[Bollwerk]

Blacks aren't very loud if low force is uses to press the keys. Even if you bottom them out. I don't know, if they are quiter than browns, but I can type on them really silent. They aren't louder than rubberdomes that way.

[timw4mail]

How about the Cherry black switches? Are they noisy?
I've heard the Cherry browns, they're not quiet enough if keys
are bottomed out. Topre is pleasant, but expensive.

Hence I'm wondering about Cherry blacks

Depends how hard you bottom them out. If you don't bottom the switches out (which is pretty hard to do) they can be the quietest of the three main Cherry switches. However, depending on the keycap, and the way the switch is mounted (PCB or Plate), the switch could be louder than other switches when bottomed out.

[afton]

Blacks aren't very loud if low force is uses to press the keys. Even if you bottom them out. I don't know, if they are quiter than browns, but I can type on them really silent. They aren't louder than rubberdomes that way.

Do you have any sound sample of Cherry blacks?