Ordering MX Black or Red

[frowni]

Hey there,

Wife going on business trip to London so i decided to order a new keyboard The keyboard i'm using right now is MX Browns(Filco), before that it was mx blue. Blue was a bit noisy for me and i really don't like browns anymore. Yesterday, i tried Steelseries(mx black) and i loved it...it had a kinda topre* feeling. So i'm sure i will love blacks. But i don't have chance to try reds..i know they are lighter blacks but its hard to imagine something you don't use. I will also order some o-rings..I mostly type and don't care about games..so?

[Jokrik]

Wife going on business trip to London so i decided to order a new keyboard

I love how you roll man

Hey there,

Wife going on business trip to London so i decided to order a new keyboard The keyboard i'm using right now is MX Browns(Filco), before that it was mx blue. Blue was a bit noisy for me and i really don't like browns anymore. Yesterday, i tried Steelseries(mx black) and i loved it...it had a kinda topre* feeling. So i'm sure i will love blacks. But i don't have chance to try reds..i know they are lighter blacks but its hard to imagine something you don't use. I will also order some o-rings..I mostly type and don't care about games..so?

Anyway, it seems that you love blacks when you tried the SS. Might as well go with blacks
Red is very light and it can also be a problem (like me)
best is for you to give red a try,
that's what I always tell people what to do, which to actually give it a physical try

[kohi]

IMO reds felt really similar to browns.. especially when I was typing fast, it was somewhat difficult to distinguish between the two. They both have an actuation force of 45g, so you can refer back to your browns to see how light the reds would be (only difference being the absence of the small tactile bump you find in browns). If you loved the feeling of the mx blacks, I'd suggest you just go with that. Best of luck

[rowdy]

I'd suggest blacks.  I have reds, blacks, greens, blues and clears.  The reds are way too light.  I can tolerate the blues, but prefer greens.

[zslane]

I think if you like the resistance blacks provide then you won't care for reds. They will feel too light to you.

I'm the opposite: I prefer reds and find blacks impose too much resistance. In my experience, people find one acceptable but not the other. Since you already know you like MX blacks, I think you can safely assume that you won't like reds.

[MajorMajor]

Reds are way too light. I prefer Clears, personally. Tactile, stiff, and quiet-ish.

[Pwner]

Coming from someone with 2 red boards, and saying that you like blacks, go with them.  I kind of wish I did as reds just seem to light for me.  I feel like I make entirely to many mistakes. lol

[TalkingTree]

I mostly type and don't care about games..so?

Don't believe to anybody telling you MX Black is for typing while MX Red is for gaming. There's no gaming or typing switch at all, it's a matter of preference.
If you like black swiches you might want to stick to them.

[zslane]

Coming from someone with 2 red boards, and saying that you like blacks, go with them.  I kind of wish I did as reds just seem to light for me.  I feel like I make entirely to many mistakes. lol

If you have a Filco Majestouch-2 with MX reds and would like to trade for a Filco Majestouch-2 with MX blacks, please let me know. I'm stuck with a brand new MJ2 with blacks that I have no use for, but I could always use another MJ2 with reds.

[1swt2gs]

Another vote for blacks here. I have used a lot of different type of Mx switches and my least favorite has to be red.

[rowdy]

Coming from someone with 2 red boards, and saying that you like blacks, go with them.  I kind of wish I did as reds just seem to light for me.  I feel like I make entirely to many mistakes. lol

Have you tried a keyboard with blacks?

I have tried both, and reds are way too light for me for typing or gaming.

[ideus]

If you already find blacks fit you I do not think red may be of any benefit for you. Reds are extremely soft, in my experience typing errors increased using reds.

[KnivesM]

I like both and have boards with both, I started out with a Steelseries 6gv2 but the one with reds that they don't sell anymore. If you feel like you would like more heavy switches like mx blacks or the lighter weight like the browns you tried but smoother and no bump. Although if you mostly type and don't care about games I'd recommend clears if you like the heaviness of blacks but want a tactile switch with more a more noticable bump.

I'd recommend getting a switch tester to play with them a bit so you can try clears and reds before you buy another board, it's not perfect as the materials they are made out of often the same as a regular boards but it's better than loose switches.

IMO reds felt really similar to browns.. especially when I was typing fast, it was somewhat difficult to distinguish between the two. They both have an actuation force of 45g, so you can refer back to your browns to see how light the reds would be (only difference being the absence of the small tactile bump you find in browns). If you loved the feeling of the mx blacks, I'd suggest you just go with that. Best of luck

Similar weight springs yes, but browns feel like scratchy reds with slight bump not as noticeable as clears though. Personally I wouldn't compare the two so closely, but that's just me...

[zslane]

I bought a switch tester but found that one key for each switch type was not enough to really tell me how a full keyboard would feel. I had to try a keyboard equipped with MX blacks and type on it under normal conditions for a week to determine that blacks were just not right for me. A tester simply can't provide enough of the full sensation of actual typing to be of much help. You'll only get the most superficial sense of each switch type.

[Hyde]

It depends, for me I've always liked brown, then I tried red and it's very similar to brown and I liked it.

But I've always been curious about blacks so I bought one to try it out, only to realize I still like red better.

So if you tried blacks and liked it, by all means go for it.  But if you like brown's weight then red will actually be closer.

[rowdy]

I bought a switch tester but found that one key for each switch type was not enough to really tell me how a full keyboard would feel. I had to try a keyboard equipped with MX blacks and type on it under normal conditions for a week to determine that blacks were just not right for me. A tester simply can't provide enough of the full sensation of actual typing to be of much help. You'll only get the most superficial sense of each switch type.

This is exactly correct.

You won't even really get a feel for what the switch even sounds like with a switch tester.

The CM one comes close as it is in a plastic case with a metal plate, but you can hardly type an essay on it!