Browns Vs. Rubber Dome

[Wibox]

Hi,

I have a Das Keyboard with blue cherries; it's the only mechanical keyboard I have or have ever used. I love the feel of the keys and I feel like I fly on this keyboard way more than others. The only problem is the noise. I can't use this thing at night time and it annoys others- also I would like a keyboard I can use at work and this just won't do.

So I've been looking into Cherry browns and it seems like its exactly what I need. I'll miss the extra tactile feedback but I guess this is the best I can do.

My question is.. I heard the browns were very light and easily pressed, not stiff. I was wondering if they were at least stiffer than rubber domes? If they aren't harder to press down than rubber domes then it's a no go for me and I'll need to look for something else.

[itlnstln]

They are not stiffer than most rubber domes. In fact, they are lighter than Cherry blues. That said, I also think that Cherry blues are lighter than rubber domes. I would jump in on a Cherry brown 'board. I have one for sale (Filco 104 key w/NKRO) in the Classifeds section, or if you don't want to jump in with both feet, you can find Compaq MX11800s on ebay for pretty cheap (around $20-30); you just have to deal with a funky layout and a trackball. I think you will like it more than you think.

[Hubbert]

I didn't like the browns in the Kinesis Advantage. The browns have neither the tactile/audible indication of a Cherry blue / buckling spring nor the padding of a rubber dome. I was in the process of replacing the browns with blues before I gave up on the Kinesis (for the time being).

Digi-Key will sell you a single brown switch that you can sample. Or if you're in the USA, I could probably mail you one if you ask nicely.

[hyperlinked]

Browns are not necessarily quiet either. They're quieter than Blues, but they're not as quiet as most rubber domes are. Of course the board and keycaps themselves influence the noise level of the keyboard. My Filco with Browns generate a rather stirring rattle if I'm typing at full speed.

I have a bunch of Black ALPS boards and those are actually louder than my Scorpius M10 (Blues) if I'm typing at full speed, but the actual board construction is partially to blame for the loudness of that board.

[itlnstln]

Browns are not necessarily quiet either. They're quieter than Blues, but they're not as quiet as most rubber domes are. Of course the board and keycaps themselves influence the noise level of the keyboard. My Filco with Browns generate a rather stirring rattle if I'm typing at full speed.

This is 'board-dependent.  Filcos tend to be on the loud side.  My G80-3000 is quieter than most rubber domes, though.  I think the keycaps make a big difference in sound.

[ricercar]

My Kinesis browns are quiet enough that I prefer to enable the electronic tik, an optional feedback sound. I miss the feedback on other brown boards, but not enough to use Cherry blues.

[firestorm]

I'd also say the Filco w/ browns isn't necessarily quiet.  It can be quiet, if you're careful to not bottom out the keys, but I can easily hear my wife typing away from upstairs if she's racking away on it.  I could hear her racking away on the old Microsoft Natural too though.  The Natural was maybe a little quieter, but I think it may be the pitch of the keys bottoming out on the Filco that causes the sound to be more noticeable.  I had an ABS M1 with black ALPS copies for a short while before this and it was horrendously loud.

I originally thought that Filco was too quiet for my tastes, but I think that was simply from coming off off the ABS M1 and a Dell AT101W.  

I honestly probably would've gone with the Cherry G80-3000 if I purely wanted a board to type on, but I really wanted to profile and looks of the Filco.  That said, I wouldn't have any trouble using the Filco at work - nobody complained about the ABS M1 though.

[itlnstln]

At work, my Filco wasn't much louder, if at all, compared to the Dell-standard rubber domes people use here.  No one had a problem with my ABS or my Northgate, for that matter, but I think they were just being polite.

[Wibox]

They are not stiffer than most rubber domes. In fact, they are lighter than Cherry blues. That said, I also think that Cherry blues are lighter than rubber domes. I would jump in on a Cherry brown 'board. I have one for sale (Filco 104 key w/NKRO) in the Classifeds section, or if you don't want to jump in with both feet, you can find Compaq MX11800s on ebay for pretty cheap (around $20-30); you just have to deal with a funky layout and a trackball. I think you will like it more than you think.

The blues on my das are definitely harder to push down than domes, that's one of the reasons I love it so much.

I don't mind if the noise is a little louder than rubber domes, I just can't have it be as loud as blues.

If the browns don't have at least more tactile feedback than rubber domes, I don't think I'll jump in

[itlnstln]

If the browns don't have at least more tactile feedback than rubber domes, I don't think I'll jump in

 They probably have less, but more so than quantity, the quality is different.  Tactility is not a monolithic entity, there are different force curves influenced by tactility that greatly vary the entire keystroke experience.  Brown Cherrys and black ALPS are the same type of switch in that they are both "silent" and tactile; however, their force curves are very different and feel completely different, so doing "more or less" comparisons aren't entirely accurate.  That said, noise-level aside, it sounds like you need a Model M.