So I'm interested in burning a little B-day money I got a few weeks ago but haven't been able to decide which investment to put it into. I think I'm going to invest in a Mechanical Keyboard. I've got it narrowed down to a choice of two and was hoping for some feedback. A I'm a simplistic traditionalist by nature. I like less bells and whistles and flashy stuff (well except case LEDS) and prefer raw performance. Main use is gaming but that tends to come and go for me so I want a good balance. I'm coming from standard Dell keyboards at work which I highly dislike for the loose feeling of the scissor keys. At home I currently have the Saitek Eclipse original : http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-PZ30AU-Eclipse-Keyboard/dp/B0007TJ7TE While a good keyboard , I'm looking to upgrade after a 5 years of use. In MX Brown Switch : http://www.amazon.com/Filco-Majestouch-2-Tenkeyless-FKBN87M-EFB2/dp/B004ZJPSGI I've heard alot of great things on Filco builds, but also hear they have some pingy keys... I chose the Ninja version primarily so that the keys don't rub off over time. I still tend to look at the keys frequently when typing so having them there on the side is still a plus. In MX Blue switch : http://www.amazon.com/Das-Keyboard-DASK3ULTMS1-Ultimate-Wired/dp/tech-data/B003F7WXTG Das also has some good reviews and comments. I would prefer a tenkeyless version as I almost never use it at home. Again I still look at my hands frequently when typing so I am hoping this might help force me to learn to look less. So I have a two fold question : Does anyone have experience with both of these keyboards that can give a direct comparison ? How do you feel about the tactile feel of the Blue vs Brown switches ? The clicking I can do with or without. I love the clackity clacking , but the fiance' will likely kick my ass if she hears it all night when trying to sleep/read or whatever she does while I'm oblivious and blowing **** up. But how do they "feel" ?
Brown switches are quieter than Blue switches. They're basically a tactile versions of MX Black switches. Blue switches are easier to type and are very easy to register the keys (so easy that you can double tap by accident if the key placements are very close together). Blue switches are the loudest of them as well. For gaming, personally I prefer the MX Blacks better since most of the time you'd probably would bottom out when gaming anyways and it doesn't cause a racket when you mash a lot of keys. For pure typing, the MX Blue is amazing, works really well on my Razer BlackWidow mechanical keyboard. deltatux
See this poll for a group opinion : http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?11952-What-Is-Your-Favorite-Switch-Anonymous-Poll-Round-2. -scheherazade
Thanks for that.... I thought I had settled on the browns then you ruined it !!! See I don't really want a very light Tactile feel. I prefer to have something that's easily recognizable yet no risk of half a key press when in a hurry. I primarily game but will be doing typing as well and if I bore of current games for a few months then ... Well the keyboard needs to be able to do both well. This right here may have just sold me on the DAS Keyboard :
- You'll find that MX blue/brown are the post popular (mostly-all-around users). - A small vocal group of MX black/red lovers too (mostly-gamers). - Then you have the topre guys that swear by those (... hard to describe). Note : THE TACTILE BUMP ON THE SWITCHES IS NOT NOT NOT NOT, AND NOT (for emphasis) THE SWITCH ACTIVATION MECHANISM. IT IS ONLY A "FEEL GOOD" BUMP. THE SWITCH ACTIVATION AND THE TACTILE BUMP HAVE ZERO TO DO WITH EACH OTHER ... FYI. If you want tactile switches, get them because you like the way they feel, NOT because you are looking for a switch that will 'validate' your key strokes with feedback. Personally, I love low profile scissor the most (Love typing on the logitech illuminated slim). Followed by MX Red (although, I like to shim the keys to shorten the stroke. Stock it's waaaay too long for my liking - my only pet peeve about 99% of mechanicals. But I love the light pressure.) Anyways, according to the poll, this is the winner : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP322FWfJWQ -scheherazade
So after much and more debating....... I called the local Pc shop that doesn't carry any of the mechanicals but DOES have an old Compaq 11800 brown switch keyboard in house that they let me try. This thing was beat all to hell , missing a track ball , case half falling off..... but man it FELT GOOD. The keys bottoming out was alot more audio feedback than I was expecting. I guess I'm a key bottoming person. So at this point I know I won't be dissatisfied with The Filco : http://www.amazon.com/Filco-Majestouch-2-Tenkeyless-FKBN87M-EFB2/dp/B004ZJPSGI So I'm thinking I will buy a Blue switch KB and try it for a couple of weeks. If for some reason I don't like it better for gaming or noise I will return it and get the Filco. I'm now debating between the DAS : http://www.amazon.com/Das-Keyboard-DASK3ULTMS1-Ultimate-Wired/dp/tech-data/B003F7WXTG (((Scratch the Leopold it seems alot of people find the mushy))) It seems to be a little light on reviews. I'm having trouble finding many. I found 1-2 reviews but I was hoping to have a bigger bag of them to sift through and compare between multiple reviewers ( opinion sways and bias and such )
If it's for gaming, make sure it's one of the verified NKRO boards : There is a listing on this link : http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=NKey+Rollover+-+Overview+Testing+Methodology+and+Results -scheherazade
That site has been fantastic for gathering information.... ...and yes , both Keyboards are verified and actually there was a Head to Head on them over there which just furthered my conundrum. lol These are the two Keyboards in question : ( Only I would get the Ultimate/Ninja ) http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:6300 The biggest issue at hand is that I can't get the Filco in Blue switches or I would buy that one like TODAY.
