Mechanical keyboard appreciation thread

[Rys]

I went the o-ring route when I got my first proper mech, but then I realised that to cushion and silence the glorious feel and sound was to offend God himself. I would like to ascend to the heavens one day, so now the o-rings are a reminder of past sacrilege and a reminder never to oppose God again. Praise be to the almighty who clicks and clacks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Well for me it's a choice between offending the gods or offending my wife, so the o-rings stay.

 

[Chris Lux]

...Praise be to the almighty who clicks and clacks.

Clacks, no-clicks please

 

[CarstenS]

My IBM 1391406:

http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/ibm_1391406.html

was manufactured in 1991 (25 years old on 7 June) and a friend rescued it from a skip in the late 1990s for me.

Needless to say, I love it.

A proper keyboard. No stupid Windows key getting in the way, either.

[my bold for proper appreciation]

Got 2 of them myself as well. Needless to say: The first one did not fail, so I had no need for the second one to use yet. Factoring in how durable those things are and my age, I'm probably set WRT to keyboards for my whole life - as long as I will be able to attach them to a computer.

 

[Lightman]

I will be joining mechanical keyboard club at the end of this week.
My wife bought me Logitech G910 spectrum as an early Christmas gift. Not as custom and impressive as keyboards you guys use, but something to retire my perfectly workig Logitech G15 after 10 years of abuse. I think my son will get it as his surprise Christmas gift

BTW my brother have old Amiga 500 and 1200 in his collection, both using mechanical keyboards. These are rare as they were sold only for short period of time. Perfect working order and in constant use till today!

 

[harriffer]

I'm also considering giving a mechanical keyboard a go, but I confess that I don't really know where to start... Anyone have any tips on which brands and features to look out for?

 

[Rys]

Do you know what kind of keyboard you're looking for? Something small? Full-size? Number pad important? Any features in mind like lighting, macro record/playback?

There are so many brands these days, most of them trustworthy. If you don't want to build your own and want a normal layout, in my opinion it just comes down to fitting to a budget, when you know what features and switches you're looking for.

r/mechanicalkeyboards on Reddit have a nice guide for the uninitiated looking to get started: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wiki/buying_guide

Have a read and then come back to the thread if you have questions (or post on Reddit, the community there is excellent!).

 

[digitalwanderer]

<sigh>

So in rebuilding my son's PC I accidentally fried out his mechanical keyboard, so I gave him mine to replace it. I'm back on a Razer Lycosa now and it just feels wrong to me!

I can't decide if I want to get another Velocifire VM01 and reput o-rings on all the keys or mebbe try something else. I'm still bargain hunting so I'm wondering if anyone has seen any great deals on a backlit mech keyboard with quiet style switches?

(BTW- Going from a mechanical back to the old Lycosa my typing has slowed considerably and it's annoying the hell out of me! These keys have way less travel distance, but the key action just isn't fast enough to keep up with my fingers...SO ANNOYING!!!!)

</sigh>

 

[digitalwanderer]

And after hours of looking, I STILL can't find any better deal than the VM01 with o-rings. <sigh>

Gonna sleep on it.

 

[digitalwanderer]

And after talking with my son, I spent many hours redoing my search since I found out he had and prefers cherry mx red switches. <sigh>

I was gonna offer him up the following to choose from:

SteelSeries Apex M400 Gaming Keyboard
Gigabyte Mechanical Cherry Red Keyboard
Corsair STRAFE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Red LED, Cherry MX Red
Tesoro Excalibur Spectrum G7SFL Red Mechanical Switch Single Individual Per Key Full Color RGB LED Backlit Illuminated Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G610 Orion Red Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Perixx PX-5200 RD, Gaming Mechanical Backlit Keyboard - Cherry Red switch - 8 Programmable Macro Keys - Red LED Backlit - NKRO

Any thoughts?

 

[digitalwanderer]

Man, life on a regular keyboard after a mechanical SUCKS!!!

 

[Davros]

Cant comment on all the keyboards but steelseries software is awesome
all keys fully remapable/programmable including how many milliseconds between keypresses, macros and profiles that load automatically when you run a game

 

[digitalwanderer]

My son has a SteelSeries mouse that he loves to pieces. It used to be silver, but now it's worn down to just the white plastic but he doesn't want a new one...he just wants some fine grit sandpaper to get rid of the rest of the silver and make it uniform feeling. (I'm still trying to talk him in to repainting it or surfacing it with something, we'll see)

I just want him to decide so I can talk to my wife about it and get moving on this. I used to love this Lycosa I'm typing on, but now it feels like there is a layer of jello or something between my keys and keyboard. This thing just isn't fast enough for me anymore!

 

[digitalwanderer]

OMMFG, he just lined me and asked me if this keyboard would be ok even though it's more expensive....the Rosewill Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with Cherry MX Red Switch.

Now it costs a bit more than the most expensive one I listed for him to choose from, but not much...the thing is it isn't even illuminated. So I asked him why he liked that keyboard, to which he replied...hell, here:



So I get to start over now, because I really don't like the one he picked as a value solution and I'm just freaked as hell it was because of the LED colour. <sigh>

 

[digitalwanderer]

Do you guys approve of the Logitech G610 Orion Red Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard? I figure at least it's not red lighting, and it's very basic and simple looking. Still waiting for the son to give me his feedback, and I'm getting damned annoyed with the whole process and wondering why I don't just order myself a new VM01 as planned. <sigh>

 

[digitalwanderer]

Wait, that's on my original list...

F U C K ! ! !

 

[Davros]

came across this keyboard/mouse/mat
no idea if its good but its damm cheap
https://www.amazon.com/Illuminated-...rd_wg=1VJFE&psc=1&refRID=1GQFVHE3YVMAMHYDJTCX

 

[digitalwanderer]

I don't think that's a mechanical keyboard Dav. :|

He's decided. I explained to him that I'd be getting myself a new VM01 today since I didn't feel he was really putting much effort in to trying to find a replacement unless he could decide on one that was in budget before this evening, it took him a shower and 15 minutes to decide on the Tesoro Excalibur Spectrum G7SFL Red Mechanical Switch Single Individual Per Key Full Color RGB.

It's one he's decided he can easily live with, now I just have to get the wife's approval and 2-3 days later I'll get my keyboard back.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Came into this late, but most illuminated keyboards have the option to disable the LED lighting. Although maybe the super cheap ones don't? I don't buy super cheap keyboards, so can't say on those.

And I feel for you man. Ugh, I occasionally have to use a rubber dome keyboard and I can't stand them anymore. I'd hate to have to do without a good mechanical keyboard.

Regards,
SB

 

[digitalwanderer]

Well good and bad news. The good news is the new keyboard is sitting on my front porch literally about 10' away from me, but the downside is I haven't told my wife yet and she's sitting next to me and hasn't noticed the large package on our porch yet.

Waiting to see if I can sneak it in when she runs to the bathroom or if she's going to discover it first, good first cup of coffee in the morning adventure fun!