Mechanical keyboard appreciation thread

I could certainly understand why. It seems like one of those things that you find that is just made for you and you don't know how you could live without it after you've had it.

 

Very nice! I picked up a KBDfans 8X in the recently group-buy, I'm in the middle of building it. I have XDA Canvas caps to go on it.

 

@Rys "fixed"?

 

I think not

What keyboard do you use for the rest of the week "He shoots, he scores, what a player"

 

"Based on this performance, he should feel that he's pretty much guaranteed a place in the Oldham Athletic reserves."

 

Well, you've got to get ready for the weekend in the right way, obviously!

 

Just posting to share my experience.

I was in need of a quieter keyboard than my trusty Cherry MX-Brown (with rubber O-rings that I added last year in an attempt to get them quieter) that I've been using for 10+ years now, so I got a Logitech G512 with the new Romer-G "tactile" switches made by Omron in conjunction with Logitech. While the manufacturer gives me confidence that the switches might last as long as the Cherry MX-Brown switches in the keyboard I'm semi-retiring, they feel significantly "mushier".

I guess that's the trade-off for a quieter keyboard. The keys are supposed to be similar to the Cherry MX-Brown, and that might be true, but due to the mushy feel, they don't feel at all similar. Typing is less satisfying, although they certainly are a lot quieter. I guess that's a consequence of whatever they are doing to prevent you from bottoming out on the keys.

The most important thing, however, is that they seem to have the accuracy of a good mechanical switch. So, while typing is significantly less satisfying, I can type at a similar, albeit slightly slower, speed than the Cherry MX-Browns without additional errors as I do when using a rubber dome keyboard.

If I had a choice and didn't absolutely need a quieter keyboard, this would be getting returned to the store immediately. I have a feeling my fingers are going to also be significantly more fatigued after extended use as well, I can already feel it. But perhaps with time, my fingers will adjust as these switches are supposed to require less travel to actuate.

Also, one gripe, if you turn off key illumination entirely (what I prefer) then you can't see the key labels as they use a clear rather than white translucent material for they key labels. /sigh.

Regards,
SB

 

Why does it need to be quieter?

 

Keep your significant other from getting annoyed and murdering you in your sleep or whilst your typing and can't hear them sneaking up on you.

 

What about Topre switches?
Aren't they supposedly quieter than Cherry switches while still having a nicer feel?

 

Unless things have changed, Topre switches are mechanical assemblies on top of bubble dome capacitive contacts. They have a better feel and significantly better accuracy and reliability than regular bubble dome keyboards (membrane based), but accuracy typically isn't as good as mechanical switches in my experience.

On the plus side the capacitive contacts means they are much better than membrane based rubber dome keyboards and reliability is similar to mechanical switches as long as the rubber domes don't wear out. Also while they are quieter than Cherry MX-Blue switches which are designed to have a relatively loud click at the actuation point, they aren't quieter than Cherry MX-Brown switches where the noise comes from bottoming out. Topre switches have most of the resistance at the start of the keystroke (top of the rubber dome) after which it rapidly disappears (the mechanical springs have very little resistance), meaning it bottoms out quite easily. The rubber dome nature leads to a more hollow sound when bottoming out compared to Cherry style mechanical switches.

The Omron Romer-G switches that Logitech use specifically set out to reduce the sound from bottoming out which is why they are noticeably quieter than the Cherry MX-Browns and Topre switches. That's also why they have a mushier feel than either the those.

Regards,
SB

 

so like a year ago my s key crapped out on my matias quiet click, so i finally got around to fixing it today, just got a cheap soldering iron off ebay and some new switches, i watched a video on youtube and it went just as easy as they made it look.

still kinda feel like a wizard, amazing.

typing on it now, its good to be back!