mechanical keyboard or not

gamer0622

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 4, 2014
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Are mechanical keyboards worth it. I never used once but i dunno if i could justify the price. If i were to get one i would want to spend about 60 for a used one.
 
For gaming - probably not. For typing? Hell Yes! If you are a writer or put out a lot of text - you will benefit enormously by switching to a mechanical keyboard. Being able to hear the click of the keys bottoming enough to actuate and moving on rather than smashing the key and waiting for it to bottom out might save only fractions of a second per keystroke but they add up very fast considering how many keystrokes we hit ... and more so if as I said above, are a writer or other heavy docs kinda person.
 
Yes Yes 100 times yes.

Depending on the games you play will depend on which switch you want. I Type alot and play MMO's that require typing to communicate so I went blue switch. If you don't type alot or play faster games you'd probably want brown switch keyboards.

Everything about using them just feels smoother and satisfying.
 
Yes Yes 100 times yes.

Depending on the games you play will depend on which switch you want. I Type alot and play MMO's that require typing to communicate so I went blue switch. If you don't type alot or play faster games you'd probably want brown switch keyboards.

Everything about using them just feels smoother and satisfying.

What about cherry switches for gaming?
I've read somewhere this is good also.
I play a lot of FPS games.
 
Yes the Cherry MX switch is the type of switch that comes in the color's I indicated. I wouldn't recommend anything else and be careful of Mechanical Keyboards that aren't specifically that type. Sorry for just saying the color, people usually mean the Cherry MX just don't type it out. But I guess it's how some companies confuse people.

Cherry MX black and red switches are the least "Clicky"
Cherry MX blue switches are the "Clickiest"
Cherry MX brown switches are the "Mid Level Clicky"

http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/

I prefer my clicks to be the clickiest which is why I went Blue, but alot of gamers like the all around feel of the Browns. As a side note if noise is an issue be aware that the clickier they are the louder they are as well.
 
Yes the Cherry MX switch is the type of switch that comes in the color's I indicated. I wouldn't recommend anything else and be careful of Mechanical Keyboards that aren't specifically that type. Sorry for just saying the color, people usually mean the Cherry MX just don't type it out. But I guess it's how some companies confuse people.

Cherry MX black and red switches are the least "Clicky"
Cherry MX blue switches are the "Clickiest"
Cherry MX brown switches are the "Mid Level Clicky"

http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/

I prefer my clicks to be the clickiest which is why I went Blue, but alot of gamers like the all around feel of the Browns. As a side note if noise is an issue be aware that the clickier they are the louder they are as well.

I've looked at the WASD website and see the Cherry MX with noise dampening would
be good. I share my gaming room with the wife and don't want to drive her to
nuts with a lot of loud clacking.

What does anyone think of noise dampening setups?

Thanks for the info.
 
Mechanical keyboards are fantastic; once you use one you won't be able to go back to a membrane keyboard. Just be sure to pick the switches that meet your needs. Personally I like the Cherry MX Brown switches as they provide good tactile response without being overly clicky.
 
I've looked at the WASD website and see the Cherry MX with noise dampening would
be good. I share my gaming room with the wife and don't want to drive her to
nuts with a lot of loud clacking.

What does anyone think of noise dampening setups?

Thanks for the info.

3/16" dental bands do wonders, cheapest dampening and the best from personal experience, imo.

Would suggest starting out with a switch sampler and choosing the switch you think you may enjoy from the CMStorm Quickfire Rapid line to test the waters. Relatively inexpensive boards with a good resale value, from there you can decide whether it's for you or not and sell it/keep it/mod it.
 
I've looked at the WASD website and see the Cherry MX with noise dampening would
be good. I share my gaming room with the wife and don't want to drive her to
nuts with a lot of loud clacking.

What does anyone think of noise dampening setups?

Thanks for the info.

MX Brown is the best mid-balance as it has no clicky, but tactile feel when you bottom out the key.

If you don't like clicky, stay away from mx blue switch even with the dampening. If you like tactile feel when you hit your key, stay away from mx red.

Some keyboards come with mx brown & dampening, such as Logitech G710. Although, my tt esports poseidon kailh brown switch did not have dampening out of the box, it was still a quiet keyboard. I like to not bottom out the key though -- you can just lightly tap it and it registers.
 
Soft linear (no click or tactile bump): red
Hard linear: black

Soft/moderate tactile bump: brown
Moderate/hard tactile bump: clear

Soft/moderate click: blue
Moderate/hard click: green

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX

Red if you want a membrane-like feel with the durability and reliability of mechanical switches. *common
Black if you want a membrane-like feel and tend to "hover/rest" your fingers on the keys.
Brown if you want some physical feedback when you press a key. *common
Clear if you want physical feedback with a firmer key press (very hard to find these).
Blue if you want a physical and audible feedback. *common
Green if you want the physical and audible feedback with a firmer key press.
 
Ok any recommendations for a budget friendly keyboard for fps. How about the logitech g710+?
 
MX Brown is the best mid-balance as it has no clicky, but tactile feel when you bottom out the key.
Well... Technically speaking you'll have tactile feedback from any keyboard when you bottom out. However, if we are talking about the actual Cherry MX Brown key switch mechanism then this is incorrect; the tactile point is located at the half travel point of the key (2mm).
 
I recently went through this same dilemma. I love the feel and quickness of the "laptop" style keyboards. My brother had a mechanical keyboard (I don't recall the name atm) with the brown switches. Going over to his house I remember how loud his keyboard was to me.

I have always used extremely quiet keyboards as my desk is in the middle of our living room. The problem is, that the keyboard I was using only had a 2 key rollover. This made FPS gaming more difficult.

I finally bit the bullet myself. I found a deal on the Logitech g710+ for $100. What I like about it is that it has the tactile feedback in the Brown switches, but also has the o-ring on the switches to help the bottom-out action on the key press.

I wanted to try the Red's as I felt they would resemble more of the laptop style key action, but I really wanted the tactile feedback as well.

Overall, I have to say I am really happy with my purchase. I know it isn't the best mechanical keyboard out there. There are a couple of things I don't like about it, but it is a great first mechanical keyboard for me.

I contemplated on getting the Sidewinder x4, but a few things about it I didn't feel good about. My suggestion to you, is find a few mechanical keyboards and try them out.

Do you have any friends or are there any stores nearby that you can visit that have any of the keyboards?
It doesn't matter what everyone else things really, as long as you are happy with what you are using.

I wish you luck!!
§
 
Get a K70 I if I had to do it again I would get a Silver one
Stay away from Razer
 
edit: woops, I confused K70 with G710. Deleted so I don't confuse anyone else.
 
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Soft linear (no click or tactile bump): red
Hard linear: black

Soft/moderate tactile bump: brown
Moderate/hard tactile bump: clear

Soft/moderate click: blue
Moderate/hard click: green

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX

Red if you want a membrane-like feel with the durability and reliability of mechanical switches. *common
Black if you want a membrane-like feel and tend to "hover/rest" your fingers on the keys.
Brown if you want some physical feedback when you press a key. *common
Clear if you want physical feedback with a firmer key press (very hard to find these).
Blue if you want a physical and audible feedback. *common
Green if you want the physical and audible feedback with a firmer key press.

Seriously, anybody stating mechanical linear switches feel membrane is so wrong about mechanical keyboard it's not even funny.

I drive a k70 rgb with reds daily (which I really prefer to browns) and it's not even close to a membrane keyboard.
 
The feedback feel is somewhat similar (the feedback at bottoming out is different, unless you use o-rings maybe) but not the actual key press feel.

I went from a membrane to reds just to get that more smooth and consistent key press feel (and lighter). I didn't like the feedback feel on browns (that "sandy grindy " feedback) while blues were okay (feedback was both a pro and con) but the noise would've been annoying for me (since I use the computer a lot in a very low noise setting, any noise is very noticeable).
 
Only two keyboards I like, other than the classic Thinkpad scissor switches. ;)

  • Topre 45g uniform, like the RealForce 87U SE0900
  • Cherry Clear board modded with Originative 67g springs
Turns out I own them both! :D

/snob off
 
I type A LOT.

Been using clicky Cherrys since forever. Eventually got an (allegedly) unsused IBM Model M from eBay for ~120 bucks. Thought it was the best keyboard ever made.

And then I got a work issued MacBook Air. After a weekend of adjusting to the shallow travel and chicklet design, I now swear it is the perfect keyboard.

A buddy of mine -absolute Linux geek- hates Apple, thinks they're Satan's proxy on earth. I have no clue how he ever found out he likes their keyboards, but he sure as hell had an Apple USB keyboard one day. Been heckling him about it ever since.
 
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