[Monoprice] Blue Switch Mechanical Keyboard - $28.99 AC

E

Eymar

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 15, 2005
Messages
348
 
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There's 50$ Individually lit NKRO version, too.

Again, not color programmable, but still looks good.
 
WorldExclusive said:
That return key makes this a no go.
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I hate that layout too, but for $29 bucks shipped I can't blame someone for giving this a try. That's crazy cheap and Gaterons are supposed to be one of the best non-Cherry switches.
 
I tried out the blue for my home office. First mechanical since I was a kid in the 80's and didn't know what mechanical was. The font lettering takes some getting used to but it's a satisfying click fest for typing.
 
I bit. I recently got a mechanical keyboard at home to replace my membrane one. Now I cant type on membrane keyboards without cringing so I need one for work.
 
My wife used the MP "Enthusiast" (the $40 one) with Outemu blues for nearly a year now. Few things worth noting:

  1. The force required is closer to Cherry MX Green than Blue, which means they require a little more force to press than Cherry MX Blues.
  2. There's no on-board memory, so you'll have to use a hotkey combination every time if you want to cycle the wave back-lighting pattern to static lighting, breathing, off, etc. This annoyed my wife.
  3. It could be our keyboard or maybe just our batch of the switches, but we noticed that you have to be dead accurate with your keystrokes on some of the keys else it would squeak / resist on the way down. This was especially noticeable on keys we'd hit with our left pinky (e.g. shift, tab, ctrl).
For $60 there are better options that use genuine Cherry MX switches. On sale for $40 though, it enters the realm of consideration... but I would still spring for a kb with Cherry switches if you're considering this keyboard. I have experience with probably a dozen different mechanical keyboards and switches at this point, and this was probably the least enjoyable to use.
 
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I went with the Red Switches w/backlight:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=114&cp_id=11401&cs_id=1140102&p_id=13790&seq=1&format=2

So far its pretty good for the price. I have a corsair gaming keyboard with mx cherry speed switches at home so the reds are similar enough. For the price, its great but some of the keys and especially the space bar can squeak a little. A co-worker of mine tried out some other cheap mechanical keyboards in the same price range that felt far far worse than this.
 
ChedWick said:
I went with the Red Switches w/backlight:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=114&cp_id=11401&cs_id=1140102&p_id=13790&seq=1&format=2

So far its pretty good for the price. I have a corsair gaming keyboard with mx cherry speed switches at home so the reds are similar enough. For the price, its great but some of the keys and especially the space bar can squeak a little. A co-worker of mine tried out some other cheap mechanical keyboards in the same price range that felt far far worse than this.
Click to expand...

Find out why it's squeaking. They have switch lube which could get rid of it. :)
 
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