Gonna treat myself... What Keyboard brands should I look in to?

D

DNMock

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 16, 2015
Messages
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Wanna grab a shiny new keyboard, aside from Realforce, Bloody, Das, and Ducky, what other brands should I check out?


Only real requirements are solid build quality and full sized.

Aesthetics, if it's gonna be gaudy or ugly, it better go all out on it (like some of those Bloody Light strike boards) and just look like holy hell. For some reason the comedy aspect of that makes it worth it. Otherwise, nice and clean. Basically no Corsair type half hearted ugly boards, all or nothing.
 
I have the Corsair K70 RGB LUX with brown switches and its the best keyboard I have owned, nothing ugly about it, and I like the audio wheel on it.
 
I had problems with the LED's burning out in my Ducky Shine a few years back. Pretty much my only complaint. I switch to a DAS at work and have had zero problems. Very nice build quality.
 
I own a Realforce 87UW55 that I use in my office, and I love it. It is one of the best typing experiences I've ever had! Yet, I would not use it for gaming.

In my gaming rig I have a Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro S with brown switches that I enjoy for gaming. It is TenKeyLess, but there is a full layout version of it.
 
Motley said:
I have the Corsair K70 RGB LUX with brown switches and its the best keyboard I have owned, nothing ugly about it, and I like the audio wheel on it.
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had an older K65 I think? From when corsair came out with that new logo that didn't stick I think. It was garbage. Will check out the newer ones though, just assumed they were still crap. Thanks for the tip.
KillerFry said:
I own a Realforce 87UW55 that I use in my office, and I love it. It is one of the best typing experiences I've ever had! Yet, I would not use it for gaming.

In my gaming rig I have a Cooler Master MasterKeys Pro S with brown switches that I enjoy for gaming. It is TenKeyLess, but there is a full layout version of it.
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What makes you say that? Is it the actuation distance on the topre switches or is there something else?
 
I really like my HyperX Alloy Elite. Very sturdy build quality.
 
I have always had good luck with logitech. I have needed warranty help twice and their customer service surprised me both times. I've pretty much bought exclusively logitech since and have not been disappointed.
 
I own two Ducky keyboards. I cannot recommend them enough, but they aren't really for gamers.
 
Hard to find, especially NOS, but I really like the IBM Model F AT.

Modified Model F AT.JPG
 
DNMock said:
Lord, if that came in neon green with some RGB techno lighting and some racing stripes, I would absolutely buy one right now!
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No, but it comes in graphite... :D

You can also buy foot pedals that work with it as well.

Personally I have been checking out this Roccat recently.
 
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DNMock said:
had an older K65 I think? From when corsair came out with that new logo that didn't stick I think. It was garbage. Will check out the newer ones though, just assumed they were still crap. Thanks for the tip.
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Yes Corsair made some major improvements with their keyboards over the last couple yrs.
 
I've spent over $1200 or $1300 on mechanical keyboards over the past 7 years and that's not including the 3 or 4 my GF has bought me.

I got tired of spending the $100 to $150 on the big named keyboards and for fun, started to buy the cheaper ones. Some of them were OK .. some were really good but one was ... absolutely fantastic and performed like a $150 mechanical keyboard all day long. Fit and finish, performance, just as good and better than a lot of the keyboards I've bought over the years.

https://www.amazon.com/TECWARE-Mech...45333367&sr=8-1&keywords=techware+phantom+104

This keyboard has heft, does not flex, metal base, braided cord, very solid feet with great grip and even a built in key puller built in the bottom of the keyboard. And the RGB's are brite and software is great.

$55 dollars ... it's a steal
 
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I recently purchased a couple of Keyboards. I wanted mechanical since it was replacing my Logitech G810. I got the Corsair K95 RGB for home, and I like it so far. For Work I picked up the Logitech G610 (Red). Frankly, I love the G610 so far. It's not RGB, but it's a simple looking keyboard, the while LED's are very bright, and the Cherry Red switches are great. I really like typing on it.
 
One of my complaints about Corsair mech boards is that you have to use their CUE software to control any lighting effects. Deck and Ducky boards control lighting directly from the keys. No need for any software.

I've been using Ducky boards for the last few years and have had no trouble at all;. I will say that their RGB lighting seems a bit dull compared to other RGB boards. I prefer all white or blue LEDs, anyway, so it hasn't been an issue for me.

My current mech keyboard is this Ducky One/2 tenkeyless with Cherry Silver switches. I'm very happy with it.

152881_IMG_20180830_172600.jpg
 
I own Corsair K70 and I don't have any complains about it, one of the best keyboards I've owned.
 
I have a Corsair K95 RGB Platinum.
The price is kind of high but once you have one you realize why. No complaints about this keyboard as the price is justified by the quality.
 
Trmntr said:
I own Corsair K70 and I don't have any complains about it, one of the best keyboards I've owned.
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I hate my K70. I got it in a trade with someone or else I would have ditched it a long time ago. Actually, I think they're the blue switches. I should say I hate blue switches as it doesn't fit my typing. I have too long of a stroke and I get double presses and neighboring characters with regularity.
 
kirbyrj said:
I hate my K70. I got it in a trade with someone or else I would have ditched it a long time ago. Actually, I think they're the blue switches. I should say I hate blue switches as it doesn't fit my typing. I have too long of a stroke and I get double presses and neighboring characters with regularity.
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Well, actually, I've had like 5 mech keyboards, have used the 3 switches (blue, red, brown) and I kept one with blue switches for my main PC. What you saying is you dont like the switch by itself, or did you find something bad about the keyboard on its own? I think the build quality is superb
 
Trmntr said:
Well, actually, I've had like 5 mech keyboards, have used the 3 switches (blue, red, brown) and I kept one with blue switches for my main PC. What you saying is you dont like the switch by itself, or did you find something bad about the keyboard on its own? I think the build quality is superb
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Its the switches. I can't complain about the actual keyboard. It is held up pretty well over the years.
 
kirbyrj said:
I hate my K70. I got it in a trade with someone or else I would have ditched it a long time ago. Actually, I think they're the blue switches. I should say I hate blue switches as it doesn't fit my typing. I have too long of a stroke and I get double presses and neighboring characters with regularity.
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I'm a terrible typist on mechanical boards, regardless of the switch. I use mine for gaming and maybe some very light typing tasks. Any real typing (work, email, etc) is on my Logitech K750 or K810 boards. I'm so much faster and more accurate on a scissor switch board.
 
So just as an update, ended up grabbing a Ducky One (black) with the basic white leds, Chery Blue switches and slapped some doubleshot pudding caps on it.

All in all I'm pretty damn happy with it. She looks like a classy lady, but when you get to typing you realize she is down to get dirty!
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Accept no substitutes...

Sure, fit and finish is awful and they are kind of ugly, but short of vintage 70's IBM beamsprings or early 80's Model F's nothing comes even remotely close to how delicious it is to type on one of these.

Everything else is a joke by comparison.
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NoOther said:
That is terrible, no ergonomics whatsoever.
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Mission Control from the Mercury Project wants their keyboard back!!
 
NoOther said:
That is terrible, no ergonomics whatsoever.
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I've been using them for 30 years, and I am a heavy typer typing more than most do every day. I have no signs of carpal tunnel yet! :p Ergonomics are fine. Nothing beats the typing experience.

There are better switches (see Model F XT keyboards and vintage 70's Beamspring terminal boards) but they tend to have worse layouts.

I find the standard "IBM Enchanted Layout" to be absolutely perfect. Never understood why anyone uses these strange ergonomic layouts. They are terrible to type on, IMHO.

I recently tried switching to a Ducky One Cherry MX board (I wanted something more modern, you know, backlighting, NKRO, good USB controllerc etc.) But am finding it to be a HUGE disappointment. Cherry MX switches just don't feel right. I've tested Browns, Blues, Clears and Greens. Of those the greens were the best, but none of them came even close to touching a proper Model M buckling spring design.
 
DNMock said:
Wanna grab a shiny new keyboard, aside from Realforce, Bloody, Das, and Ducky, what other brands should I check out?


Only real requirements are solid build quality and full sized.

Aesthetics, if it's gonna be gaudy or ugly, it better go all out on it (like some of those Bloody Light strike boards) and just look like holy hell. For some reason the comedy aspect of that makes it worth it. Otherwise, nice and clean. Basically no Corsair type half hearted ugly boards, all or nothing.
Click to expand...


Filco Master Race... the end..

this is my Filco MT2 TKL.. it is ~4yrs old (I don't remember).. but I have been using daily for some years now.. it is still perfect.. I did replace the stock keycaps because they are kinda junk.. I have Vortex PBT double-shots on here...

mouseKeyboard.jpg

if you are going mx then you must decide if you are a costar stabilizer person (filco, CM..??) or a degenerateo_O cherry stabilizer person..

costar_cherry_stabilizer.jpg
 
atarione said:
Filco Master Race... the end..

this is my Filco MT2 TKL.. it is ~4yrs old (I don't remember).. but I have been using daily for some years now.. it is still perfect.. I did replace the stock keycaps because they are kinda junk.. I have Vortex PBT double-shots on here...

View attachment 140213

if you are going mx then you must decide if you are a costar stabilizer person (filco, CM..??) or a degenerateo_O cherry stabilizer person..

View attachment 140214
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Isn't changing the key caps with those metal clips a gigantic pain in the butt? For some reason I remember actually breaking my spacebar several years ago trying to remove it with those.

edit: I see you have the good universal logitech remote. You are clearly a cultured and wise individual.
 
Filco all the way. Simple and reliable. I have 3 or 4 each at least 5 years old. I have had no issues with the metal clip stabilizers.
 
DNMock said:
Isn't changing the key caps with those metal clips a gigantic pain in the butt? For some reason I remember actually breaking my spacebar several years ago trying to remove it with those.

edit: I see you have the good universal logitech remote. You are clearly a cultured and wise individual.
Click to expand...


I'm going to show this "cultured and wise" bit to my wife.. and say SEEE I told you :)

Anyways.. changing the key caps with costar stabilizers is a bit fiddly.. but not so bad.. sorry about your spacebar what was it made of paper mache?? having a decent wire key cap puller and then gently tilting one end up and sliding the wire clip off that end then lowering it and working the other end off works well for me..

yes the wire stabilizers are more annoying to work with ..but well worth it as to not have the offense to mankind that are cherry stabs..
 
A lot of good keyboard ideas already mentioned. So long as you grab a keyboard with the layout you want, some nice mechanical switches, and other features you might like (such as backlighting which is a must for me), you probably can't go wrong. It really helps to be able to try out keyboards first though. If any friends or family members have some, that is helpful, or if retail stores let you fuck around with them (such as MicroCenter).

Zarathustra[H] said:
Cherry MX switches just don't feel right. I've tested Browns, Blues, Clears and Greens.
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I fucking love Cherry MX Red switches. Browns feel better than Reds to me for typing, but I love the Reds for gaming and they still feel great to me for typing. The reduced effort to push down on the keys helps the tired old bones in my fingers. That and the switches activating before they bottom out really help for rapid double-press maneuvers like the dodging in UT2K4 and UT3. My typing speed went up when I moved to MX Reds (I was on membrane before, original-style Logitech G15), but so did my typos. Took a couple years to work on that. I've never tried the MX Silver/Speed/whatever-they-are-called switches, which are apparently similar to the Reds but with shorter travel distance and quicker activation. My experience with non-Cherry mechanical switches is more limited. Like I don't think I've ever tried Kailh switches, for example. My brother used to have a DAS Keyboard with all-black non-marked keycaps (the entire keyboard was unmarked), and there were different zones of keys with different activation pressures. Was a pretty awesome board, but I prefer my keyboards with backlighting. I like the K70's aluminum top plate that all the switches are mounted on. Makes it easy to clean the keyboard, or keep it clean. My K70 didn't come with keycap pullers like most did, but I have my own 3rd-party ones anyways. I like the volume roller. Media keys are fine too. Nice wristbar, although one of the hinges broke and I had to superglue it back together.


Trmntr said:
I own Corsair K70 and I don't have any complains about it, one of the best keyboards I've owned.
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Some of those early K70s were kinda rough (like back when the ones with blue backlighting had the LEDs crap out). Over the years they've improved a lot. A couple years ago or so I got a K70 RGB for Christmas. I didn't care about RGB, I woulda been fine with single-color backlighting (green or blue preferably, although red backlighting isn't bad either), but I will admit that being able to set each individual key to specific colors has been pretty handy. If I want the whole keyboard a single color I can do that too. Ultimately that hasn't been the draw for me though, it's the mechanical switches. I gotta say though, CUE is a fucking piece of shit. Also I agree with most that keyboards should allow you to control functions like lighting completely via the keyboard itself, and not through software. Earlier generations of the K70 also had firmware issues, which were pretty damn annoying.

Also check out this post: https://hardforum.com/threads/confe...oard-obsessive.1923977/page-2#post-1042796415
 
I like logitech Romer G switches and the left shift key is bigger than the Corsairs most cherry switch keyboards have similar layouts. I noticed lately the left shift key is being replaced by a smaller single key not sure how that would work while sprinting in game. A lot of keyboard ergos has to do with your chair I just took some taller arms off my serta jennings chair and screwed on some that are about a inch shorter making all of my keyboards more useable. The shift on my k70 is real chatty its I think its the stabilizers that make it suck.
 
I'm going to copy and paste something I emailed to a friend of mine recently in an attempt to sum up the mechanical keyboard landscape in 2019:

If you've seen arcane pointless debates over useless shit in the past, you should check out the keyboard forums on the web. They reach new levels.

The big ones are Deskthority.net and Geekhack.org

People seem dead set on battling to the death in defense of their favorite switch or layout, rather than acknowledging that people have different preferences. I guess it is the internet.

What I have learned there though is that there is still a large presence of IBM Model M fans, but a lot fewer (at least by percentage) than in the past. Many of the huge Model M fans - possibly because Model M loving became too mainstream - have moved on to older early 80's Model F's (typically shipped with IBM XT computers) and the real "cool" kids have taken up interest in vintage 70's IBM Beam Spring based terminal keyboards.

I have felt both of those switches, and while I do have to admit that they both have very nice key feel, arguably better than a Model M, they also have drawbacks. They are rare and expensive, have a notable "ping" to the switch sound rather than the tone-free "thwack" of a Model M, but worst of all, they predate the IBM Enhanced Layout that all modern keyboards are based on, so their vintage wacky layouts make them difficult to use, at least for me. To each their own though.

Many people have also moved on to Topre switches. They are some Japanese design and are very expensive (I've never seen a Topre keyboard for less than $200 new) I've never typed on one, but I don't think they are for me. They are some sort of hybrid mechanical/rubber dome design. The company actually markets them with the slogan "Good feeling of oneness with cup rubber". Doesn't get more Japanese than that.

Alps switches also have a dedicated fan base. The vintage black alps in the Dell AT101W tend to be referred to as "the worst of the Alps" but then this is typically followed by a disclaimer, that even the worst of the Alps are really good compared to other switches. Some people claim they feel a bit scratchy, and that they can be vastly improved by oiling the stems somehow, but I haven't looked into this.

As it stands right now, I am still a little disappointed with the Cherry MX boards I've bought, but I'm trying to give them an honest chance. None of the ones I have tried (Brown, Blue, Green, Clear) feel right to me. They are all very very light (even the ones marketed as heavy) and the tactility is very minimal even on tactile switches. I guess I have just been spoiled by the hard mechanical tactility in the Model M. What I really want, the best of both Model M switches and modern design and features just doesn't exist. I hate compromise solutions...
 
I don't much care about switch type. Mostly I want full-stroke keys that actuate at or near the bottom of the stroke.
Ones that are as smooth and quiet as possible.
I've come to like the slightly curved layout because it's easier for me.
And I like having volume controls on the keyboard.

As for brands ... I've never had problems with Logitech. But I don't think brand matters much so long as you stay away from the no-name el-cheapo crap.

Turn-offs:
- Loud keys
- Lighting
- Missing numeric keys
- Wrongly placed keys
 
I just picked up the Cherry MX Board 6.0 and swapped the default keycaps with wooting PBT double shot ones and put spacers on the caps to help with the clacking noise when bottoming out. I love this keyboard, solid aluminum housing, and recessed keys make it look classy at the same time mean :) (about $140 on amazon)

IMG_20190216_160325.jpg
 
I have been using FILCO Majestouch 2 for the past 5 years and its been great. The weight of the keyboard alone will deter theft. Its like a brick on the desk.
 
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