Mechanical Keyboard Guide

I'm having trouble finding a place to buy the XARMOR-U9BL. Is Amazon.com the only place? Because I'm in Canada and Amazon.ca does not carry it. I checked ebay and the only guy who will ship it to Canada wants $200+ shipped for one.
 
I just bought a used Zowie Celeritas off the forums but today I get on an see that steelseries is offering 30% off orders! Would be a good opportunity to pick up a 6gv2 -- worth it to buy both and see which I prefer?
 
I've had my Deck Legend with cherry black switches for about 2 months now. I love this thing, the adjustable lighting levels are actually very useful. The responsiveness is outstanding. I thought I'd have problems not having the tactile feel to the keys but I don't even miss it anymore.

I kinda miss multimedia keys for controlling winamp but I setup global hotkeys instead and it works well enough. And its loud, which is sometimes annoying over vent or while talking on the phone but I've heard thats a problem with all mechanical boards so meh. And it was expensive at $160 but I still love it; hopefully their slogan of "truly the last keyboard you will ever need" is true
 
Getting my 1st mechanical keyboard XArmor U9BL-S shipped from Amazon. So exited, can't wait!

I was going to get Razer Blackwidow Ultimate but from what I've seen on YouTube and read online they make A LOT of noise because of the blue cherries they use. I also read that brown keys are better for gaming than blue. I went with XArmor because of its illuminated and has USB 2.0 passthrough (for my G700 mouse). Anyways, I really hope mechanical keyboard is as good as I've read compare to my MS X6 keyboard. I really can't wait.
 
Just a quick update and a question:

Me to Rosewill in response to their offer about an RMA:

The keyboard works great. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it past this unfortunate fading issue so early on.


Are there any concrete ideas yet as to WHY this fading would happen so quickly? Thanks.
Click to expand...


Their response:

Thank you for writing back.

We humbly apologize for the inconvenience that may have caused you.


There are many reasons that can cause fading in color. You may use some letters frequently or sometimes it may caused by sweating of hands.

If you want to replace the keyboard, you can simply reply this email with SO# or Invoice# of the item and your current shipping address and we are more than happy to issue an RMA for a replacement for you.

Thank you for your understanding on this matter.
Click to expand...

I didn't say this to them but: In less than a month? ;)


So what that means is the RMA offer is on the table. That's really very nice of them although I still just can't make myself do it just for this issue. The KB itself is perfectly fine. It just looks like it's a few years old instead of a couple of months old now. ;)

What's even more bizarre is: Some of the keys that have faded are not "heavily used" which makes the whole thing even more bizarre. And a few keys for gamers, like W...W is in surprisingly good shape.


However, what they're saying there is something I've seen a number of you good folks caution on time and again.

So here's the question: If I got all frisky down the road and brought in say, a "real" Filco Cherry MX blue (the Rosewill is a rebadge) A Das Blue, and whatever else...because of the variables they outlined would it basically be the same problem for me almost regardless of what KB I bought? The Rosewill is laser etched.


I wash my hands regularly. In the winter time I have to fight off excessive dryness.

I can't see reinventing the wheel or spending a bunch of money on this since again, the KB itself is fantastic, but I may as well get an education for future reference down the road if nothing else.

I can live with it. It's just kind of a little bit of a disappointment.
 
WorldExclusive said:
^^^ The main reason I bought a Deck is because the letters will NEVER rub off, then backlight second, and key layout third.

This guy is selling one, Green backlight with Cherry Blacks for $100
http://www.overclock.net/other-components/957233-deck-105-legend-toxic.html

and this person, who created the Mechanical Keyboard Guide!
http://www.overclock.net/main-compo...-everything-cpus-fan-grills.html#post12636571
Click to expand...

Worth considering.

Except I love my Cherry Blues. ;)
 
I'm loving my Deck Legend for the same reasons. Top notch. However, kudos to Rosewill for decent support.
 
Q-BZ said:
Deck is awesome, no doubt.
Click to expand...

I can't stand the font Deck used on their keys. It might seem a minor quibble to some, I guess, but to me it kind of ends up looking like a toy instead of a tool (like a mint model M, or a HHKB2). I *DO* like that Deck sells a board with MX clears. I think MX clears might be the perfect switch for me but I haven't had a chance for a good test drive yet.
 
Just dumped the Apple Aluminum Keyboard for a Blackwidow Ultimate. Stupid Apple keyboard was a typo factory.

87016523.jpg


88704369.jpg
 
Last edited:
nice I got the G510, sweet board, I like the gloss look but man we all know it gets marks galore, I have a monitor like that and it a pita to keep clean, so I could imagine with the keyboard.
 
Surly73 said:
I can't stand the font Deck used on their keys. It might seem a minor quibble to some, I guess, but to me it kind of ends up looking like a toy instead of a tool (like a mint model M, or a HHKB2). I *DO* like that Deck sells a board with MX clears. I think MX clears might be the perfect switch for me but I haven't had a chance for a good test drive yet.
Click to expand...

If Deck ever changed their font to good old Helvetica, one would wonder how many more sales they would get.
 
Pylon said:
If Deck ever changed their font to good old Helvetica, one would wonder how many more sales they would get.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Deck Legends was immediately crossed off my list because the horrible font reminds of some 1990s coffee shop font or something that belongs on a cheesy archeology documentary. It's not quite Papyrus but it feels like it in certain ways if you know what I mean. It's sort of faux-rustic mixed with comic sans MS.
 
Q-BZ said:
So here's the question: If I got all frisky down the road and brought in say, a "real" Filco Cherry MX blue (the Rosewill is a rebadge) A Das Blue, and whatever else...because of the variables they outlined would it basically be the same problem for me almost regardless of what KB I bought? The Rosewill is laser etched.
Click to expand...

You will encounter the same problem with Filcos. I can't speak for Das, don't own one. My Filco had faded keys in the WSAD area, no surprise since I game heavily, but I didn't care much as I had a set of the lavender and red WSAD keys to swap out.
 
Vittra said:
You will encounter the same problem with Filcos. I can't speak for Das, don't own one. My Filco had faded keys in the WSAD area, no surprise since I game heavily, but I didn't care much as I had a set of the lavender and red WSAD keys to swap out.
Click to expand...

And body chemistry comes into the mix.

Someone a lot more knowledgeable than me that I hope posts here at my request told me:

Basically, you need to try keys that are either lasered (better yet, doubleshot) instead of pad printed like the filco keys, and/or keys made of PBT instead of ABS plastic.
Click to expand...

So I'm not sure where that would put me.
 
Vittra said:
You will encounter the same problem with Filcos. I can't speak for Das, don't own one. My Filco had faded keys in the WSAD area, no surprise since I game heavily, but I didn't care much as I had a set of the lavender and red WSAD keys to swap out.
Click to expand...

As I noted previously, if you get a backlit board, the markings aren't actually painted/etched on as it's actually the transparent key that is painted and the marking is masked off so they can't wear out from use. To wear them out, you'd have to wear out the thick coat of paint that is put on the rest of the key.
 
Spare-Flair said:
As I noted previously, if you get a backlit board, the markings aren't actually painted/etched on as it's actually the transparent key that is painted and the marking is masked off so they can't wear out from use. To wear them out, you'd have to wear out the thick coat of paint that is put on the rest of the key.
Click to expand...

I'll keep it in mind. If Deck ever puts out a Cherry MX blue board I'll buy it. Font change would be a bonus but I can live with their current font if I had to.
 
Spare-Flair said:
As I noted previously, if you get a backlit board, the markings aren't actually painted/etched on as it's actually the transparent key that is painted and the marking is masked off so they can't wear out from use. To wear them out, you'd have to wear out the thick coat of paint that is put on the rest of the key.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's as hard as you think it is. This kind of thing would be the result:

187741286_5eaa6834e7_z.jpg
 
Surly73 said:
I don't think it's as hard as you think it is. This kind of thing would be the result:

187741286_5eaa6834e7_z.jpg
Click to expand...

YUCK!!! Which keyboard is that? I guess it depends on which keyboard it was how well they make their keys.

*edit* oh yeah that's the G15 from 6 years ago.
 
Vittra said:
You will encounter the same problem with Filcos. I can't speak for Das, don't own one. My Filco had faded keys in the WSAD area, no surprise since I game heavily, but I didn't care much as I had a set of the lavender and red WSAD keys to swap out.
Click to expand...

I don't know which brands use what, but here is my understanding of the most common technologies:

White/Beige keys, black lettering: These usually don't wear as fast (at all without wearing through the plastic?) as most makers use black dye sublimation. Some may chose to pad print, in which case they will be as bad as the bad black keyboards. If pad printed, the best use a clear coat afterwards to seal in and protect the pad printed letters from hand oils and increase their lifespan.

Black keys, white lettering: Most are pad printed as dye sublimation does not work white on black (Its easy to dye something darker than it is, very hard to dye it lighter). Again, if pad printed, the best are clear coated to seal in the pad print and protect it from finger oils and increase life span. As an example, my black model M used clear coated pad printed black keys. They lasted almost 5 years of intense daily typing before wearing for me (but I am also obsessive about washing my hands before using my computer, and have rather dry hands)

Some keyboards also use double shot keys. On these, the lettering is actually molded separately with a different color plastic than the molded keycap. These never wear off. The plastic is a different color straight through the cap, you would have to wear through all the plastic to get it to wear off. I'm thinking decades upon decades of no-wear use (unless you have unusually abrasive fingertips)

For many keyboards that ship with pad-printed keycaps you can find aftermarket doubleshot replacement keycaps, but they are usually not cheap. I would buy these in a heartbeat for my black model M if anyone made them, but sadly I have not found anyone that does.

I hope this helps.
 
Yeah, body chemistry plays a big part in how quickly you'll wear off the labeling on the keys and/or the keys themselves. I am a very clean person with non-sweaty hands, but I guess there's just something about my skin that wears this shit off.

less than 1 year of use
black1k.png


12 days of use
brown2.png


older keyboards
wave1.png

ultra1.png


If you find yourself wearing off the printing or wearing down the keys quickly, I do recommend buying keys made from PBT plastic vs ABS or trying some doubleshots. For relative ease in buying replacement keysets, I'd direct you to geekhack or deskthority where people run group buys or sell things individually.
 
Today is 1 week since getting my Filco and I noticed the \ part of the W key has worn off. RMA time!! I pre-ordered a Leopold. Hope its keys are better.
 
you are rmaing a keyboard because you wore part of the printing off?
 
gorb said:
you are rmaing a keyboard because you wore part of the printing off?
Click to expand...
$140 and the print has started to wear off in one week? Uhh... yeah. That never happened with any evil, awful membrane keyboard I owned.
 
gorb said:
Yeah, body chemistry plays a big part in how quickly you'll wear off the labeling on the keys and/or the keys themselves. I am a very clean person with non-sweaty hands, but I guess there's just something about my skin that wears this shit off.
Click to expand...

Based on those pictures there's definitely something going on with that body chemistry. I have a LOT of miles on some keyboards and I've never achieved anything close to that level of wear. For that matter, the only keyboard I've ever lost lettering on was an MS Natural 4000 and those appear to be pieces of crap anyways....
 
It happens to me with all my keyboards. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the leopolds are pad printed just like the filcos...but I dunno for sure since I don't have one yet. Give it a shot I guess.

And like I said, I certainly don't get sweaty hands or whatever, so I dunno what the issue is. It's not fingernails either since I keep those short :)
 
Mr. Wolf said:
$140 and the print has started to wear off in one week? Uhh... yeah. That never happened with any evil, awful membrane keyboard I owned.
Click to expand...

Mine at least waited about a month. ;)

I sympathize with your disappointment but methinks you may have jumped the gun a little bit there especially I'm pretty sure the Leopolds implement the same kind of keycap setup.

In any event, I certainly wish you the best of luck on the whole thing and, yeah, when someone pays $100 and up for a KB we shouldn't be seeing fading so fast but what can ya do?

At least the KB itself kicks ass. :)



Mr. Wolf said:
I don't sweat acid like gorb the destroyer of keyboards. ;)
Click to expand...

LOL, my hands are arguably too dry in the winter time. You should see what my KB looks like.




That part of your W is definitely worse than any spot on my KB, though, and happened to you SUPER fast. Might be an outright defect in that instance.
 
Well, the Leopolds, according to EliteKeyboards, have laser-etched keys as opposed to the pad printed Filco keys. Maybe that will make a difference. Of course, your Rosewill has laser-etched keys and you've had some fading problems, too. Just great...

I do love the Cherry Brown switches, though. :)
 
My filco is a year old and I have no lettering wearing off on mine. Must be how you rest your fingers on the keys. You must be using part of your fingernail or something to press the keys down and scraping the key every time you do it. Or you never wash your hands hah.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top