Mechanical Keyboard Guide

Gentlemen, I had an unfortunate incident that I fear may have destroyed my beloved Blackwidow Ultimate. I got home somehow, blackout drunk, and wake up this morning to find broken glass on my computer room floor and Guinness over my desk and keyboard. My normal SOP for keyboard spills in the past has always been the old dishwasher/no soap/no heated drying method, but is this appropriate for a keyboard such as this (my first mechanical) ? Or is this one just doomed and I should go ahead and order another?
 
Moral of the story don't get blackout, stupid and retarded drunk ever again. It always costs you somewhere.
 
I know, I was stupid but it was 1euro vodka/bull night at our team's favorite club and we were celebrating the promotion of a good friend, so we were partying hard with good intentions =P I'm not a habitual drinker and don't intend to hit it that had again for awhile...but is a mechanical keyboard dish-washable like that?
 
Etherea1 said:
I know, I was stupid but it was 1euro vodka/bull night at our team's favorite club and we were celebrating the promotion of a good friend, so we were partying hard with good intentions =P I'm not a habitual drinker and don't intend to hit it that had again for awhile...but is a mechanical keyboard dish-washable like that?
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Nope, unlike a simple membrane keyboard which is just rubber sheet over plastic sheets, all the cherry switches will probably retain moisture inside and corrode the contacts and springs. If you want to fix your board, take it all apart. If you are lucky, the Guiness didn't get into the switches and just pooled on the metal board.
 
Thanks for the tip, I'll try taking it all apart tonight and do a though cleaning with q-tips and rubbing alcohol. I'm currently working with my trusty old Saitek Eclipse, and find myself dearly missing the satisfying 'clacks' of the Blackwidow already...
 
Etherea1 said:
Gentlemen, I had an unfortunate incident that I fear may have destroyed my beloved Blackwidow Ultimate. I got home somehow, blackout drunk, and wake up this morning to find broken glass on my computer room floor and Guinness over my desk and keyboard. My normal SOP for keyboard spills in the past has always been the old dishwasher/no soap/no heated drying method, but is this appropriate for a keyboard such as this (my first mechanical) ? Or is this one just doomed and I should go ahead and order another?
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You could try taking every keycap off, and if its really bad, you could just pour rubbing alcohol onto the bad areas to clean it, then let the alcohol evaporate before you try to boot it up again.
 
Got the keyboard working again, took off the keycaps and scrubbed inside with q-tips and 90% alcohol, seems to work perfectly again. Lesson learned: don't try to game after a hard night of drinking. Thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate the support here and will try to not let this happen to me again.
 
Good to hear you got it working. I spilled tea in one of my low-profile Logitech keyboards (UltraX) a few years ago and it was never the same afterwards, even after popping the keys off and cleaning the rubber domes and the bottom of the affected keys. There were a few that were always mushy after that and wanted to stick. I loved that keyboard (this was way before my first mechanical kb). It was cheap but felt really good to type on. I think I still have it; I might try the ol' dishwasher method. It's not like I have much to lose!
 
MrSneis said:
I *think* that some keycaps for Leo's may need to stay Leo only due to the stabilizers... can anyone confirm this one for me?
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The stabilizers on the spacebar are non-standard. Every other key could be interchangable with Filco, for a frame of reference on it's layout.
 
Etherea1 said:
I know, I was stupid but it was 1euro vodka/bull night at our team's favorite club and we were celebrating the promotion of a good friend, so we were partying hard with good intentions =P I'm not a habitual drinker and don't intend to hit it that had again for awhile...but is a mechanical keyboard dish-washable like that?
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The dishwasher was exactly what we used to clean old IBM mechanical keyboards. I don't think I'd ever try that with my BWU, especially since it is backlighted.

Glad yours survived, but I think the great quality brew had more to do with that then anything else :)
 
Beer is easier to clean up than soda inside any keyboard. So it could have been much worse. I've seen more than a week old Mountain Dew congeal inside a mechanical keyboard before. It wasn't pretty.
 
So yeah I didn't get a mechanical keyboard. I did get a new head unit for my car and a new 8GB Sony MP3 player instead.
 
Just picked up a Blackwidow standard. I've been eying a mechanical keyboard for a little while now to replace my Lycosa. I couldn't be happier.

There's just something satisfying about a nice, crisp key press. I don't think I can go back to rubber dome keyboards.
 
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Looking to get the Black Widow Ultimate soon to replace my Everglide T-1000.

To those with the Black Widow, how is it so far?
 
I bought the filco majestouch about a year ago---the blank ten-keyless version. cherry mx browns---tactile response, medium/strong resistance with no click. perfect combo for typing/gaming

F'n love it. Read about it in the geekhack thread.

Just thought i'd add my opinion, however late.

Highly recommend!!

however typing passwords with numbers is particularly difficult without a 10key and blank keys....heh
 
I just bought the DAS Professional S Silent Keyboard yesterday from a retail store. I was using a logitech illuminated keyboard before so there is definitely a learning curve for me. Both are totally different keyboards so I really can't conclude which one is the better keyboard. Maybe it's still too early to make a conclusion since I just got the DAS.
 
Haiku214 said:
I just bought the DAS Professional S Silent Keyboard yesterday from a retail store. I was using a logitech illuminated keyboard before so there is definitely a learning curve for me. Both are totally different keyboards so I really can't conclude which one is the better keyboard. Maybe it's still too early to make a conclusion since I just got the DAS.
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I'd say give it a week or two (I'm not sure how long your store's return period is)

I was very ambivalent about my mine for the first few days. I was thinking, well this is silly, it's just a noisy keyboard. I switched back and forth between my old keyboard and my new one. Then I tried to do a long writing assignment on my old membrane keyboard after about a week, and realized how much I preferred the Das. This feeling only gets stronger over time (for me, anyways, I have the normal version)
 
yottabit said:
I'd say give it a week or two (I'm not sure how long your store's return period is)

I was very ambivalent about my mine for the first few days. I was thinking, well this is silly, it's just a noisy keyboard. I switched back and forth between my old keyboard and my new one. Then I tried to do a long writing assignment on my old membrane keyboard after about a week, and realized how much I preferred the Das. This feeling only gets stronger over time (for me, anyways, I have the normal version)
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Yeah the normal keyboard has the Cherry MX Blues which is what I prefer. Still I'd take virtually any mechanical keyboard over any membrane keyboard. The feel of the keys is just so much better.
 
Dan_D said:
Yeah the normal keyboard has the Cherry MX Blues which is what I prefer. Still I'd take virtually any mechanical keyboard over any membrane keyboard. The feel of the keys is just so much better.
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Same.

I'm never going back to membrane.
 
New or old keyboards I just got. Love them so far.

74f54a35-1.jpg
 
Well, if you're already using a mechanical board and questioning whether it's worth it to you or not, I would probably venture to say that it may just not be for you! The difference in my opinion was very clear right away, if you don't get into this world I am sure your wallet and significant other will thank you for it.
 
blitzio said:
Looking to get the Black Widow Ultimate soon to replace my Everglide T-1000.

To those with the Black Widow, how is it so far?
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I got the regular, not the Ultimate. It's been great...definitely don't regret it.

A few things that I've found coming from a (really, really) cheap membrane keyboard:

- Took a few weeks to get used to the added resistance of the keys without bottoming them out every time. Long typing sessions were a chore at first.

- Had a sticking key within the first week or two while gaming. After breaking in the keyboard, don't see this problem anymore.

- The glossy finish isn't as bad in person and isn't as hard to maintain as I thought before I bought it.
 
I am still working on not bottoming out on my Blackwidow Ultimate. It takes some time to get used to only pressing the key to the activation point but after that, typing is like effortless.
 
PynkFloydd said:
I got the regular, not the Ultimate. It's been great...definitely don't regret it.

A few things that I've found coming from a (really, really) cheap membrane keyboard:

- Took a few weeks to get used to the added resistance of the keys without bottoming them out every time. Long typing sessions were a chore at first.

- Had a sticking key within the first week or two while gaming. After breaking in the keyboard, don't see this problem anymore.

- The glossy finish isn't as bad in person and isn't as hard to maintain as I thought before I bought it.
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Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

My only concern is that the Cherry Blues are kinda loud on the Black Widow.

I'm thinking the Cherry Brown's might be good for me, but I can't seem to find one that has USB ports and audio jacks.

Would anyone know? Thanks.
 
blitzio said:
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

My only concern is that the Cherry Blues are kinda loud on the Black Widow.

I'm thinking the Cherry Brown's might be good for me, but I can't seem to find one that has USB ports and audio jacks.

Would anyone know? Thanks.
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I don't know why people say that Cherry Blues are loud. Maybe my hearing is terrible but these seem to be very quiet compared to the old keyboards I used to type on in the 80s.

If you don't bottom out the keys and just press lightly until they activate, they are even quieter.
 
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MrSneis said:
Well, if you're already using a mechanical board and questioning whether it's worth it to you or not, I would probably venture to say that it may just not be for you! The difference in my opinion was very clear right away, if you don't get into this world I am sure your wallet and significant other will thank you for it.
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I'm not saying I don't like my mechanical keyboard. There is just a learning curve for me in terms of how the keys feel since I came from a scissor type keyboard. Other people who just migrated to mechanical keyboard also said that it needs time getting used to. I just got my new keyboard yesterday lol.
 
Depending on how much you use your keyboard, it can take from a few days to a few weeks to really get used to it. My previous Microsoft dome board instantly made me hate all other dome boards, but it took a solid week to love my Alps-based board more than the MS one.
 
Hanakuso said:
New or old keyboards I just got. Love them so far.

74f54a35-1.jpg
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Nice!!!

Is that a G9x I spy there? I'm debating between that and the Naga for my next mouse (I play a lot of WoW, the Naga looks silly though). How do you like it?
 
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