Mechanical Keyboard Suggestion.

[Dan_D]

Cool, at least now I understand what separates this one from some of the others. The key cap quality thing was completely obvious to me --- my rubber dome keyboard had keys MUCH more solid than these. Not to exaggerate, but they feel *slightly* thicker than "paper thin".

Personally, I've been considering Max Keyboard Nighthawk X9 (Cherry MX Red) but what's kind of worrying me is that I read:



I don't know if that means they use the same keycaps and leave off the stabilizers as well (something I'll need to look into), but either way, it's considerably more expensive than something like CM Storm Quickfire Pro (Cherry MX Black) which was on sale for like ~$50 shipped a few days ago. I *almost* jumped on that deal... Kind of torn.

There are also differences in keyboard feel which arise from plate mounting vs. PCB mounting of the switches. I prefer plate mounted but too each their own on that. The Razer Black Widow, Das Keyboard and QuickFire Rapid are all plate mounted if I recall correctly, so the difference in feel is just the stabilizers and the key caps themselves.

Manufacturers work with whatever specifications they are given. Foxconn builds Intel and ASUS motherboards. They also built those god aweful NVIDIA reference 680i SLI boards which were total junk. If you bring them shit spec's and say "build that" they will. If you bring them a great design and tell them to build that, they will. That's what they do. Your product will only be as good as it's designs and specifications. It is also up to the company doing the contracting to ensure that the design is executed properly by not rubber stamping whatever the OEM does.

 

[Skull_Angel]

Cool, at least now I understand what separates this one from some of the others. The key cap quality thing was completely obvious to me --- my rubber dome keyboard had keys MUCH more solid than these. Not to exaggerate, but they feel *slightly* thicker than "paper thin".

Personally, I've been considering Max Keyboard Nighthawk X9 (Cherry MX Red) but what's kind of worrying me is that I read:



I don't know if that means they use the same keycaps and leave off the stabilizers as well (something I'll need to look into), but either way, it's considerably more expensive than something like CM Storm Quickfire Pro (Cherry MX Black) which was on sale for like ~$50 shipped a few days ago. I *almost* jumped on that deal... Kind of torn.

The stabilizer design really doesn't make a huge impact (some say Cherry feel mushy, but it feels more solid than most Costar, imo), but I guess either Cherry and Costar can feel cheap if they aren't fit well; thin stabilizer bars make them feel like crap and tend to be noisy because they don't fit snugly enough.

There are a few things that effect the "feel" of key presses on Cherry MX (and other similar switch designs):

The first is part of the switch it's self with the spring; the spring rate tolerance for Cherry switches seems to be quite wide at nearly +/-10g. This can alter the feel between boards, but not normally switches on the same board because it's more than likely they come from the same batch.

Next is the basic board design; whether it be PCB or plate mounted can make little or great difference. PCB mount generally have more flex than plate, but this isn't always the case; some PCB mount are very sturdy, but it depends on how many mounting points the case has and the overall construction of the PCB. Most current consumer based boards are plate mounted, the material and thickness of the plate may alter the feel of bottoming out (fully depressing the key) because of flex.

The last is the key cap; there are tons of different factors that change the over all typing experience in these little plastic blocks. Material, Thickness, even shape can contribute to what kind of feedback you receive while typing. Going with a backlit board does reduce your overall selection of possible caps since ABS is the cheapest way to go for manufactures, but people have had success with thin light-colored PBT/POM and dark printing. As for what combination feels best... You have to find out for yourself 'cause it's personal preference

 

[justinjk]

@Dan_D - thanks for clearing that up. The Quickfire Pro w/ Cherry MX Black is sold out now at the coolermaster store, so I definitely missed out on that deal, but I'll be reading into whether it has a backplate or not (I use my numpad frequently when I'm not gaming, so I would prefer not to get a tenkeyless model). Someone on youtube claimed the Quickfire Pro w/ Cherry MX Reds is comparable to the feel of some Filco and Leopold, so I'm definitely interested in it as long as the model with MX Blacks is built the same way.

@Skull_Angel - that is a lot of helpful info, I appreciate it. Hopefully this helps OP as well. With all of these different factors, you have to do a LOT of research about each keyboard to know what you are in for before buying it, and even then you could still be surprised. MicroCenter had zero keyboards out on display, let alone mechanical ones, so finding a place to locally test them is hard, this is why it always seems like such a gamble to order them online.

 

[Skull_Angel]

@Dan_D - thanks for clearing that up. The Quickfire Pro w/ Cherry MX Black is sold out now at the coolermaster store, so I definitely missed out on that deal, but I'll be reading into whether it has a backplate or not (I use my numpad frequently when I'm not gaming, so I would prefer not to get a tenkeyless model). Someone on youtube claimed the Quickfire Pro w/ Cherry MX Reds is comparable to the feel of some Filco and Leopold, so I'm definitely interested in it as long as the model with MX Blacks is built the same way.

The Quickfire Pro is CM's first and last board they had manufactured by iOne, they were disappointed with it's overall quality and have stuck with Costar for manufacturing their other boards so far.

Their new board that's set to be released soon-ish is the Quickfire TK which is a 96-key board, iirc. It has a similar foot-print to ten-keyless, but has the system key area removed and keeps the ten-key pad. This new board is not manufactured by Costar or iOne though (they've been reluctant to tell us who it's made by actually), but claim that it's very high quality. My only gripe with this new board is the unconventional key sizes on the modifier (bottom) row, but this won't be a problem for everyone.

@Skull_Angel - that is a lot of helpful info, I appreciate it. Hopefully this helps OP as well. With all of these different factors, you have to do a LOT of research about each keyboard to know what you are in for before buying it, and even then you could still be surprised. MicroCenter had zero keyboards out on display, let alone mechanical ones, so finding a place to locally test them is hard, this is why it always seems like such a gamble to order them online.

Yeah, it's a gamble a lot of the time if you don't have access to any. Best you can do, in that case, is make sure the etailer has a good return policy or know some where you can advertize it for sale/trade and make sure who you're dealing with is a reputable member of that community (or even a friend willing to buy it).