Review: Das Keyboard Ultimate vs. Unicomp Endurapro

[Scotch77]

I thought id post this here, as I made it for another forum but it can only help.

I am going to review the Das keyboard Ultimate vs. the Unicomp Endurapro. I have recently been searching for a new keyboard to replace my Microsoft Multimedia keyboard 1.0a. I used the IBM model M keyboards a very long time ago, I am 23 now and used them last in 1991. I honestly don’t and well didn’t remember anything about the use of it, so this review can be assumed to a person who has only prior used rubber dome keyboards and has never used either a buckling spring or mechanical key switch keyboards.

I am a Senior Undergraduate Computer Science student and with the rest of my computing activities I type a lot. I spend a lot of my days in front of the computer and do mostly typing of the English language, code in a number of languages and I also play counter strike 1.6 competitively.

I will review on the following points on a scale of 1-10

-Build Quality
-Appearance
-Typing Experience
-Features
-Gaming


Build Quality:

Das: First I must say that the build quality for the Das Keyboard is really superb. The board is really tight and doesn’t have much flex at all. It is heavy and very solid. The only downside to the case is that in some places the bottom and the keyboards faceplate do not meet up perfectly. In which leave a rough line around the part of the face and bottom of the board. The key caps are finished products and have no injection sites or rough edges. All keys are perfectly centered and only have a slight wobbled, comparable to every other keyboard on the market. USB Hub Ports are strong and wont give our after extended use, they would have been better put on the top of the keyboard rather than the right side. The Bottom of the keyboard has big tick rubber feat which really grip the surface the keyboard is on. The legs swap out at around 105 degrees and seem strong though I think they could be more reinforced. The Das is very glossy and just reeks of quality.

Overall Build Quality: 8/10

EnduraPro: The build quality is that you would expect from a product from the early 90’s or late 80’s. The Endurapro is in no way as tight as the Das, and it has a ton of flex. Though the flex from pressing keys is minimal and similar to the Das. The board is heavy and my ups package was weighted at 5lbs. The board does not have any alignment problems like the Das, but again the board is not as tight and you can see a lot of flex. I must mention that the top of the board where the function keys are, there is not if any flex, but at the bottom by the spacebar there is a lot. The keys on the Endurapro are better in quality than in prior pictures I have seen of the model online. The keycaps here do have injection mold sites on the top of all the keys, but the actual keys are pretty clean. The bottom of the keys is much cleaner on my model than on prior models, where you could see tons of extra plastic that was never sanded off. The rubber feet on the bottom are much smaller and don’t do as good of a job. The feet are even weaker and have about the same outward angle from the back of the board. I wish these were much stronger. The Endurapro looked rather dull compared to the das, but the quality is not that much worse. The track point and mouse keys on the Endurapro due the job but are in no way equal to that of a IBM ThinkPad keyboard. The track point on my T40 laptop is superior in every way. The track point and other mouse buttons do not get in the way when gaming with w,a,s,d keys. The Endurapro also has injection marks on the back of the keyboard, which really doesnt matter but its less of a finished product.

Overall Build Quality: 6.5/10


Appearance

Das: The Das is a great looking keyboard and really gets attention due to its shiny and sleek look along with the lack of symbols/letters on its keys. The keyboard also screams quality as mentioned above, so all in all it appears as a very high quality producty.

Overall Appearance: 9/10

Endurapro: The Endurapro has a very industrial look with its grey keys and red trackpoint. It doesn’t look as shiny and sleek as the Das, but what it screams is Hardcore User. The Unicomp also is quite large, it’s much bugger and heavier than the Das. It has a much different look. It may not bee as sleek as the Das, but its different kind of look.

Overall Appearance: 9/10

Typing Experience

Das: The Das keyboard offers a very good and fast typing experience. Key presses need only be very light to initiate the press. Keyboard is great to touch type as you only need to press down half way to initiate key. You can press the other half of the way to hit the bottom of the face of the keyboard. The click happens just at the half way point and the Cherry Blue switches don’t really offer to much feedback. There is some minimal feedback on the way back up, but it’s sort of like a small speed bump. The key really doesn’t push your finger back up, as strongly as the Buckling Spring. There is a upwards force, it is just not as strong as the Buckling Spring but much stringer and much more noticeable than a dome keyboard. Since the touching is very light and you really don’t have to fight with the keys you hands and fingers won’t be as tired. In this you get a little more than half the tactile feedback of a Buckling Spring. The keys are Blank and it can get troublesome sometimes, if you don’t know the keyboard by heart. I have it memorized so its not problem, though as a coder, it may be easier to just not get the ultimate. The keyboard has light clicks and they are rather enjoyable, they are clear and crisp when you gently touch type rather than slam down on the keys. The Das also offers a 6 n key rollover that allows you to press 6 keys at the same time, which is all USB allows.

Overall Typing Experience: 9/10


EnduraPro: The Endurapro offers a more classic typing experience. The keys have a lot more resistance than the Das and this can and may make your hands and fingers tired. Unlike the Das, key presses need to go down the full way or maybe 90% of the way to initiate the key, if you like to touch type this will slow you down as the das keys only need half as much of a push to initiate the key. The Endurapro really gives a much more defined click when a key is pressed and since it is a spring it really fights back. This is a good feature because it offers great tactile feedback, but again it strains your hands more because to allow for the greater feedback you will always need to apply more pressure to the key to initiate it. When typing the keyboard can seem clunky at times and almost harder to type than on than the Das. The Endurapro has no n-key rollover and is 1 key at a time.

Overall Typing Experience: 7/10


Features

Das: The Das offers a 2 port USN 2.0 hub as well as a 6 key rollover. It also does not have any letters on the keys. No Multimedia or application controls. Cherry Blue keys

Overall Features: 7/10

EndureaPro: Offers a integrated mouse and has no n-key rollover. No multimedia controls and no USB ports. Buckling springs

Overall Features: 5/10


Gaming

Das: The Das is incredibly good for gaming especially due to the n-key rollover, allows faster and more concise commands in gaming.

Overall Gaming: 10/10

Endurapro: The Endurapro is not so good for gaming, as its clunky and takes alot of force to push down keys, its just not to great.
Overall Gaming: 6.5/10


Totals(Average)

Das : 8.6 /10
Endurapro: 6.8/10

So in Conclusion, I really cant say which keyboard is actually better. They are both too different to really decide. Even though the numbers favor the Das keyboard, there is still something really great about the Buckling Spring Enduraoro. It has a lot to due with the true tactile feedback of the buckling springs. They really give a typing experience like no other. All in All I believe firmly that these are the absolute 2 best keyboards on the market right now. They kill and I mean kill any rubber/plastic dome keyboard on the market. The feeling of these tactile feedback keyboards after you type on them for just a few minutes is amazing and if you choose to go back and use a runner dome keyboard, like I did with the G15 and the MS multimedia, the difference is just so great and you instantly notice how bad the dome keyboards actually are. if I was to due the math for the Logitech G15 or Microsoft Multimedia, the Logitech and MS would be around 1/10(G15) maybe 3(MS) at best. If you type a lot and play a lot of games, it is defiantly worth it. The difference is just so huge. I will say that the G15 is really just that bad of a keyboard.

Full Pictures can be found here
http://vincentp.net/pics/Keyboards/Full/

Here are some medium sized Pictures.

If you have any questions or want another review topic just let me know. Its not trouble.

 

[9mmx19]

Personally I always used whatever crap keyboard I had lying around. Ive never heard of either of these but nice work I guess. And off topic but cute lobster sheets you got there haha

 

[tiraides]

I applaud the effort that you took in reviewing two keyboards that many people might not know much about, but I felt like your review was missing a few key details.

Specifically, why couldn't you decide on which keyboard was better? In most comparison reviews, the one with the higher (average) score got the nod... so why didn't you favor the Das Keyboard? Just saying that they're "the two best keyboards in the market right now" doesn't influence those who've been using "crap keyboards" for years to switch -- especially with their retail prices. What makes each keyboard worth every cent? Which features do you feel are "must haves" for the average person?

Additionally, which specific "benchmarks" did you use to test out these keyboards? Did you choose those that most benefited your personal needs (based on the "introduction" you gave us), or did you choose a few programs and games that you thought would give a better "overall picture" of each keyboard? And why didn't you specify those "benchmarks" in the review?