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[Mechanical Keyboards] Clickity Clack! We build them ourselves now!

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Posts

  • cardboard delusionscardboard delusions USAgent PSN: USAgent31Registered User regular
    @Delduwath I'd recommend getting a switch tester, off Amazon so you could return it too. Then you'll know what you like. I've been rocking brown for years but will probably upgrade to clears. I kind of want to try reds but I'm worried they'll be too soft for me too.

    WASD 6-Key Cherry MX Switch Tester
    by WASD Keyboards
    Link: http://amzn.com/B00AZQKCD4

  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    I actually have one very similar to that (part of my ramping-up-to-buying-a-full-keyboard process), but despite all the time I spent clicking and clacking on those keys, it didn't prepare me for what actually typing on the full keyboard would be like. For example, the thing about the weight of my fingers actuating the keys if I rest my hands on the keyboard like I'm used to doing: there was no way I could have found that out from the small key tester.

    Still a useful tool to have.

  • IoloIolo iolo Registered User regular
    Slickdeals is reporting the Cougar AttackX3-4IS ATTACK X3 Gaming Keyboard on Newegg for $70 ($20 off) and free shipping. Backlit, aluminum with cherry mx browns.

    It's only got 3 reviews on Newegg, but those three are positive. Amazon ($100) has no reviews.

    Anyone know anything about Cougar? I've never heard of them.

    Lt. Iolo's First Day
    Steam profile.
    Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    Haven't heard of Cougar, but I like my two Brown boards. It's got some nice clicky, but not so much to be clickety-clackety.

    XBL: F4ll0utBP | STEAM | PSN : CustomSpecial | Bnet: F4ll0ut#1636
  • cardboard delusionscardboard delusions USAgent PSN: USAgent31Registered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    I actually have one very similar to that (part of my ramping-up-to-buying-a-full-keyboard process), but despite all the time I spent clicking and clacking on those keys, it didn't prepare me for what actually typing on the full keyboard would be like. For example, the thing about the weight of my fingers actuating the keys if I rest my hands on the keyboard like I'm used to doing: there was no way I could have found that out from the small key tester.

    Still a useful tool to have.

    I'm gonna pick up a code keyboard with clears. Hope it's not too stiff coming from Browns.

  • RollsavagerRollsavager Registered User regular
    Delduwath wrote: »
    I actually have one very similar to that (part of my ramping-up-to-buying-a-full-keyboard process), but despite all the time I spent clicking and clacking on those keys, it didn't prepare me for what actually typing on the full keyboard would be like. For example, the thing about the weight of my fingers actuating the keys if I rest my hands on the keyboard like I'm used to doing: there was no way I could have found that out from the small key tester.

    Still a useful tool to have.

    I'm gonna pick up a code keyboard with clears. Hope it's not too stiff coming from Browns.

    I started with Browns, but I find Clears much more enjoyable to type on. Browns have barely any tactility, and the springs are so light that it's almost impossible to avoid bottoming out. Clears have a much more noticeable bump, and the resistance increases on the way down. It's a very pleasant typing experience.

  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    Just ordered one of these. I'll report back if it falls apart when I open the box.

  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited March 2016
    Came from an old ass Blackwidow to a Corsair RGB Strafe with Cherry Silent.

    Holy beautiful cow is this keyboard a big update. Feels so much better and the flashy lights is just so much fun to watch. Much better build quality over Razer.

    Corsair is quickly becoming my go company for PC gear.

    Come to think of it....I think most of my PC parts is Corsair....

    Casually Hardcore on
  • CabezoneCabezone Registered User regular
    I'll never buy another shoddily made Razer product.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Came from an old ass Blackwidow to a Corsair RGB Strafe with Cherry Silent.

    Holy beautiful cow is this keyboard a big update. Feels so much better and the flashy lights is just so much fun to watch. Much better build quality over Razer.

    Corsair is quickly becoming my go company for PC gear.

    Come to think of it....I think most of my PC parts is Corsair....

    Can you share a link? I can't find the MX Silent version, but my Google Fu has been off lately.

  • LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Came from an old ass Blackwidow to a Corsair RGB Strafe with Cherry Silent.

    Holy beautiful cow is this keyboard a big update. Feels so much better and the flashy lights is just so much fun to watch. Much better build quality over Razer.

    Corsair is quickly becoming my go company for PC gear.

    Come to think of it....I think most of my PC parts is Corsair....

    Can you share a link? I can't find the MX Silent version, but my Google Fu has been off lately.

    http://www.bestbuy.com/site/corsair-strafe-rgb-mx-silent-gaming-keyboard-black/4370907.p?id=1219738782240&skuId=4370907

    I think this is the one he's talking about.

  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    edited March 2016
    That's the one. Here's a video

    http://youtu.be/VCYhkdU00Ew

    Casually Hardcore on
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    Came from an old ass Blackwidow to a Corsair RGB Strafe with Cherry Silent.

    Holy beautiful cow is this keyboard a big update. Feels so much better and the flashy lights is just so much fun to watch. Much better build quality over Razer.

    Corsair is quickly becoming my go company for PC gear.

    Come to think of it....I think most of my PC parts is Corsair....

    I just got ahold of the regular (non-RGB, non-silent) Strafe with MX Reds a couple days ago, and it's awesome. It replaced the ancient Logitech G15 that I had been using since my old NMB mechanical finally gave out. I only get red LED lighting instead of full color, but my rig has red lighting already so it fits. Using this thing is a dream, I had forgotten how nice it feels to have a keyboard that wasn't a mushy rubber dome mess.

    I do kinda miss having that goofy popup LCD screen from the G15 though.

  • XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    So the only flaw with the KM780 MX is the timer software. The message doesn't like to work sometimes without opening the software and redoing it. Luckily I have no super need for it. Software as a whole could use some polish, but hardware wise this thing is solid. A little fancy without being too much knocking the price up. Had to rig up a autohotkey script to control Pandora with the media keys, but that wasn't hard and don't think any keyboard will do it automatically.

    So the KM780 MX gets a thumbs up from me. If you want a few macro keys, USB and headset ports and red LED's it's your keyboard!

  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    My allergy afflicted self spilled some tea on my Code keyboard earlier. I dried it off but now it's spitting out 'Z's when plugged in and when any letter key in the lowest row is hit. This could be bad.

    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

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  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited April 2016
    I wen5t 5to work 5toda6y and ever6y5thing was fine. Came home and now when I hi5t m6y "t" "y" "[" or "]" ke6ys i5t adds ex5tra le5t5ters. I don'5t know how i5t could have broken while I was a5t work, bu5t I don'5t know wha5t else could be wrong. An6ybod6y go5t an6y ideas? I checked under 5the ke6ycaps for dir5t bu5t 5the6y aren'5t dir5t6y so I don'5t 5think 5tha5t's i5t

    edi5t: I plugged i5t in5to m6y wife's pc and i5t did 5the same 5thing on i5t so I guess i5t's a ph6ysical problem like a shor5t or some5thing. Fuck m6y life I guess

    Darmak on
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  • LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    It seems like there's a short somewhere.

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Well fuck my life, this was an expensive keyboard. And now this morning it appears that it's working just fine. I look forward to this happening again randomly in the future. :bzz:

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  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    Isn't that the point of mechanical keyboards. Nothing to muck up? I swear u have read people throwing them in the dishwasher

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  • EndaroEndaro Registered User regular
    I love them, but I've actually had more issues with mechanical keyboards then my cheap rubber domes. The generic HP rubber dome keyboard I got tossed in free with a purchase still works without issue ~10 years later. At worst, some keys have gotten dirty and the delete key sticks.

    By contrast, my first mechanical keyboard broke within a month. It offered a disconnect-able usb cable as a feature, but the cord got tugged the wrong way and jerked the micro sub connection inside the keyboard. Broke a sensitive part pretty easily, while the crappy ps2 interior connected cable on my rubber dome is fine.

    My second keyboard also had issues, but that one was user error. At some point the right function keys got hit and set the auto repeat delay to an extremely short setting, so typing gave the appearance of severe key chattering issues. Stressful at first, but thankfully fixable.

  • DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Endaro wrote: »
    I love them, but I've actually had more issues with mechanical keyboards then my cheap rubber domes. The generic HP rubber dome keyboard I got tossed in free with a purchase still works without issue ~10 years later. At worst, some keys have gotten dirty and the delete key sticks.

    By contrast, my first mechanical keyboard broke within a month. It offered a disconnect-able usb cable as a feature, but the cord got tugged the wrong way and jerked the micro sub connection inside the keyboard. Broke a sensitive part pretty easily, while the crappy ps2 interior connected cable on my rubber dome is fine.

    My second keyboard also had issues, but that one was user error. At some point the right function keys got hit and set the auto repeat delay to an extremely short setting, so typing gave the appearance of severe key chattering issues. Stressful at first, but thankfully fixable.

    My first mechanical keyboard stopped working less than a week after I bought it because apparently getting fucking hammered and then spilling a beer into one and letting it sit overnight is bad for it. Who knew? :rotate:

    JtgVX0H.png
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    The only time I have ever had a keyboard outright fail on me was a mechanical.

    It was manufactured in 1994 and didn't break until late last year though, so I consider a 20+ year service life to be acceptable.

  • Donovan PuppyfuckerDonovan Puppyfucker A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered User regular
    You are reminding me that I need to strip all the keycaps and the case off my Ducky Shine 3 and wash them in the sink (my keyboard is pretty gross!), I should never have let it get this bad but I am a lazy slob. As evidenced by my disgusting keyboard!

  • madspookymadspooky San Antonio, TXRegistered User regular
    So I ended up buying myself a Ducky One to replace my aging Blackwidow and I gotta say...with all the talk about the reliability of Duckys, I'm kinda not feeling it at the moment. One day of use and the LEDs in both the "3" and the "]" key died. Otherwise the keyboard is perfectly fine but I'm worried that more and more will end up going. Emailed the company I bought it from and they wanted me to pay to get it shipped back so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle/money for just two LEDs but damn.

  • EndaroEndaro Registered User regular
    edited April 2016
    madspooky wrote: »
    So I ended up buying myself a Ducky One to replace my aging Blackwidow and I gotta say...with all the talk about the reliability of Duckys, I'm kinda not feeling it at the moment. One day of use and the LEDs in both the "3" and the "]" key died. Otherwise the keyboard is perfectly fine but I'm worried that more and more will end up going. Emailed the company I bought it from and they wanted me to pay to get it shipped back so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle/money for just two LEDs but damn.

    Yeah...the Ducky One was my first keyboard that I mentioned above with the broken USB connection. I got it right around release and it was a really great deal for the features, far less stripped down than previous Ducky Zeros. Unfortunately I got it before there were many user experiences, the subreddit for mechanical keyboards has implied they're going through a rough patch right now. LEDs going out, blue in particular, seem very common right now. It should be under warranty (they only have one big distributor so I think I got mine at the same place), but paying 1/5th the purchase price in shipping to fix a few LEDs when more might die right when you get it back is...less than great. Sorry about your luck, but it's an enjoyable keyboard if the LEDs don't bother you.

    Edit: for what it's worth, I hear it's a common problem with a lot of light up keyboards, and is why some people avoid them. Even if all of them go out, you could replace the keycaps and keep using the base.

    Endaro on
  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    I have two SteelSeries 6Gv2, it's a solid hunk of keyboard and no lighting or features, both working perfect for me still.

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  • Casually HardcoreCasually Hardcore Once an Asshole. Trying to be better. Registered User regular
    My crappy razor black widow is working flawlessly after what feels like 4 or so years.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    madspooky wrote: »
    Emailed the company I bought it from and they wanted me to pay to get it shipped back so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle/money for just two LEDs but damn.

    Newegg? If so, you can usually convince a customer service rep to give you like $10 for return shipping, and they will oftentimes cross-ship.

  • madspookymadspooky San Antonio, TXRegistered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    madspooky wrote: »
    Emailed the company I bought it from and they wanted me to pay to get it shipped back so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle/money for just two LEDs but damn.

    Newegg? If so, you can usually convince a customer service rep to give you like $10 for return shipping, and they will oftentimes cross-ship.

    Unfortunately not, purchased it from Tiger Imports.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Ok, so I got a 20% off coupon for Corsair's website, but I also heard rumor that the Corsair K65 RGB is something like $80 at Best Buy right now. I've never owned a mechanical keyboard, but I've been leaning toward the MX Reds. Give me some guidance?

    This will replace the Apple rubber dome aluminum kb currently sitting on my desk (we bought two of them a long time ago, and one got lemonade spilled on it and I haven't been able to fully get rid of the stickiness). It's time for me to move to something more substantial.

  • LD50LD50 Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    Ok, so I got a 20% off coupon for Corsair's website, but I also heard rumor that the Corsair K65 RGB is something like $80 at Best Buy right now. I've never owned a mechanical keyboard, but I've been leaning toward the MX Reds. Give me some guidance?

    This will replace the Apple rubber dome aluminum kb currently sitting on my desk (we bought two of them a long time ago, and one got lemonade spilled on it and I haven't been able to fully get rid of the stickiness). It's time for me to move to something more substantial.

    Switch preference is something that varies from person to person. I love reds, and they're what I'm typing on right now. They're described as typing on a 'cloud of boobs', and it's fairly accurate. They can take some getting used to though because the actuation force is low.

    Other people like blues because they're clicky, and some others like browns because they don't make as much noise.

    Really, your best bet is to go somewhere where they have mechs on display (best buy commonly has a gaming keyboard display thing set up where you can try out the keyboards. Bring your phone so you can check out which switch types the boards use if they're not advertised on the box.

  • jungleroomxjungleroomx It's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovels Registered User regular
    I really enjoy the feel of my G105, which is kinda-clicky-but-kinda-squishy. It's not too loud and the keys are nice and prominent.

    I've been thinking about a mech keyboard as of late and wondering what a good middle-of-the-road switch is.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Ugh. I guess I'll have to do some "practical research." Now I just need to find the time.

    I would care more if work gave me a bit of leeway on a new keyboard in the office as well. I'd even consider something clicky just to annoy a few nearby coworkers. Unfortunately, I was lucky as it was to get a G500 at my desk so I could have a free-spinning mousewheel for large documents.

  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    blacks are the best.

    if you have a microcenter near you go there . otherwise you can buy key testers which have a sample of most of the cherry switches on them

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  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    can anyone recommend a decent budget cherry brown keyboard? I need to replace our home office computer. prefer laser etched keys but not a deal breaker.
    Yes I know I just recommended blacks to mugsly. this is going to be used by my son and wife also. will also need to pick up O-rings

    saw microcenter has the ducky zero for 99 which seems like a good deal especially since i have one at work and know its good.

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  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    CM Storm Quickfire Rapid? It's the first board I got, works great but no ten key.

    XBL: F4ll0utBP | STEAM | PSN : CustomSpecial | Bnet: F4ll0ut#1636
  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    yea, prefer 10 key

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  • Custom SpecialCustom Special I know I am, I'm sure I am, I'm Sounders 'til I die!Registered User regular
    Amazon has the Quickfire XT with browns for 89.95

    XBL: F4ll0utBP | STEAM | PSN : CustomSpecial | Bnet: F4ll0ut#1636
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    It's a slight detour but I do have a Microcenter nearby. I'll try to find some time to head there.

  • mtsmts Dr. Robot King Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    heres a question

    looking at the quickfire xt . newegg has a rebate card promo. looking at the rebate (which is through CM, not newegg) there is no mention of where it is purchased. can i just buy it off of amazon (which is the same price) and then use the rebate form off of newegg?

    edit: nvm. looks like its only eligible for newegg purchases

    mts on
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