Leopold FC750R-PS "Blue-Black" Review

[Phas3L0ck]

Well, it was supposed to go on my reviews page where I bought it from eBay (I think I got the last one!) but eBay is being a motherf***r about posting what I wrote for some reason, so here it is:

Great design and build quality, but perhaps too good...

Starting with the reason I picked this variant, the so called "Blue-Black" appearance can be seen when enough light shines across the keys, giving the case a slate gray look, despite it's sharp matte black surface. The keys themselves are more like a blue Graphite color-- try to imagine an older keyboard with grey keys re-toned with a slight ocean blue tint.

There are very few videos about this particular variant, but the few about this rare model on YouTube that I found (and have reasonable display quality) are extremely accurate, all the way down to the strange "fading" effect-- which at first I thought was just the way their camera was recording, but in fact the combination of this shade of Blueish graphite gray with the lightly textured matte surface makes the entire keyboard practically invisible in a dark or poorly lit room. This fading effect can make it hard to see the letters since they're all black, however anyone familiar with traditional white letters would know of the satisfying "stealth" appearance this results in.

By design, the TKL layout is already saving my desk space, and such designs are perfect for server/rack environments (and crowded office desks with way too many things gong on).
Although it connects through a lousy old mini-USB port, the casing on this design compensates for the natural flaws of small USB plugs by including 3 discrete routing channels (center, left, and right) which are just barely large enough for wires to fit but small enough to compress them in place, stabilizing the connection no matter how hard you like to rock those keys!

The one thing I absolutely hate is the stock switch type; Cherry MX Red. Cherry MX has a lot of great switches, but I simply can't stand the reds, especially coming from an environment full of cheaply made basic keyboards from HP, which is what they remind me of. Unless you're either a brilliant toddler or a soft-paw cat with great precision AND a lack of speed, there's positively NO HOPE for any completely linear switch-- especially one with such a light spring (or a lack of springiness) and a relatively high actuation point! 45 grams of "force" and linear action... Talk about infinitely painful to type on. Sure I can replace the switches with any number of different versions, but Leopold's PCB boards are assembled with all the components permanently soldered on, just like a proper computer mainboard! And that's not all; an experienced MX user might think to crack open the tops of every switch and perform a simple stem-and-spring swap, but that's not possible either because all the switches are panel-mounted, making the legs on the sides of the switch seal impossible to move or open. So the only way to replace all the switches is to completely de-solder every single one! Thanks a lot, guys**

After trying my skills at modifications, it looks like the only easy way to get all 170+ solder joints (2x per switch) completely and safely removed is by using a "Hakko" 301 or 808 specialty solder removal tool, which can be prohibitively expensive at $250-500 each (even for a used one!)

[seon123]

15 minutes ago, Phas3L0ck said:

but Leopold's PCB boards are assembled with all the components permanently soldered on, just like a proper computer mainboard! And that's not all; an experienced MX user might think to crack open the tops of every switch and perform a simple stem-and-spring swap, but that's not possible either because all the switches are panel-mounted, making the legs on the sides of the switch seal impossible to move or open. So the only way to replace all the switches is to completely de-solder every single one! Thanks a lot, guys**

That's.... Normal. You don't need a super fancy device to desolder. I used solder wick for my G710, but you can also use a tin sucker, which you can get for like $5.

[Letgomyleghoe]

8 minutes ago, seon123 said:

That's.... Normal. You don't need a super fancy device to desolder. I used solder wick for my G710, but you can also use a tin sucker, which you can get for like $5.

Agreed, I just use solder wick. 
idek what the fuck a tin sucker is

[Phas3L0ck]

8 minutes ago, seon123 said:

That's.... Normal. You don't need a super fancy device to desolder. I used solder wick for my G710, but you can also use a tin sucker, which you can get for like $5.

The sucker things cost more like $15 and aren't always effective.

Just now, scuff gang said:

Agreed, I just use solder wick. 
idek what the fuck a tin sucker is

That's pretty much what I did... Took me 10 feet of 2.5mm desolder braid and a new soldering tip-- and I still ended up with partial removal of the inner wall of some pads because some of the solder got stuck and the pin couldn't be moved enough, and one pad even lifted totally off the PCB... but at least everything is still connected and works fine.

 

I think it's obvious that PCB soldering is supposed to be permanent, but replacing components is clearly a one-time thing; once you do it, you can't ever do it again.

[seon123]

6 minutes ago, scuff gang said:

Agreed, I just use solder wick. 
idek what the fuck a tin sucker is

Just very simple things like this

Spoiler

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33043348165.html

You melt the solder with the soldering iron, and then suck the solder.

3 minutes ago, Phas3L0ck said:

The sucker things cost more like $15 and aren't always effective.

That's pretty much what I did... Took me 10 feet of 2.5mm desolder braid and a new soldering tip-- and I still ended up with partial removal of the inner wall of some pads because some of the solder got stuck and the pin couldn't be moved enough, and one pad even lifted totally off the PCB... but at least everything is still connected and works fine.

 

I think it's obvious that PCB soldering is supposed to be permanent, but replacing components is clearly a one-time thing; once you do it, you can't ever do it again.

Many customs use soldered in switches, and desoldering and soldering on new switches isn't that big of an issue for those. Could be that there are some differences to allow for them to be more durable, compared to with prebuilts, but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯