Mechanical Keyboard Advice

[Acrain7]

My old, faithful Razer Chroma keyboard finally died a few months ago after four years of use and one poor attempt at a thorough cleaning, which sadly ended up sending those blue switches to their mechanical grave.

 

Now, having used a crappy bargain bin early 2010s dell keyboard for the past months since the disaster, i'm ready to upgrade. So far i've set my sights on the Apex 7 (non TKL ; with blue cherry mx switches since that's what the chroma had), the G513 Carbon (again with blue switches), and finally the Asus Rog Scope (non TKL; blue switches). Thoughts on my choices, anyone- advice, even?

 

I really enjoyed my old cherry mx blues on the chroma and i'd like to keep that trend going, and having a full size keyboard is a must for 3d modeling, but beyond that i'm open to anything. (Usb passthrough would be nice)

[Slottr]

1 minute ago, Genericplane said:

having a non tkl keyboard is a must

So full size?

[Acrain7]

Just now, Slottr said:

So full size?

indeed!

[Slottr]

1 minute ago, Genericplane said:

indeed!

The Ducky One 2 is easily a better keyboard over those others

[Acrain7]

2 minutes ago, Slottr said:

The Ducky One 2 is easily a better keyboard over those others

There is a brand called Ducky. how could i not heard of this sooner?!

 

in all seriousness, it looks pretty damn good! the lack of a usb passthrough is a bit unfortunate, but other than that it actually looks like a pretty competent no-frills design, and i certainly can't throw a negative at those cherry mx blues.

[Slottr]

3 minutes ago, Genericplane said:

There is a brand called Ducky. how could i not heard of this sooner?!

 

in all seriousness, it looks pretty damn good! the lack of a usb passthrough is a bit unfortunate, but other than that it actually looks like a pretty competent no-frills design, and i certainly can't throw a negative at those cherry mx blues.

If you need USB just get an extension and route it along the cable of the board

[Acrain7]

1 minute ago, Slottr said:

If you need USB just get an extension and route it along the cable of the board

that is indeed a possible solution, however i wouldn't say no to a board with such features right out of the box.

[Dr0y]

can look into durgod too ... they are supposed to be quite good according to the reviews I've found on youtube. 

 

[stu.artd]

I don’t know if it’s more than you want to spend but the Corsair k95 platinum xt comes with blue switches. It has USB pass through and 6 dedicated macro keys you may find useful in the 3d modelling app(s) ?

[seon123]

Consider getting a switch tester before deciding on switches. The Kailh Box Jade is my favourite clicky switch. I went to the effort of disassembling and desoldering the Cherry MX Blues on my Logitech G710 to get Box Jades instead, because they were that much nicef. You can easily get a kit like the XD96, and choose your own switches, keycaps, stabilisers and case. Just simple through hole soldering, and much nicer than mainstream prebuilts. 

 

 

Whatever you do, I really recommend you avoid any Corsair keyboard, or the ROG Scope, as those use a non-standard bottom row, so you can't really replace them. Corsair, Logitech and Steelseries also use garbage keycaps on all of their keyboards. I also recommend you avoid Cherry MX Blues (or any of Cherry's switches, really...), as they just sound and feel like garbage compared to e.g. Box Jades

[Acrain7]

  

2 hours ago, Dr0y said:

can look into durgod too ... they are supposed to be quite good according to the reviews I've found on youtube. 

 

Unfortunately they seem to be TKL only, and a numpad is a must for me.

1 hour ago, stu.artd said:

I don’t know if it’s more than you want to spend but the Corsair k95 platinum xt comes with blue switches. It has USB pass through and 6 dedicated macro keys you may find useful in the 3d modelling app(s) ?

 

That seems like a pretty good price and the finish on the keyboard base itself is really nice looking! i'll have to keep this one in mind!

 

1 hour ago, seon123 said:

Consider getting a switch tester before deciding on switches. The Kailh Box Jade is my favourite clicky switch. I went to the effort of disassembling and desoldering the Cherry MX Blues on my Logitech G710 to get Box Jades instead, because they were that much nicef. You can easily get a kit like the XD96, and choose your own switches, keycaps, stabilisers and case. Just simple through hole soldering, and much nicer than mainstream prebuilts. 

 

 

Whatever you do, I really recommend you avoid any Corsair keyboard, or the ROG Scope, as those use a non-standard bottom row, so you can't really replace them. Corsair, Logitech and Steelseries also use garbage keycaps on all of their keyboards. I also recommend you avoid Cherry MX Blues (or any of Cherry's switches, really...), as they just sound and feel like garbage compared to e.g. Box Jades

i didn't have any issues with my mx blues and for the time being i think i'm only looking at prebuilt keyboards, but i'll definitely have to try this in the future.. This actually looks like it could be quite the fun endeavour! 

[stu.artd]

I had some great advice from gloop and Eschew in my thread located here on a GMMK keyboard, if that’s of any interest.

 

I’m still considering what to get, but the k95 I mentioned earlier and the GMMK are in the mix.

 

[seon123]

5 hours ago, Genericplane said:

i didn't have any issues with my mx blues and for the time being i think i'm only looking at prebuilt keyboards, but i'll definitely have to try this in the future.. This actually looks like it could be quite the fun endeavour! 

Of course Cherry MX Blues will still work, but there's no point sticking to them. The GMMK is a prebuilt option with hot swap sockets. So you could get the barebones version of that, clicky switches of your choice (Box Jade or Box Pink are popular), and some cheap doubleshot PBT keycaps. Unlike boards from Razer, Corsair and Logitech, it uses a completely standard bottom row layout, so you can use pretty much any keycap set on it, instead of being stuck to absolute garbage quality keycaps. Which does affect the feel and sound of the keyboard significantly

[Dr0y]

12 hours ago, Genericplane said:

Unfortunately they seem to be TKL only, and a numpad is a must for me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N19RCKQ/ref=twister_B07NWGSZSJ?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

 

There you go ... full size ...

 

I have the gmmk in tkl and totally love it.  Put some kailh speed copped in there with some double  shot pbt keycaps and it's quite enjoyable.

 

Here is the gmmk full size with brown switches. 

https://www.amazon.com/Glorious-Modular-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B01D8YNJH0/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=glorious+keyboard&qid=1599301451&sr=8-3

 

Here are some keycaps

https://www.amazon.com/havit-Keycaps-Backlit-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07SGF9DTY/ref=sr_1_83?dchild=1&keywords=glorious+keyboard&qid=1599301425&sr=8-83

https://www.amazon.com/HK-Gaming-Mechanical-Keyboard-Switches/dp/B07ZBVTWHP/ref=sr_1_22?dchild=1&keywords=glorious%2Bkeyboard&qid=1599301366&sr=8-22&th=1

 

Here are the clicky kailh box pink

https://novelkeys.xyz/collections/switches/products/novelkeys-x-kailh-box-pinks

 

[Acrain7]

On 9/4/2020 at 11:09 PM, seon123 said:

Of course Cherry MX Blues will still work, but there's no point sticking to them. The GMMK is a prebuilt option with hot swap sockets. So you could get the barebones version of that, clicky switches of your choice (Box Jade or Box Pink are popular), and some cheap doubleshot PBT keycaps. Unlike boards from Razer, Corsair and Logitech, it uses a completely standard bottom row layout, so you can use pretty much any keycap set on it, instead of being stuck to absolute garbage quality keycaps. Which does affect the feel and sound of the keyboard significantly

This actually is starting to seem like quite the intriguing option... for a fullsize board, what would you recommend me to pick up? Is it more beneficial to purchase a barebones model with seperate switches and caps like @Dr0y suggested, and if so what is your board of choice?

[stu.artd]

For what it’s worth I ordered a Corsair K95 Platinum XT (silver mx speed switches) had it a few hours then boxed it up and returned it. The iCue software is restrictive and confusing, the non standard bottom row (inc off size space bar) is a nonsense, and the keyboard locked up twice. Oh, I don’t know why, but I’ve never made as many typos in my life as with that K95.

The Steelseries Apex Pro I had for a couple of days was much better (but that got returned as well). 

[Acrain7]

3 hours ago, stu.artd said:

For what it’s worth I ordered a Corsair K95 Platinum XT (silver mx speed switches) had it a few hours then boxed it up and returned it. The iCue software is restrictive and confusing, the non standard bottom row (inc off size space bar) is a nonsense, and the keyboard locked up twice. Oh, I don’t know why, but I’ve never made as many typos in my life as with that K95.

The Steelseries Apex Pro I had for a couple of days was much better (but that got returned as well). 

I tried a k95 with the silver speed switches at a friends house and my god i have never felt a keyboard so touchy in all of my life- you only had to use the tiniest portions of force to get a reaction, which led me to find myself constantly hitting keys accidentally and moving in inopportune ways whilst trying out csgo on it... also that ctrl key felt oddly small to me.

 

What made you return the Apex Pro?

[stu.artd]

I really liked the Apex Pro apart from the metallic ping after pressing keys. My room is quiet, and I found it very noticeable.

[Acrain7]

1 minute ago, stu.artd said:

I really liked the Apex Pro apart from the metallic ping after pressing keys. My room is quiet, and I found it very noticeable.

metallic ping? of what sort?

[seon123]

43 minutes ago, Genericplane said:

metallic ping? of what sort?

Likely spring ping. That can be reduced by using springs that aren't garbage, and pretty much eliminated by lubing the springs.

7 hours ago, Genericplane said:

This actually is starting to seem like quite the intriguing option... for a fullsize board, what would you recommend me to pick up? Is it more beneficial to purchase a barebones model with seperate switches and caps like @Dr0y suggested, and if so what is your board of choice?

 

On 9/4/2020 at 10:26 PM, seon123 said:

You can easily get a kit like the XD96, and choose your own switches, keycaps, stabilisers and case. Just simple through hole soldering, and much nicer than mainstream prebuilts.

It's not technically a full size, but it has pretty all the keys in a more compact layout. GMMK is another option again, but that one does not have extra holes for PCB mount switches (not an issue, just annoying that you have to cut off two metal pins if your switch is PCB mount), and it uses plate mount stabilisers. While the XD96 supports PCB mount switches, and you can use screw in stabilisers, which are superior to plate mount stabilisers (e.g. Durock/Everglide).

You're likely better off getting a barebones kit if you get the GMMK, as the switch options they carry are not really interesting. The keycaps should be fine, though, as they are just cheap doubleshot ones (miles better than on gaming prebuilts).

[stu.artd]

Just from typing. The K95 was worse. I watched some reviews on youtube after purchase (of Apex Pro, k95, Razer Huntsman as well) and can hear it on them as well, during the ‘typing noise test’.

 

Maybe easier to hear than describe.

 

 

[Acrain7]

1 minute ago, stu.artd said:

Just from typing. The K95 was worse. I watched some reviews on youtube after purchase (of Apex Pro, k95, Razer Huntsman as well) and can hear it on them as well, during the ‘typing noise test’.

 

Maybe easier to hear than describe.

 

 

Oh wow i can really hear that... yeah i can totally see why you returned it!