Keyboard reference

[WannaSPOON]

As per usual, I have a question about keyboards.  I'm an avid user of the sidewinder x4.  I absolutely love the feel and the relatively low profile keys.  I hate scooped keys and I really like the transition between rows of a low profile keyboard.  Problem is my cat chewed on the usb cord.  It still works okay, but every so often the keyboard will disconnect and reconnect a few seconds later.  Not a huge deal most of the time, but can be quite frustrating in the middle of a game.

 

I could quite easily just buy another sidewinder x4 off ebay, but I figured I'd address the nerd world first and see what others out there could say.  Are there any other keyboards of a similar type and feel of the sidewinder x4?  And if I wanted to go with a true mechanical keyboard, what type of keys would they equate to?  I've taken all of the keys off of this one to clean it and they actuators are kind of inverted from a normal keyboard in that the key itself has a column that sticks down into a hole to put a membrane dome thing.  I like the feel of it for both typing research papers and for gaming.  It's pretty smooth, which makes me thing the cherry reds would be the closest relations, but I don't have any way to compare.

 

Thanks

[XTankSlayerX]

It kinda reminds me of the Corsair K70. You should go to a local store and see if they have keyboards for you to try.

[WannaSPOON]

Sadly, the only place near here would be a Best Buy.  I was thinking I'd go see what they have, but I don't have a lot of hope.  I miss living near a Fry's.

[exousia7]

Cherry G80-3800 or 3850. They're low profile mechanical keyboards and relatively cheap AFAIK.

[jayctech]

Just get another sidewinder. 

[WannaSPOON]

Just get another sidewinder. 

Did you even read my post?

[jayctech]

I could quite easily just buy another sidewinder x4 off ebay, but I figured I'd address the nerd world first and see what others out there could say. 

You said you could you could get another sidewinder and you wanted other people's opinions. My opinion is get the sidewinder.

[WannaSPOON]

Went to best buy and all they had on display were the G710+ and the BlackWidow.  I must say I didn't like the feel of the G710+ at all.  I liked the feel of the Razer keys, but they were a bit too clicky for me.  From what I've seen, the Razer "greens" are about the same as Cherry Blues and the G710+ uses Browns.  Seems like Reds might be a nice balance between the two.  Does that sound about right?

[jayctech]

Went to best buy and all they had on display were the G710+ and the BlackWidow.  I must say I didn't like the feel of the G710+ at all.  I liked the feel of the Razer keys, but they were a bit too clicky for me.  From what I've seen, the Razer "greens" are about the same as Cherry Blues and the G710+ uses Browns.  Seems like Reds might be a nice balance between the two.  Does that sound about right?

Browns are more like a middle between red and blue. Reds are completely linear so there's no bump around the actuation point.

[WannaSPOON]

Alright.  After a little more hands-on testing I'm starting to love the blues.  It's aural feedback heaven.  However, I already type pretty loudly and I know when I talk to people on skype it would drive them crazy.  As a way to expand my knowledge base, I'd like to see if there are any keyboards that match this:

 

The Cherry g80-3850 is about 90% the keyboard I would want, but from what I have read it seems to be plate mounted.  Are there any like the 3850 that are PCB so I could swap out switches if I wanted to?  I love the idea of being able to swap switches on the fly without having to do a lot of time-consuming de- and re-soldering.

 

Thanks