In search of the right mechanical keyboard - halp pl0x

[Junes]

Hello everyone.

 

For almost 18 months now I've been using a Logitech G19 keyboard as my daily driver at home and I have very much enjoyed its useful features as well as its arguably more gimmickey ones. After trying out a friend's Corsair K70 with Cherry MX Brown switches over a period of three weeks however, I increasingly feel the urge to leave the pitiful realm of rubber dome switches behind me and jump on the mechanical keyboard bandwagon. Other reasons are mainly the extremely pleasant and satisfying typing experience I had with the K70. 

 

For various reasons, I'm still very conflicted in this whole matter, which is why I need your advice and experiences. For one I have determined that the K70 with Brown switches is definitely not the right one for me. I saw myself mistyping all over the place, mainly due to two reasons: The G19's keys are closer to each other because it's got two sets of programmable keys on the left side, so Logitech reduced the space between the keys in order for the whole keyboard not to become too big. Naturally, when I started to write on the K70, I mistyped a significant amount of letters because I'm used to every key being at another spot. Normally this'd wear off after a while but surprisingly it didn't completely. This I think is due to the activation force needed to push down a key on the K70. The Brown switches are so easily activated and you only really need to slightly tip them at the top that I often inadvertently hit a key when I didn't really mean to, further reducing my speed and efficiency when typing.

 

Now what I am looking for is a jack-of-all-trades kind of thing. I play videogames a lot, all kinds of genres from RTS to FPS, not competitively, but in most cases somewhat ambitiously so good peripherals and gear in general is important to me. I also type quite a lot, from chats on Steam/Skype, to (lenghty) forum posts and scientific papers for university. Some features of the G19 I would like to keep. LED-illumination is mandatory since I don't have a light source on my desk at night (other than the monitors, which isn't enough), some programmable keys would also be nice and a wrist rest is a must as well. My biggest issue are the switches however, I know of all the different properties and recommended usages of Cherry MX Red, Black, Brown and Blue switches, but I have no means of actually testing them. All I know is that Browns are probably not what I'm looking for.

 

My #1 candidate so far is the Roccat Ryos MK Pro, which is in the upper region of what I'm willing to pay for a mechanical keyboard.

If you've made it through the walls of text so far, thank you. Any suggestions? Anything you could tell or recommend me from your own experience? Input is appreciated.

[Raudi_]

I've used a K70 with Blues/Blacks/Reds/Browns and I currently use daily a K90 with Reds, and overall the reds are gonna be the quietest but the actuation force is very low so its easier for people to transition to from membrane to mechanical. Personaly loved the Blues because of the tactile click it had, but the games I was playing made it very hard to use blues daily.

[TAK]

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[Junes]

I'd stay away from the "gaming" brands, Razer, Corsair, Roccat, etc. They tend to make expensive shit (and by that I mean actual shit, not like "stuff"). Razer being the worst offender here.

Look into something like Ducky (some might consider this a "gaming" brand too), WASD, Das and, on the cheaper end (also a "gaming" brand) Cooler Master.

However, another "gaming" brand you might wanna check out, well, actually, check their only keyboard, Func. Their keyboard is relatively cheap when it comes to mechanical keyboards and still packs a lot of features. Linus did a video of their KB-460 a while back, check it out.

 

Anything tagged 'gaming' is naturally overpriced, that's clear, but it doesn't necessarily have to be shit. Personally, I've never been disappointed by Logitech products. Razer I stay the hell away from, Corsair I usually buy PSUs, RAM and cases from, Roccat I don't really know, but from countless reviews I've read their debut into the mechanical keyboard market with the Ryos MK was a pretty solid one. Most points of critique are the price. What makes me hesitate when considering these more 'clean' models is the lack of features, mainly illumination, macro/media keys and lack of wrist rest. I'm gonna check out the stuff you recommended though.

[TAK]

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[Junes]

Well, I tend to be overly critical when it comes to companies whose practices and/or products I don't like or have bad experiences with. I wouldn't really call Logitech a "gaming" brand, they have been selling good stuff for ages and I'd say they've only gotten into the "gaming" bandwagon more recently (at least in my mind. Mind you, I've been using their stuff since the dawn of the internet, so...)

Corsair certainly has good products, but not in the "gaming" branch of their company (again, see the first sentence of my reply). I have a PSU from them and so far it's been good, but when you buy the tech from someone else and brand it yours (I believe Seasonic makes some of the PSUs and someone else, who I can't get in my head, makes the rest), you can't really fail that much. But that was the main reason I got my PSU from them, since Seasonic is really hard to find in Sweden and Corsair is not, I may pay a bit more due to the brand, but I'm ok with that in this case.

Well since I just noticed the price you mentioned, I think the Func is in that range and some, if not most, of the Cooler Master ones are as well. I think WASD, Das and Ducky are waaaaay out of that range, unless you can find a deal somewhere. Massdrop might be something to check for those, but the savings are still not going to be that huge.

Technically I should support Roccat, they have a lot of product with Finnish names, so someone in their design/naming department is definitely Finnish (German company, IIRC). However, there is just something too Razer about them...

EDIT: On another note, I'm also a minimalist when it comes to this stuff, so Roccat and Razer don't get any points from me on that department either.

 

I checked and sadly the Func one isn't available in my country, Ducky ones are expensive as hell, same for WASD and Das. The Cooler Master CM Storm Trigger Z looks neat though, gonna check that out...

 

Hehe, I see. Well I guess I'm striking a balance between minimalistic/functional and somewhat striking when it comes to my peripherals. I can definitely understand your proclivity for a minimalistic style, many people seem to like that.

[STRMfrmXMN]

@Junes So you said Browns are too light. Do you like the quiet, tactile nature of them? Did you not like the tactile bump? Maybe your prefer some noise in your keyboards?

 

If Browns were almost there then I suggest Clears. They're heavier and the tactile bump is more severe in them so they will stress your hands if you're a light typist (which is sounds like you aren't). The strong tactile bump may be off-putting for gaming but I think you'll become accustomed to it.

 

If you don't want the bump then look for something with Blacks. Those might be up your alley although they have no tactile bump so they may "feel" lighter than they actually are.

 

EDIT: also, because quoting is broken for some reason if you could tag me with @STRMfrmXMN then that would be awesome.

[TAK]

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[STRMfrmXMN]

@STRMfrmXMN

Clears are gonna be super-hard to find tho, if not impossible, in his price range and in Europe.

As far as I know, only WASD makes a board with clears... but the price and importing to Europe... yikes.

Blacks are easier to find, but still might have skimp on other features, I'm typing this on a Ducky Mini which has blacks, but I can't say I've seen many boards being sold with Blacks in Europe. I blame the silly "gaming" fad.

Quoting isn't broken or at least it's working for me.

I hate how rare some switches are. Europe is a first-world country with plenty of people who can afford such things.

I don't live in the UK but maybe there are special retailers there where you can find them? @TAK

[TAK]

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[Junes]

@Junes So you said Browns are too light. Do you like the quiet, tactile nature of them? Did you not like the tactile bump? Maybe your prefer some noise in your keyboards?

 

If Browns were almost there then I suggest Clears. They're heavier and the tactile bump is more severe in them so they will stress your hands if you're a light typist (which is sounds like you aren't). The strong tactile bump may be off-putting for gaming but I think you'll become accustomed to it.

 

If you don't want the bump then look for something with Blacks. Those might be up your alley although they have no tactile bump so they may "feel" lighter than they actually are.

 

EDIT: also, because quoting is broken for some reason if you could tag me with @STRMfrmXMN then that would be awesome.

 

 

UK might have them, but OP lives in Switzerland and I live in Sweden, both are kinda low on that kind of specialist stores. There might be some, but you'd have to check on a Swiss or Swedish tech board for those.

I found a company in Finland that sells Ducky, even to people in Sweden (helps that I'm a Finn and can type to them in Finnish, I guess). But aside from that, I have to rely on normal computer online retailers and those are too aligned with the whole "gaming" fad to consider people who might want thing for work... or think they want membrane keyboards from Logitech or some such. It's sad really.

 

I stumbled upon the Cooler Master CM Storm Trigger Z, looks like a solid candidate. Pretty cheap compared to the others, but sadly only available with Reds at the retailer I buy most of my hardware from. Anyone used the Trigger Z? 

 

About the Browns: the more research I conduct, the more I feel Browns would be the perfect thing for me, but simultanously I'm asking myself how much of a difference the presense respectively non-presence of the tactile feedback would be for me. Using Browns for 3 weeks I am not sure I ever actually noticed it so I'm kinda starting to doubt that the lack thereof on Blacks and Reds would really bother me at all.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I stumbled upon the Cooler Master CM Storm Trigger Z, looks like a solid candidate. Pretty cheap compared to the others, but sadly only available with Reds at the retailer I buy most of my hardware from. Anyone used the Trigger Z? 

 

About the Browns: the more research I conduct, the more I feel Browns would be the perfect thing for me, but simultanously I'm asking myself how much of a difference the presense respectively non-presence of the tactile feedback would be for me. Using Browns for 3 weeks I am not sure I ever actually noticed it so I'm kinda starting to doubt that the lack thereof on Blacks and Reds would really bother me at all.

@Junes, I promise you'll be able to tell the difference. Going from Greens to Blacks is weird because of the tactile bump in the Greens. Linear switches feel lighter than they actually are because of the lack of the bump

 

And the Trigger Z is a pretty good keyboard so I would say you're safe buying that.

[Junes]

@Junes, I promise you'll be able to tell the difference. Going from Greens to Blacks is weird because of the tactile bump in the Greens. Linear switches feel lighter than they actually are because of the lack of the bump

 

And the Trigger Z is a pretty good keyboard so I would say you're safe buying that.

 

The Trigger Z is available with Reds and Browns at my retailer. I'm still unsure on what to pick. On the one hand I like the sound and overall feel of the Browns, but as I described above I was plagued by typos. Reds kinda sound odd in the comparison vid I watched on YT and their activation force is the same with 45g so I fear it won't help me solve my typo problem at all. Then again I never actually tried anything other than Browns and my experience with them may not have been representative of my theoretical long-term use experience with them. So much speculation, so little actual facts, sigh. I should probably just go for something and hope for luck.

[STRMfrmXMN]

The Trigger Z is available with Reds and Browns at my retailer. I'm still unsure on what to pick. On the one hand I like the sound and overall feel of the Browns, but as I described above I was plagued by typos. Reds kinda sound odd in the comparison vid I watched on YT and their activation force is the same with 45g so I fear it won't help me solve my typo problem at all. Then again I never actually tried anything other than Browns and my experience with them may not have been representative of my theoretical long-term use experience with them. So much speculation, so little actual facts, sigh. I should probably just go for something and hope for luck.

You need heavier switches man. You're pretty much stuck with rarer switches like Clears, Greens or Blacks if you want heavier.

Good luck.

[Junes]

You need heavier switches man. You're pretty much stuck with rarer switches like Clears, Greens or Blacks if you want heavier.

Good luck.

 

I guess, it would seem reasonable. I've been using membrane keys all my life so I guess I should try heavier mechanical switches for my first try. So I'm leaning more toward the Roccat Ryos with Blacks now. If I think about it, I've had more problems typing than playing games with the Browns. All I fear now is that the lack of a tactile feedback would bother me...

[STRMfrmXMN]

I guess, it would seem reasonable. I've been using membrane keys all my life so I guess I should try heavier mechanical switches for my first try. So I'm leaning more toward the Roccat Ryos with Blacks now. If I think about it, I've had more problems typing than playing games with the Browns. All I fear now is that the lack of a tactile feedback would bother me...

Well, Clears sound like your switch of choice but good luck finding them. As far as I know, WASD is the only seller of keyboards with Clears anymore...

[Junes]

Well, Clears sound like your switch of choice but good luck finding them. As far as I know, WASD is the only seller of keyboards with Clears anymore...

 

By some quick googling, I really can't find any affordable keyboards with Clear switches indeed, sigh. After hearing a sound sample I've grown quite fond of it.

[STRMfrmXMN]

By some quick googling, I really can't find any affordable keyboards with Clear switches indeed, sigh. After hearing a sound sample I've grown quite fond of it.

Yeah, they're super rare so they're super expensive.

[TAK]

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[STRMfrmXMN]

Oh oh, Ducky Shine 4, brand new (for me, anyway) HAS CLEARS!

And Greens and Blacks oh my!

Also, their new YotH Ducky Mini has WHITES!

 

And I know a Swedish store that sells all of them, in fact it's the store I've gotten a ton of my computer stuff :o

 

EDIT: Sweet? Yes! Cheap? FUCK NO!

So much lol

[Junes]

I ordered the Roccat Ryos MK Pro with Blacks today. Will share my experience here once I get it and tried it out. Hopefully I won't be disappointed. The price was pretty hefty at almost 170CHF but I just got my paycheck a few days ago so I don't even feel bad. :]