Looking for a new keyboard?

[lordjaraxxus64]

So I'm looking to replace my old, garbage membrane keyboard with something better, and my eye is on the Logitech g710 with cherry mx blue switches. On amazon it's only about 80 U.S. dollars. Anything else around that price range that might be better?

[Zach Is Kill]

I own the Blue version of the g710, its pretty good, its help up well, but one thing that really bugs me is that theres glossy plastic around the keys. but other than that, its a solid keyboard. and this might apply to all keyboards, but i can clearly see all the shit and hair in between the keys, haha

[Guest]

Maybe Corsair??

[lordjaraxxus64]

Like are the keys coated in a glossy plastic? Or are you just talking about the plastic around the programmable g keys on the far left?

[lordjaraxxus64]

@jkeasley The corsair k70 looks pretty nice, dunno how I feel about the red backlighting though. I like the whit light of the g710 as it matches my mouse, and the color scheme of the keyboard matches the color scheme of my case.

[Guest]

Just now, lordjaraxxus64 said:

@jkeasley The corsair k70 looks pretty nice, dunno how I feel about the red backlighting though. I like the whit light of the g710 as it matches my mouse, and the color scheme of the keyboard matches the color scheme of my case.

Get the RGB version then...........or the strafe rgb

[Zach Is Kill]

2 minutes ago, lordjaraxxus64 said:

Like are the keys coated in a glossy plastic? Or are you just talking about the plastic around the programmable g keys on the far left?

the borders around some keys like the F keys etc, theyre a glossy plastic. the keycaps themselves are a cheap matte black.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, lordjaraxxus64 said:

So I'm looking to replace my old, garbage membrane keyboard with something better, and my eye is on the Logitech g710 with cherry mx blue switches. On amazon it's only about 80 U.S. dollars. Anything else around that price range that might be better?

What about the Razer Blackwidow? It's a fairly decent keyboard and it's based on mx blue. Otherwise there's the Cooler Master Trigger Z.....that ones fairly decent too

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, lordjaraxxus64 said:

So I'm looking to replace my old, garbage membrane keyboard with something better, and my eye is on the Logitech g710 with cherry mx blue switches. On amazon it's only about 80 U.S. dollars. Anything else around that price range that might be better?

Here: http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Trigger-Mechanical-Detachable-Dedicated/dp/B00O0NV5PW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455661230&sr=8-1&keywords=cooler+master+trigger+z

Wouldnt recommend the Strafe...it's out of your budget

Or the Blackwidow: http://www.amazon.com/Razer-BlackWidow-Ultimate-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B00IG3GPTS/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1455661262&sr=1-2&keywords=razer+blackwidow

[Guest]

Here's another one: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Mechanical-Keyboard-Tactile-High-Speed/dp/B009C98NPY/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1455661329&sr=1-1&keywords=Logitech+G910

[lordjaraxxus64]

@jkeasley The blackwidow is interesting. And i've also been looking at the g710+ but with the mechanical keyboards I've used, I think I like the blue ones the most. Do you know anything about the Razer's keys? It says they're Razers own tyoe or something?

[Guest]

3 hours ago, lordjaraxxus64 said:

@jkeasley The blackwidow is interesting. And i've also been looking at the g710+ but with the mechanical keyboards I've used, I think I like the blue ones the most. Do you know anything about the Razer's keys? It says they're Razers own tyoe or something?

They're are their custom keys, but they're based on mx blue as far as i've heard.....and my friends say that they're very loud

[olbaze]

1 hour ago, jkeasley said:

They're are their custom keys, but they're based on mx blue as far as i've heard.....and my friends say that they're very loud

Razer's switches are customized Kailh switches. Kailh would be one of the companies that are making Cherry knockoffs. A lot of people with Kailh boards report that the keys are not consistent, meaning that some keys on the board feel different from the others, which is exactly what happens when you get lax on the QC. Kailh switches are cheaper to buy, so Razer having switched from Cherry to Kailh to cut down costs, but not rolling those savings to their customers, e.g. making the keyboards cheaper, is a very shady move imo. This is just one of the shady things that Razer has done with their products.

 

For mechanical keyboards, the best thing you can do is buy a mechanical switch tester to figure out what configuration you like. From there, you can search for boards with specific switches and prices that you like. Finally, post on a forum like this one to ask for comments about those keyboards you found and make your final decision based on that.

 

Mechanical keyboards are really durable and rather expensive. You don't want to buy one only to discover that you like some other switch configuration or key layout better. That's the situation I find myself in currently: I have a working mechanical keyboard, it has its downsides and it's not what I would consider optimal. However, spending over 100€ on a keyboard for minor improvements is very hard to justify.

[lordjaraxxus64]

@olbazeThanks! I'll check out that mechanical switch tester.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, olbaze said:

Razer's switches are customized Kailh switches. Kailh would be one of the companies that are making Cherry knockoffs. A lot of people with Kailh boards report that the keys are not consistent, meaning that some keys on the board feel different from the others, which is exactly what happens when you get lax on the QC. Kailh switches are cheaper to buy, so Razer having switched from Cherry to Kailh to cut down costs, but not rolling those savings to their customers, e.g. making the keyboards cheaper, is a very shady move imo. This is just one of the shady things that Razer has done with their products.

 

For mechanical keyboards, the best thing you can do is buy a mechanical switch tester to figure out what configuration you like. From there, you can search for boards with specific switches and prices that you like. Finally, post on a forum like this one to ask for comments about those keyboards you found and make your final decision based on that.

 

Mechanical keyboards are really durable and rather expensive. You don't want to buy one only to discover that you like some other switch configuration or key layout better. That's the situation I find myself in currently: I have a working mechanical keyboard, it has its downsides and it's not what I would consider optimal. However, spending over 100€ on a keyboard for minor improvements is very hard to justify.

Hmm...good point, but my friends still say that it's a good keyboard. Or maybe the deathstalker

[olbaze]

39 minutes ago, jkeasley said:

Hmm...good point, but my friends still say that it's a good keyboard. Or maybe the deathstalker

Ask your friend this: Good in comparison to what? Any mechanical keyboard will be good in comparison to a membrane keyboard, which the DeathStalker is, btw. Comparisons between mechanical keyboards reveal certain things about the BlackWidow:

• BlackWidow Chroma is priced higher than the most expensive Corsair Strafe RGB, which is Cherry MX Blue version and slightly less than Corsair K70, which uses Cherry MX Switches as well.
• BlackWidow Chroma and BlackWidow Chroma TE are by far the most expensive Kailh keyboards
• BlackWidow Chroma costs 50$ more than a BlackWidow Ultimate 2016, with the only difference being RGB backlight.
• BlackWidow Chroma is  priced the same as the new Logitech G810 but more than Logitech G910. Logitech uses fully custom switches, rather than modifying an existing switch.
• BlackWidow Chroma is priced lowe than the SteelSeries Apex M800, which uses fully custom switches, rather than modifying an existing switch.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, olbaze said:

Ask your friend this: Good in comparison to what? Any mechanical keyboard will be good in comparison to a membrane keyboard, which the DeathStalker is, btw. Comparisons between mechanical keyboards reveal certain things about the BlackWidow:

• BlackWidow Chroma is priced higher than the most expensive Corsair Strafe RGB, which is Cherry MX Blue version and slightly less than Corsair K70, which uses Cherry MX Switches as well.
• BlackWidow Chroma and BlackWidow Chroma TE are by far the most expensive Kailh keyboards
• BlackWidow Chroma costs 50$ more than a BlackWidow Ultimate 2016, with the only difference being RGB backlight.
• BlackWidow Chroma is  priced the same as the new Logitech G810 but more than Logitech G910. Logitech uses fully custom switches, rather than modifying an existing switch.
• BlackWidow Chroma is priced lowe than the SteelSeries Apex M800, which uses fully custom switches, rather than modifying an existing switch.

I'm just saying that my friends say that it's a good keyboard. It doesn't have to be in comparison to anything. They just say that it's a good keyboard

[olbaze]

18 minutes ago, jkeasley said:

I'm just saying that my friends say that it's a good keyboard. It doesn't have to be in comparison to anything. They just say that it's a good keyboard

Well if they're not comparing it to something, the statement is empty; It would make saying "it's a good keyboard" equivalent to saying "It's a keyboard". And unless the comparison is to another mechanical keyboard, it's pretty much a meaningless comparison.

Also, I would recommend against buying stuff just because your friends told you they liked it. Heck, I would against buying stuff because anyone said they like it. Different people like different things.

I just figured I'd list some objective points about the Razer BlackWidow Chroma. Some of them are downsides (it's more expensive than any other Kailh board), others are not (It's cheaper than Apex M800).

[blazerclaw]

Just a heads up, the Strafe RGB is $129.99 at Best Buy, and if you're a student there is a coupon for $40 off Cosair keyboards if you sign up for student deals with an .edu email. I just got a new Strafe RGB for $89.99 before tax. The thing is it doesn't work online for whatever reason, so you'll have to go to your nearest Best Buy store and show them the coupon to ring it up, which works fine with no hassles.

 

[flashmz]

1. If you are really low on budget, get the G710+. it's the best for it's price range.

2. If you like to gamble, you could buy the G810 for 160$, it comes with "The Division Game" for free. If you resell the game for 50$ (retail price of the game is 60$) it means the keyboard only costs 110$.

 

The G810 has RGB, Media control, Macros, mechanical Romer G Switches. plus the software has a lightning mapping of the keys for a lot of games so it makes easier to spot which keys work with everygame. It also comes with the ARX software which you can download to you phone and use it with the keyboard and even for games like "The Division"

[iDeFecZx]

I got the corsair k40, cost me about £40 and is the nicest keyboard ive ever used. Even more so than either the blackwidow chroma or the k70 for about a third of the price.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, olbaze said:

Well if they're not comparing it to something, the statement is empty; It would make saying "it's a good keyboard" equivalent to saying "It's a keyboard". And unless the comparison is to another mechanical keyboard, it's pretty much a meaningless comparison.

Also, I would recommend against buying stuff just because your friends told you they liked it. Heck, I would against buying stuff because anyone said they like it. Different people like different things.

I just figured I'd list some objective points about the Razer BlackWidow Chroma. Some of them are downsides (it's more expensive than any other Kailh board), others are not (It's cheaper than Apex M800).

So are you saying that you wouldn't buy something because it has a good review

[olbaze]

10 hours ago, jkeasley said:

So are you saying that you wouldn't buy something because it has a good review

Ok, so how do I put this? I won't buy something just because it has a good review. In cases where I look at reviews, such as when buying peripherals, I only want to know the downsides. To me, lack of bad reviews is far more important than having a ton of good reviews. As an example, when I started looking for a new mouse, I didn't buy the SteelSeries Rival because there were plenty of people who had issues with the rubber grips. I didn't buy Func MS-3 because some people had issues with the firmware. I also did not buy a Logitech G502 because I don't like the shell on it.

 

The thing with reviews is that most of them are ridiculously subjective. Some people hate Zowie mice because of the stiffer Huano switches, whereas I really like them. While this is a difference in preferences, a less-knowledgeable reviewer might say something like "The buttons on the mouse are very stiff", which sounds like a design flaw, rather than a conscious choice by the manufacturer.

 

Lastly, I do not frown on good reviews. I'm not going to ignore a product just because it has a lot of good reviews. I just think that people put far too much weight on reviews. You have game developers who get paid extra if they pass a certain score in Metacritic. You have people who only buy games if they have high Metacritic scores.

 

In the aforementioned context, saying "This is a good keyboard" doesn't tell me anything of value. What makes it a good keyboard? Would you say that it's a good keyboard because it's not broken?

[Guest]

13 hours ago, olbaze said:

Ok, so how do I put this? I won't buy something just because it has a good review. In cases where I look at reviews, such as when buying peripherals, I only want to know the downsides. To me, lack of bad reviews is far more important than having a ton of good reviews. As an example, when I started looking for a new mouse, I didn't buy the SteelSeries Rival because there were plenty of people who had issues with the rubber grips. I didn't buy Func MS-3 because some people had issues with the firmware. I also did not buy a Logitech G502 because I don't like the shell on it.

 

The thing with reviews is that most of them are ridiculously subjective. Some people hate Zowie mice because of the stiffer Huano switches, whereas I really like them. While this is a difference in preferences, a less-knowledgeable reviewer might say something like "The buttons on the mouse are very stiff", which sounds like a design flaw, rather than a conscious choice by the manufacturer.

 

Lastly, I do not frown on good reviews. I'm not going to ignore a product just because it has a lot of good reviews. I just think that people put far too much weight on reviews. You have game developers who get paid extra if they pass a certain score in Metacritic. You have people who only buy games if they have high Metacritic scores.

 

In the aforementioned context, saying "This is a good keyboard" doesn't tell me anything of value. What makes it a good keyboard? Would you say that it's a good keyboard because it's not broken?

Maybe it makes it a good keyboard compared to their last one. All I asked them was "Is the Blackwidow a good keyboard", and they said yes, but the keys are very loud. I'm not personally getting one (CM Storm Trigger Z for me), but when someone asks for a good mechanical keyboard, then that's what I'll suggest. I've personally used it and it's a decent keyboard. It's not like you're going to say it's crap. If it feels nice, works well and has great software, then it's generally a good keyboard and according to Razer's website, it lasts a lot more keystrokes than other mechanical keyboards and if that's false advertising, then so be it, but  the issues with Razer, is the 50/50 working keyboard stereotype. People saying that it's not always going to work, which is fine....just don't force that opinion on other people. My friend called me a razer fanboy at one point because I wanted to fill up my setup with razer products (oblivious to the fact that he has a corsair mouse, keyboard and headphones)

[olbaze]

51 minutes ago, jkeasley said:

 All I asked them was "Is the Blackwidow a good keyboard", and they said yes, but the keys are very loud. I'm not personally getting one (CM Storm Trigger Z for me), but when someone asks for a good mechanical keyboard, then that's what I'll suggest. I've personally used it and it's a decent keyboard. It's not like you're going to say it's crap.

Suggesting whatever peripherals you are using just because you're using is a bad thing. At the very least, you have to recognize the flaws in the product, otherwise you're just being fallacious. I am using a SteelSeries 6Gv2 right now and I can tell you that the Nordic layout has a non-standard Enter key, which makes it impossible for me to buy most 3rd party keycap sets for it. I am effectively down to 0 options when it comes to full sets of 3rd party keycaps; there is no overlap between "full set of Nordic layout" and "full set that has Steelseries' Nordic Enter key". If someone were to ask me for a recommendation for a mechanical keyboard, I would do what I did here: Tell them to buy a tester to find what they like, then look for some models with the features they want and finally ask online for user experiences. As an owner and user of a product, you are in a unique position of experience. There are things that you've probably experienced that are not in any spec sheet or review. And that is what you should be bringing to the discussion. That's what your friends should be telling you when they say it's a good keyboard.

Quote

I've personally used it and it's a decent keyboard. It's not like you're going to say it's crap. If it feels nice, works well and has great software, then it's generally a good keyboard and according to Razer's website, it lasts a lot more keystrokes than other mechanical keyboards and if that's false advertising, then so be it, but  the issues with Razer, is the 50/50 working keyboard stereotype. People saying that it's not always going to work, which is fine....just don't force that opinion on other people. My friend called me a razer fanboy at one point because I wanted to fill up my setup with razer products (oblivious to the fact that he has a corsair mouse, keyboard and headphones)

Look, I'm not shitting on Razer here. I have a Razer Goliathus Speed mousepad and I opted for that instead of anything else. I could have had any mousepad I wanted, but I chose this one for various reasons. Heck, Logitech is starting to have a similar cult-like following behind the G502, and that's just as bad of a thing. Sure, the G502 is a good mouse, but it's not for everyone; I opted for something else because I didn't like the G502. Blind brand loyalty is a bad thing, regardless of whether it's backed by years of flawless reputation or being the coolest thing around.

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Maybe it makes it a good keyboard compared to their last one

And that's the thing that you need to know. I have 5 different keyboards here I can compare to my SteelSeries 6Gv2. Each of those keyboards will yield a different comparison, some where the 6Gv2 is unquestionably superior, some where it might lose out to some people and some where the comparison doesn't even get made due to certain features in the other keyboards.