Seeking Keyboard Advice

[Adarion]

Oh people, thanks for the links to the mechanical keyboards. After 10 h of work today this thread really saved my evening!
I was only aware of daskeyboard and pckeyboard (the IBM-Model M) but I am happy that there is so much more. WASD looks cool since they allow you to make your own keycap prints by sending them an SVG file.
Now it needs just more classic layout (larger spacebar, no windows keys, they are in my way even with cute penguins on it) and I am totally happy. Just listening to a youtube video about the Cherry and Alps switches made me happy.
I grew up with Escom (relabeled, but very good brands behind it, I still use them daily, it came with my first 486) and IBM-Model M keyboards and it is good to see that quality still prevails.

[brosis]

I have Keyboard 107, codename Chocolate from Revoltec. Its one of the best keyboards I ever owned.
Wireless, perfect latency, perfect sound, perfect pressure depth, perfect pressure power, awesome looks, awesome durability, awesome weight.
Already opened it once, its solidly built and easy to disassemble.

A kind of keyboard that is a pleasure to work with.

Had several mehanical Cherrys - they are good. But none is close to Chocolate.

Only two issues/features with it are an absent Insert key due to design decisions and its fear of liquid of any kind.

It has no number block though, only emulated. Neverless perhaps you may want to look at it. Besides, its very cheap.

[bridgman]

No worries. Worst case I was going to end up with two KBs using red switches and one using blue -- definitely want to try using the two switches side-by-side.

In the end I decided to leave the order as-is, although I guess I may still live to regret it. I don't like the looks of the Razer BW TE as much as the other two -- the Corsair has a very slick art-deco look, the CM Rapid is clean & simple, but the BW seems a bit gaudy by comparison. That said, the Razer is well regarded except by the folks who damage the exposed USB connector coming out the back and I guess a few blinking LEDs will add some colour to the place.

OK, I now have three compact keyboards. While I expected the Razer to look a bit bling-y and the CM to look more elegant, in fact I like the looks of the Razer more than the CM. The keycap printing on the CM is bright white while the printing on the Razer is more subdued... normally that wouldn't matter but since the F1-F12 keys are also used as multimedia keys and have black-on-white-rectangle icons on the keys for multimedia functions the CM actually ends up looking a bit more gaudy than the Razer. Go figure.

In a truly bizarre example of non-intuitive UI design, you turn the function keys on both keyboards into multimedia keys by pressing the "FN" (for function) key, ie the Function key makes the F1-F12 keys *stop* being function keys. I guess this is kind of an industry norm, but it still seems really weird.

All three keyboards are about the same width, but the Razer is a bit deeper than the CM Storm, and the Corsair is a bit deeper than the Razer. The Razer gets its extra depth by simply having a bit more case all around the keys, while the Corsair has an extra row of small audio buttons above the function keys which add a bit more depth. In my case I only need one really narrow (front to back) keyboard so the CM is in that position.

I'm typing this on the Razer, which has Blue keyswitches as does the CM Storm. The Corsair K65 has Reds. My initial thought on Red vs Blue keys after setting up the new keyboards was that I liked the red switches better (which kinda sucked because I now had "two blues and a red") because the blues felt like they had more "mushy resistance" than the reds, but after typing on the Razer for a bit I'm starting to prefer the blue keyswitches already. There probably is some noise difference -- you can type quietly on reds or cheapo keyswitches if you make an effort, but since I type "fast and loud" already I don't think the blue switches are going to make much difference.

I thought I was going to give big bonus points to the CM Storm's options for cable routing (either side or straight out the back), but I realized after installing the keyboard that when you route to the side it really comes OUT THE SIDE (not out the back near the side) and so it (predictably) interferes with the mouse. This is the kind of design decision that makes me start yelling and looking for someone to shake until their teeth rattle (which, yes, puts me in violation of Ontario labour laws again). What I will say is that even without the ability to use the side routing channels the CM Storm design definitely protects the micro USB connector on the detachable cable better than the Razer's "plug it in the back" design.

So... red nice, blue nicer. That's what everyone said, but I did have my doubts in the first few minutes. The important point is that I tried out a bunch of different keyboards in the store before buying the Corsair K65 and definitely preferred the red keyswitches. When I got the K65 home I still liked the red switches as much as I had in the store.

The blue keyswitches, by comparison, felt crappy in the store and felt just as bad at home until I had typed on them for 5-10 minutes. Then I really liked them. Be warned.

[bridgman]

I have Keyboard 107, codename Chocolate from Revoltec. Its one of the best keyboards I ever owned.
Wireless, perfect latency, perfect sound, perfect pressure depth, perfect pressure power, awesome looks, awesome durability, awesome weight.
Already opened it once, its solidly built and easy to disassemble.

I had not heard of Revoltec, but looks like they make some really nice products. The "lightboard" might even make me rethink my position about putting lights in keyboards

The picture of the Chocolate keyboard makes me think the key travel would be really short -- but sounds like that's not a problem.

One more comment on the compact keyboards I just picked up -- just realized that the caps lock key lights up when it's pressed (a bright light in the key itself, not a tiny light in the opposite corner of the keyboard), which IMO is a really great feature. Slight preference for the Razer again, since the "caps lk" letters light up rather than just a light in the front of the key, but both are better than having the light over where you don't look.

[bridgman]

OK, now I'm typing on the CM Storm. Keys seem stiffer than on the Razer when I started typing this post, but after typing for less than a minute they seemed to loosen up. Wonder if that's what happened on the Razer as well ? Key spacing seems identical to the Razer, so at the moment I'm thinking that they're both good choices... and I was already happy with the Corsair K65.

I still don't like the idea of having to push the "FN" key to make the function keys stop being function keys though. Seems like that would make a lot more sense if the "functions" were overloaded onto something other than the F1-F12 keys.

[bridgman]

Aaaaaand back to the Corsair K65. Still ike the keys but it does seem like it might be a bit easier to miss a key or actuate by accident. I seem to be able to type *faster* with the red keyswitches but make more mistakes too, so not sure how those would balance out.

Fortunately I have to type a big pile of documents tonight so maybe by tomorrow I'll have a "personal consensus"

I bumped the Caps Lock by mistake, and noticed that under Linux the caps lock light doesn't come on. With the CM Storm the caps lock light worked under LInux but scroll lock did not (then again it's been so long since I used scroll lock that I don't even remember what it does).

There is a switch on the back with different options (thought it was mostly polling speed though) and there are a bunch of function key combinations which might help, but I don't have time to play with them right now. I guess the next step is to crawl back under the desk and start swapping keyboards between systems to see what changes.

[rbmorse]

Unicomp

I'll add an endorsement for the Unicomp keyboards. Been using them for years, never had a problem. 104 key Ultra Classic USB is probably the one you want.

[Serge]

I have Keyboard 107, codename Chocolate from Revoltec. Its one of the best keyboards I ever owned.
Wireless, perfect latency, perfect sound, perfect pressure depth, perfect pressure power, awesome looks, awesome durability, awesome weight.
Already opened it once, its solidly built and easy to disassemble.

A kind of keyboard that is a pleasure to work with.

Had several mehanical Cherrys - they are good. But none is close to Chocolate.

Only two issues/features with it are an absent Insert key due to design decisions and its fear of liquid of any kind.

It has no number block though, only emulated. Neverless perhaps you may want to look at it. Besides, its very cheap.

This sounds very intriguing, but I am having a hard time finding info about it. Do you know of a good write-up on this or other models by Revoltec?

[Serge]

OK, I now have three compact keyboards. While I expected the Razer to look a bit bling-y and the CM to look more elegant, in fact I like the looks of the Razer more than the CM. The keycap printing on the CM is bright white while the printing on the Razer is more subdued... normally that wouldn't matter but since the F1-F12 keys are also used as multimedia keys and have black-on-white-rectangle icons on the keys for multimedia functions the CM actually ends up looking a bit more gaudy than the Razer. Go figure.

In a truly bizarre example of non-intuitive UI design, you turn the function keys on both keyboards into multimedia keys by pressing the "FN" (for function) key, ie the Function key makes the F1-F12 keys *stop* being function keys. I guess this is kind of an industry norm, but it still seems really weird.

Yeah, it is more or less the norm in that sense. I agree that it is counter-intuitive, especially for people with no prior experience with how these "Fn" or "FN" keys are used on modern equipment, but personally I've gotten so used to it that I would probably be more surprised if it was the other way around.

All three keyboards are about the same width, but the Razer is a bit deeper than the CM Storm, and the Corsair is a bit deeper than the Razer. The Razer gets its extra depth by simply having a bit more case all around the keys, while the Corsair has an extra row of small audio buttons above the function keys which add a bit more depth. In my case I only need one really narrow (front to back) keyboard so the CM is in that position.

I'm typing this on the Razer, which has Blue keyswitches as does the CM Storm. The Corsair K65 has Reds. My initial thought on Red vs Blue keys after setting up the new keyboards was that I liked the red switches better (which kinda sucked because I now had "two blues and a red") because the blues felt like they had more "mushy resistance" than the reds, but after typing on the Razer for a bit I'm starting to prefer the blue keyswitches already. There probably is some noise difference -- you can type quietly on reds or cheapo keyswitches if you make an effort, but since I type "fast and loud" already I don't think the blue switches are going to make much difference.

I am surprised that you are preferring the Blue switches already. I would have thought that if you were going to change your preference, it would have been after at least several weeks of use. If you don't mind taking the time, I (and probably others who have been reading this thread) would truly appreciate more of your impressions on how the switches compare as you gain more experience with the Blues.

I thought I was going to give big bonus points to the CM Storm's options for cable routing (either side or straight out the back), but I realized after installing the keyboard that when you route to the side it really comes OUT THE SIDE (not out the back near the side) and so it (predictably) interferes with the mouse. This is the kind of design decision that makes me start yelling and looking for someone to shake until their teeth rattle (which, yes, puts me in violation of Ontario labour laws again). What I will say is that even without the ability to use the side routing channels the CM Storm design definitely protects the micro USB connector on the detachable cable better than the Razer's "plug it in the back" design.

So... red nice, blue nicer. That's what everyone said, but I did have my doubts in the first few minutes. The important point is that I tried out a bunch of different keyboards in the store before buying the Corsair K65 and definitely preferred the red keyswitches. When I got the K65 home I still liked the red switches as much as I had in the store.

The blue keyswitches, by comparison, felt crappy in the store and felt just as bad at home until I had typed on them for 5-10 minutes. Then I really liked them. Be warned.

A big sincere thanks. This post and your other posts in this thread have been very informative for me.

[Serge]

I'll add an endorsement for the Unicomp keyboards. Been using them for years, never had a problem. 104 key Ultra Classic USB is probably the one you want.

Thank you for the endorsement. The criticisms that I've read regarding Unicomp Model M successors (as I understand it, that's what the Ultra Classics are) were about cheaper materials and reduced durability. However, since you and several others in this thread have indicated strong satisfaction with Unicomp, I have now reconsidered my snap decision to rule out Unicomp. I'm going to include these models in my shortlist.