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Keyboard Thread.

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Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Logitech G710+:

Well, about time you post those keyboards.

Aesthetics wise, the board doesn't look very good tbh.
I found that it costs over $200 brand new, but it looks kinda like a cheap membrane gamer keyboard not gonna lie. It doesn't have that premium look that other keyboards at that price point has.
The shape of the case looks really weird and reminds me of rubber domes in the 90s when they were trying to design boards that looks different and came up with fuck ugly keyboard case shapes.
The huge amount of buttons everywhere makes the board looks busy also. Normally, I love boards with lots of buttons, but this one looks kinda too busy and cramped. Not very elegant.
The G710+ logo on top of the nav keys in white font looks pretty obnoxious also.

Build quality wise, from what I found, is the same as most modern mechanical keyboard. Not excellent, not horrible.

I can't find anything about the keycaps, but they looks like lazered caps to me.
They also use a squared off gamer font which looks pretty ugly. But at least they aren't as ugly as those cyber fonts that every one and their mother used back in the 2010s.

Switches wise, again I can't really find much about which switches that they can come with. But I have managed to find 2 versions of the board, one uses Cherry MX blues and the other Cherry MX browns.
You can tell by the colored bezel section on the left.
Well about Cherry MX browns, in short, they're dog shit.
Feel wise I actually prefer a rubber dome board over Cherry MX browns. At least rubber domes are actually tactile.
The tactility on MX browns are literally weaker than the haptic feedback you get on your mobile phones I found. Yes, their tactility is weaker than the fake tactile feed back that your phone can provide you.
So I guess Cherry MX Browns are for people that hates tactility but doesn't want to use a linear switch.

This board comes with a lot of media keys, which can be quite useful tbh. Especially the volume wheel on the right.
It also has 6 programmable macro keys. That are advertised as can be programmed "on the fly".
If the advertisements were to be believed, then that's a pretty solid feature.
Macros are really nice to have, both in gaming and for work.
But I'm still pretty skeptical about it, since there are so many boards with macro functions that are advertised as can be programmed "on the fly" actually requires you to have their dedicated app installed and running in the background to use the macros.

Overall, a pretty overpriced but fairly ugly board.
5.5/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Corsair K95 RGB Platinum:

Aesthetics wise, I think this board looks okay.
It has that edgy gamer look to it. A bit showy, but overall not a bad looking keyboard.

Build quality wise, again, typical for modern mech keyboards.

The keycaps are made out of ABS plastic, coated in black paint and then lazered.
This makes for very sharp legends on the keycaps, but those caps are not very durable and can wear down after only a few weeks of use.
They also attracts dirt, dusts, hand oil and fingerprints like crazy, making the board looks pretty disgusting pretty quick, only after a few hours of use.
The spacebar is textured for some reason, I have no idea why it's the case since I don't think fingers slipping off spacebars is a huge problem.
Guess they're just there for aesthetics purposes.

Switches wise, these boards can either come with Cherry MX Browns or Cherry MX speed silver.
Although you said that the switch stems has a white/grey color in the VC so I guess that this board in particular is using speed silver switches.
They're light linear switches with a higher actuation point than normal switches.
The actuation point is at 1.2mm instead of 2mm like most other MX switches.
The travel is also shortened from 4mm of normal Cherry MX switches to 3.4mm.
The weighting is still the same as cherry MX reds, around 45g of actuation.
All these factors for a very hyper active switch that can actuate with just the weight of your finger.
I already have so many mistypes while using Cherry MX reds, so I definitely cannot use these switches.
Even while playing video games, I keep pressing buttons when I don't mean to and it takes a while before I can get used to it. Though I still didn't like them.
Typing on them is a nightmare, my average typing speed on them is like 40 to 50 wpm because of all the mistakes I keep getting because of how hyper active they are.

Features wise, this board has a volume wheel and some media buttons, which are pretty nice tbh.
It also has 6 macro buttons, however they cannot be programmed on the fly.
You'll need the app to assign macros to them. But at least you don't have to have the app in the background to use the macros.
However, their app, "iCue" I think it's called is fucking dogshit.
It's several hundred Mbs of storage space and it drains CPU while running in the back ground.
Worst yet, it disables all Corsair devices if you shut it down, and you have to unplug and replug your device to use them again.
I used to have a Corsair mouse and I was using that mouse while I borrowed a Corsair board to use and that app drives me fucking insane.
I uninstalled that app after a few days.

Overall, an okay keyboard.
5.5/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
I bought some glorious pandas a while back when they were on back-order and they finally arrived today! I only bought a 36-pack since these switches are damn expensive, so I only installed them for the letters and a few mods. I didn't lube them up because I am lazy. Maybe sometime in the future.

I haven't used them for too long yet, but all I can say so far is that I enjoy tactile switches a lot more now. The only type of tactile switch that I had used before this were Gateron browns, and oh boy, they were shit. It is a night and day difference between browns and pandas. Browns essentially feel like linears, but sticky. "Real" tactile switches are actually what they say they are... tactile.

Overall, I'm really enjoying these new switches. I really want to buy and try out so many more switches now.

abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
Dell SK-8110. Haven't used it for a while and didn't bother cleaning for the pic, so ignore that. It has a PS/2 end which should tell you how old it is lol.

Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
Pack it up boys, we've got a winner.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

I bought some glorious pandas a while back when they were on back-order and they finally arrived today! I only bought a 36-pack since these switches are damn expensive, so I only installed them for the letters and a few mods. I didn't lube them up because I am lazy. Maybe sometime in the future.

I haven't used them for too long yet, but all I can say so far is that I enjoy tactile switches a lot more now. The only type of tactile switch that I had used before this were Gateron browns, and oh boy, they were shit. It is a night and day difference between browns and pandas. Browns essentially feel like linears, but sticky. "Real" tactile switches are actually what they say they are... tactile.

Overall, I'm really enjoying these new switches. I really want to buy and try out so many more switches now.

Noice.

Yeah, although I haven't tried Glorious pandas before, if they're anything like Holy Pandas then yeah, they're much better than Gat browns.
They're at least are actually tactile.

Although, I guess almost anything would be better than MX brown switches lol.

Also, I heard that T1 switches and Oreo switches are Holy Panda types switches as well, but they're no where near that ridiculously expensive.
You can get some of those to fill in the spots where you're using Gat browns to try them out to see if you like them.

abraker wrote:

Dell SK-8110. Haven't used it for a while and didn't bother cleaning for the pic, so ignore that. It has a PS/2 end which should tell you how old it is lol.

Looks like an old rubber dome keyboard to me. Nothing special about it.
The dirt and dust isn't inherent to the board and I'm sure it can be cleaned up quite easily.

You think you could get the lowest ranking with that? Hah!
You underestimate me abraker.

I've tried boards that are actual piss shit fucking wank stain before.

3/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Also, even though I grouped all rubber dome office keyboards into one ranking, I'm sure not all of them are the same.

For example, I've experienced using a really bad one in my previous part time job.
It was just like any other rubber domes but the stabilized keys are so poorly stabilized. They bind all the fucking time and it's infuriating to type with that board.
Even the spacebar - which usually would be the most stable key, isn't stabilized properly and binds just like the others. It fucking drives me insane typing on it.
My boss even asked me why was I typing so slowly since I wrote in my CV that I can type in English relatively quickly lol.

So yeah, if you want your board to score lower, you'll gonna have to give more reasons why I should rank it lower than others since I can't really come and feel each and everyone's keyboard.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
if you think that was my actual attempt, that was just me testing the waters. The one next is gonna be the real deal. Tune in next week.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Hmm interesting.
Ashton
2,028 posts
Joined February 2016
Ashton




https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/797724597721890818/797724639782371328/video0.mov


Edit: second photo not showing so here is link https://imgur-archive.ppy.sh/discord/797724597721890818-797725051825684521-image0.jpg


It was like a 20 dollar blue swotch keyboard my brother bought me for christmas like 3 years ago
Last edited by Ashton , edited 2 times in total.
Ashton
2,028 posts
Joined February 2016
Ashton
Also, it is 1am and i didnt have sleeves to cover my noodle arms sorry you had to see that. I was also scared to type so sorry I typed so slow :(


Could I also get a seperste rating for my diy uwu pencil holder?
Last edited by Ashton , edited 2 times in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Ashton wrote:





https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/797724597721890818/797724639782371328/video0.mov


Edit: second photo not showing so here is link https://imgur-archive.ppy.sh/discord/797724597721890818-797725051825684521-image0.jpg


It was like a 20 dollar blue swotch keyboard my brother bought me for christmas like 3 years ago
Goddamn, please clean your keyboard from time to time.

Aesthetics wise, it looks okay I suppose.
A bit generic looking though, but it doesn't look too try hard and is clean looking enough I suppose.
I really don't like the logo on top of the nav keys though, it kinda ruins the clean looks a bit.

Build quality wise, again nothing special.
Metal mounting plate, braided cable.

On to the switches, this board is using MX blue switches. I'm not sure which manufacturer made them but they're all very similar so I guess that doesn't really matter.
Imo MX blue switches feels fine, but they're not excellent. And they have a horrible sound.
They're very high pitched, plasticky and extremely loud.
Their sound is kinda notorious at this point and you can recognize them from any typing video or on voice chats.

The keycaps looks fine. They use a normal font so that's good. But some of the fonts are huge, not sure what's up with that.
I don't know what they're made of but since this looks like a back lit keyboard, and from their looks, I'm guessing they're lazered ABS.
In my experience, those kinds of caps are not very durable, they also gather dirt, dust and fingerprints really quickly, just from mere hours of use.

I guess this board's biggest strength is it's cheap price. $20 is really cheap for a mechanical keyboard.

5/10

Edit:

Ashton wrote:

Could I also get a seperste rating for my diy uwu pencil holder?
I won't rank it as this is a keyboard thread but it looks okay.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Ashton
2,028 posts
Joined February 2016
Ashton
I havent cleaned it wver sjnce I got it...
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
my mic has really bad reverb

Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

my mic has really bad reverb

Sounds pretty nice and thocky.
I bet it'll sound even better with SA caps on.

Although, why is the video in my name?
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Sounds pretty nice and thocky.
I bet it'll sound even better with SA caps on.
yeah, I really want to get a nice set of SA keycaps for that reason. They would probably look silly on my raised switch board, but I don't really care.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Although, why is the video in my name?
:^)
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
and now the keyboard you were waiting for. The Omnitech Flexible Keyboard

Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
abraker, you forgot to clean your boogers off the desk..
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

and now the keyboard you were waiting for. The Omnitech Flexible Keyboard

Oh god. What cursed being have you bring to this land?
Please Lord have mercy upon my soul.

On to the review:

Aesthetics: It has the same aesthetics of a water balloon, or a condom. It's up to you to decide if that's good or not.

Build quality: What fucking build quality? From the pictures, I'm guessing that it's a membrane inside of a rubber condom. Although, I guess it'll be quite tough since there isn't really anything to break.
So, for build quality, I'll give it a "Actually, surprisingly tough. But at what cost?"

Switches: Yeah, if you think a rubber dome keyboard was bad, then imagine typing on this piece of dogshit. Surprisingly, I have actually seen a board that is just like this but had a different color and as you'd expect, the key feel is fucking trash. It's like pressing on dense rubber nipples. Just imagine having to write an essay with that thing.

The only saving grace of this keyboard that I can think of is that it's quite a tough motherfucker since there isn't really anything to break. Although shit, I still can think of a purpose for it. For example, in industrial environments where there are lots of dirt, dust and debris, this board would work really fine. And since it's covered by a condom, it should be water proof as well. It can also be cleaned quite easily, just run tab water on the fucking thing.

2/10

Edi: Also, I've edited Axl's keyboard's score since I don't think it deserves to be that low and certainly don't deserve to have to same ranking as this piece of shit.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 3 times in total.
Meseta
113 posts
Joined March 2019
Meseta

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

This isn't my exact laptop but the keyboard look like this:
yoo, this is my pc LMFAO
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
I have now achieved both the highest and lowest rating lmao

@penguin that's no booger. That's an onion.
Last edited by abraker , edited 1 time in total.
Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote
damn it abraker, you stole my place as having the lowest ranking keyboard
Last edited by Lapizote , edited 1 time in total.
ghoulybits
78 posts
Joined January 2017
ghoulybits


This is definitely not a good gaming keyboard but it's a lot better than my laptop keyboard. It's a Logitech K120 that I remembered was festering in the back of my closet. I haven't really modified it in any way.

Here's what the keyboard sounds like.


Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ghoulybits wrote:



This is definitely not a good gaming keyboard but it's a lot better than my laptop keyboard. It's a Logitech K120 that I remembered was festering in the back of my closet. I haven't really modified it in any way.

Here's what the keyboard sounds like.


Looks like a generic rubber dome keyboard to me.
It sounds pretty loud for a rubber dome though, and it's pretty rattly too.
The shape of the case is pretty ugly also.

3/10
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
rubberdome and fake gaming keyboards = 3/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

rubberdome and fake gaming keyboards = 3/10
I think that's a fair score for them.
Although I'm sure some are better than others, I can't really go and feel each individual board to rank them higher or lower than each other.
So I based this score ranking on a generic rubber dome keyboard since that would be the score that I'd rank them at most of the time.

So since this way of ranking is inherently flawed, though idk how else I'd rank boards and give a fair score without trying them out for myself. So don't feel bad if I rank your score lower than what you expect your board to be at.
Afterall, it's only my opinion and that isn't absolute either. I'm wrong about things all the time and my opinion about things do change through time as well.

And whether a keyboard is good for you or not largely depends on you, your taste and bias so my opinion shouldn't matter too much.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
I found a picture of my first mech keyboard I bought back in 2014. Unfortunately, I spilled water on it a few years ago and it died. It was a great keyboard while it lasted. It was also extremely crusty because I rarely cleaned it in the 5+ years I owned it.

CM Storm QuickFire TK w/ Cherry Reds
Last edited by Penguin , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

I found a picture of my first mech keyboard I bought back in 2014. Unfortunately, I spilled water on it a few years ago and it died. It was a great keyboard while it lasted. It was also extremely crusty because I rarely cleaned it in the 5+ years I owned it.

CM Storm QuickFire TK w/ Cherry Reds
Oh yeah, I had the same keyboard but with Cherry MX blues instead lol.

I loved that keyboard layout.
I still have it actually and it still works. Though the N key doesn't register half of the time.
pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola
i am 100% sure if i present my keyboards i would get absolutely annihilated.

cuz man i got one of those stupid ass flexible keyboard that got the p key broken from my dog so i had to use tissue and rugby to get that fixed up... kind of

and the rest of my keyboards are literally sorta flat

edit: realized i made a mistake plus forgot to put whatthefuck i edited, hooray
Last edited by pentaqola , edited 2 times in total.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin

pentaqola wrote:

i am 100% sure if i present my keyboards i would get absolutely annihilated.

cuz man i got one of those stupid ass flexible keyboard that got the p key broken from my dog so i had to use tissue and rugby to get that fixed up... kind of

and the rest of my keyboards are literally sorta flat
post it pls :)
pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola

Penguin wrote:

pentaqola wrote:

i am 100% sure if i present my keyboards i would get absolutely annihilated.

cuz man i got one of those stupid ass flexible keyboard that got the p key broken from my dog so i had to use tissue and rugby to get that fixed up... kind of

and the rest of my keyboards are literally sorta flat
post it pls :)

here you go... in all of its unholy glory at my kitchen

the rest will have to wait cuz i don't have time to take images of them, plus my place might have a blackout at 6 am for twelve hours
Last edited by pentaqola , edited 1 time in total.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
abraker has a nearly identical keyboard lmao

pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola
lMAO DEADASS-

its just missing the number pads, plus the p key is practically looking like an arm with a cast on it

i did however somehow manage to play platformer games with that thing, gotta say my arms feel fucked after using it
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

I found a picture of my first mech keyboard I bought back in 2014. Unfortunately, I spilled water on it a few years ago and it died. It was a great keyboard while it lasted. It was also extremely crusty because I rarely cleaned it in the 5+ years I owned it.

CM Storm QuickFire TK w/ Cherry Reds
I was tired so I didn't wrote a review on this board when I saw it so I'm gonna do it now.

Overall aesthetics: It looks pretty try hard and gamery. Although I really like the layout of this keyboard. It makes the board looks quite nice and it's a very usable layout. It's also very reminiscent of the old AT keyboard layout and since I love the vintage aesthetics, I really like this layout.

Build quality: Pretty standard. Metal mounting plate with a plastic case. Nothing too spectacular.

Switches: Cherry MX reds have a pretty nice light weighting. However, I find it to be too light for myself since I get a lot of typos using them.
Tbh, cherry switches are pretty mediocre and overpriced. For linears, Gaterons are much better, smoother and Gateron yellows comes with a better mid weight weighting as well, so I'd much rather having other kinds of switch other than Cherries on this board.

Keycaps: The keycaps on this board are lasered ABS so they're not very durable and they'd wear pretty quickly. Not to mention those kinds of caps attracts dirt and dust like crazy so the board would look pretty disgusting pretty quick. They also use a hideous font to boot.
I'd definitely swap out the keycaps on this board.

I actually have this board myself but with Cherry MX blues instead.
Maybe one day, I'll swap out the Cherry blues for like Kailh BOX jades or something since I really like the layout of this keyboard.

I'll give it a 5.5/10.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

pentaqola wrote:


here you go... in all of its unholy glory at my kitchen

the rest will have to wait cuz i don't have time to take images of them, plus my place might have a blackout at 6 am for twelve hours
Congratulations, you've managed to beat abraker's score for the worst keyboard here.

It's the fucking same keyboard but I think it's missing lock lights since I don't see them anywhere. I might be wrong and it might actually have lock lights though.
It also has arguably a worst layout than abraker's board, being a 75% instead of a full size.

1.8/10

Edi: Also, I'm surprised you're able to play any kind of video games on that thing. Honestly, that's quite impressive. Props to you Penta.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
Damn now I need to beat that somehow
Serraionga
11,487 posts
Joined November 2014
Serraionga

Penguin wrote:

abraker has a nearly identical keyboard lmao

salvador dali's keyboard
pentaqola
43 posts
Joined May 2018
pentaqola
the only way to beat me now is if someone has the same thing, but even more keys are missing...

just like this

good thing no one has that type of keyboard but in roll-up form

its just going to be part of your imagination for now
Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote

pentaqola wrote:


here you go... in all of its unholy glory at my kitchen

the rest will have to wait cuz i don't have time to take images of them, plus my place might have a blackout at 6 am for twelve hours
i just noticed the cd-r king logo on the left - that already speaks a lot on the shit quality of that keyboard.

i remember buying a pair 20 peso (around 0.5 USD) earphones from there since I didn't have much at the time. It broke within a week or two lol
Nikolai
589 posts
Joined December 2014
Nikolai
Hydreigon
274 posts
Joined February 2020
Hydreigon

Nikolai wrote:

so this is what a pro ctb player's keyboard looks like
Nikolai
589 posts
Joined December 2014
Nikolai

Hydreigon wrote:

Nikolai wrote:

so this is what a pro ctb player's keyboard looks like
yes
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Nikolai wrote:

Hmmmmmm

Aesthetics wise, I'm embarrassed to admit that I kinda like it.

Build quality wise, looks like a plastic POS.

The switches are scissor chicklet switches, they're quite popular on laptop due to them being very low profile, but on a full sized keyboard, I fail to see the point of using them.
They're completely flat and has almost zero travel distance, so they hurt my fingers if I were to have to use them for an extended amount of time.

I like the animu girl on it though.

2.5/10
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
Ok so this is my make it or abrake it moment. I have a laptop from my college days I use as a multimedia station. Going up to it to use it was annoying, so a while back I found a solution: Why not use my phone as a remote control? Yes, I am able to use mouse and keyboard using an android app called Unified Remote. That said, please rate my keyboard:

SPOILER
Last edited by abraker , edited 2 times in total.
keremaru
228 posts
Joined November 2017
keremaru

abraker wrote:

Ok so this is my make it or abrake it moment. I have a laptop from my college days I use as a multimedia station. Going up to it to use it was annoying, so a while back I found a solution: Why not use my phone as a remote control? Yes, I am able to use mouse and keyboard using an android app called Unified Remote. That said, please rate my keyboard:

SPOILER
upside-down image
yes quality
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Ok so this is my make it or abrake it moment. I have a laptop from my college days I use as a multimedia station. Going up to it to use it was annoying, so a while back I found a solution: Why not use my phone as a remote control? Yes, I am able to use mouse and keyboard using an android app called Unified Remote. That said, please rate my keyboard:

SPOILER
I've already stated that I don't rank laptop and phone keyboards.

You'll have to try better than that, Brakey.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
huh im not sure how that image became upside down. It was ok when I posted.


@Tad when did you say that? It's not in the initial post unless 2am is making me blind
Last edited by abraker , edited 1 time in total.
ClevelandsMyBro
880 posts
Joined April 2018
ClevelandsMyBro

abraker wrote:

@Tad when did you say that? It's not in the initial post unless 2am is making me blind
community/forums/topics/1190055?n=6
https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/1190055?n=59
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

huh im not sure how that image became upside down. It was ok when I posted.


@Tad when did you say that? It's not in the initial post unless 2am is making me blind

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

nedd83 wrote:

tad, rate my mobile keyboard too, please.

no/10

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

Rate my mobile keyboard then
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pQTXJ_YuGrInC37mv_BFY2GYDZOwOCpA/view?usp=drivesdk
No, thank you.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Corne2Plum3 wrote:

This isn't my exact laptop but the keyboard look like this:
Well, I don't know enough about laptop keyboards to rate them properly, sorry.

But most of the time they're just rubber domes with scissors or butterfly looking pieces of plastic on them.
I have yet to tried a laptop keyboard that I thought was good yet. They're all very shallow and flat and some even hurts my finger tips after typing on them for a while.
A full travel keyboard would be much better imo.

Though this is all subjective. I know people who really like laptop and chicklet keyboards and swear by them.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

does laptop counts?
Well, I don't think I'm qualified enough to rate laptop keyboards so no, sorry.
Here are some posts I found regarding the matter.
But I guess I haven't made it clear in the thread yet so I'll edit it in.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
thank you

ok so time to make a custom keyboard using paper, graphite, and I need to figure out how to do usb processing using paperclips. brb
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

thank you

ok so time to make a custom keyboard using paper, graphite, and I need to figure out how to do usb processing using paperclips. brb
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
So I've been using these Feker Panda switches for about a week now and here's what I think about them.

They feel, sound and look a lot like Holy Pandas. That much is obvious I guess since they're HP clones.
I currently don't have a board with Holy Pandas, so I can't compare the 2 side by side atm. However, from what I tried of Holy Pandas, I'd say they're very similar.
These Feker Pandas gives you the same experience that Holy Pandas would provide you.
So I'd say that if you want to try out Holy Pandas, but doesn't want to make a huge investment. After all, $1 a swicth is quite expensive, you could get these instead and try them out to see if you like them or not.
If you like these Feker Pandas, you'll like Holy Pandas. If you don't like the Fekers, then you won't like Holy Pandas because the feeling that they provide are very similar.

Since these Fekers are cheap clones, there are some draw backs that I found while using them.
They're factory lubed, just like Holy Pandas. However, the factory lubing is extremely inconsistent.
When I first opened one to see if they're factory lubed or not, I thought they weren't since I couldn't see any lube in that one. But the second one I opened was drenched in lubricant.
The application was pretty inconsistent also, some were lubed on the slider, some has lube on top of the slider, some has springs that was drenched in lube etc. Although I heard that Holy Panda's factory lubing weren't any better either.

The switches themselves were pretty inconsistent also.
I found that some bottom housing and slider combination made the switches feel less tactile, and sometimes even down right linear. Although that problem is quite easily solved, I just switched the parts around again and they'd feel tactile again, so even though it's a problem, it's not that bad, especially if you want to relube them, you'll have to open them up anyways. Which I did, I lubed them with Krytox 205g0. I was about to film them as well, but I found that the housings were really tight, so I decided against it.

Overall, I think they're pretty good for the price. They're quite cheap, only slightly more expensive than Gateron Yellows. A pack of 110 switches only costed me around $30 or so. Although I can't compare these Fekers to HP side by side atm, however the feel of these Fekers are not dissimilar enough to Holy Pandas that I can differentiate them from one another without trying them side by side. It's like trying Cherry MX with other MX clones, they're different, but not dissimilar enough that you can tell which is which in a blind test. And considering the price difference between the 2, that's quite impressive.
Although I think the Fekers have a different sound to Holy Pandas though. But I'm not quite sure since the boards that I've tried the Holy Pandas on are different from the boards that I have, not mentioning the keycaps. Although the type of sound that they make are similar, I think it's just the pitch that are different.
Yukiumi
13 posts
Joined August 2019
Yukiumi
This is my keyboard, it's a SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL With Red Switches. (German Layout)
My keyboard is kind of dirty because I'm too lazy to clean it most of the time, but I like it a lot.

I love that Bongo Cat on the OLED Screen owo

Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace
nice bongo cat and nice Misaki there son
Yukiumi
13 posts
Joined August 2019
Yukiumi

Winnyace wrote:

nice bongo cat and nice Misaki there son
poggers thx
it's a collab with my mates
Last edited by Yukiumi , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Suwumi wrote:

This is my keyboard, it's a SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL With Red Switches. (German Layout)
My keyboard is kind of dirty because I'm too lazy to clean it most of the time, but I like it a lot.

I love that Bongo Cat on the OLED Screen owo

Aesthetics wise, it looks pretty nice and clean. I like it.
It's identical to abraker's board but just TKL instead of being fullsize.

Build quality isn't that much different either. It's pretty standard for a modern premium mechanical keyboard.

The keycaps looks pretty nice. They use a normal font and the letters are in the top left of the caps AS IT SHOULD BE, instead of being in the middle like most other backlit keyboards.
One interesting thing to point out that this board is using the German ISO layout, evident by the QWERTZ layout.
Although the caps looks nice, they're not very high quality. They're the same as the caps on the pro version that abraker uses. They're lasered so they don't lasts long, and they attracts fingerprints and dirt like crazy.
For a board that costs $140, I think it's unjustifiable that they don't put proper keycaps on this board.

The switches are Steelseries branded switches, although I think they're made by Gateron if I'm not mistaken.
I heard that they're smoother than Cherry MX reds (Which is to be expected, any other clones out there are better than Cherries) and about on par, if not slightly smoother than Gateron red switches.
Which is nice and all, but I think they don't really offer anything special, especially if you consider the price and if you look at the pro version which offers you their Hall effects switches which are excellent.
For $140 I think the Razer Huntsman TE would be a better choice. They comes with Razer optical switches, which are very smooth and they have doubleshot PBT keycaps.
Although I guess you don't get the novelty OLED screen that you'd get with the Steelseries.

Speaking of the screen, I think it's pretty cool.
You can play basic animations on it, draw stuffs on it or make it display computer or in-game stuffs.
Although, I don't think it really serves any practical function. It's more of a novelty thing than anything really.
The info display sounds good, until you realized that when you're gaming, or just using your computer, you don't really look at your keyboard. Not to mention that the screen sits flat on the board, so it's partially concealed by the keycaps.
To me at least, I don't think it really justifies the cost of this board, compared to it's other competitors which offers you better switches and keycaps at the same price point.

Overall, It's a pretty okay keyboard. However, compared to other boards at the same price point, I think it's not that great. And compared to the Pro version of the same keyboard, the gap is even bigger. Although, the pro version is $70 more than this board, so I guess it's not fair to compare this board with that.

6/10
Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace
is building your own KB worth it in your eyes, Tad?
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Winnyace wrote:

is building your own KB worth it in your eyes, Tad?
For me, yes.

But it depends on you if you think building one for yourself is worth it or not.
Usually when building one for yourself, you get to choose the elements and combinations of a keyboard that you like that isn't available pre built.
For example, most pre build keyboards only use Cherry MX or it's other red, brown and blue clones. And the boards that comes with different switches are very obscure and/or costs a lot more.
So if you're building a keyboard for yourself, you get to choose what the layout is, what the switches are, if your switches are going to be lubed or not, the keycaps etc. And you can also choose the budget for them as well, especially now that there are lots of cheap and mid budget keyboard kits available. So custom keyboards aren't that expensive as they were anymore.

But on the flip side, they require time and effort. Although building one is not hard at all, especially now when hotswap is really popular. You don't even have to solder, just plug the switches in and it just works. The most painful step is probably lubing switches since it takes a lot of time. And if you're a beginner, you're bound to overlube switches or lube them unevenly etc. But hey, you can choose to not lube them. But some of them gets much better if you do lube them though.

Edit: And yeah, you appreciate something more if you've put effort into it and making it work, rather than just buying a pre built one.
Although I completely understand if you just want a functional keyboard and doesn't care enough to spend time and effort to build one.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
kai99
1,123 posts
Joined July 2013
kai99
i love this thread
aluminum case ftw
Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Winnyace wrote:

is building your own KB worth it in your eyes, Tad?
For me, yes.

But it depends on you if you think building one for yourself is worth it or not.
Usually when building one for yourself, you get to choose the elements and combinations of a keyboard that you like that isn't available pre built.
For example, most pre build keyboards only use Cherry MX or it's other red, brown and blue clones. And the boards that comes with different switches are very obscure and/or costs a lot more.
So if you're building a keyboard for yourself, you get to choose what the layout is, what the switches are, if your switches are going to be lubed or not, the keycaps etc. And you can also choose the budget for them as well, especially now that there are lots of cheap and mid budget keyboard kits available. So custom keyboards aren't that expensive as they were anymore.

But on the flip side, they require time and effort. Although building one is not hard at all, especially now when hotswap is really popular. You don't even have to solder, just plug the switches in and it just works. The most painful step is probably lubing switches since it takes a lot of time. And if you're a beginner, you're bound to overlube switches or lube them unevenly etc. But hey, you can choose to not lube them. But some of them gets much better if you do lube them though.

Edit: And yeah, you appreciate something more if you've put effort into it and making it work, rather than just buying a pre built one.
Although I completely understand if you just want a functional keyboard and doesn't care enough to spend time and effort to build one.
honestly, I would build one, but I don't have the money. while kits are probably starting to become cheaper, the most cheap kits require hand-made solder and that is expensive. a good soldering iron can cost a little bit and if you are prone to making mistakes having solder wick or even an expensive solder removal with a pump and everything is necessary. either way, ofc it would take time, effort and money, but you do it also because it is a hobby you like, so your time, effort and money isn't spent on something you don't enjoy. thank you answering that, Tad!
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Winnyace wrote:

honestly, I would build one, but I don't have the money. while kits are probably starting to become cheaper, the most cheap kits require hand-made solder and that is expensive. a good soldering iron can cost a little bit and if you are prone to making mistakes having solder wick or even an expensive solder removal with a pump and everything is necessary. either way, ofc it would take time, effort and money, but you do it also because it is a hobby you like, so your time, effort and money isn't spent on something you don't enjoy. thank you answering that, Tad!
Soldering is not necessary. There are a lot of kits that has hotswap, cheap and doesn't require you to solder or desolder anything. On top of my mind I can think of a few like the GK61, 64, 67, KC84, etc. Those are the budget options however some GK kits offers Aluminum or Polycarbonate cases as well so if you like metal cases, you can go with those.
Or Idobao has the ID80 and ID80V2, which are 75% Aluminum keyboard kits with hot swap. They're also gonna release the ID67 in April of this year (I think?) as well, which is also an Alu kit but for a 65% board.

And even if hotswaps aren't available to you, you can still use a soldering service in your local area.
I don't know what the price is in your area, but where I'm at, soldering/desoldering a board regardless of the layout costs around $5 per board. They also have switch lubing services as well which costs around 17 cents per switch. Filming the switches will costs extra for the films, but if you already have your own films then it'll be free.

kai99 wrote:

i love this thread
aluminum case ftw
Thank you :)
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
I recently lubed my Glorious Pandas with Krytox 205g0. Sounds and feels a ton better. Sorry about the reverb.

keremaru
228 posts
Joined November 2017
keremaru

Penguin wrote:

I recently lubed my Glorious Pandas with Krytox 205g0. Sounds and feels a ton better. Sorry about the reverb.

sounds like heaven compared to my laptop
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Sounds very noice.
DeletedUser_4310508
DeletedUser_4310508
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Last edited by DeletedUser_4310508 , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Nameless wrote:



It's just an Anne Pro 2 with Gateron Browns, and the Akko World Tour keycap set but I think it looks pretty nice. I just wanted something that fit nicely in my setup, is all. Don't really wanna invest heavily outside of that right now because of budgetary reasons (and me just not needing anything nicer)
Did someone just say Gateron BROWNS????

...

Aesthetics wise, personally not a fan of the keycaps but it's quite nice.
It's still a very clean looking keyboard and it fits your setup very well.
It has a 60% form factor, which is too small for me. Tbh, I don't really care about saving spaces on my desk so I don't see the point of 60%. And they are very annoying to use to me. However, since form factor is a very subjective thing, I won't fault it for that.

Nothing much to say about build quality, quite standard for modern mechs.

The keycaps are dyesubbed PBT made by Akko. Tbh I think Akko makes some of the better stock keycaps. I quite like their caps. Too bad they often stick to the more fruity colours, which I'm not really a fan of. They have a classic set that is based on the Cherry 9009 keyboard though and that one looks pretty good.
Back to topic, they're dye subbed, so they're of high quality and the legends will never fade away. They also use a normal font and the position of the letters are in the correct position, which is a plus.

Now, on to the bad stuffs.
Fucking Gateron Browns.
So, Gateron shit, which is brown... I mean, Gateron Brown which is shit is a clone of Cherry MX shit, which is brown... I mean, Cherry MX brown, which is shit.
As you may have noticed, by copying shit, you produce shit.
But yes, Gateron Brown is a light linear switches that gets very scratchy at the middle of the key travel. And because of the scratchiness, some people, and in fact, even manufacturers, claim that the switch is actually tactile.
Honestly, this is a quite nice keyboard, but the browns kinda ruined it.

6/10
DeletedUser_4310508
DeletedUser_4310508

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Nameless wrote:



It's just an Anne Pro 2 with Gateron Browns, and the Akko World Tour keycap set but I think it looks pretty nice. I just wanted something that fit nicely in my setup, is all. Don't really wanna invest heavily outside of that right now because of budgetary reasons (and me just not needing anything nicer)
Did someone just say Gateron BROWNS????

...

Aesthetics wise, personally not a fan of the keycaps but it's quite nice.
It's still a very clean looking keyboard and it fits your setup very well.
It has a 60% form factor, which is too small for me. Tbh, I don't really care about saving spaces on my desk so I don't see the point of 60%. And they are very annoying to use to me. However, since form factor is a very subjective thing, I won't fault it for that.

Nothing much to say about build quality, quite standard for modern mechs.

The keycaps are dyesubbed PBT made by Akko. Tbh I think Akko makes some of the better stock keycaps. I quite like their caps. Too bad they often stick to the more fruity colours, which I'm not really a fan of. They have a classic set that is based on the Cherry 9009 keyboard though and that one looks pretty good.
Back to topic, they're dye subbed, so they're of high quality and the legends will never fade away. They also use a normal font and the position of the letters are in the correct position, which is a plus.

Now, on to the bad stuffs.
Fucking Gateron Browns.
So, Gateron shit, which is brown... I mean, Gateron Brown which is shit is a clone of Cherry MX shit, which is brown... I mean, Cherry MX brown, which is shit.
As you may have noticed, by copying shit, you produce shit.
But yes, Gateron Brown is a light linear switches that gets very scratchy at the middle of the key travel. And because of the scratchiness, some people, and in fact, even manufacturers, claim that the switch is actually tactile.
Honestly, this is a quite nice keyboard, but the browns kinda ruined it.

6/10
The worst part about this is that I'm in complete agreement on browns. I wish I had gone for another switch and *man* I cannot be assed to solder better switches in. Will just have to live with it until I get my next board I suppose

I also should probably get at least a 65% board. Programming without dedicated arrow keys is a little annoying, so if anyone passing by this post has recommendations of good 65%s and above at a reasonable cost that have a white case, lemme know I guess
Last edited by DeletedUser_4310508 , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Nameless wrote:

The worst part about this is that I'm in complete agreement on browns. I wish I had gone for another switch and *man* I cannot be assed to solder better switches in. Will just have to live with it until I get my next board I suppose

I also should probably get at least a 65% board. Programming without dedicated arrow keys is a little annoying, so if anyone passing by this post has recommendations of good 65%s and above at a reasonable cost that have a white case, lemme know I guess
For 65%, I think the GK64 is a pretty good choice.
You can get it with or without switches, alu plate or plastic plate, plastic case or alu case.
And you can make it have a split spacebar if you want.
It also have hotswap so you can try out different switches on it.
The only downside I can think of is that it's a tray mount keyboard, which can make the keys where you screw the plate in feels very hard.

Just make sure it's a normal model and not a optical switch model if you want to use different switches on it.
DeletedUser_4310508
DeletedUser_4310508

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

For 65%, I think the GK64 is a pretty good choice.
You can get it with or without switches, alu plate or plastic plate, plastic case or alu case.
And you can make it have a split spacebar if you want.
It also have hotswap so you can try out different switches on it.
The only downside I can think of is that it's a tray mount keyboard, which can make the keys where you screw the plate in feels very hard.

Just make sure it's a normal model and not a optical switch model if you want to use different switches on it.
Cheers pal, that's very helpful <3
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Nameless wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

For 65%, I think the GK64 is a pretty good choice.
You can get it with or without switches, alu plate or plastic plate, plastic case or alu case.
And you can make it have a split spacebar if you want.
It also have hotswap so you can try out different switches on it.
The only downside I can think of is that it's a tray mount keyboard, which can make the keys where you screw the plate in feels very hard.

Just make sure it's a normal model and not a optical switch model if you want to use different switches on it.
Cheers pal, that's very helpful <3
Np mate, glad to be of help.
Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote
heyo Tad,

here's my first ever mech that I bought new.



Rakk Illis, red outemus, hotswappable with other outemu switches.

and it cost me only 2k PHP ($40)!

I don't have a quiet place where I can do a typing test, so here's a typing test of the same keyboard:

Last edited by Lapizote , edited 1 time in total.
Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace
it looks fantastic imo
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Lapizote wrote:

heyo Tad,

here's my first ever mech that I bought new.



Rakk Illis, red outemus, hotswappable with other outemu switches.

and it cost me only 2k PHP ($40)!

I don't have a quiet place where I can do a typing test, so here's a typing test of the same keyboard:

That's a very nice layout.

Aesthetics wise, it looks nice and clean. I especially love the layout. I have a similar board with basically the same layout, but it have Cherry blues in it. Although, I wish the gaps would've been a little bit thicker, since they kinda thinned them out on this board so the key blocks looks a bit squished together.
But overall, not a bad looking keyboard.

Build quality wise, again, it's pretty standard at this point. However, one thing to point out is that the upper case, including the high bezels is a separate piece and can be detached or switched out. That's actually a pretty nice touch especially if you want to customize your board. If you want a high profile board, then just leave it as is. If you want a low profile board, then just remove the top.
However, I'm not sure if having such a removable top case would compromise any ruggedness. Having the top case built like that might make it more of a show piece than an actual functional layer of protection. But again, this is just me guessing, it might still be able to provide the same protection as a traditional case.

The keycaps listed on their website said that they're ABS double shots. Which means they're very durable and the legends will never fade away. Although I'm guessing this is a different model since the caps on their website looks nothing like the caps in your picture. Which is a good thing since the caps on their other models looks fucking hideous with their stencil and square gamer fonts. These caps uses a normal font with no stencil. Which is a good thing. They looks way better than the ones on their older boards.
I'm guessing they're made out of doubleshot PBT.

On to the switches. Outemu reds are similar to cherry reds. They're both a light weight linear switch.
Their light weighting is nice, but it's a pain for me to use them to type since they're too light and I makes a lot of mistakes using them.
Nothing really special about them really.
Although I found on Rakk's website that they also sell models with Gateron yellows and I think that's a much better choice. Sure, that model doesn't have hotswap like the model you got. But Outemu's hotswap sockets are only compatible with other Outemu switches. And in my opinion, Outemus aren't that interesting or good enough to be considered compared to other switch makers. So I'd rather use Gateron yellows permanently on my board than to have hotswap that only works with Outemu switches.

Oh and I forgot to mention, in the typing test, I can't not notice the horrible stab rattle.
Those sounds fucking horrible. But since it's a hot swap keyboard, replacing or modding them shouldn't be too hard I think.

Overall, a quite decent keyboard. Although with a quite limited choice in switches.

6/10
Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote
great writeup!

although I'd like to point out that I couldn't find any stores that I know selling gateron yellow versions for the new version of the Illis (idk why tho, maybe the oem doesn't manufacture them anymore?), so I just chose the outemu reds. plus, I like the hotswap feature so that I can just replace switches that would break.

regardless, I myself am still pretty happy with this keyboard considering the price that I got them at.
Last edited by Lapizote , edited 2 times in total.
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex
Hi can you r8 my 30 dollar keyboards pls thanks https://www.ipictek.com/products/pictek-tkl-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-87-key
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Bambinex wrote:

Hi can you r8 my 30 dollar keyboards pls thanks https://www.ipictek.com/products/pictek-tkl-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-87-key
Nothing much to talk about.

Looks pretty okay. Although, really generic.

Decent build quality.

Keycaps are ABS doubleshot so they're durable, but the letters are stenciled, which is ugly af.

Switches are "professional equivalent switches"... Whatever that means.
The site does mention that it uses blue switches, so I'm guessing it uses a cherry blue clone.
The sounds produced by those switches are fucking horrible.

Also, half of the description about this keyboard is about the RGB for whatever reason.

Overall, a cheap functional mechanical keyboard.

5/10
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Bambinex wrote:

Hi can you r8 my 30 dollar keyboards pls thanks https://www.ipictek.com/products/pictek-tkl-mechanical-gaming-keyboard-87-key
Nothing much to talk about.

Looks pretty okay. Although, really generic.

Decent build quality.

Keycaps are ABS doubleshot so they're durable, but the letters are stenciled, which is ugly af.

Switches are "professional equivalent switches"... Whatever that means.
The site does mention that it uses blue switches, so I'm guessing it uses a cherry blue clone.
The sounds produced by those switches are fucking horrible.

Also, half of the description about this keyboard is about the RGB for whatever reason.

Overall, a cheap functional mechanical keyboard.

5/10
Actually I like the sound of the switches lmao
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex
But just for asking, what would a 10/10 keyboard be like?
Hydreigon
274 posts
Joined February 2020
Hydreigon

Bambinex wrote:

But just for asking, what would a 10/10 keyboard be like?
most likely something like this
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Hydreigon wrote:

Bambinex wrote:

But just for asking, what would a 10/10 keyboard be like?
most likely something like this
No
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
Legend has it that a 10/10 keyboard is yet to be made
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex
Can you rate this keyboard too (bonus edition) if this doesn't get 10/10 I don't understand what will
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Bambinex wrote:

Can you rate this keyboard too (bonus edition) if this doesn't get 10/10 I don't understand what will
Since this is not an entry of anyone here, I will refrain from reviewing it in details or register a score for it.

But if I were to rate it, it will not be a 10/10.
It'll sit somewhere in the 8 or mid 8 score.

The reason is that 1st of all, it's a very expensive keyboard and is more akin to a luxurious product.
I can see the money spent to make it is mostly invested into the build quality and aesthetics of the board.
Which in of itself, isn't a bad thing, but to me at least, custom boards like these doesn't have a good sense of identity.
Most of them sound virtually the same and have the same type of aesthetics.

Now, let's compare this $850 keyboard to for example, one of the highest rate keyboards I've rated here - abraker's keyboard, the Steelseries Apex Pro.

Aesthetics wise, both boards looks pretty good, but the Mode 80 does look better imo because of the thick bezels.

Build quality wise, of course the Mode 80 would win again. It's literally a block of machined metal.

Now, switches. Does the Mode 80 have better switches than the Steelseries? No.
The Mode 80 uses contact based switches, which inherently require a scratching motion to actuates. Whereas, the Steelseries uses contactless hall effects switches, which are inherently smooth.
You can also change the actuation point of the Steelseries board since it's a analog switch, which you can't do on the Mode 80.
Not to mention durability.
Contact based switches all have their life span at around 50 million keypresses,and some could reach 80 million.
But hall effects switches life span can potentially reach billions of keypresses. So basically, hall effects switches are immortal if you're using them normally.

Okay, so what about special features?
The mode 80 in the vid have hotswap and key mapping. And that's about it really.
The Steelseries have changable actuation point, as mentioned before, it has a LED screen that you can fuck around with and yes, the switches are clip in, so you can replace them, lube them or clean them very easily if needed.

Tldr: Yes, the keyboard in the video is a very good keyboard.
But it doesn't do anything well enough to be considered as a "perfect keyboard".


Also, my scoring is only my opinion. And you can agree or not agree with them. What matters is what you think.
If you think the keyboard in the video deserves to be a 10/10 keyboard then it is a 10/10 keyboard to you.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
D65 w/ unlubed Gat INK Blacks


Case: Alu
Plate: Brass
Stabs: lubed & clipped cherry screw-ins
Mounting style: Gasket

Switches: Gateron INK Blacks
Keycaps: SA PBT DYE-SUB

I recently purchased this board after desperately trying to find a good 65% board that was in stock. It was a little more expensive than the other ones that I was viewing at the time (nk65, kbd67mII, etc), but I was fine with spending a little bit extra since I’ve been waiting so long to find something in stock.

The variant that I bought is the Aluminum case in e-white with a brass plate. The board is a gasket mount system with screw-in stabs. It comes with cherry stabs, which I find to be acceptable.

The build process was fairly simple, only took me about an hour or so. I clipped and lubed the stabs then screwed them in. Then I put on the foam gaskets. Next step was to install the standoffs then mount the pcb to the plate. After that I placed the dampening foam, put the switches into the pcb, then sandwiched it inbetween the top case and bottom case. Then I screwed it all together and put on the key caps.

The keycaps I purchased for this build are temporary, as I’m currently in a Group Buy for a nice set of ePBT Soju’s that will be here next year. Nonetheless, I wanted to get something nice that would last until then. I bought a set of SA profile PBT keycaps. The images and marketing make them out to be violet/purple, but in reality, they are more blue than anything. I honestly think the blue looks better anyways, so I’m glad it is how it is.

This is my first time using a premium linear switch. The only type of linear I had used before this were Cherry Reds. I am honestly astounded at how good Black Inks are stock. Compared to the other switches I have used, they feel like they are already lubed, that’s how smooth they are. I’m excited to actually lube them and see how they feel, but I think I’ll use them stock for a bit.

Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

D65 w/ unlubed Gat INK Blacks


Case: Alu
Plate: Brass
Stabs: lubed & clipped cherry screw-ins
Mounting style: Gasket

Switches: Gateron INK Blacks
Keycaps: SA PBT DYE-SUB

I recently purchased this board after desperately trying to find a good 65% board that was in stock. It was a little more expensive than the other ones that I was viewing at the time (nk65, kbd67mII, etc), but I was fine with spending a little bit extra since I’ve been waiting so long to find something in stock.

The variant that I bought is the Aluminum case in e-white with a brass plate. The board is a gasket mount system with screw-in stabs. It comes with cherry stabs, which I find to be acceptable.

The build process was fairly simple, only took me about an hour or so. I clipped and lubed the stabs then screwed them in. Then I put on the foam gaskets. Next step was to install the standoffs then mount the pcb to the plate. After that I placed the dampening foam, put the switches into the pcb, then sandwiched it inbetween the top case and bottom case. Then I screwed it all together and put on the key caps.

The keycaps I purchased for this build are temporary, as I’m currently in a Group Buy for a nice set of ePBT Soju’s that will be here next year. Nonetheless, I wanted to get something nice that would last until then. I bought a set of SA profile PBT keycaps. The images and marketing make them out to be violet/purple, but in reality, they are more blue than anything. I honestly think the blue looks better anyways, so I’m glad it is how it is.

This is my first time using a premium linear switch. The only type of linear I had used before this were Cherry Reds. I am honestly astounded at how good Black Inks are stock. Compared to the other switches I have used, they feel like they are already lubed, that’s how smooth they are. I’m excited to actually lube them and see how they feel, but I think I’ll use them stock for a bit.

Owh noice.

Aesthetics wise, it looks pretty good.
It has decently thick bezels and a blocker for the arrow keys which breaks up the board a bit and makes it look nicer.
And it serves another function which makes the arrow keys easier to find by touch. On boards which have the layout squished together, I always have to look at it whenever I use the arrow keys, so I like boards that do something to make them stand out a bit more than usual.
Although, it's a bit weird that the blocker is of another separate piece though. I get it's for customizability and you could swap them out with different accented pieces, but I don't think most people are gonna do that. And having a separate piece would leave a pretty noticeable seam which looks a bit weird ngl.
But overall, a very aesthetically pleasing keyboard. The only thing that would make it better imo is that the 3 keys on the right would also be separated since it will look better that way and it'll make the backspace stand out more since not having the backspace at an edge is a bit weird and would take a bit of getting used to, at least that's the case for me.

Build quality wise, yeah, it' very good.
The board is literally a block of metal. It also have a brass plate, which probably would increase the weight even further.
Although, the weight would be a downside if you want to bring it anywhere with you I suppose.

The keycaps are dye subbed PBT SA profile caps.
They're dye subbed, so they should be of high quality and very durable.
This set looks pretty nice too, as far as I can see, there isn't any defects or misalignment on the caps. Which can happen pretty regularly on cheaper dye subbed sets. (or even more expensive ones)
SA is a pretty cool profile also. It stem from a vintage keycap profile often found on the keyboards of old.
It's very tall though, so if you're used to OEM or Cherry profile, you'll need some time to get used to it.
Although in this case, aesthetically speaking, they look fine, but their colour scheme makes the board looks a bit bland.
And since they are very tall and thick, they kinda covered up the brass plate, so you can barely see the plate at all.
Imo, you should use a cap set with a more contrasting colour, or goes with the colours that would match well with the brass.

The switches are Gateron black Inks.
They're of a mid to heavy weighting linear switch that's made by Gateron with a "mystery" blend of plastic that makes it smoother than usual.
And indeed, it's a very smooth switch, with a very nice sound profile. The sound is not as clacky as some other linear switches, but they are pretty deep and nice. But in this case on this board, they sound a bit high pitched. I'm guessing it's because of the brass plate. Brass plates are heavier, denser and harder than aluminum, which is why they tend to make switches sound higher pitched. But I bet the sound can be improved significantly if you were to lube the switches.
And although, Gat ink blacks are very smooth, they're not as smooth as some of other competing linear switches out there.
For example, JWK switches are often smoother than ink blacks. Although, JWK switches often sound more high pitched and not as nice as ink blacks, so it's up to you which aspect is more important I guess.

This board also have hotswaps, which is a nice touch as well. It takes less time to build than a normal custom that requires soldering and it's just more convenient overall to have hotswap since you can modify the board anytime you want pretty quickly and you could try out different switches also.

Overall, a pretty good luxury custom mechanical keyboard.
8/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
It seems that abraker have been dethroned of having the best keyboard in this thread.

Although tbf, he still have the first place, but now it's a shared one.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
wait wut
Arctos Sagittario
227 posts
Joined August 2011
Arctos Sagittario
Wonder how this’ll be rated

Edit: nvm I didn’t read the header post carefully my bad
Last edited by Arctos Sagittario , edited 1 time in total.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Although, it's a bit weird that the blocker is of another separate piece though. I get it's for customizability and you could swap them out with different accented pieces, but I don't think most people are gonna do that. And having a separate piece would leave a pretty noticeable seam which looks a bit weird ngl.


I actually plan on buying a green colored blocker to match my soju keycaps once I get them. Also, I don’t really have a preference when it comes to seams and whatnot. I think KBs with seams can look just as good or better than ones without. I like how it looks with this KB.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

The board is literally a block of metal. It also have a brass plate, which probably would increase the weight even further.
Although, the weight would be a downside if you want to bring it anywhere with you I suppose.
Yah, it’s heavy as fuck lol. I bought a nice carrying case for it, so it won’t be bad to transport it.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Although in this case, aesthetically speaking, they look fine, but their colour scheme makes the board looks a bit bland.
And since they are very tall and thick, they kinda covered up the brass plate, so you can barely see the plate at all.
Imo, you should use a cap set with a more contrasting colour, or goes with the colours that would match well with the brass.
I really like the simple color scheme that I have going on. I prefer a nice cohesive look rather than having massive contrast. Also, I don’t really plan on matching to the brass plate. It’s not too noticeable as is and even when I do notice it, it looks fine.

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

For example, JWK switches are often smoother than ink blacks. Although, JWK switches often sound more high pitched and not as nice as ink blacks, so it's up to you which aspect is more important I guess.
I think I’m gonna buy some Tangerines and try them out. I think they would sound really nice and clacky with my brass plate.
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex
Hi, since this is a keyboard thread, I'm gonna put my question for tad here

Is this keyboard a good deal? Because I'm searching for a keyboard with cherry mx red and this one seems really cool. is it worth the 160 dollars ? And if no, do you have any advices on chat keyboard should I choose ?

https://fr.steelseries.com/gaming-keyboards/apex-7-tkl?language=french&switch=red
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Bambinex wrote:

Hi, since this is a keyboard thread, I'm gonna put my question for tad here

Is this keyboard a good deal? Because I'm searching for a keyboard with cherry mx red and this one seems really cool. is it worth the 160 dollars ? And if no, do you have any advices on chat keyboard should I choose ?

https://fr.steelseries.com/gaming-keyboards/apex-7-tkl?language=french&switch=red
I actually rated this board in this thread before.

It's here: community/forums/posts/7914278

Basically it's okay, but there are better choices out there, especially at that price point.

Edit: For suggestions, in that price point, I think the Razer Huntsman TE is a much better choice. It comes with Razer optical contactless switches that are butter smooth and is kitted out with Razer's doubleshot PBT keycaps.
Although, you don't get the niche screen of the Steelseries, but tbh they aren't that useful to begin with.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci


I'm gonna bump this thread with a mini switch review.

So I've been using the new Jwick switches for a few weeks now. They came up in the market pretty recently, and became extremely popular.
They're pretty cheap too, only around the price of Gateron yellows, which is a really good price for a budget switch.
They're dubbed the "Gateron yellows killer" and people have said that they're a much better switch for the same price, but are the rumours any true?

Interestingly enough, for such a popular switch, there is close to no info about them out there whatsoever. I've tried to look for more information, but there are close to none. I couldn't find any force graphs, actuation force or anything really. The only review I've found on Youtube for it was in Malay(?) or Singaporean or something.
It's quite a mysterious switch despite how well known it is. The only information that I've found floating was more or less a rumour because the sites list them as "supposedly produced by JWK". Which is weird since they're branded as "Jwick" but whatever.
So I ordered around 90 switches. I got the Jwick red switches because why not? Tried them out for a while, then lubed and filmed them, and then tried them out again.
I've also been comparing them with my Gateron milky yellows which are also lubed and filmed.
They're both lubed with Krytox 205g0 and filmed with Kelowna films.

Stock wise, I'd say, they're definitely a better switch than Gateron yellows.
Right out of the box, you can tell that it's smoother than stock Gateron switches. But this is quite expected since unlike Gateron yellows, the Jwick switches are in fact, factory lubed.
The quality of the factory lubing is quite good as well. Honestly, I think it's quite a good stock budget linear switch if you don't care to mod switches yourself. And tbh, they're even better than some of the more premium linear switches stock. The lubing was quite consistent, and in a batch of 10 switches, I only got 2 to 3 switches that aren't on par with the others. Overall, a pretty good switch. I'd say, if you don't care about lubing or filming your swicthes and you want a good budget linear switch, then you should definitely get these.

After using them stock for a while, I've also lubed and filmed them. At first I wasn't gonna film them, but since I'm gonna compare them to my batch of Gateron Yellows which I've filmed, I thought I should film them also just so that they're on the same level.
And what I found is that after being lubed and filmed, the Jwick switches performed roughly the same as the Gateron yellows. The Jwicks are slightly smoother, but not by a whole lot.
The biggest difference I can feel was that the Jwicks was significantly lighter than the Gateron Yellows, though that's because I got the Jwick reds instead of Jwick yellows.

Weighting wise, I think The Jwick reds are around the same as other red switches like Cherry reds.
The Jwick yellows are not the same as Gateron yellows though. Only the bottom out force is provided, so I don't know how much force does it take to actuates the switch, but the Jwick yellows bottom out at 65 grams while the Gateron yellows are around 62-63 grams. So it's only 2-3 grams of difference so idk if it's noticeable.
Keep in mind that although the Jwick reds bottoms out at 60 grams, the actuation force is around the same as cherry reds, so it's a pretty light switch and I made a lot of mistakes using them at first since I wasn't used to the light weighting.
So if you wanted a switch with similar weighting to Gateron Yellows, get the Jwick Yellows. Although they're not the same weighting and the Jwick yellows are slightly heavier than Gateron Yellows.

Overall, I think it's quite a decent switch.
I'd say given the choice between these and Gateron Yellows, I'd definitely pick the Jwicks.
They're smoother and nicer. Although after being modded, they're not that much better. So if you're already using Gateron yellows, I don't think it's necessary to throw them out to buy the Jwicks since they won't perform that much better.

Another difference is the sound though. The Jwick reds are much more clackier than Gateron Milky Yellows.
The gateron milky yellows are quite muted after being lubed and filmed, but the Jwicks are still quite loud and high pitched.

Sound test:
Nuuskamuikkunen
1,266 posts
Joined March 2013
Nuuskamuikkunen

Tad Fibonacci wrote:



Hmmmm...
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
I don't really think that Jwick switches will be popular at all in NA for quite some time. The shipping that we would have to pay to buy those switches kind of eliminates the cost efficacy that those switches are known for. It would cost just as much to get premium switches from an NA vendor as it would to order Jwick switches from foreign vendors. With that being said, it's possible that if Jwick switches gain a lot of traction and are extremely popular in South-East Asia, then maybe an NA vendor will buy some and distribute it in NA for an affordable price for us.

As for a status on my builds.. I've made some changes to my boards over the past few months. First of all, I bought some Box Navy switches and have been using those in my GMMK TKL as my daily driver. I sort of enjoy clicky switches, but Navys are not really the smoothest and kind of bind when pressing on the edge of the keycap. It might be due to the absurd force curve that Navys have, or it just be a bad batch, who knows.

I also ordered a PBT Cherry profile keycap set (PBT Notion from NK) and put my Glorious Pandas into my D65 board instead of the Black Inks.



I believe that the Glorious Pandas work very well on the brass plate of my board. I like the sound signature a lot more than the Black Inks on brass. Black Inks would work a lot better on a PC plate since are known for being a muted low pitch linear, which is what I intend on using them for once I receive my KBD67 Lite that I ordered in group buy.

Also, extras for the Portico Keyboard from TKC just went live a few days ago, so I ordered one of those along with some Infinikey BoW PBT keycaps. It has been shipped and should arrive in anywhere from a few days to a week. I've been lubing my Tangerine switches and plan on using those in my Portico Build. I've been using my old GMMK TKL as my daily driver, but I will most likely switch to the Portico once I build that.

Also, I've been reading a lot of good things on the new switches from Kinetic Labs. The most popular of the bunch being their "Penguin" switch, which is sold out. They also have a "Hippo" switch, a "Salmon" switch, and will soon have a "Husky" switch. I plan on buying a batch of all 4 of these and trying them out. The Salmon and Husky switches have Symmetric Long Springs which seems very interesting.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

I don't really think that Jwick switches will be popular at all in NA for quite some time. The shipping that we would have to pay to buy those switches kind of eliminates the cost efficacy that those switches are known for. It would cost just as much to get premium switches from an NA vendor as it would to order Jwick switches from foreign vendors. With that being said, it's possible that if Jwick switches gain a lot of traction and are extremely popular in South-East Asia, then maybe an NA vendor will buy some and distribute it in NA for an affordable price for us.
I see. That makes sense I guess since most of the Western sites I've seen that have them on their listing are almost always sold out.

Penguin wrote:

As for a status on my builds.. I've made some changes to my boards over the past few months. First of all, I bought some Box Navy switches and have been using those in my GMMK TKL as my daily driver. I sort of enjoy clicky switches, but Navys are not really the smoothest and kind of bind when pressing on the edge of the keycap. It might be due to the absurd force curve that Navys have, or it just be a bad batch, who knows.
That sounds kinda weird. Box switches don't really bind in my experience. I have tried Box navies before and I don't think I've encountered the binding you've mentioned. Although I didn't used it for any extended amount of time so I can't really tell either. But my Box jades doesn't have any binding issues.
But yeah, Box switches aren't that smooth. Even if you lube them. I lubed my Jades and after lubing they feel exactly the same. Although the sound is a bit better, it's crisper and less pingy but I think that's just the spring so I think lubing the springs only would be a better option since it saves a lot of time, effort and lube.
But yeah, I think smoothness isn't as important on a tactile switch like Box Navies or Jades compared to a linear switches and Box switches aren't scratchy switches to begin with, so I personally think they're fine. They're smooth enough so that your experience with them is still a good one.

Penguin wrote:



I believe that the Glorious Pandas work very well on the brass plate of my board. I like the sound signature a lot more than the Black Inks on brass. Black Inks would work a lot better on a PC plate since are known for being a muted low pitch linear, which is what I intend on using them for once I receive my KBD67 Lite that I ordered in group buy.
Damn those Glorious Pandas sounds so muted. Did put any foam in the keyboard?
Also Idk if it's the sound of the switch and keycap itself or the stabs but the spacebar is making a high pitched metallic sound. Sounds kinda like stabs ticking or rattle so you might want to take a look at it.

Penguin wrote:

Also, I've been reading a lot of good things on the new switches from Kinetic Labs. The most popular of the bunch being their "Penguin" switch, which is sold out. They also have a "Hippo" switch, a "Salmon" switch, and will soon have a "Husky" switch. I plan on buying a batch of all 4 of these and trying them out. The Salmon and Husky switches have Symmetric Long Springs which seems very interesting.
Yeah the spring seems interesting. Maybe I should get a bag of those and see how they perform.
The Penguin switches sounds pretty nice when lubed also.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
SkylarJeff45
31 posts
Joined November 2014
SkylarJeff45
Found this cheap optical keyboard on shopee.

Last edited by SkylarJeff45 , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

-Flaky- wrote:

Found this cheap optical keyboard on shopee.

You gotta provide more info before I can judge it properly.

Maybe name the keyboard model or post the site that you bought it from.
[RUE]Bambinex
343 posts
Joined October 2020
[RUE]Bambinex
What's an optical keyboard lmao
moneysing
moneysing
Took this picture from the amazon listing, which is here


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FXDHOKC/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=216160fea37d83039cd348b07fbec0c8&hsa_cr_id=9407479210401&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=84a609fa-e288-40df-8af4-6976732b9352&pd_rd_w=C8n25&pd_rd_wg=L8R12&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_1_title




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