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Keyboard Thread.

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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




Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

bambinex wrote:

What's an optical keyboard lmao
Optical keyboard probably isn't the correct terminology but, it basically means that it's a keyboard which uses optical switches.
Most "normal" mechanical keyboards uses contacts to trigger and actuates, whereas optical switches uses a laser to register a key press. Optical switches are usually more durable and smoother since the triggering mechanism doesn't require a rubbing motion like normal contact based switches.

moneusing wrote:

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




Welp if that's the keyboard you're using,

Aesthetics wise, it looks okay. Nothing much to be said. Although the keycaps could've been better.

Nothing much can be said about build quality either. It's a standard plastic case with a metal mounting plate.

The keycaps are doubleshot, which means the legends will never fade away and it should be quite durable. I'm not sure if it's made with ABS or PBT though, the site doesn't really specify. Although the font they used is pretty ugly.

The switches are Outemu blue switches. Outemus are Cherry MX clones and they perform more or less the same as Cherry MX. I don't really consider one better than the other. However Outemu blues have a even worst sound than Cherry MX blues so there's that. Feel and performance wise, there isn't any tangible difference though. All and all, it's a cheap, okay switch. Nothing write home about.

This board also have hotswap. Although from the pictures, I think it's Outemu hotswap sockets. So basically those sockets will only fit Outemu switches and nothing else, so even though it's hotswap, your choices in switches are still limited.
But I guess it's a point towards serviability in the event that one of your switch breaks or simply cleaning you can just take them off.

Overall, a cheap, okay mechanical keyboard.

5/10
SkylarJeff45
31 posts
Joined November 2014
SkylarJeff45

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

-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.

https://shopee.co.th/SIGNO-KB-718-%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B4%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87-TKL-Mechanical-Keybord-Optical-Switch-2-%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%9A-Blue-RED-i.5325496.8415667557

this is where i brought from. It's signo KB-718 (Red optical switch)
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

-Flaky- wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

-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.

https://shopee.co.th/SIGNO-KB-718-%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B4%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87-TKL-Mechanical-Keybord-Optical-Switch-2-%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%9A-Blue-RED-i.5325496.8415667557

this is where i brought from. It's signo KB-718 (Red optical switch)
Aesthetics wise, I like it. It looks nice and simple. Not too showy or try hard. However the logo above the arrow keys looks a bit ugly in my opinion. Although it's not a ugly looking keyboard at all.

Build quality is again, average. It has a plastic case with a metal mounting plate.
Although on the products page, it's said that the board weighs only 670 grams, which is pretty light for a TKL keyboard. I would've prefered a more chunkier board.

The keycaps looks to be doubleshot, but I'm not sure about it since I can't find anything about the keycaps on the site. It's stenciled so the font isn't the best, however it's still miles better than the gamer fonts that so many boards has. The legends are also in the correct spot, the top left, instead of being in the middle like most backlit keyboards, which is a plus.
Honestly, the keycaps looks actually quite nice with the sub legends on them. Pretty cool looking in my opinion. Although the branding on the spacebar looks fucking hideous. They already have their branding on the case already so I have no idea why they thought it'd be necessary to have another branding on the spacebar.

The switches are optical red switches. I'm not sure who made those switches and the site doesn't specify either. But regardless, since the switches are optical and does not rely on contacts to actuates, I think it's safe to assume that the key feel is quite smooth. Although I have not tried out this board myself so I can't really tell how smooth it is.
And another feature of being a contactless switch is that the life time of the switch is also very high. And indeed, on the products page, it listed the switch as having a life time of 100 million key strokes. But I think the real number could be much higher, and the reason why it's only listed as 100 million was because just to have the switches be tested to 100 million key strokes would have taken years already so they probably just pulled the plug after they've reached 100 million.

It also have N key rollover, 1000hz polling rate yadi yadi yada if you care about that.

Overall, quite a nice keyboard for it's price. Pretty cheap, but seems like quite a competent keyboard.

6/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Meah
733 posts
Joined November 2014
Meah
I want to buy one with hololive keycaps
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Meah wrote:

I want to buy one with hololive keycaps
For now I don't think there are any licensed Hololive keycaps just yet.
But yeah, it would be cool if we have a set.
Meah
733 posts
Joined November 2014
Meah
Also I dont really know what these colored switches mean lol
Meah
733 posts
Joined November 2014
Meah
But yeah, I wish there'll be a hololive set
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
NEW KEYBOARD ALERT

TKC Portico w/ Lubed Tangerines and Infinikey BoW PBT Keycaps






(my shift is misaligned in this photo, but I fixed it afterwards)

I kind of entered this hobby doing the complete opposite of what people normally do. I first bought a shitty prebuilt keyboard (GMMK TKL), which is normal and what a lot of people usually start out with. But then I went all out and spent an absurd amount of money on my first build (D65). Now, I'm just chilling and buying some entry-level boards because I think they are cool and whatnot.

The Portico was in group-buy about 6 months ago. Extras for this keyboard recently came out a few weeks ago. Since I'm interested in entry-level keyboards at the moment, I immediately purchased this kit. There was no way in hell that I would let this opportunity slip by me. Also, the fact that I purchased an "extra" meant that it would ship immediately, which is really nice. I mean.. who wants to sit around for months waiting for the keyboard they purchased? Definitely not me.

waiting for R2 KBD67 lite to ship intesifies

Anyways, I decided to put in my Tangerines that I bought a while ago since I wasn't using them in my D65 anymore. I'm really glad that I decided to use Tangerines because they sound and feel really nice in this board. As for the build process, it was fairly quick and easy since I have previous experience. I lubed the Tangerines over the past week with Krytox 205g0 and the stock C³EQUALZ stabs with Krytox 205g0 as well. I accidentally installed one of the stabilizer stem legs backward and didn't realize until I screwed the case together, meaning that I had to completely take it apart to fix the stab.. not fun.

I'll make a sound test video later, but for now, it pretty much sounds identical to this video. I'm using the same exact keycaps, switches, lube, and stabs. The only difference is that I'm typing on two desk mats, so there's less reverberation with my keyboard and it's a little bit more muted.

Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

NEW KEYBOARD ALERT

TKC Portico w/ Lubed Tangerines and Infinikey BoW PBT Keycaps






(my shift is misaligned in this photo, but I fixed it afterwards)

I kind of entered this hobby doing the complete opposite of what people normally do. I first bought a shitty prebuilt keyboard (GMMK TKL), which is normal and what a lot of people usually start out with. But then I went all out and spent an absurd amount of money on my first build (D65). Now, I'm just chilling and buying some entry-level boards because I think they are cool and whatnot.

The Portico was in group-buy about 6 months ago. Extras for this keyboard recently came out a few weeks ago. Since I'm interested in entry-level keyboards at the moment, I immediately purchased this kit. There was no way in hell that I would let this opportunity slip by me. Also, the fact that I purchased an "extra" meant that it would ship immediately, which is really nice. I mean.. who wants to sit around for months waiting for the keyboard they purchased? Definitely not me.

waiting for R2 KBD67 lite to ship intesifies

Anyways, I decided to put in my Tangerines that I bought a while ago since I wasn't using them in my D65 anymore. I'm really glad that I decided to use Tangerines because they sound and feel really nice in this board. As for the build process, it was fairly quick and easy since I have previous experience. I lubed the Tangerines over the past week with Krytox 205g0 and the stock C³EQUALZ stabs with Krytox 205g0 as well. I accidentally installed one of the stabilizer stem legs backward and didn't realize until I screwed the case together, meaning that I had to completely take it apart to fix the stab.. not fun.

I'll make a sound test video later, but for now, it pretty much sounds identical to this video. I'm using the same exact keycaps, switches, lube, and stabs. The only difference is that I'm typing on two desk mats, so there's less reverberation with my keyboard and it's a little bit more muted.

Aesthetics wise, I like it. It looks quite simple and clean.
The blocker for the arrow keys definitely makes the board looks classier too. And it makes it easier to feel the arrow keys. the transparency case is okay in my book. I personally don't mind it, but some people really love it and some really hates it.
Although I kinda hate the RGB look of this board. It looks like rainbow vomit. I'd keep it off if I were to use it.

This board is also in the 65% form factor, which means, it's basically a 60% but one unit row longer so it fits the arrow keys and some other keys from the nav cluster.
It's quite a popular form factor amongst keyboard enthusiasts and I can see why. It's small, space saving, looks nice and it still holds all of the basic functions that you'd want on a keyboard. It's the same idea as the 60% form factor. However, it's better since most people really wants to have the arrow keys, so the 65% form factor only makes the board slightly bigger than a 60% but makes it a lot easier and more comfortable to use.
Personally, I'd prefer a bigger form factor, but that's just me and form factors are very much based on taste.

Build quality wise, it's not as good as metal custom boards. However, the plastic still look quite thick so the build quality is still pretty good. I'd say it's above average in terms of build quality compared to other modern pre built mechanical keyboards.
One advantage of a plastic case however, is that it makes the board sounds much better than a metal one. Since a metal case is very thick and dense, the sound would be very muted and high pitched. Of course not all boards are like that, but that's just a trend that I see for myself. Some people even put foam in their keyboards to dampen the reverbs, but I think on an already thick keyboard it makes the sound of the board even more muted and flat.
So for sound, in my opinion, a roomy plastic case would sound better than a thick metal one. Especially for clicky switches.

The keycaps you're using on this board looks pretty nice and clean. I like it. It's actually looks almost identical to the keycaps I'm using I think minus the Japanese sub legends of course.
It's made out of thick PBT, so it won't yellow overtime, and it's dye subbed so the legends will be very durable.
The font looks pretty nice as well.
Overall, it's a clean and nice looking keycap set.

The switches are Tangerine switches. I personally have tried them out before, however I haven't used them for an extended amount of time and my memories aren't pristine so some aspects that I remember about them might be incorrect.
When I got to try them out, they were pretty nice and smooth. It's of course not as smooth as contactless switches. However, when I tried them out side by side with some contactless switches, although I can feel more friction from the tangerines, the friction in the tangerines itself is smoother than the little friction found in contactless switches.
So it's a pretty smooth switch. But one thing to note that the sound of those switches aren't very good. Especially on a dense keyboard, they sound super flat. So if you're a person who really cares about how your keyboard sounds, I suggest looking into a different switch.
That isn't to say that the switch can't sound good of course. But compared to other switches, it just doesn't sound as good.

But then again, sound is super subjective so you might still like the sound that they produces.

However, in this chassis, the switches doesn't sound bad at all. It sounds super clacky so if you're into that kind of sound profile, I think this is a pretty good combination.
Personally I prefer a deeper sound when it comes to switch sounds.

This board also have hotswap, so it's very beginner friendly. It also comes with pretty decent stabs so that's pretty nice.

7/10
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin


also, I put on my spacebar upside down because it was having issues with the stabilizer the normal way. Works perfectly fine when it's upside down for some reason though.
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun
Just bought the Keychron k8 with Gateron red

This is a good picture I found of it



This website list the spec of the one I bought

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wireless-mechanical-keyboard?variant=32018252988505
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ShinRun wrote:

Just bought the Keychron k8 with Gateron red

This is a good picture I found of it



This website list the spec of the one I bought

https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wireless-mechanical-keyboard?variant=32018252988505
Oh yeah, Keychron have been quite popular for a while.
It's quite a affordable and decent hotswap keyboard.

Aesthetics wise, it looks pretty nice. It have a very minimalist look and a very clean looking keyboard.
The colour of the keycaps fits it well and it looks quite nice.
However, one thing I don't like about it is that the construction of the board made it so that the aluminum bezels are raised slightly surrounding the board. But there's no bezels on the gaps on the face of the keyboard. So the whole thing looks like a bowl kinda.
I would prefer if it had a more traditional looking bezels.

This board is the K8 version, which means it's a TKL. Keychron also offers other models with basically the same functionality but in different form factors, such as in 65% or 75%.
TKL is usually prefered by gamers who wants a functional keyboard but without the numpad so that their mouse have more space.

Build quality wise, it's pretty good compared to most other mainstream mechanical keyboards.
The case itself is made out of plastic, and it has a metal mounting plate. Which is standard for modern mechanical keyboards.
However, the sides of the board also have rails that you can mount aluminum plates on.
These plates serves as the keyboard's bezels and they slightly increase the build quality and the keyboard's weight.
So even though it's not as good as a full metal case construction, it's still a level higher than most other keyboards with plastic cases. So I'd say it's somewhere in between.

The keycaps on this board is probably it's worst feature so far.
they're made out of lasered ABS, which produce a very sharp looking legend. However, they aren't very durable, they attracts dirt and dust quite a bit and it doesn't take too long before they shine up as well.
Although aesthetically, they don't look bad and definitely fits the board well. But I'd definitely switch to a better keycap set if I were you.

On to the switches.
Gateron reds are a clone of Cherry MX reds, which are a light linear switch.
Gateron is better than Cherry MX in my opinion. However, Gateron reds aren't that interesting to begin with. But since this keyboard is hotswappable, it's not that big of a problem.
You can always switch them out for a more interesting switch.

Keychron also offers this board with optical linear switches, which is definitely a better choice in my opinion if you don't care about trying out different switches.
Optical switches doesn't rely on a physical contact to actuates, meaning they are inherently smoother than contact based switches.
They are much more durable also.

Extra feature wise, this keyboard have wireless bluetooth, so if you hate wires, this can be very useful. According to the people who have used Keychron boards, their bluetooth is pretty good and doesn't have a lot of problems. Which can't really be said for boards in a similar price range like the NJ68.
The USB C port is located on the left side of this board instead of being in the back like most other keyboards. This can be an advantage or a nuisance depending on your setup. This is why I think that boards with cable gutters are quite nice since with gutters, you can basically route the cable to any direction you want that fits with your setup.
Other than that, this board also have RGB, Mac support blah blah blah.

Overall, a pretty good keyboard.

6.7/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 2 times in total.
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun
Not disappointed with the results
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
I found this

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m8Lf3xk-LiU4ODjeulvq7ER1oX6R6Tez3AIpCtJAGqE/edit?resourcekey#gid=2008307854
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
Tad has the weirdest rating I've ever seen.

My KBD67 lite shipped, so it should be here in a week or so. I'm gonna spend that time lubing the rest of my Ink Blacks for when my board shows up.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

Tad has the weirdest rating I've ever seen.

My KBD67 lite shipped, so it should be here in a week or so. I'm gonna spend that time lubing the rest of my Ink Blacks for when my board shows up.
wdym by weird?
Asian Warlord
33 posts
Joined November 2020
Asian Warlord

GK61X RGB with a panda keycaps


I was suppose to change the switches on my old keyboard but that keyboard played a prank on me. When I bought the old keyboard it said that it was "HOT-SWAPPABLE", so my dumbass went ahead buying it without reading any review on it nor watch any videos on it until last week when my switches arrived.

I was so happy while I was working that day, so after work I could swap them out. When I got home I went on discord and vc with Shinrun. I was pulling so hard on it that I got so pissed and gave up and said "why is it so hard to pull out?!" and he replied and said "Your pull out game is weak, that's why." It pissed me even more.

Then I pinged Penguin and Tad on the OT!NEOS discord server. Then Penguin told me that I bought it before they released the hotswap version. My face went from happiness to blank.

So the next day (last week) I bought this keyboard and today it arrived and it feels so nice. I'm really satisfied with this purchase.
rickroll


Sound Test

Links

I bought all my stuff off from amazon.

Kailh Box Switches
Keyboard + Keycaps
The Total cost was $156 both the switches and the Keyboard + Keycaps.

Thank you for your time.

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

Asian Warlord wrote:

GK61X RGB with a panda keycaps


I was suppose to change the switches on my old keyboard but that keyboard played a prank on me. When I bought the old keyboard it said that it was "HOT-SWAPPABLE", so my dumbass went ahead buying it without reading any review on it nor watch any videos on it until last week when my switches arrived.

I was so happy while I was working that day, so after work I could swap them out. When I got home I went on discord and vc with Shinrun. I was pulling so hard on it that I got so pissed and gave up and said "why is it so hard to pull out?!" and he replied and said "Your pull out game is weak, that's why." It pissed me even more.

Then I pinged Penguin and Tad on the OT!NEOS discord server. Then Penguin told me that I bought it before they released the hotswap version. My face went from happiness to blank.

So the next day (last week) I bought this keyboard and today it arrived and it feels so nice. I'm really satisfied with this purchase.
rickroll


Sound Test

Links

I bought all my stuff off from amazon.

Kailh Box Switches
Keyboard + Keycaps
The Total cost was $156 both the switches and the Keyboard + Keycaps.

Thank you for your time.

Nice build.

Aesthetics wise, it looks okay I guess. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Panda keycaps, but I don't think they're a bad looking keycap set either. I think the GK61 case itself isn't a very aesthetically pleasing case since they have a very thin bezel. But yeah, it's not a bad looking keyboard either.
Although aesthetics is very subjective, even more so than other categories so don't take my critics too seriously.

This board uses a 60% form factor, which is a very small "space saving" layout. It basically removes the numpad, Nav cluster and the F keys row so you're left with only the alpha block.
I personally don't like 60%, but a lot of people really loves the layout.

Nothing much to comment about build quality. It's pretty standard. The plastic case is a bit flimsy and thin, but since the board have a metal mounting plate, it's still sturdy enough.

The keycaps are made out of dye subbed PBT, which is a high quality printing method so they're going to be very durable. The font is pretty clean as well. Although one thing to point out that, dye sublimation only works well when using a darker coloured dye onto a brighter coloured surface. Which is why on the dark grey modifiers, the legends are black, which isn't a very contrasting colour and it's pretty hard to see the legends. Although it's only the modifiers so it's not too bad. iirc, the black model of the Realforce keyboard uses a dye subbed black PBT keycap set, which might as well be blanks lol.

Kailh BOX Jades are a clicky switches with a very big and satisfying tactile bump.
They're from the BOX line of switches, and I think they're excellent switches.
The click, although louder than MX blue and it's clones, sounds a lot more metallic, sharp and satisfying. It still can be too loud or annoying to some people. But I'd take Kailh BOX Jades sounds over Cherry MX blues any day. MX blues are rattly, high pitched, grainy and plasticky, and not at all a pleasant sound.
Especially with the keycap set you're using, the Jades sounds pretty nice and deep.

The Gk61, or at least the newer models - have the ability to be changed into a split spacebar, which is a nice addition if you're into split spacebar or you want an extra button to work with. One popular layout I've seen people doing is that they make the left side spacebar a spacebar, but the right side is the backspace key.

Overall, quite a nice board.

6.7/10
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 3 times in total.
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun
Ha
Mine is still better
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ShinRun wrote:

Ha
Mine is still better
Yeah, keyboard wise, yours is better since yours have better build quality and a better layout (although this is subjective).

Although, Asian Warlord's board have better switches and keycaps.

So if you let the board as is with no changes, I still think right now, Asian Warlord's board is better.
The reason why it's scored lower than yours is because yours have the potential to be better.

Actually, I think because of that I'm gonna make you have the same score as Asian Warlord's board.
I might update the scores if you guys decide to upgrade your boards or something.

So yeah, I'll lower your score to 6.6/10.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun
Oh you son of a b

Yeah I was planning on getting better switches but I’ll still decide on which one

I did get the optical red switch btw
Last edited by ShinRun , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ShinRun wrote:

Oh you son of a b

Yeah I was planning on getting better switches but I’ll still decide on which one

I did get the optical red switch btw
Wait, you got optical reds? Not Gateron reds?
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

ShinRun wrote:

Oh you son of a b

Yeah I was planning on getting better switches but I’ll still decide on which one

I did get the optical red switch btw
Wait, you got optical reds? Not Gateron reds?
Yeah
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ShinRun wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

ShinRun wrote:

Oh you son of a b

Yeah I was planning on getting better switches but I’ll still decide on which one

I did get the optical red switch btw
Wait, you got optical reds? Not Gateron reds?
Yeah
bruh.
Although since it's an optical switch version, you have less choices of the switches you can use so I guess I'll still leave you where you are. But I'll adjust the scores of a few other people.

And btw, since you got the optical version, you can only use other optical switches. Is it Gateron optical reds or some other optical switches? If it's Gateron then it's interchangable with other optical Gateron switches. But if not then it's pretty much only can be switched out with the same switches or the switches of the same manufacturer.

If you don't know which type you have then take a picture for me of a switch without the keycap on.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Actually, I think I'll adjust both yours and Aisian Warlord's scores instead.
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite
my keyboard
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

igorsprite wrote:

my keyboard
I don't rate laptop keyboards.
ShinRun
269 posts
Joined November 2020
ShinRun
I have the keychron optical red

I don’t plan on switching out my keyboard often so I don’t care about the restriction on optical switches
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

ShinRun wrote:

I have the keychron optical red

I don’t plan on switching out my keyboard often so I don’t care about the restriction on optical switches
Yeah, you can only change them with other Keychron optical switches I think.
Although those are contactless, therefore, really smooth, so it's not a bad switch to be stuck with.
igorsprite
623 posts
Joined September 2015
igorsprite

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

igorsprite wrote:

my keyboard
I don't rate laptop keyboards.
😔
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker
detach keyboard and ducktape it onto cardboard

might trick tad into rating it
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
NEW KEYBOARD ALERT

KBD67 Lite R2 w/ Stock Salmons and EPBT Keycaps
WOW WHAT A SURPRISE, YOU GOT ANOTHER WHITE 65% KEYBOARD!

shut up






(THEY SENT ME A WARPED CASE. It's not that bad to be honest, but now that I've noticed it, I will never be able to unsee it..)

Hmm, where to start.. First off, I forgot that this was being delivered soon, so I didn't take the time to properly lube switches. I just threw in some of the Salmons that I recently purchased without even lubing them. I really enjoy the Salmons so far. They are lightly lubed stock and feel decently smooth and nice to type on. They don't sound too scratchy either, but I can tell that they could use a little bit of lube. They have a similar bump to the Holy Panda/Glorious Panda but have a symmetrical long spring which makes the topping out sound even nicer.

When it comes to the keycaps, I just bought some cheap EPBT keycaps that were available for purchase alongside the keyboard. They are fine for now, but I will most likely replace these eventually. I enjoy typing on PBT keycaps, so I might just buy a modifier kit and keep these alphas and numbers.

The build process was really fast since I've already built a few keyboards in the past. I honestly got really lazy this time and didn't spend too much time perfecting the stabilizers, but luckily they seem to be great. I think I'm just getting really good at building keyboards lol. Anyways, this keyboard came with KBDfans PC screw-in stabilizers. A lot of people say that they aren't the best and it would be better to buy Durock stabs or something similar, but I haven't had any problems with these stabs and they sound just like the rest, so I'll be sticking with these.

The top case seems to be slightly warped, as seen in the last picture. It's not terrible, but it's still annoying. I tried unscrewing the entire case and redoing it to get it more aligned, but nothing seemed to work. I definitely prefer the TKC Portico build quality and case more than the KBD67 Lite.

As for the sound profile, this board is considerably louder and thockier than my TKC Portico. The sound profile is pretty nice but has a slightly hollow sound to it. The sound profile doesn't sound very "luxurious" if you know what I mean. It sounds similar to something that you can get from a cheap Chinese plastic board (which KBDfans kind of is lol), but better. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I personally think it sounds decent.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before, both the TKC Portico and the KBD67 Lite come with a carrying case. I like the appearance of the TKC Portico carrying case better, but the actual inside of the KBD67 Lite feels nicer.

I'll make a sound test later, I'm too lazy right now.
Last edited by Penguin , edited 1 time in total.
KeikiEnjoyer
240 posts
Joined July 2020
KeikiEnjoyer
Oh oh rate mine next please


its kinda not showing up but its this:
https://imgur.com/a/9PkiDyy

Sound test:
https://youtu.be/N8TGt9jN0Ak
Last edited by KeikiEnjoyer , edited 6 times in total.
Neigdoig
719 posts
Joined May 2021
Neigdoig
I use a Razer Blackwiddow Elite with Razer Yellow Linear switches, and it's decent for me. It's made in China (Which I don't like), but QA is tested by Razer themselves.
fat pear
264 posts
Joined July 2014
fat pear
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Penguin wrote:

NEW KEYBOARD ALERT

KBD67 Lite R2 w/ Stock Salmons and EPBT Keycaps
WOW WHAT A SURPRISE, YOU GOT ANOTHER WHITE 65% KEYBOARD!

shut up






(THEY SENT ME A WARPED CASE. It's not that bad to be honest, but now that I've noticed it, I will never be able to unsee it..)

Hmm, where to start.. First off, I forgot that this was being delivered soon, so I didn't take the time to properly lube switches. I just threw in some of the Salmons that I recently purchased without even lubing them. I really enjoy the Salmons so far. They are lightly lubed stock and feel decently smooth and nice to type on. They don't sound too scratchy either, but I can tell that they could use a little bit of lube. They have a similar bump to the Holy Panda/Glorious Panda but have a symmetrical long spring which makes the topping out sound even nicer.

When it comes to the keycaps, I just bought some cheap EPBT keycaps that were available for purchase alongside the keyboard. They are fine for now, but I will most likely replace these eventually. I enjoy typing on PBT keycaps, so I might just buy a modifier kit and keep these alphas and numbers.

The build process was really fast since I've already built a few keyboards in the past. I honestly got really lazy this time and didn't spend too much time perfecting the stabilizers, but luckily they seem to be great. I think I'm just getting really good at building keyboards lol. Anyways, this keyboard came with KBDfans PC screw-in stabilizers. A lot of people say that they aren't the best and it would be better to buy Durock stabs or something similar, but I haven't had any problems with these stabs and they sound just like the rest, so I'll be sticking with these.

The top case seems to be slightly warped, as seen in the last picture. It's not terrible, but it's still annoying. I tried unscrewing the entire case and redoing it to get it more aligned, but nothing seemed to work. I definitely prefer the TKC Portico build quality and case more than the KBD67 Lite.

As for the sound profile, this board is considerably louder and thockier than my TKC Portico. The sound profile is pretty nice but has a slightly hollow sound to it. The sound profile doesn't sound very "luxurious" if you know what I mean. It sounds similar to something that you can get from a cheap Chinese plastic board (which KBDfans kind of is lol), but better. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I personally think it sounds decent.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before, both the TKC Portico and the KBD67 Lite come with a carrying case. I like the appearance of the TKC Portico carrying case better, but the actual inside of the KBD67 Lite feels nicer.

I'll make a sound test later, I'm too lazy right now.
Aesthetics wise, minus the defect, it looks pretty nice.
Looks quite simple, elegant and classic.

This board is in 65% form factor. So basically, a normal 65% but with arrow keys and a few extra keys.
It's quite a popular layout amongst keyboard enthusiasts.

Build quality wise, it's okay. It doesn't have a metal mounting plate and everything is made out of plastic, so it's not that well built. But I understand that the plastic plate is used for better switch sound and a softer feel, and the plastic they used looks quite thick, so even though they didn't use a metal mounting plate, the build quality isn't that bad even compared to boards that do use metal mounting plates.

The keycaps looks very nice and elegant. I really like them a lot.
They're made out of dye subbed PBT, so it will be very durable.
You say that you intend to change out the modifiers but in my opinion, it's not necessary since the keycaps on the board right now looks very nice and clean.
The print quality is very nice as well, even on the zoomed out pics, the legends are still very sharp, it almost looks like it was doubleshot.

I don't really have much to say about the switches since I have not tried them out myself yet.
But the spring on those line of switches does seems quite interesting.

This board also have hotswap so building it would be very easy, so for a beginner this would be a pretty good keyboard.

6.7/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

NotRaffi wrote:

Oh oh rate mine next please


its kinda not showing up but its this:
https://imgur.com/a/9PkiDyy

Sound test:
https://youtu.be/N8TGt9jN0Ak
I don't rate laptop keyboards, sorry.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Neigdoig wrote:

I use a Razer Blackwiddow Elite with Razer Yellow Linear switches, and it's decent for me. It's made in China (Which I don't like), but QA is tested by Razer themselves.
Aesthetics wise, it looks okay.
It have that "edgy gamer" look if you're in to that stuff.

This board is a standard full size keyboard with some media keys and a roller.
The roller itself is quite useful, but the way it stick out, even though it makes it easier to use, makes it look a bit ugly in my opinion.

Build quality is standard amongst modern mechanical keyboards, so nothing much to say about.

The key caps have a normal font, which is a good thing. However, on the site, it says the keycaps are "standard ABS keycaps". So they're not Razer's doubleshot PBT caps.
I don't know the printing method, but from the look and the description, I'm guessing it's lasered ABS, which isn't very good. It attracts finger oils, dirt and dust like crazy and it's not very durable.

The switches are Razer's yellow linear switches. They are a light linear switch, similar in weight to a Cherry MX red.
However, it have a shorter travel distance and a higher actuation point compared to cherry MX reds and it's clones.
I have not tried them out myself yet, so I can't comment on the smoothness, however, in my opinion, these switches aren't very interesting.

This board also have RGB if you care about such thing, macros which is a pretty useful feature, but it's locked under Synapse which is shit.

It's an okay keyboard. But for the price, you could've gotten better boards.
For $130 you could have gotten the Razer Huntsman TE, so $20 cheaper than the Razer Black Widow Elite. It's a TKL with Razer's optical linear switches. They are very nice and smooth, and they are also quite light with a heightened actuation point if that's what you want. It also comes with much better keycaps which are much more durable and nice.
Although that board doesn't have media keys or the volume wheel and of course, it's a TKL instead of being a full size.

5.5/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

fat pear wrote:

I'll need more info than just a picture to be able to rate keyboards accurately.
Please provide more information, such as the name of the keyboard, the switches it's using etc.
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
The WorstPlayer
2,975 posts
Joined April 2019
The WorstPlayer
I use gk707 with Kailh box white from AliExpress. All switches and stabilizers are lubed. Keycaps are fake PBT but it's better than standard abs (I think complect abs are so bad, but abs can be good). Standard low budget keyboard lol.
Last edited by The WorstPlayer , edited 3 times in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Vaniels wrote:

I use gk707 with Kailh box white from AliExpress. All switches and stabilizers are lubed. Keycaps are fake PBT but it's better than standard abs (I think complect abs are so bad, but abs can be good). Standard low budget keyboard lol.
Aesthetics wise, it looks okay.
Pretty clean looking, but a bit bland.

This board is using the TKL or "Tenkeyless" layout. So basically a normal keyboard layout, but without the numpad on the right, so there's more space for your mouse.

Build quality again, is standard. However, the plastic bit looks a bit flimsy. But it's just from the photos alone, so I'm not sure if it is flimsy or not.

This board have something called a "floating switch design", which means, there are no tall bezels surrounding the switches and the switches are visible from the sides.
Some people really like this kind of design, but I think it doesn't look as good as having tall bezels.

The keycaps you're using aren't stock keycaps, and by your description, you say that it's "fake PBT".
Well, I have no idea what fake PBT is, but I'm just going to assume it's just regular PBT caps.
This keycap set have a printing style called "ninja print" which means the legends are in front of the keycap instead of being on top. Some people really like the stealthy look that this printing method gives, but personally I would prefer the legends to be in a traditional spot.
One advantage of this style of printing though, is that it doesn't matter what kind of printing method you use, since your fingers aren't gonna rub onto the legends themselves, they would practically never fades, unless you purposefully scratch on them. So even if they are lasered, pad printed or just stickers, they should last you for quite a while.
Aesthetically though, not my cup of tea. I'm not a fan of the colour schemes nor the ninja print, but that's just me.

Now on to the board's biggest strength: It's switches.
This board comes with Kailh BOX switches in either red, white or brown. Kailh BOX reds are decently smooth, but you can't really lube them. Technically, you can, but it will feel exactly the same so, it's not worth getting if you want a decently smooth linear that you can mod. The same can be said about Kailh BOX browns, they are better than Cherry MX browns, but their tactility is still very lackluster. So the most interesting switch of the three in my opinion is Kailh BOX whites.
They are pretty good clicky switches. Tactility wise, they're not that strong, around the same level of Cherry MX blues.
However, they don't rattle like MX blues, instead, they make a very sharp metallic click that is very satisfying. It also doubleclicks, once when pressed and once when released, unlike MX blues which only click on the down stroke.

It also have hotswap, so you can try out different types of switches on the same board if you want to.

6/10
The WorstPlayer
2,975 posts
Joined April 2019
The WorstPlayer

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

However, the plastic bit looks a bit flimsy. But it's just from the photos alone, so I'm not sure if it is flimsy or not.
6/10
It's removable. And after removal it's really flimsy.
Last edited by The WorstPlayer , edited 1 time in total.
fat pear
264 posts
Joined July 2014
fat pear

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

fat pear wrote:

I'll need more info than just a picture to be able to rate keyboards accurately.
Please provide more information, such as the name of the keyboard, the switches it's using etc.
Ducky One 2 Skyline TKL Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard with Red switch
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

fat pear wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

fat pear wrote:

I'll need more info than just a picture to be able to rate keyboards accurately.
Please provide more information, such as the name of the keyboard, the switches it's using etc.
Ducky One 2 Skyline TKL Double Shot PBT Mechanical Keyboard with Red switch
Aesthetics wise, it looks pretty good.
The board looks clean and the colour scheme is also quite nice.

Build quality is quite standard for modern mechanical keyboards, nothing to write home about.

The keycaps are doubleshot PBT, which is the most durable material with the most durable printing method, so it will be very durable. The colour scheme of the caps are pretty nice as well. It's a pretty nice keycap set, although it would have been nicer if the legends were placed on the top left of the cap instead of being in the middle.
On back lit keyboards, having the legends in the middle matches up with the back lit LED, so the positioning makes sense on those. However, this is not a back lit keyboard, there is no RGB or LEDs, so having the legends in the middle is pretty pointless.
Bute overall, still a aesthetically pleasing and durable keycap set. Quite nice.

The switches is probably the board's weakest point though.
Cherry MX red is a light linear switch manufactured by Cherry. I myself think that the light weighting is pretty nice, however even with time to get used to it, I still do a lot of typos with them since they're so light and accidental triggers are so easy on them. This is the same problem I have with the Jwick Red switches too.
Cherry MX reds themselves also aren't very interesting. They are not very smooth, and is almost out matched by other linear clone switches.
And because this board is not a hotswap keyboard, switching them out would be harder since you actually need to desolder every single switch.

Overall, an aesthetically pleasing board with decent build quality but disappointing switches.
5.5/10
Dial
253 posts
Joined January 2021
Dial
HyperX Alloy Origins Core Aqua switches (A few white hyperx pudding keycaps aswell)

Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Dial wrote:

HyperX Alloy Origins Core Aqua switches (A few white hyperx pudding keycaps aswell)

Aesthetics wise, it looks quite okay.
The board have a pretty sleek and clean design.

Build quality wise, this board seems pretty good. The case is made out of aluminum, although it's not very thick, it's still better than most other keyboards out there.
Although, one thing to mention, that this board have a floating switch design. Which means, it doesn't have high bezels like a traditional keyboard and the side of the switches are exposed.
Apparently this was done as a fashion thing since a lot of people seems to like the look of a floating switch design. However, having the switches exposed would make them vulnerable to side knocks, so if you drop your keyboard, the switches may still be broken if the board was hit on the sides.

The keycaps are made out of PBT and is doubleshot. So it's very durable and the legends will never fade. However, I'm not really a fan of the pudding keycap. I know, if you like RGB and such it shows off the RGB, but in my opinion, it's quite ugly.
The stock keycaps of this board looks better in my opinion.
The legends aren't in helvetica but in a square gamer looking font, but it's not as ugly as some other game fonts out there.

The switches are HyperX own line of switch, called the HyperX Aqua switch.
It's a light tactile switch with the weighting similar to Cherry MX reds. I have not tried these switches out yet, however, from the force graph, you can tell that it's not a very tactile switch. The tactility is somewhat on par with Cherry MX brown.
I have not tried them out yet, so I won't give a definite judgement on them, but from what I see, they aren't very interesting and looks like a Cherry Brown recolour to me.

Overall, a quite sturdy keyboard, but with a lackluster selection of switches.
Although I think if it's modded to use different switches, then it'd be quite a good keyboard.

6.3/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
I'm gonna 'necro' this since I just got a new board in a while.
This is the Akko Mod 005. An ENthUsIAsT full aluminium hotswap keyboard.





It's made by Akko, and it's quite similar in idea to a GMMK Pro or a Keychron Q1 in a sense that it's made out of aluminium, weighs a ton, gasket mounted, easy and convenient to build for newbies, doesn't cost as much as most other limited enthusiast keyboards and you don't have to wait for group buys to get one.

First impression was really good, it came in a large box that feels premium and was well protected by thick, high quality foam. Inside was the board itself, a pretty nice coiled cable, an extra FR4 plate and gaskets (or at least I think it's Fr4, I'm not sure what material it is) and the user manual.

The keyboard itself is obviously very hefty and dense. I don't have a scale to weigh it, but it's heavier than one of my fullsized keyboard (and that one wasn't poorly built either), and I'm pretty sure that you could bash someone's head in with it so build quality wise, it's excellent and it's one of the main reason you'd pay for a board of this nature.
Fit and finish was very good as well, I don't see any major marks on the board, although there were a few small anodizing error marks on the aluminium plate. Not like it matters too much though since you don't really see them when switches and keycaps are installed, but just thought it's something worth mentioning.
There were no visible mark of any kind on the case that I can see.

The stabilizers were pre-lubed, however the quality of the lubing is quite frankly, shit.
I literally thought they were dry when I tested them but looking closer, they were definitely factory lubricated. Not like it matters too much though since most people buying boards like these tend to lube their own stabs so not a problem.
However, I haven't actually lubed them myself, since the board is held together at the back by hex screws and my hex screw screwdriver is fucking garbage, I haven't been able to open the board yet.
That also means that I haven't been able to try out the Fr4 plate either.

One big selling point of this keyboard is that it's a gasket mounted keyboard, meaning the plate is held together between the case and small pieces of foam gasket. This mounting method is supposed to make the typing feel less hard and easier on the fingers, more springy. After some testing, I can confirm that the plate do flexes quite a lot more than a regular aluminium plate and it can visibly sink a bit while I apply force to the plate (note that the the ammount of pressure I apply to it is much higher than how one would exerts while normally type, so it's not like the board bounces around while you type or anything).
So yes, the gasket do work. Although personally, this is my first gasket mounted keyboard and I got to say, I don't really see the point of this mounting method since I don't think the typing feel is that much different from other mounting methods. Maybe to some people, it is more apparent, but to me, the difference is minuscule at best. Maybe the effect would be more apparent if I switch the aluminium plate out for the Fr4 plate, but I think that's more to do with the material of the mounting plate itself rather than to the mounting method of the keyboard.

Right now I'm using Kailh Box Jades on the board and there are 2 reasons why.
First is because I love kailh Box jade and it is one of my favourite switch ever.
And second, is because I can't open the board yet to lube the stabs, the clicky switch would be able to mask any rattle coming from the stabilizers lol.

Another thing to mention, according to the manual you can modify and make your own RGB pattern in the keyboard software, but there's no mention of being able to remap the keyboard. This can be a problem if you are into custom layouts and such and is a big downside of this board since most premium enthusiast keyboards supports remapping by softwares like QMK or VIA. Although I haven't checked out Akko's driver yet so maybe it does support remapping via the app but just doesn't mention it in the manual.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the purchase, it's a very nice and hefty board and doesn't cost a ridiculous amount as some other enthusiast keyboards can cost. Although feature wise, it is quite poor. It's basically just a well built mechanical keyboard with RGB and none of the more cool features like remapping or macros.

Sound demo coming soon™

Edit: Just want to mention that yes, you can remap the keyboard and add macros using Akko's app, however the app is really shitty and confusing to use with no tutorials or any guides and after 30 minutes of playing around with it, I did managed to add macros and remap a few keys, but some of the macros doesn't work at all, and I still can't figure out how to put the key I sacrificed back into the board on a separate layer so I just gave up.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 2 times in total.
Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
how many kb do you have
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Patatitta wrote:

how many kb do you have
A few.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

abraker's steelseries review

abraker wrote:

One of the best keyboards you can get
It's one of the best in production stock keyboard that you can buy right now, yes.

Look wise, even though I don't like floating key designs and gamer keyboards, it looks pretty clean ngl.

Build quality is again average for a modern mechanical keyboard with metal mounting plate and braided cables.

The most interesting thing about the whole board though are the switches. The switches on the alpha block on this board are hall effects switches, which means they're contactless switches and therefore super smooth.
I don't have this keyboard but I've tried it on keyboard meetups before and the key feel is one of the smoothest I've felt. And because the switches are hall effects, the life time could potentially reach billions of keystrokes before you wear out one switch. So durability wise, it's literally imortal, unless you deliberately want to break it.

Being hall effects switches also means that you could set the actuation point of the switch so, despite it being light like cherry MX reds, I don't get nearly as many typos on it as I do with MX red switches. So that's one of the board's best feature imo.

There's also a screen on this keyboard that could display game related stuffs or animations or sruffs that you draw on it which is a nice touch.

Now on to the downsides.
First of all, the price. It's pretty pricey. With the same price you could get several other keyboards.
And there isn't a wide variety of switch choices either.
You can only get linear switches on this board. Although admittedly, they're one of the best linears out there.

The 2nd downside is that only the keys on the alpha block are hall effect switches. The others are normal mechanical switches.
Though this is a bit disappointing but I guess it's understandable since it'll be ridiculously priced if the whole board were to use hall effects switches.
I'd rather have the board only have hall effects on the alpha keys and stay at a reasonable price than to add more to the already high price tag.

3rd downside is the keycaps.
You'd think for the price they'd give you decent keycaps, but no they're just keycaps coated in black paint and then lasered.
This makes for very sharp looking keycaps and it makes the back lighting shines through quite well, but these caps aren't very durable and can wear off relatively quick, turning into blobs of light depending on how often you uses it.

Overall, a pricey premium keyboard but it actually have interesting features to back up it's high price.

8/10
I can not confidently say it doesn't deserve that rating. At least the expanded variant with the numpad. For some reason the numpad switches are glitching, barely registering input. Oddly enough the 2 keys I use for mania don't have this issue as much. So maybe it's dust? Even the omnipoint switches I rarely press dont have the issue, so dunno.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

abraker's steelseries review

abraker wrote:

One of the best keyboards you can get
It's one of the best in production stock keyboard that you can buy right now, yes.

Look wise, even though I don't like floating key designs and gamer keyboards, it looks pretty clean ngl.

Build quality is again average for a modern mechanical keyboard with metal mounting plate and braided cables.

The most interesting thing about the whole board though are the switches. The switches on the alpha block on this board are hall effects switches, which means they're contactless switches and therefore super smooth.
I don't have this keyboard but I've tried it on keyboard meetups before and the key feel is one of the smoothest I've felt. And because the switches are hall effects, the life time could potentially reach billions of keystrokes before you wear out one switch. So durability wise, it's literally imortal, unless you deliberately want to break it.

Being hall effects switches also means that you could set the actuation point of the switch so, despite it being light like cherry MX reds, I don't get nearly as many typos on it as I do with MX red switches. So that's one of the board's best feature imo.

There's also a screen on this keyboard that could display game related stuffs or animations or sruffs that you draw on it which is a nice touch.

Now on to the downsides.
First of all, the price. It's pretty pricey. With the same price you could get several other keyboards.
And there isn't a wide variety of switch choices either.
You can only get linear switches on this board. Although admittedly, they're one of the best linears out there.

The 2nd downside is that only the keys on the alpha block are hall effect switches. The others are normal mechanical switches.
Though this is a bit disappointing but I guess it's understandable since it'll be ridiculously priced if the whole board were to use hall effects switches.
I'd rather have the board only have hall effects on the alpha keys and stay at a reasonable price than to add more to the already high price tag.

3rd downside is the keycaps.
You'd think for the price they'd give you decent keycaps, but no they're just keycaps coated in black paint and then lasered.
This makes for very sharp looking keycaps and it makes the back lighting shines through quite well, but these caps aren't very durable and can wear off relatively quick, turning into blobs of light depending on how often you uses it.

Overall, a pricey premium keyboard but it actually have interesting features to back up it's high price.

8/10
I can not confidently say it doesn't deserve that rating. At least the expanded variant with the numpad. For some reason the numpad switches are glitching, barely registering input. Oddly enough the 2 keys I use for mania don't have this issue as much. So maybe it's dust? Even the omnipoint switches I rarely press dont have the issue, so dunno.
Well that's probably because the numpad switches aren't hall effect switches.

One down side to the Apex Pro is that only the 61 switches in the alpha block are hall effects and the other keys are all regular contact based MX switches, so your numpad switches probably failed after such a long time playing osu on them.

Nowadays if you want a keyboard with all contactless switches and adjustable actuation point, then the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog would be a good choice. It uses optical switches instead of hall effects like the Apex Pro, but they are functionally similar with similar strengths like smoothness, durability and actuation point adjustment.
Although, the Huntsman V2 Analog is $50 more expensive than the Apex Pro.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 1 time in total.
Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
I have a second hand membrane keyboard I got 5 years ago which space bars jam if you press it too fast, you cannot baet that
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Nowadays if you want a keyboard with all contactless switches and adjustable actuation point, then the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog would be a good choice. It uses optical switches instead of hall effects like the Apex Pro, but they are functionally similar with similar strengths like smoothness, durability and actuation point adjustment.
Although, the Huntsman V2 Analog is $50 more expensive than the Apex Pro.
I cri
bakachungus
55 posts
Joined July 2020
bakachungus


sorry about the lighting it's a bit shit

kbdfans d84 with milky yellows and akko neons
kaffeine
27 posts
Joined July 2020
kaffeine

black and white

black - my first build, simple and unambitious
  1. Aluminum GK61
  2. Aluminum plate
  3. Tealios v2, lubed and filmed
  4. Stock plate mount stabs, lubed
  5. Razer PBT keycaps
white - a little more ambitious
  1. WKL KBD8X, gummy worm modded
  2. Polycarbonate plate
  3. Ink Black v2s, lubed and filmed
  4. C3 Equalz v3 pcb mount stabs, lubed, bandaid modded, and holee modded
  5. NP PBT keycaps (kbdfans)
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

gamer13254 wrote:



sorry about the lighting it's a bit shit

kbdfans d84 with milky yellows and akko neons
Aesthetically speaking, it's a pretty clean looking keyboard.
Although the keys are a little bit clumped together, I would much prefer if it's an exploded 75% look, but that's just personal preference.

Build quality wise, this board is another full aluminium keyboard so the build quality is obviously very good. It's literally a machined out slab of metal so yeah, it's heavy, thick and you can use it as a makeshift bludgeon weapon.

The keycaps are made by akko, and are PBT doubleshot. So they're made out of the most durable material and with the most durable legend printing method, so they are basically immortal unless you grind on the surface with a grinder or somehow break the stem off or something.
The font is a nice normal font and the keycap set has a very interesting colour way. I personally don't think it's a ugly colour combination, but I would personally prefer something more subtle, but that's just me of course and I can see that the colour scheme can work for certain set ups.
I do notice however, some shining of the keycaps on the Z and C keys. Unlike how alot of people think, PBT keycaps just like ABS keycaps, do shine up with use. However, PBT keycaps takes a lot longer than ABS to shine.
So I guess the Z and C keys were your main Osu keys for quite a while on that keyboard.

Gateron milky yellows are pretty nice budget linear switches. They are a "in between" switch in terms of weighting so they are comfortable for most people. And because of the milky housing, they sound quite a lot better than stock Gateron yellows, a lot deeper and fuller, although they do sound a lot more muted than regular yellows.
The milky housing doesn't really improve the smoothness of the switch over stock yellows either so smoothness wise, they're about the same as regular Gateron yellows.

This board also supports QMK to modify the keys and layouts.

Overall, a solid and sturdy keyboard that's obviously been well loved by it's owner.
7/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

kaffeine wrote:


black and white

black - my first build, simple and unambitious
  1. Aluminum GK61
  2. Aluminum plate
  3. Tealios v2, lubed and filmed
  4. Stock plate mount stabs, lubed
  5. Razer PBT keycaps
Aesthetic wise, it looks okay. It's a bit hard to make out how it looks like from the picture you posted but from what I can see at least, it looks quite simplistic, almost to a point of being generic.

Build quality wise, due to the case being made out of aluminum, it's pretty good. However the GK61's alu case is usually thinner than other enthusiast cases and from the picture you can see, or rather in this case cannot see the case bezels at all. So it's well built, but not as well built as most other alu boards.

Razer's PBT keycaps is an interesting choice.
I guess if you want shinethrough keycaps for backlighting RGBs then it makes sense since they are doubleshot PBT, meaning they are super durable and Razer chose to go with a very rational, elegant and good looking font as well, unlike a lot of other mainstream gamer gear brands.

The switches are probably the most expensive component of this build aside from the case itself. Tealios switches are very expensive and smooth premium switches. Their weighting is around mid to heavy and is very smooth and well sought after amongst enthusiasts.
If it's smoothness you're after then contactless switches are still a better investment in my opinion. Although with a board like this you have a wider range of switches to pick from to use.

I'm not sure if this is an old or new model of the GK61, they seem to have quite a number of revisions, but the newer ones tend to have wireless capability, RGB control and several custom layouts to swap to.

Overall, a decent first build.
6.7/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

kaffeine wrote:


black and white

white - a little more ambitious
  1. WKL KBD8X, gummy worm modded
  2. Polycarbonate plate
  3. Ink Black v2s, lubed and filmed
  4. C3 Equalz v3 pcb mount stabs, lubed, bandaid modded, and holee modded
  5. NP PBT keycaps (kbdfans)
This is a pretty good looking board. The colour scheme is simplistic. However, the keycap sublegends makes it looks more interesting and pop out more. The lack of Windows key also makes it looks more retro and nicer in my opinion.
No windows keys also means longer spacebar, which is a plus in my book since longer spacebars are more satisfying.

This board is made out of machined aluminum so build quality wise, it's one of the best. It also has a brass weight at the bottom to increase the weight even further, however this doesn't really make the build quality better but is just a way to add weight to this already heavy keyboard to give off a certain premium feel.
I do find it pretty funny how a lot of enthusiast keyboards these days have a literal metal ingot inside of the case to make it heavier though lol.

The keycaps are dyesubbed PBT so they are very durable and should last you for a long time. It's in a profile called NP which I personally have not tried but it looks like another uniformed height keycap profile.
These keycaps looks good, but for me at least I don't like uniformed height keycap profiles like DSA, XDA etc since It's hard to tell which row my fingers are on with flat keycaps and it slows my typing speed down quite a lot.
But it's personal preference of course.
The font aren't really normal Helvetica font but looks more like those fonts on Apple's keyboards. They look fine in my opinion, but not as good as regular Helvetica. The sublegends are in Japanese Katakana and makes it looks pretty retro and interesting.

The switches are Gateron Ink Blacks, which are mid to heavy switches in terms of weighting and they are very popular amongst enthusiasts for their smoothness and sound profile. They are pretty expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as ZealPC's switches. They do sound pretty deep and satisfying, but they are pretty muted compared to other clacky switches so if you use headphones, it's hard to appreciate the sound of the switches.

Overall, a well built enthusiast keyboard with nice switches.
8/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

NEW KEYBOARD ALERT


It's been a while and ya boy got another keyboard. This time it's quite a special one.
Introducing,

IBM Model F AT




This keyboard probably doesn't need much introduction for keyboard enthusisasts, but for those who doesn't know, this keyboard is a predecessor to the very popular and well respected IBM Model M.
The IBM Model M, considered by many to be "The best keyboard ever" and I do agree to this to a degee. But not many people know that the IBM Model M was actually a cut down, cost saving version of the IBM Model F. So, in many ways, the IBM Model F is a lot better and in some aspect, worse than the IBM Model M.

Overall, the IBM Model F generally has better build quality, switch longevity, key feel and it's also capacitive, so it inherently have N key rollover (Yes, a 40 years old keyboard has N key rollover) unlike the 2 key roll over on the model M.
However, the Model M does have a better keyboard layout, which is basically the classic 101 standard layout whereas you can only find model Fs in AT, XT and 122 layouts. And another advantage of the model M is that you can still get it brand new with USB made by Unicomp whereas Model Fs are always used, unless you get one from the Model F repro project by some enthusiasts, but it costs somewhere around $400 a board and it takes ages to deliver.

I have wanted to own this keyboard since a long time ago. You can say that this was one of my "dream keyboard". It's especially hard to find hardwares like these where I live, since the computer market in Vietnam during the 80s (or even the 90s to a degree), is almost non existence. So my only choice is to either get one from the West, or to get one from other enthusiasts. But since it's very hard to come by and the only people who actually owns them knows what they are, they tend to keep them for themselves and only rarely sell them off, and even when they do it's almost always at a very inflated price.
I got mine for around $140, which is not cheap, but I think I got a relatively fair deal especially for something that I've always wanted.

-----------------------------------------------------


Aesthetically speaking, in my opinion it's a gorgeous looking keyboard. Although the layout is basically only a TKL but switch the Nav cluster to the numpad and put the F keys on the side, it has a very impressive foorprint, it's bigger than some of my fullsized keyboards.
I always loved retro aesthetics and theme and this keyboard just screams retro. It's a beautiful keyboard from the layout, the shape of the case, the feets and the badge, I absolutely love how it looks.
It looks very substancial, impressive and elegant in my opinion.

Well, I think we all know how impressively built IBM Model M keyboards are. Well, this is a model F, so it's even more well built. This one in particular is the AT model, so it doesn't have the metal backplate of XT model Fs, but it's still an extremely well built keyboard. The case is made out of dense plastic and it also has a metal barrel plate that holds the switch assembly in place and a steal plate that holds everything together under the PCB.
The weight of this board is around 2.5 kg. Or in dumb unit, 5.51156 pounds.
So yes, this keyboard is basically a tank.

On the sides are 2 knobs you can rotate to extend the feet of the board. This is a very elegant solution in my opinion since it looks nice and you don't have to turn your keyboard over to extend ot retract them like other implementations of this feature. Although having the knobs stick out like that does make it prone to snap off. The ones on this board however is still working just fine and hasn't snapped.

This is how it looks like extended.


The Keycaps are very thick dye subbed PBT and the printing quality is very sharp. For dye subbed keycaps, it is not unusual for the legends to be slightly fuzzy or blurry, but the printing on these caps are extremely sharp. Although, because of it's age, the legends are a little bit bleached.
Note that they are one part keycaps instead of 2 parts like on the Model M.




The only inconsistency of the printing that I see however, is on 2 of the keys on the F keys.

You can see that the legends on the F1 and F3 keys are thicker than the others.

The switches on this keyboard are the well renowned Buckling Springs, which is the same switch mechanics on the Model M keyboard. However, unlike the Model M version, the Model F uses capacitive sensing PCB instead so they lasts a lot longer and has N key rollover unlike the 2 keys rollover of the Model M.
The feel of the switch is one of the smoothest switch I have ever felt ever, and is certainly the smoothest clicky switch I've felt to date. The tactility of the switch is nice, sharp and crisp, it's a delight to use.
Compared to the Model M, the Model F is quite noticably smoother and feel more refined, however the model M is slightly more tactile. Not that the switches on the Model M are bad or mediocre mind you, they are excellent switches, but the ones on the model F are even better, just goes to show how good they are.

One thing to mention is that the spacebar of this keyboard is really heavy. This is back when manufacturers makes spacebars heavier to avoid typing mistakes, but for me at least, it makes the spacebar too heavy so I miss space sometimes but it's not too bad once you're used to it. There's also a way to make the spacebar lighter but that requires disassembly of the entire keyboard so I just kept it how it is originally.

The badge on this board is very nice looking, although I can't find any mention of a white badge Model F anywhere on the internet, so I think one of the previous owners of this board must've modified it or something.
Although I do prefer the original badge, I think this one looks very nice as well too.



Overall, I love this keyboard. I've wanting to have it for so long now and it lived up to my expectations of it. The condition of the board is not perfect, but it's still very good only missing 2 screws on the back and some wear and tear on the chasis, it even still have the original legs still being functional. It's a beast of a keyboard and I'm very happy with my purchase.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci


Typing demo for anyone interested. Sorry for the shaky camera, I couldn't find a good way to hold it steady to record.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

...
ok that's special but since we are flexing old keyboards, I might as well. Nothing as special as yours tho.

Introducing the Acekey Ack-200






<insert description here /shrug>

It's a keyboard that features a very old connector. It's at least from the early 90's or late 80's. I do know this thing has been sitting in storage for over 20 years. Also features cyrillic lettering along with latin, which is neat. Dunno much more about it. Never even plugged it in to try... not that I have a port I can plug it into to try.
Last edited by abraker , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

...
ok that's special but since we are flexing old keyboards, I might as well. Nothing as special as yours tho.

Introducing the Acekey Ack-200






<insert description here /shrug>

It's a keyboard that features a very old connector. It's at least from the early 90's or late 80's. I do know this thing has been sitting in storage for over 20 years. Also features cyrillic lettering along with latin, which is neat. Dunno much more about it. Never even plugged it in to try... not that I have a port I can plug it into to try.
Owh pogge it looks to be in really good condition.
The keycaps are sick, if it's MX or Alps mount I bet you could sell it for a pretty nice price.

The connector looks to be 5 pin plug but I'm not sure. But if it is, I think you can find a converter for it pretty easily if you wish to try it out.
AccountWontWork
2,088 posts
Joined March 2021
AccountWontWork

Introducing The K550


(aka shit box)




Fantastic frame, as you can see that it collects dust very well which is known to add extra polling rate



As you can see, some of the lights arent on, this is called "speed mode" which adds extra tapping speed, however it is a permanent once turned on.



this is my favourite feature, as you can see the keyboard has on board memory, it is able to remember where you tap, this is very helpful indeed.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
AccountWontWork's keyboard

AccountWontWork wrote:

Introducing The K550


(aka shit box)




Fantastic frame, as you can see that it collects dust very well which is known to add extra polling rate



As you can see, some of the lights arent on, this is called "speed mode" which adds extra tapping speed, however it is a permanent once turned on.



this is my favourite feature, as you can see the keyboard has on board memory, it is able to remember where you tap, this is very helpful indeed.

TLDR of this keyboard: It's a very average cheap Chinese mechanical keyboard with some modifications done to it.

Aesthetics wise, it looks okay. It looks like any other gamer mechanical keyboard out there.
It has LED backlighting, however I don't think it's RGB, but rather multiple monochrome LEDs in each row of the keyboard. This lighting style is very popular on cheap Chinese mechanical keyboards as a cost saving thing.
Honestly though, in my opinion, if they can't afford RGB on their keyboards then having single monochrome backlighting is way better.

Build quality is average in terms of regular mechanical keyboards you can find on the market. It does have a floating key design, so the switches are vulnerable from side knocks, but it has an metal mounting plate, so it's not too bad.
So yeah, the build quality isn't horrible, but it's not remarkable either.

I can't find any information on the keycaps so I can't comment on how durable they are, but the font is fucking diarrhea. Seriously I hate those gamer edgy looking fonts, they are ugly and barely legible. It's something that an 8 year old would think looks cool.

The ones I found on the internet only comes with red or blue switches. They don't really specify which brands they are but considering this is a cheap board they are probably some Chinese clone brands like Outemus or TCC or something. I've said quite a lot about them in other reviews before so I won't say more about them. They are okay.
The mod you did to the board I assume is to replace the switches of the middle row with Gateron speed switches. Honestly I think it's quite pointless but I guess it's for Osu or something.

Overall, an uninteresting, average gamer keyboard with some Tom Hackery done to it.

5/10
ClevelandsMyBro
879 posts
Joined April 2018
ClevelandsMyBro
rainbows are for gays.
Karmine
1,026 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

ClevelandsMyBro wrote:

rainbows are for gays.
gaymers
Patatitta
1,380 posts
Joined February 2020
Patatitta
if you're playing osu 90% chances you're gay
z0z
521 posts
Joined February 2018
z0z

Patatitta wrote:

if you're playing osu 90% chances you're gay
why are there so many anime girl bgs then
Karmine
1,026 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine

z0z wrote:

Patatitta wrote:

if you're playing osu 90% chances you're gay
why are there so many anime girl bgs then
PP farming is not considered "playing" :P
z0z
521 posts
Joined February 2018
z0z

Karmine wrote:

z0z wrote:

Patatitta wrote:

if you're playing osu 90% chances you're gay
why are there so many anime girl bgs then
PP farming is not considered "playing" :P
gatekeepin'
Penguin
323 posts
Joined August 2013
Penguin
NEW KEYBOARD ALERT!!

Bauer Lite w/ HMX Clouds (63.5g) and GMK DMG 3
IT'S BEEN 3 YEARS AND WE'RE BACK WITH A BANGER!!!

LET'S FUCKING GO!







https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/737221082133692476/1267603240917270711/IMG_1265.jpg?ex=66a96303&is=66a81183&hm=69d803c9dc31a1ea9d46ae509ab3d35dc391333e61f8bd88534cedb776e9e95c&

I love it so much!

We're back baby.

I absolutely love "entry-level" injection molded keyboards, so when I found out that Omnitype finally released their Bauer Lite after all these years, I had to purchase one. I bought the bundle they have on their site which comes with a nice set of GMK keycaps. I have to say that I am very pleased. The entire process of ordering, unboxing and building was one of the BEST experiences I've had with this hobby.

The overall build experience was very pleasant. This board comes with a very nice instruction pamphlet that is easy to digest and understand. All the screws and hardware are separated into their own individual marked baggies, so it's virtually impossible to mix anything up. The tolerances on this keyboard are absolutely perfect. No warping or anything like that. The only complaint that I had was that it was a little hard to get the daughterboard cable set properly in the bottom case when trying to close everything up. It kept getting caught on the Zinc weight that I added to this build. VERY minor nitpick, which most people don't have to worry about because the zinc weight is an extra that a majority of people didn't purchase.

As for the keycaps, this is my first set of GMK keycaps and I absolutely adore them. They are very nice to the touch and the lettering is incredibly crisp and sharp. The colors are very bright and vivid. They produce a lot more of a higher pitched clackier sound profile compared to your run of the mill PBT keycaps. It pairs very nicely with the switches that I bought.

Speaking of the switches.. I've been out of the keyboard hobby for quite some time, so coming back and trying to learn which switch manufacturers are on the top of the game was a fairly daunting task. After a fair bit of researching, I decided to get a set of HMX Clouds. HMX are apparently some of the best factory lubed switches on the market right now, and I really did not want to spend hours upon hours of lubing, so it seemed like a no brainer. HMX is known for their "clacky" "poppy" and "bright" sound signature, and oh boy, that's exactly what they are. These are definitely my clackiest switches and I fricken love it maaaan. Most HMX switches are very light switches weighing in around 40g bottom out, but I ain't no bitch so I ordered the 63.5 gram versions.

The days of individually hand-lubing switches is long behind me now. I think the stock lube on these HMX switches are truly superb. I really don't see myself lubing switches anymore as long as I can purchase a set of HMX switches. It sounds and feels amazing. Plus, the tolerances are phenomenal. Almost NO stem wobble, no need to film them whatsoever.

This board didn't come with stabs, so I bought some Durock V2 screw-ins which work perfectly fine. I think they are probably the best stabs I've used to far. Very little modification to make them sound good. Just some lube and that's it.

I also purchased a 232g zinc weight that you can screw into the bottom of the case. I don't think it changes the sound signature too much, but it really adds a nice hefty feel to the board whenever you carry it. Definitely worth the extra little money I spent on it. Makes the board feel more "premium" overall. It also just looks cool.

It didn't come with a carrying case unfortunately, so I had to purchase a third-party case. I wish it came with one, but it's whatever.

Overall, this is probably my favorite keyboard I've built so far. :thumbsup:



Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote
oh wow a blast from the past

i will post my current keyboard in a bit
great_elmo
200 posts
Joined March 2024
great_elmo

Yep. K270 user. Feels out of place with my decently expensive mouse.
Lapizote
121 posts
Joined January 2016
Lapizote
the old rakk ilis that i had when i was 16 died like a year ago. i think i accidentally spilled some water on it and the pcb just gave up. rest in peace.

now a year ago I bought a rakk lam-ang pro barebones and fitted in the red outemus from the ilis. worked okay so far, then a month or so ago i decided to mod it a bit, and here is the result:

picture (Rakk Lam-Ang Pro; Boba U4Ts + Akko CS Ocean Blue; cheap chinese keycaps)

keycaps need some cleaning lol

around 3/4s (65 out of 87 switches, for the alphanumeric keys) of the keyboard is fitted with boba u4ts (i have no idea if its the 62g or 68g variant) that i bought from a friend for around $16 (it was just lying around and he didnt use it for around 2 years). he already lubed it with krytox 205g0, which i know is usually not recommended for tactiles (i had a friend try it out by playing mania once, he commented that the upstroke felt a lil slow which was messing up his long note releases) - but i don't really have the motivation to open up the switches just to remove 2 year-old lubing. still feels great for typing regardless

the rest of the switches are just akko ocean blues that i had lying around, i lubed them with krytox 205g0.

the stabilizers are just the stock ones that it came with. it was already pre-lubed when i opened it up, but i decided to lube it some more with krytox 205g0 (both the stems and the wire). also tried out the holee mod but i just couldn't get it right so i just removed it.

the keycaps are a random set of cinnamoroll-themed PBT keycaps that I got off datablitz for $14 (idk why the listing says royal kludge keycaps, they are not royal kludge keycaps). i don't have any more to say about them other than they feel better than the stock keycaps that the lam-ang pro came with.

the casing itself isn't really special, just a simple tray-mounted plastic case that was also already fitted with foam from the factory (i may try replacing it with eva foam to see if it changes the sound). as for the pcb i did 2 layers of the tempest mod.

as for the miscellaneous stuff: the keyboard has a bluetooth function (no 2.4 ghz though) but i never bothered to actually try it out so idk if its any good. it also has some extra features like a windows/super key disable button (actually useful as i tend to fat finger it when playing games) and a scroll wheel for adjusting rgb brightness and system volume (both of which is sadly removed in the pro max version in favour of a TFT screen - would love to try that one out sometime though because its actually gasket-mounted).

here is a typing test that i did, apologies for the sort-of crappy mic and background noise:


overall i'm pretty happy with this $60-ish (cheating because of the cheap-ass bobas i snagged) build (though I don't really have much to compare it to besides my old rakk ilis and a friend's royal kludge r65). maybe i would try changing the stabs but its not really in my priority right now (as i don't want to spend any more money on keyboards as of the moment lol)
Last edited by Lapizote , edited 3 times in total.
Kaaruumii
860 posts
Joined November 2021
Kaaruumii
tad alr knows what my keyboard looks like but once again here ya go (i edited out my foot this time lmao also i use a diff keyboard now but same keycaps this pic was hyperX alloy origins core reds nows its ck530 reds)


to give a slightly better explanation this keyboard is the CK530 with gateron reds from coolermaster, for osu mania it feels really solid and the switches press down very smoothly with next to no resistance which is perfect to me. i actually ended up swapping 4 of the keycaps with real PBT keycaps just for mania (these ones were advertised as PBT but it really doesnt feel like they are) tad predicted that the keys were going to get damaged easily and only for the W and S keys they have somewhat because of my abnormal middle finger (bike accident in 5th grade) which has a thicker nail because all of the rest of the keys are fine (slight scratches on the previous mania keys but mostly good). The best part for me was this keyboard was only 35 bucks on amazon (used but still very nice) and i would def buy another and i tried another this time with browns but i fucked up and bought the CK530 V2 which is a LITERAL downgrade, 500hz polling rate instead of 1000hz, the keyswitches are TTC aka cheap chinashits that break in a few months and even the software for the V2 doesnt properly load your lighting settings until you manually open the software and click on the lighting tab EVERY TIME YOU WANT TO LOAD YOUR CORRECT RGB SETTINGS, meanwhile the original CK530 software lets you save your rgb settings and you dont ever need to use the software ever again!

basically i think its a really nice keyboard for mania/rhythm games in general especially at a good price for what you get (yes the keycaps i bought that were not even PBT cost more than this keyboard but i love kurumi so its ok 👍
Last edited by Kaaruumii , edited 1 time in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Penguin's new kb

Penguin wrote:

NEW KEYBOARD ALERT!!

Bauer Lite w/ HMX Clouds (63.5g) and GMK DMG 3
IT'S BEEN 3 YEARS AND WE'RE BACK WITH A BANGER!!!

LET'S FUCKING GO!







https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/737221082133692476/1267603240917270711/IMG_1265.jpg?ex=66a96303&is=66a81183&hm=69d803c9dc31a1ea9d46ae509ab3d35dc391333e61f8bd88534cedb776e9e95c&

I love it so much!

We're back baby.

I absolutely love "entry-level" injection molded keyboards, so when I found out that Omnitype finally released their Bauer Lite after all these years, I had to purchase one. I bought the bundle they have on their site which comes with a nice set of GMK keycaps. I have to say that I am very pleased. The entire process of ordering, unboxing and building was one of the BEST experiences I've had with this hobby.

The overall build experience was very pleasant. This board comes with a very nice instruction pamphlet that is easy to digest and understand. All the screws and hardware are separated into their own individual marked baggies, so it's virtually impossible to mix anything up. The tolerances on this keyboard are absolutely perfect. No warping or anything like that. The only complaint that I had was that it was a little hard to get the daughterboard cable set properly in the bottom case when trying to close everything up. It kept getting caught on the Zinc weight that I added to this build. VERY minor nitpick, which most people don't have to worry about because the zinc weight is an extra that a majority of people didn't purchase.

As for the keycaps, this is my first set of GMK keycaps and I absolutely adore them. They are very nice to the touch and the lettering is incredibly crisp and sharp. The colors are very bright and vivid. They produce a lot more of a higher pitched clackier sound profile compared to your run of the mill PBT keycaps. It pairs very nicely with the switches that I bought.

Speaking of the switches.. I've been out of the keyboard hobby for quite some time, so coming back and trying to learn which switch manufacturers are on the top of the game was a fairly daunting task. After a fair bit of researching, I decided to get a set of HMX Clouds. HMX are apparently some of the best factory lubed switches on the market right now, and I really did not want to spend hours upon hours of lubing, so it seemed like a no brainer. HMX is known for their "clacky" "poppy" and "bright" sound signature, and oh boy, that's exactly what they are. These are definitely my clackiest switches and I fricken love it maaaan. Most HMX switches are very light switches weighing in around 40g bottom out, but I ain't no bitch so I ordered the 63.5 gram versions.

The days of individually hand-lubing switches is long behind me now. I think the stock lube on these HMX switches are truly superb. I really don't see myself lubing switches anymore as long as I can purchase a set of HMX switches. It sounds and feels amazing. Plus, the tolerances are phenomenal. Almost NO stem wobble, no need to film them whatsoever.

This board didn't come with stabs, so I bought some Durock V2 screw-ins which work perfectly fine. I think they are probably the best stabs I've used to far. Very little modification to make them sound good. Just some lube and that's it.

I also purchased a 232g zinc weight that you can screw into the bottom of the case. I don't think it changes the sound signature too much, but it really adds a nice hefty feel to the board whenever you carry it. Definitely worth the extra little money I spent on it. Makes the board feel more "premium" overall. It also just looks cool.

It didn't come with a carrying case unfortunately, so I had to purchase a third-party case. I wish it came with one, but it's whatever.

Overall, this is probably my favorite keyboard I've built so far. :thumbsup:




Oh man, it's been a long time.
Here we go.

Aesthetically speaking, it looks really nice. I love the semi transparent chassis of the board, it gives it a very retro look. Reminds me a lot of old handhelds like the Gameboy or GBA.
The lack of Windows keys also help with the retro aesthetics. Some people might complain of the lack of windows keys but personally I almost never use them, so it's not a great loss to me and the board does looks nicer without them so it's a plus for me personally.

For build quality, although made out of plastic, the keyboard itself looks dense. I'm sure it has a lot of foam or rubber inside as well so it looks like a sturdy board, even though it's not as well built as other boards that are made out of aluminium.

The keycaps are GMK so I'm guessing that they're doubleshot ABS, the legends are sharp and the Japanese sub legends looks nice as well. The colorway is beige and grey with a few purple accent keys which to some people may look bland, but to me they look great and fits with the retro aesthetics of the board very well.

I have not tried those switches before but they sound very interesting. Definitely super clacky.

Overall, a nice keyboard that looks fun to build and use.

7/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

great_elmo wrote:


Yep. K270 user. Feels out of place with my decently expensive mouse.
I don't rate cheapo rubber domes anymore since I don't want to fill the rankings with too mundane keyboards.

But my opinion on it is that it's a keyboard.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Lapizote's new keyboard

Lapizote wrote:

the old rakk ilis that i had when i was 16 died like a year ago. i think i accidentally spilled some water on it and the pcb just gave up. rest in peace.

now a year ago I bought a rakk lam-ang pro barebones and fitted in the red outemus from the ilis. worked okay so far, then a month or so ago i decided to mod it a bit, and here is the result:

picture (Rakk Lam-Ang Pro; Boba U4Ts + Akko CS Ocean Blue; cheap chinese keycaps)

keycaps need some cleaning lol

around 3/4s (65 out of 87 switches, for the alphanumeric keys) of the keyboard is fitted with boba u4ts (i have no idea if its the 62g or 68g variant) that i bought from a friend for around $16 (it was just lying around and he didnt use it for around 2 years). he already lubed it with krytox 205g0, which i know is usually not recommended for tactiles (i had a friend try it out by playing mania once, he commented that the upstroke felt a lil slow which was messing up his long note releases) - but i don't really have the motivation to open up the switches just to remove 2 year-old lubing. still feels great for typing regardless

the rest of the switches are just akko ocean blues that i had lying around, i lubed them with krytox 205g0.

the stabilizers are just the stock ones that it came with. it was already pre-lubed when i opened it up, but i decided to lube it some more with krytox 205g0 (both the stems and the wire). also tried out the holee mod but i just couldn't get it right so i just removed it.

the keycaps are a random set of cinnamoroll-themed PBT keycaps that I got off datablitz for $14 (idk why the listing says royal kludge keycaps, they are not royal kludge keycaps). i don't have any more to say about them other than they feel better than the stock keycaps that the lam-ang pro came with.

the casing itself isn't really special, just a simple tray-mounted plastic case that was also already fitted with foam from the factory (i may try replacing it with eva foam to see if it changes the sound). as for the pcb i did 2 layers of the tempest mod.

as for the miscellaneous stuff: the keyboard has a bluetooth function (no 2.4 ghz though) but i never bothered to actually try it out so idk if its any good. it also has some extra features like a windows/super key disable button (actually useful as i tend to fat finger it when playing games) and a scroll wheel for adjusting rgb brightness and system volume (both of which is sadly removed in the pro max version in favour of a TFT screen - would love to try that one out sometime though because its actually gasket-mounted).

here is a typing test that i did, apologies for the sort-of crappy mic and background noise:


overall i'm pretty happy with this $60-ish (cheating because of the cheap-ass bobas i snagged) build (though I don't really have much to compare it to besides my old rakk ilis and a friend's royal kludge r65). maybe i would try changing the stabs but its not really in my priority right now (as i don't want to spend any more money on keyboards as of the moment lol)

Aesthetics wise, it's not really my cup of tea, but I can see how some people may like it. It's a relatively clean looking keyboard.

The case itself has okay build quality by the looks of it. Also comes with a volume wheel, media buttons and bluetooth which are welcomed features.

Keycaps are made out of dyesubbed PBT which are very durable indeed, but personally, I just don't like the look of lol. The profile of the caps seems to be DSA or XDA or something similar and those profiles usually gives the board a very nice deep sound.

I haven't tried the boba switches but I've heard they're a solid tactile option. It sounds pretty nice in the typing demo. Quite deep and pleasant sounding. I can't really comment on feel though since I haven't tried them out yet.

Overall, a solid build. The chassis seems to be quite old now but it's still quite okay. This is a very nice budget build and seems quite fun to use.

7/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Kaarumii's new keyboard

Kaaruumii wrote:

tad alr knows what my keyboard looks like but once again here ya go (i edited out my foot this time lmao also i use a diff keyboard now but same keycaps this pic was hyperX alloy origins core reds nows its ck530 reds)


to give a slightly better explanation this keyboard is the CK530 with gateron reds from coolermaster, for osu mania it feels really solid and the switches press down very smoothly with next to no resistance which is perfect to me. i actually ended up swapping 4 of the keycaps with real PBT keycaps just for mania (these ones were advertised as PBT but it really doesnt feel like they are) tad predicted that the keys were going to get damaged easily and only for the W and S keys they have somewhat because of my abnormal middle finger (bike accident in 5th grade) which has a thicker nail because all of the rest of the keys are fine (slight scratches on the previous mania keys but mostly good). The best part for me was this keyboard was only 35 bucks on amazon (used but still very nice) and i would def buy another and i tried another this time with browns but i fucked up and bought the CK530 V2 which is a LITERAL downgrade, 500hz polling rate instead of 1000hz, the keyswitches are TTC aka cheap chinashits that break in a few months and even the software for the V2 doesnt properly load your lighting settings until you manually open the software and click on the lighting tab EVERY TIME YOU WANT TO LOAD YOUR CORRECT RGB SETTINGS, meanwhile the original CK530 software lets you save your rgb settings and you dont ever need to use the software ever again!

basically i think its a really nice keyboard for mania/rhythm games in general especially at a good price for what you get (yes the keycaps i bought that were not even PBT cost more than this keyboard but i love kurumi so its ok 👍

Aesthetically speaking this is definitely not my cup of tea lmao.
Rainbow vomit aside, the keycaps looks horrible and seems to be lasered ABS which is not very durable.

Build quality wise, it seems okay, it's as well build as any other gamer keyboard out there. But the floating exposed switches design makes it a bit more vulnerable from side knocks and drops.

The keycaps are HIDEOUS. Not to mention being super cheap lasered ABS, although I'm quite surprised it's lasted this long, but this material still attracts dirt and dust like a motherfucker and doesn't feel very good.
Not to mention, the legends and prints are horrible, barely even legible and on some keys there are no legends at all, which would be fine if you don't look at your keyboard while typing, but whilst gaming, looking for certain keys may be difficult.

The switches are Gateron reds which are okay. They don't feel or sound super crazy and there's nothing special about them. They're the switches that manufacturers often put in gamer keyboards. They feel a bit smoother than Cherry MX reds though.

Overall, it's a typical gaymer keyboard, not very special and not much to say about, but it functions and is still better than a typical Dell office keyboard.

5/10
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci
Here's a quick sound test on my current keyboard btw.
It's a FL Esports OG87 with Kailh Ice Silver linear switches.

Everything is STOCK.
I did not mod, lube or do anything to this board.

Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace
I used to be big into keyboards some time ago, but not anymore. I just want a keyboard that works. Although, if any of y'all got a cheap, red switch based board to recommend, please do. I was looking at some RedDragon 60% board a local online shop has here. The one I've now is SHIT!
Last edited by Winnyace , edited 1 time in total.
Ymir
1,922 posts
Joined June 2020
Ymir
I have an RK61, it's red switches and it feels like its good quality by my standards; but my standards are SUPER low.
Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace

Ymir wrote:

I have an RK61, it's red switches and it feels like its good quality by my standards; but my standards are SUPER low.
this?
Ymir
1,922 posts
Joined June 2020
Ymir

Winnyace wrote:

Ymir wrote:

I have an RK61, it's red switches and it feels like its good quality by my standards; but my standards are SUPER low.
this?
yep, though mine is both wired and wireless
Kaaruumii
860 posts
Joined November 2021
Kaaruumii

Tad Fibonacci wrote:

Overall, it's a typical gaymer keyboard, not very special and not much to say about, but it functions and is still better than a typical Dell office keyboard.
i find it kinda funny i think the same way about custom keyboards with the very high prices and stuff like that, i really never understood why pay $300+ for a keyboard when a mechanical gaming keyboard does the same thing. personally if i wasnt a mania player id invest in a better keyboard just to experience the quality difference but id rather spend 35 bucks every year when it eventually breaks rather than 350 bucks every year but thats just me ig

ty for the honest review even though i really like the keycap design XD these dont seem to attract dirt or dust but grease does build up from what ive experienced and its hard to clean out
Karmine
1,026 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine
How do you even break a mechanical keyboard? I've had mine for at least 5 years, played osu a lot on it and it's still good as new.
Kaaruumii
860 posts
Joined November 2021
Kaaruumii

Karmine wrote:

How do you even break a mechanical keyboard? I've had mine for at least 5 years, played osu a lot on it and it's still good as new.

not me
Last edited by Kaaruumii , edited 1 time in total.
Winnyace
754 posts
Joined June 2016
Winnyace

Kaaruumii wrote:

Overall, it's a typical gaymer keyboard, not very special and not much to say about, but it functions and is still better than a typical Dell office keyboard.

i find it kinda funny i think the same way about custom keyboards with the very high prices and stuff like that, i really never understood why pay $300+ for a keyboard when a mechanical gaming keyboard does the same thing. personally if i wasnt a mania player id invest in a better keyboard just to experience the quality difference but id rather spend 35 bucks every year when it eventually breaks rather than 350 bucks every year but thats just me ig
Some treat this as a hobby and that's fine. If they have the money to buy such expensive things, their money. If it works for them, that's great. If your current keyboard works for you, that's great.
Last edited by Winnyace , edited 1 time in total.
Reyalp51
966 posts
Joined April 2021
Reyalp51

Kaaruumii wrote:

Karmine wrote:

How do you even break a mechanical keyboard? I've had mine for at least 5 years, played osu a lot on it and it's still good as new.

not me
i actually do this to my keyboard in mania
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

Kaaruumii wrote:

i find it kinda funny i think the same way about custom keyboards with the very high prices and stuff like that, i really never understood why pay $300+ for a keyboard when a mechanical gaming keyboard does the same thing. personally if i wasnt a mania player id invest in a better keyboard just to experience the quality difference but id rather spend 35 bucks every year when it eventually breaks rather than 350 bucks every year but thats just me ig

ty for the honest review even though i really like the keycap design XD these dont seem to attract dirt or dust but grease does build up from what ive experienced and its hard to clean out

Usually, it's the feel, the sound, build quality and special features that the more expensive keyboards have that a cheap gaming one doesn't.

A well built $100 keyboard often will feel significantly better than a $40-$60 one. But yeah, feel is super subjective and not everyone cares about that too much.

A more expensive keyboard would often sound better as well as manufacturers can prelube stabilizers, mitigating stab rattle which can be an annoying sound, and they can put in better keycaps and switches that significantly affects the sound of the board. Not to mention high quality, thick plastic chassis can make the keyboard sound significantly better than a floating switch design that many gamer keyboards have.

And lastly, functionality. More expensive keyboards have special functions such as keymaps, macros, wireless and bluetooth etc which can be useful depending on your use case.

One very good example of this is the Wooting 60HE+, which is a Hall effect keyboard that allows you to manually change the actuation point of each individual keyswitches, not to mention rapid trigger, which literally gives you a significant advantage in FPS games or Rhythm games like Osu.

So yeah, depending on your use case, a luxurious expensive keyboard might be ridiculous but you do get what you pay for most of the time.
But I do get what you mean since a lot of $1000 keyboard builds are just expensive and jacked up cause of brand names and artisans and such and does not effect the overall quality and usage of the board themselves. Those I consider to be similar to an Iphone - Overall good, but overpriced.

TLDR: Cheap kb is like a regular car, it drives and take you to places. Expensive kb is like a sports car, it still drives and take you to places but it's cooler, faster and feel nicer.
Last edited by Tad Fibonacci , edited 2 times in total.
Farfocele
1,101 posts
Joined April 2020
Farfocele
I have a Purple Keychron Q1 with tactile switches. I will post and describe it later, but I love it.
Last edited by Farfocele , edited 2 times in total.
ColdTooth
1,107 posts
Joined June 2012
ColdTooth
i dont feel like posting an image but i've had a logitech g213 for what i can feel like is a decade, gone through three of them
Last edited by ColdTooth , edited 1 time in total.
abraker
Global Moderator
8,355 posts
Joined July 2014
abraker

Tad wrote:

3rd downside is the keycaps.
You'd think for the price they'd give you decent keycaps, but no they're just keycaps coated in black paint and then lasered.
This makes for very sharp looking keycaps and it makes the back lighting shines through quite well, but these caps aren't very durable and can wear off relatively quick, turning into blobs of light depending on how often you uses it.
It's been 4 years since and there is absolutely no noticeable wear off the paint or whatever you think it is. It's as sharp as day 1. That's even after giving the 4 specific keys for mania and 2 for standard proper use over the years.
Last edited by abraker , edited 2 times in total.
Tad Fibonacci
112 posts
Joined August 2015
Topic Starter
Tad Fibonacci

abraker wrote:

Tad wrote:

3rd downside is the keycaps.
You'd think for the price they'd give you decent keycaps, but no they're just keycaps coated in black paint and then lasered.
This makes for very sharp looking keycaps and it makes the back lighting shines through quite well, but these caps aren't very durable and can wear off relatively quick, turning into blobs of light depending on how often you uses it.
It's been 4 years since and there is absolutely no noticeable wear off the paint or whatever you think it is. It's as sharp as day 1. That's even after giving the 4 specific keys for mania and 2 for standard proper use over the years.
That's surprising.
Usually lazered ABS keycaps like those would deteriorate and would shine up quite quickly.
One of my old keyboard have those kind of caps too and they shined up quite badly and looked disgusting. Although the legends haven't faded yet but tbf I didn't use that board that extensively.
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