The Mechanical Keyboards Club

[The Pook]

  On 03/12/2023 at 18:44, neurotix said:

 

Disagree. Sorry. Had a Redragon TKL board at one point, and it had Outemu blues, the metal clang and very loud click of the switches was pretty terrible and it wasn't worth modding.

Expand  

 

  Quote

Outemu switches are usually in dog * cheap mech keyboards so they get a bad rep

Expand  

 

[neurotix]

Yeah, point taken I suppose. The Redragon boards are pretty damn good for $20 all things considered.

 

Check out the brand YUNZII on Amazon. It's the brand of keyboard I'm getting and modding to have Kailh Box Pale Blue switches and Sanrio Cinnamaroll keycaps for my wife. They make hot swappable boards, but they make cheaper ones too. The numpad I got from them for her last year was only like $20, swappable and came with decently cute keycaps for her - it has held up well.

 

Edit: just found out that YUNZII's prices are a lot cheaper if you're a Prime member. We got the keyboard for $98 but if you're not a Prime member it's $135.

Edited December 3, 2023 by neurotix

[Supercrumpet]

  On 01/12/2023 at 21:14, Fluxmaven said:

Browns are just scratchy reds... Barely tactile. 

 

I do have a board with lubed Gateron Browns that's super smooth and quiet that feels nice, but it's too light for me. I'd agree that Gateron versions of all the common switches are better than the legit Cherry counterparts. 

 

I like heavy tactile and/or clicky switches. My favorite boards to type on currently have Glorious Pandas, BOX Royal, BOX Navy, and Topre. It's fun to bust out the old Model M with buckling springs from time to time as well. There is a point where you get too much of a good thing lol. I have a meme board with 150G springs in some Gateron Greens 

 

 

Expand  

 

I'm in the same boat, would love to try some 150gs lol. And I still really want a buckling spring board.

[neurotix]

Yeah, I need to get a IBM Model M and PS/2 to USB adapter. Been wanting one for years. Last I checked they were like $90 on eBay, but that was years ago.

 

Maybe I'll ask for one and the adapter for my birthday in July. I've been really spoiled with PC parts for my rig all year. And we just finished getting all our Xmas gifts for everyone too so, now is not the time.

Edited December 4, 2023 by neurotix

[Sir Beregond]

To think we had a few Model M's growing up and they probably got junked by my parents! Now I remember those keyboards being horribly loud, but I have to admit they were nice to type on. I just have this aversion to loud keys I guess.

 

Would there be something non-clicky but maybe more tactile than Browns you guys would suggest trying?

[Fluxmaven]

  On 04/12/2023 at 19:25, Sir Beregond said:

To think we had a few Model M's growing up and they probably got junked by my parents! Now I remember those keyboards being horribly loud, but I have to admit they were nice to type on. I just have this aversion to loud keys I guess.

 

Would there be something non-clicky but maybe more tactile than Browns you guys would suggest trying?

Expand  

You can always just pick up a cheap board that's hot swappable and pick up whatever switches you want to try. If you hate them, just swap to something else without having to buy a whole new keyboard. Microcenter has a full aisle of keyboard switches, keycaps, etc in addition to all the keyboards they sell. 

 

I am probably going to pick up some of these Panda switches. I have the Glorious Pandas in one of my boards and they are great. Curious to see how he Redragon ones compare. 

microcenter.com

WWW.MICROCENTER.COM

 

[neurotix]

  On 04/12/2023 at 19:25, Sir Beregond said:

To think we had a few Model M's growing up and they probably got junked by my parents! Now I remember those keyboards being horribly loud, but I have to admit they were nice to type on. I just have this aversion to loud keys I guess.

 

Would there be something non-clicky but maybe more tactile than Browns you guys would suggest trying?

Expand  

You could try Kailh Box Burnt Orange (tactile, 60g actuation) or regular Kailh clone Browns. There is also Kailh Box Silent Browns.

 

For a swappable board, I'd recommend a Keychron K8 Pro which is what I have with Box Navies in it. If price is no object.

 

....what can I say, I'm a Kailh fanboy

[neurotix]

So in a Discord DM, Supercrumpet suggested I document the process of building the board I've got for my wife to keep the thread going. You can either read and look at these posts and follow along, or ignore them.

 

A bunch of stuff came yesterday:.

 

 

We have the pink plastic cover up top, keyboard in the center, and Cinnamoroll keycaps and red o-rings at the bottom.

 

About to open and test the board and verify it works before getting to removing keycaps and Gateron Yellow switches.

 

The Box Pale Blue switches I ordered I will have ???. We ordered them last Thursday or something but USPS tracking says shipping label created, item not yet delivered to post office and it's said that since Thursday.

 

EDIT: Tested it and everything seems to be working fine. @Sir Beregond you might like a board with Gateron Yellows and blue O-Rings, they are linear switches and very quiet.

 

Here is a pic of the board stock before I remove keycaps and switches. In the top right was a removable aluminum rectangle that had the famous Japanese wave art on it, no good for a Cinnamoroll keeb. To my surprise, it had switch sockets underneath (For Print Screen, Scroll Lock and a few others missing)

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by neurotix

[The Pook]

  On 04/12/2023 at 19:25, Sir Beregond said:

Would there be something non-clicky but maybe more tactile than Browns you guys would suggest trying?

Expand  

 

Boba U4S 

 

[neurotix]

So in the reviews for the board I'm doing, people said the switches are really hard to get out. The YUNZII/Keynovo numpad I did last year was a nightmare. Thankfully, they are quite easy to get out on the YUNZII IF98.

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by neurotix

[Supercrumpet]

  On 04/12/2023 at 18:31, neurotix said:

Yeah, I need to get a IBM Model M and PS/2 to USB adapter. Been wanting one for years. Last I checked they were like $90 on eBay, but that was years ago.

 

Maybe I'll ask for one and the adapter for my birthday in July. I've been really spoiled with PC parts for my rig all year. And we just finished getting all our Xmas gifts for everyone too so, now is not the time.

Expand  

 

Have you looked into Unicomps? I think that's what I'm leaning towards as far as finally pulling the trigger on a buckling spring board one day, but I'm not 100% set on that over an actual Model M just yet.

 

  On 04/12/2023 at 20:08, Fluxmaven said:

You can always just pick up a cheap board that's hot swappable and pick up whatever switches you want to try. If you hate them, just swap to something else without having to buy a whole new keyboard. Microcenter has a full aisle of keyboard switches, keycaps, etc in addition to all the keyboards they sell. 

 

I am probably going to pick up some of these Panda switches. I have the Glorious Pandas in one of my boards and they are great. Curious to see how he Redragon ones compare. 

Fetching info... microcenter.com

WWW.MICROCENTER.COM

 

Expand  

 

Definitely seconding this. Hot swappable boards changed the way I do all of my keyboard-related purchasing.

 

  On 04/12/2023 at 20:28, neurotix said:

So in a Discord DM, Supercrumpet suggested I document the process of building the board I've got for my wife to keep the thread going. You can either read and look at these posts and follow along, or ignore them.

 

A bunch of stuff came yesterday:.

 

 

We have the pink plastic cover up top, keyboard in the center, and Cinnamoroll keycaps and red o-rings at the bottom.

 

About to open and test the board and verify it works before getting to removing keycaps and Gateron Yellow switches.

 

The Box Pale Blue switches I ordered I will have ???. We ordered them last Thursday or something but USPS tracking says shipping label created, item not yet delivered to post office and it's said that since Thursday.

 

EDIT: Tested it and everything seems to be working fine. @Sir Beregond you might like a board with Gateron Yellows and blue O-Rings, they are linear switches and very quiet.

 

Here is a pic of the board stock before I remove keycaps and switches. In the top right was a removable aluminum rectangle that had the famous Japanese wave art on it, no good for a Cinnamoroll keeb. To my surprise, it had switch sockets underneath (For Print Screen, Scroll Lock and a few others missing)

 

Expand  

 

Looks nice! The top right plate covering unused switch "sockets" is really odd indeed. Never seen that before.

 

Typing this on the Rosewill K85 from last month's FaT, thanks again @neurotix! I'll toy with it some (lighting, switches, o-rings) and report back in a few days hopefully.

[neurotix]

Hey @Sir Beregond

 

 

Not the most enthusiastic video, he says they are just ok. Not good, not bad. But maybe you can tell from the sound test if you would like them or not.

Edited December 6, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

"Have you looked into Unicomps? I think that's what I'm leaning towards as far as finally pulling the trigger on a buckling spring board one day, but I'm not 100% set on that over an actual Model M just yet. "

 

I have in the past. They're the company that makes brand new Model M keyboards using the exact same remanufactured parts and switches as IBM did in the 80s, right?

 

I should look into that because most of the cheaper Model Ms I saw on eBay yesterday were discolored from UV radiation. One in good shape that is the original color is like $150-200.

 

This one looks great and the price is decent:

 

Unicomp, Inc.: Classic 101 White Buckling Spring USB

WWW.PCKEYBOARD.COM

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

So for the keyboard build I'm doing, I can't really progress on it or put it together because I don't have the switches for it yet. It has the stock keycaps and Gateron Yellow switches removed.

 

I am waiting on switchcaptain.com for 110 pcs Kailh Box Pale Blue switches, we ordered last Thursday and they made a shipping label but didn't actually take the package to the Post office until today, and it's saying that I will have them on Monday by 9pm which I assume means Tuesday. It basically took them a whole week to deliver the switches to the post office.

 

Then we get a survey letter in an email. Basically asking us for a review and saying "Hey, you've had your product for a while now, can you please do a review and get $20 off your next purchase". But I don't have the product and it took you an effing week after creating a shipping label to deliver it to the post office

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

Also, we did click their review link in the email. It goes here. I left a one star review because of the shipping thing, and it is not visible as the last review made. If you filter by one star reviews you can see it.

 

They have no Google listing where you can leave reviews knowing they are shown, including the bad ones. Basically they curate what reviews they show on that judge.me site to make themselves look good.

 

If you can get switches or anything else from NovelKeys, kbdfans, Amazon, or a host of other reputable sites I suggest you do. And avoid switchcaptain.com. Even if I get my switches, that 7 days to mail it after the shipping label was created is ridiculous.

Edited December 8, 2023 by neurotix

[neurotix]

The switches came but I'm about to go to a concert. Here is how they were packaged, in a tin inside some plastic.

 

 

 

 

[pio]

  On 09/12/2023 at 23:15, neurotix said:

The switches came but I'm about to go to a concert. Here is how they were packaged, in a tin inside some plastic.

 

 

 

 

Expand  

So wait a second.  They claimed you'd have them by Monday.  Here it is Saturday and you got them early, 2 days early.  But.....you left a 1 star review because of the late shipping?  I'm confused.  

Honestly, shipping the switches in a tin I'd think would be a wonderful way to do it.  Now you have a collector's tin, you can repurpose the tin for other switches or well, whatever you want. 

This was why I was trying to tell you on Discord to just chill and wait a bit.  I've had that delay happen a ton with ebay purchases.  Sometimes the tracking does that, where it gets stuck for a few days.  It's also pretty regular business practice to give smaller companies 3-5 business days for processing of orders.  Not everybody is Amazon and can get your order sent out IMMEDIATELY next day unfortunately, as impatient as we all are.    

[LabRat]

  On 10/12/2023 at 00:34, pioneerisloud said:

So wait a second.  They claimed you'd have them by Monday.  Here it is Saturday and you got them early, 2 days early.  But.....you left a 1 star review because of the late shipping?  I'm confused.  

Honestly, shipping the switches in a tin I'd think would be a wonderful way to do it.  Now you have a collector's tin, you can repurpose the tin for other switches or well, whatever you want. 

This was why I was trying to tell you on Discord to just chill and wait a bit.  I've had that delay happen a ton with ebay purchases.  Sometimes the tracking does that, where it gets stuck for a few days.  It's also pretty regular business practice to give smaller companies 3-5 business days for processing of orders.  Not everybody is Amazon and can get your order sent out IMMEDIATELY next day unfortunately, as impatient as we all are.    

Expand  

99% agreed.

the 1%: I can kinda 'see' being upset @ the base-packaging. Though, depending on marketing/pricing, I can also see the vendor/manu's PoV. That's probably the most affordable way to bulk-package them.

IMO, the 'proper' way would be layered-in cheap molded-plastic trays, or cut-out closed-cell foam. However, doing so drastically affects the density and cost-efficiency of freight (at scale).

TBQH, as long as every switch works, you're (typically) never seeing them (once keycapped)...
Overall, I too would be very-appreciative of the community-collectable tin.

 

Edit:

I went ahead and actually read what this is all about.

Seriously?

The details in the reviews illicit a picture of a fairly well-ran operation yet, were used to support saying they were slow?
 

IMO here,
USPS is responsible for the lacking tracking, not The Vendor.
I'd be giving benefit of the doubt, as I've had this kind of thing happen multiple times with multiple Vendors/Indiv.sellers.

 

Note: This is also 'expected behavior' for semi-DropShipped purchases; actually coming from overseas on regular shipments and handed-off to USPS.

 

Unless The Vendor was within (reasonable) driving distance, I don't see the problem.
[Ex. I've "RMA'd" in-store w/ Monoprice in SoCal]

 

Funny, I'm actually interested in purchasing from this vendor, 100% due to "attempted bad PR"

(and I don't even need keyswitches... Tho, do they have metal keycaps? )

 

Edit 2: Oh, darn; no fullmetal keycaps.
Only Keycaps they have listed: 

SwitchCaptain x SIKAKEYB - Cherry Forrest Keycaps

WWW.SWITCHCAPTAIN.COM

---

Green and white double-shot PBT keycaps featuring a cherry profile height with an increased spherical curve.

Edited December 10, 2023 by LabRat

[neurotix]

Fair enough guys, fair enough. We buy too much stuff on Prime. I'm spoiled by it and spoiled in general.

 

My wife also pointed out to me in the review that there is no such thing as 11/31.

 

Sorry for my complaints here. I was just frustrated at how long it took to ship, but point taken that they're a small business etc.

 

Also, if you check other people's reviews on that judge.me site, you can see that they DO (or did?) package the switches in the foam blocks with a square cutout for each switch, as mentioned - the proper way.

 

The packaging is cool but these cost $63 for 110 switches. If they cost $50~ and just came in a big bag I'd have preferred that.

 

Thanks for the feedback/constructive criticism. Also, sorry for my multiple posts in a row and if I'm annoying anyone following this thread.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by neurotix

[pio]

  On 10/12/2023 at 16:25, neurotix said:

Fair enough guys, fair enough. We buy too much stuff on Prime. I'm spoiled by it and spoiled in general.

 

My wife also pointed out to me in the review that there is no such thing as 11/31.

 

Sorry for my complaints here. I was just frustrated at how long it took to ship, but point taken that they're a small business etc.

 

Also, if you check other people's reviews on that judge.me site, you can see that they DO (or did?) package the switches in the foam blocks with a square cutout for each switch, as mentioned - the proper way.

 

The packaging is cool but these cost $63 for 110 switches. If they cost $50~ and just came in a big bag I'd have preferred that.

 

Thanks for the feedback/constructive criticism. Also, sorry for my multiple posts in a row and if I'm annoying anyone following this thread.

 

 

Expand  

Best practice is to wait until whatever you've ordered is actually in your hands before you review something.  I can completely understand the gripe about the packaging, absolutely!  But they got them to you, safely, and early.  That's worth some credit.  I'd have knocked a star off 4/5, for sure, for the packaging gripe.  Good packaging is an absolute MUST and it drives me bonkers too when things just show up in a bag. 

 

Also, the shipping thing that was your original complaint, I've seen that time and time again buying junk on ebay.  The first time I saw a seller doing that, printing the label and sitting on it for days, it drove me bonkers too.  Thing is though, USPS doesn't always scan packages like they're supposed to either so the tracking gets updated.
 

I'm glad you got your switches, and that they came in safely.  Now let's quit our complaining and get to modding, eh?  

Edited December 10, 2023 by pioneerisloud

[Sir Beregond]

You shoulda seen how work shipped me my "new" work laptop. Talk about no care given.

[Kaz]

  On 01/12/2023 at 02:46, Sir Beregond said:

I like MX Reds 

 

What I don't like are MX Blues that are loud just to be loud.

 

I'd be willing to try a non-linear switch again, but I don't want loud clicky nonsense.

Expand  

 

I love MX blues.  My first experience typing was with typewriters, blues audiable click always reminds me of a typewriter.

 

I tried MX browns, they are alright but without orings the bottom out sound makes them arguably as loud as blues, and the sound isn't rewarding

 

When my 2nd keyboard died I went back to blues.  I'd like to see what holy pandas and topre switches are about, but there's little point in trying them when I already love blues.

[Alex]

  On 11/12/2023 at 03:20, Kaz said:

 

I love MX blues.  My first experience typing was with typewriters, blues audiable click always reminds me of a typewriter.

 

I tried MX browns, they are alright but without orings the bottom out sound makes them arguably as loud as blues, and the sound isn't rewarding

 

When my 2nd keyboard died I went back to blues.  I'd like to see what holy pandas and topre switches are about, but there's little point in trying them when I already love blues.

Expand  

Try Kailh box jades - they're like Blues but better in every way.

[neurotix]

Here's Box Jades:

 

 

[neurotix]

 

Alright, so the custom build for my wife for Christmas is finished. I could post a bunch of pics of the build process, but I don't want to clog the thread up more than I already have so I'm just posting the finished pic. This one will definitely be shared between the two of us. It's going to be wrapped up to be opened on Christmas, so I'll do a typing/sound test video at the end of the month.

 

YUNZII/Keynovo IF98, Kailh Box Pale Blue switches, POPKEEY *Cinnamoroll keycaps, ThreeBulls red o-rings.

 

Please add it to my list in the spreadsheet, @Supercrumpet

 

* Cinnamoroll is a Sanrio (Hello Kitty) character. He is a puppy with a Cinnamon roll shaped tail. He has very long ears that let him fly. Being with a Sanrio fan for 17 years, you become one too, lol. Cinnamoroll is my favorite Sanrio character next to Keroppi the frog.

Edited December 11, 2023 by neurotix