Don’t you think that Numpad made the keyboard a bit too longish? Wouldn’t it be better to try a ten keyless version? They are shorter and really functional. Great for gaming because your mouse hand do not need to reach too far out!
Welcome to the mechanical keyboard group!!
You know I was testing it out with some games yesterday and I was just thinking that my arms were pretty far apart. It’s something I need to consider. Any recommendations with brown switches? I’m doing some gaming but quite a bit of coding on it too. Preferably under $150.
Ducky brand and Cooler Master Quick Fire Rapid are what I would recommend for around $150. My absolute favourite is Code Clear http://codekeyboards.com
Read this website and tell me what you think?
MX Clear is slightly stiffer than MX Brown.
I’ll also toss http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/wasd-v2-87-key-custom-mechanical-keyboard.html into the mix.
I have been happy with my filco. No stupid fn key. Layout fits my needs. No bling. They have lasted me a few years so far which is a personal record.
Code keyboard is made by WASDkeyboard so I agree wholeheartedly with Armando as well.
Going strong since March of 2011 for me. Part of my M (bottom left corner) and O (bottom-most smidgen) are gone, as well as most of the L (top corner remains). There’s some blurriness going on on the letters in Backspace. And, of course, things are a little dustier and grimier than they were on purchase-day, but aside from that, it’s in astonishing condition. Worth noting I’ve typed millions of keys on it in the interim (8.86M, according to my Whatpulse statistics for my Desktop PC); and it’s been an absolute trooper the whole way through, and an absolute pleasure to use. Unfortunately, Filcos are also near the top-end of the price-bracket for Cherry MX-based keyboards, so I always hesitate a little before recommending them, especially because they do seem so “bare-bones” (which is part of their charm, IMO).
Interesting to note, based on my WP stats, that I “only” average about 7,000 keys/day on my desktop. That seems so low to me!
I love my Ducky Shine 3 TKL. I’ve been typing on laptop keyboards for basically the last ten years between home and work. Part of the reason I transitioned to Surface Pro + Desktop Dock instead of large laptop was to have a good excuse to buy a nice mechanical keyboard after trying out one briefly at a friend’s place. People just don’t know what they’re missing.
My Filco is 2011 too. My WASD caps are gone :p
For work I have a DAS Model S Pro at 18 months. I don’t recommend it for home use / gaming because the FN key can get in the way. Otherwise it’s a fine keyboard and seems to be a decent price $140. Reviews warn of lower standards in this particular model so beware.
Look at the layout carefully before you buy if you’re gaming - in particular the lower left corner. CTRL and ALT are used so much in games you don’t want an FN key in the way eating keystrokes.
Thanks for all the suggestions. You guys are making me spend all my money on KEYBOARDS!!! Nuts!!!
So I’ll use the CM and the g710+ for a week and decide if I prefer TKL or full size and return one of them. I’m thinking for home I’ll probably prefer the TKL.
So my advice to everyone is if you don’t have like $200+ to blow on freakin keyboards just don’t ever try a mechanical…EVER!
Now sir, would you like some fries, errr… Beautiful key caps with that mech keyboard? :)
Keyboards are cheap. It’s the damn caps that’s a killer. Don’t even try those!!!
I have the TT Mechanical Mini Gaming keyboard.
It’s maybe my 4th mechanical keyboard and I’m very happy with it. Cheap, small and reliable so far. (about a year)
That’s a nice keyboard, phereo, but why is it called mini, when it’s not really mini. I mean, it doesn’t have numpad but it’s still relative large compare to some other mini keyboards like Poker or Ducky mini. Is the size smaller? Do you have a comparison picture?
It DOES have numpad but it doesn’t have stuff such as function key / windows key. I don’t have a comparison pic but it’s maybe 3/4th the size of a normal keyboard, you can also see stuff like the arrow keys being pushed in below the enter key, no “home” key either.
Sure it’s not a server keyboard, those are cute but it’s definitely smaller than a full sized one. I wouldn’t have bought it if it didn’t have the numpad keys though. My primary reason for buying it was that I felt that my mouse arm (right) had to hover too far away from my center to control the mouse due to the pure width of a normal keyboard. And I like when keys have a heavy click feel to them.
Btw I had this one before
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-k60-performance-fps-mechanical-gaming-keyboard
I thought it would be the be all end all of gaming keyboards for me but it was plagued with repeating button issues and after about a year some of them simply stopped working. What a POS, I threw it on the ground.
Oh, hmm, you are right about the numpad. Somehow, I didn’t realise that and just assume it is a ten-keyless. This made it like my Thinkpad USB scissor switch keyboard, which is kinda weird but very functional. This is an interesting mech keyboard indeed.
I’ve had the G710+ for a while now and while I really like it (and the price was right as it’s frequently on sale), it is a bit on the long side. I wish I could saw off the “G-keys” on the left. I have yet to use them and once in a while my pinky will hit the G6 key by mistake instead of CTRL (solution: I’ve reassigned G6 to be CTRL). Maybe I’ll start playing an MMO where those keys come in handy. Other than that, it’s a solid keyboard and the keys feel great without being too clickety-clackity.
This was always my concern with recommending the Razer BlackWidow (well, that, and the first year or two’s worth of models were sort of shaky in the QA department). Then again, I’ve never really understood the appeal of 1337 g4m3r boards to begin with, so I probably wasn’t the target audience for those over-extended 132-key setups anyway ;)
For me is hitting G1 instead of ESC. Yeah, I really don’t use the macro keys at all and would actually prefer a model without them.
That TT mini looks a lot like a CM storm quickfire TK:
http://gaming.coolermaster.com/en/products/keyboards/quickfiretk/
Got my CM Quickfire Rapid-i TKL. It’s so much smaller than the g710+. Without the o rings it’s quite a bit louder and the longer travel distance is going to take a bit getting use to. Maybe I’ll buy some o rings if I don’t get use to it. I have so much deskspace now. It is nice to have my mouse closer and the keyboard centered directly in front of me.
One thing though I couldn’t power this keyboard + my logitech gaming mouse at the same time through my usb kvm. It worked fine with the g710+ though. Once I swapped in my logitech m510 on the kvm it worked fine. I moved my gaming mouse to be hooked directly up to my gaming rig so all is good. I’ll try and put in some time in with this TKL over the weekend and see how I like it.
WTF: o-rings are $18??? Are these people high? Man the g710+ really is a bargain.
