** The Official OcUK Mechanical Keyboard Thread **

Oblivion said:
Sounds excellent, and the good news is you are happy with the browns, so i think i will be going with these as well.

Yeah the best thing about these types of keyboards is you just keep the unit forever and if you need to in the future you can just replace the keysets.

Did you go tenkeyless or fullsize? I am thinking about tenkeyless because i never use the num pad and want the smaller size which will free up space for my mouse.
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I went full size because I'm more used to and prefer the look of full size but like you I rarely use the keypad but occasionally it does come in handy but It is possible to live without it, but I have a big desk with lots of space so I thought why not :)
 
madindehead said:
Glad you're enjoying the 6GV2 PapaLazaru :) Really is a sweet keyboard. I hope you're using it on the PS2 connector now ;)

Personally, I'm loving SteelSeries products currently. The lack of driver disk is great!
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Yeah am using the PS2 connector. Full 106 NKRO and it is a little bit quicker by a few milliseconds. :D

I am a big fan of Steelseries. Them Danish people certainly know how to make quality peripherals!
 
Still waiting for WASD to start producing the 105 key layout!!

I was thinking though - I quite like the way the Steelseries boards use the left Windows key for a media alt key. Is it possible to map, for example, Left Win + F1 to mute, etc like the steelseries has, and therefore get the same functions on any board? I could then just have my WASD board printed with the appropriate symbols on those keys! :D

Most of my computer time is spent in Linux and I'm pretty sure I can do that, but I would actually have more use for the media keys in Windows when I'm playing games...
 
The Windows key has been the bane of my life. You will notice from my pictures that I had to 'mod' my previous, the Microsoft Reclusa, by pulling it off!

I am an odd gamer in that I am left handed, but still use WASD. I even hold the mouse funny as my trigger finger is my left index, even though I still use the left hand side button to shoot.

So many times I have been gaming and hit the windows key in error. No more. :D
 
I am starting to wish I'd got the full Filco, I keep reaching for the numpad :( I'm sure I'll get used to it but it was much faster entering long numbers (like credit card and stuff) with the numpad.
 
Shamikebab said:
I am starting to wish I'd got the full Filco, I keep reaching for the numpad :( I'm sure I'll get used to it but it was much faster entering long numbers (like credit card and stuff) with the numpad.
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I had the same problem but you soon get used to not having a numpad.
 
PapaLazaru said:
So many times I have been gaming and hit the windows key in error. No more. :D
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This is one thing I like about my G15 - it has a slider switch to disable the windows keys!!! :D

I'm looking through this thread and wondering if I'd see any benefit in changing keyboard. I don't really use the LCD functionality of the G15 that much and it doesn't feel amazing for typing tbh - I sometimes miss letters if I'm typing really quickly. I quite miss my old Cherry (RIP).
 
PianoBasher said:
I'm looking through this thread and wondering if I'd see any benefit in changing keyboard. I don't really use the LCD functionality of the G15 that much and it doesn't feel amazing for typing tbh - I sometimes miss letters if I'm typing really quickly. I quite miss my old Cherry (RIP).
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Just get one. ;)

Well after a few nights of gaming with it, it is safe to say I am NEVER going back to a non-mechanical. I love this thing. I was a little worried about the black switches as they are a little springy when you first try them. I have experienced zero 'finger fatigue' which I know some people have experienced. They make a nice clicky noise when I type and are so smooth it is unreal.

I am slowly mastering half key presses for gaming which is all that is needed, as they activate about half way down. Maybe it is a placebo affect, but I am sure I am a little sharper when I game as well.

All in all. I can very much recommend the Steelseries 6G V2, which can be had for less than £70 delivered out there.
 
My mk-85 with browns came today.

It's great to type on The key spacing is miles better than the sidewinder x4 and I really like the browns. It is a fair amount louder than the Eclipse 2 that I had but I expect thats got more to do with me bottoming out on the keys rather than the browns themselves. The back lighting is good and the media keys aren't as badly spaced as I thought they would be.

There are a few minor points against it. The wrist rest has a rubber coating that makes it slippery (hopefully that is just because it's new). The illumination on the caps and num locks indicators are a tad bright. The other minor thing is so minor it's hardly worth mentioning, the key caps on the vowels have áéíóú on them in the bottom right hand corner despite being a UK layout.

So far I'm happy with my purchase!
 
Can someone tell me what Browns are like for gaming? Particularly when using the WASD keys, which often get double tapped or held down for long periods of time? Is this ok on Browns?

I can't decide between a linear switch or tactile one...
 
Just to add this into the metling pot, I found this description on another forum and thought its worth sharing, and its pushing me towards tactile as a best of both worlds for gaming and typing..

"You still don't understand what the difference is between a linear and a tactile...

A linear doesn't require to be bottomed out, it activates halfway through like any other Cherry switch. But you will probably bottom out anyway since you have no feedback, audio or tactile, to tell you if it's pressed or not. Blacks are activated at 60g and bottomed out at 80g. You will likely often bottom them out (well I guess over time you'll get used to only pressing them half way through) when you use them so think of them as 80g keys for gaming.

A tactile switch has a "bump" of resistance. You need to apply 55g of force on browns (65 on clears) to get through that bump, and then it activates. To bottom out you'll need up to 55g (because the resistance drops after the bump, then increases linearly like blacks, just with less resistance), but if you're typing you'll easily learn not to go any farther than halfway through since the bump tells you that the key is pressed.

For gaming this doesn't have any impact, it's just a 55g key. It's perfect for typing and also good for mashing and 'fatigue'. In fact, if you learn to press the key repeatedly without bottoming it out instead of mashing, then it will be even faster than blacks.

Finally, I doubt the 5gram difference will make it easier to accidentally press the keys. Personally I don't think it's possible to press 55g by accident. The keys don't "sink" when your fingers rest on them.

If anything, the tactile nature of the brown would make it harder to press by accident since you'll quickly get used to the bump and know how much force is required to get past it. If you're expecting to press a key any moment, and your trigger happy finger is unknowingly already starting to press on the key, then I would expect browns to stop that simply because of the BUMP. The linear will 'sink' progressively instead.

If you know you don't need any better than pressing 6 keys at a time + alt/shift/ctrl/win then you don't need PS/2.

Also even though I said "this might be better because" I personally don't think it'll make any difference for gaming. The browns just happen to be good at something else than gaming."
 
Oblivion said:
I've not tried any mechanical keys before, but will probably get a Filco soon with Browns... i am hoping these are ok and a good all rounder...
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I haven't tried the browns yet either, but I'm sure they'd easily meet your hopes of being 'ok', and they are a good all-rounder.
Oblivion said:
Sounds excellent, and the good news is you are happy with the browns, so i think i will be going with these as well.
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It is difficult to choose when it's difficult to compare the options side by side, but if you're having to go with opinions from others, browns are the most popular all-in-one choice.

Oblivion said:
I can't decide between a linear switch or tactile one...
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Indeed, it's a tough choice. This is my take on the options:

Blues - great for typing and in reality, probably fine for gaming (assuming it's not pro gaming). But the noise means they're not an option for me.

Blacks - great for gaming, but too heavy to type on. I only had a quick go with the Steelseries, so I appreciate it's possible that some could learn how much force to use (ie, not to bottom out), but I'm sure I couldn't learn, so blacks aren't for me.

Reds - great for gaming, typing unknown (to me). The consistent feel for typing would be good. I'd definitely be bottoming out, and I may well press some keys by mistake (I currently rest my fingers on the keys) - without trying, I won't know.

Browns - fine for gaming (probably as good as the others for me, as I'm a light gamer) and ok for typing. Not being highly skilled at typing I imagine I'll get mixed feedback from the keys due to applying mixed pressure on them (so sometimes a nice tactical bump, other times nothing). So not perfect, but without testing the reds, these would be my safest bet.

I don't like the idea that beginners get a certain key, because at over £100 for a keyboard, I'll want to choose one a stick with it for a very long time.
 
Oblivion said:
If you know you don't need any better than pressing 6 keys at a time + alt/shift/ctrl/win then you don't need PS/2.
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Are there games that do need more than 6 keys pressed at a time? The usual problem with ghosting is that you get it with just 3 keys pressed at a time, 6 would be more than enough for the games I've played.
 
Triggaaar said:
Are there games that do need more than 6 keys pressed at a time? The usual problem with ghosting is that you get it with just 3 keys pressed at a time, 6 would be more than enough for the games I've played.
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Is this ghosting the thing where you end up holding down a combination of keys which then confuses the game? ie: in an FPS sometimes you get stuck moving in one direction despite not holding the key down, then have to restart the game... ?
 
Triggaaar said:
I don't like the idea that beginners get a certain key, because at over £100 for a keyboard, I'll want to choose one a stick with it for a very long time.
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This is a very good point, and the reason why i am putting so much thought into what switch to get. For £100+ i don't want to end up regretting it 1, 2 years down the line and end up replacing the K/B.
 
Having several around me at all times, the keys i like the most for gaming are reds, the keys i used every day are blues. I think if i didnt have blues, then i would chose browns, but given that im only playing small amounts of FPS games, but do a lot of typing, the blues are perfect for me. If depends how aggressive you want to go in terms of gaming, some gamers only use their keyboard for gaming, with limited amounts of time spent typing. In those cases, blacks and reds seem to be the main choice. If you decide what you do with your keyboard, then you decide what switch you want, though if you pick blues, then start playing a game that requires lots of double tapping, you may have issues, so planning is important.
 
It's interesting because Filco (which is the board i have decided on) only seems to come in Black, Blue, or Brown varieties on a particular UK site (not mentioning names as its against the forum rules), and i would choose Red over Black if going to a pure gaming K/B. So the choice is really Blue or Brown, in which case Brown wins as i don't want the loud click. So that situation is kind of deciding the whole thing for me...
 
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