Which Mechanical Keyboard?

Simian

Simian

Simian

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
8,075
Location
Swindoniantown
I'm looking to get myself a Mechanical keyboard to replace the crappy Logitech cordless thing I have (eats batteries!!)

I'm after a Full Keyboard with the dedicated Number pad, plus a few extra Media keys would be a bonus!!

I've looked a Duky and other similar keyboards but i'm a little confused on the 'Colour' grading of the Cherry switches!!...

Can anyone recommend me a Decent (not too expensive) Mechanical Keyboard, with Media keys (optional, but it'd be nice) with Illumination and not too loud on the 'Clickety Clack' :D

Keyboards I've looked at:

Ducky Shine II
Ducky Shine 3 (not sure what the difference is)
Logitech G710+
Corsair CH-9000050-UK Vengeance K70

Not sure about any others!!... :cool:

Cheers
Sim :)
 
Simian said:
I'm looking to get myself a Mechanical keyboard to replace the crappy Logitech cordless thing I have (eats batteries!!)

I'm after a Full Keyboard with the dedicated Number pad, plus a few extra Media keys would be a bonus!!

I've looked a Duky and other similar keyboards but i'm a little confused on the 'Colour' grading of the Cherry switches!!...

Can anyone recommend me a Decent (not too expensive) Mechanical Keyboard, with Media keys (optional, but it'd be nice) with Illumination and not too loud on the 'Clickety Clack' :D

Keyboards I've looked at:

Ducky Shine II
Ducky Shine 3 (not sure what the difference is)
Logitech G710+
Corsair CH-9000050-UK Vengeance K70

Not sure about any others!!... :cool:

Cheers
Sim :)
Click to expand...

Probably better of asking in the Gaming Peripherals section.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=154
 
Switches used in Ducky etc explained:

http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/

(C) - Clicks, NC - No clicks when typing)

Gamers - Red(NC)
General use, Gaming/typing - Brown(NC), Blue(C) , Clear(NC)
Masochists - Black(NC)

I haven't got a mechanical keyboard yet, still looking at purchasing but from playing with mates keyboards I'm favouring blue or brown at the moment, red just didn't feel right when typing to me. Blue and brown felt very similar but I quite liked the clicking sound on blue :)
 
Use this to decide which keys you think would suite you best. Red/Brown are a pretty safe bet IMO for a mix of typing and gaming.

As far as the board goes, I've said a million times that you cannot go wrong with a Filco. I'm using a Majestouch 2 full size (although in hindsight should have go ta tenkeyless one) and it's amazing. Built like a tank and dead easy to clean.

Downside for you would be that there are no media keys, but you can use programs like AutoHotkey to remap certain keys to run scripts. For example I've set my Pause/Break to be a mute sound button. Works pretty well, you could do the same for play/pause/next track etc.
 
I've recently bought a Corsair K70 with Cherry red keys, absolutely love it for gaming and typing. Even my wife approves who only uses it for facebook! The keys are definitely audible when being used but you soon get used to that, however the sensation of typing on a mechanical keyboard is simply bliss.
 
Fuggan said:
Downside for you would be that there are no media keys, but you can use programs like AutoHotkey to remap certain keys to run scripts. For example I've set my Pause/Break to be a mute sound button. Works pretty well, you could do the same for play/pause/next track etc.
Click to expand...

Can't believe I hadn't thought of this before :D Thanks for that tip!!
 
I'm thinking of getting a small pack of o-rings to try, if it dampens the noise but without losing the feel then might be worth doing. However part of me gets a little bit of satisfaction from the noise as you type, kind of retro and cool :-)
 
Just bought a Coolermaster Storm with brown switches, love it. It's a small keyboard with a dedicated number pad but these double up for the arrow keys. prtsc, scrlk etc. It has backlighting too which is a bonus, you can also adjust the brightness or just light up the wsad keys, it also has a few basic multimedia keys too.
 
Fuggan said:
Heh, no worries dude! I mean who uses the Pause/Break keys anyway? :D
Click to expand...

If you excuse the dust (and the potato camera), how do you like my media keys? :cool:

12011911865_afb1db970a_b.jpg

(Don't have a pound sign, seems I use it more often than I thought too... :()

*It looks really dirty on there. It's not actually that bad. :)
 
I hummed and hawed, watched every review on youtube. I had settled for either the K70 or the logitech 710+.

I was originally going to go for a brown switch but didn't want the silver K70. That left the Logitech but I wasn't so keen on the white leds and plastic finish.

I got so fed up that even though I could have got the K70 the following day for £90 I ended up going to the purple shirt place and GLADLY paid £100 for the K70 with MX reds.

I do not regret it at all but then I could have got the CM Storm Quickfire, K70, K95 or CM Storm Trigger and they would've still been a hundred times better than the G15v2 it replaced.

The Ducky to me seems overpriced. K70 I cant recommend enough and I do not think you would be too unhappy with the Logitech 710+ either.

The K70 and 710+ both have separate media controls. The CM Storm Quickfire which is a lot cheaper features media controls too albeit through the use of a Fn key.

I think you really just need to find out what is your maximum budget however for £72.98 you cannot go wrong if of course you can live without the arrow keys etc.

EDIT: The Tt eSPorts Posidein looks like its going to take the budget crown and maybe worth a look if you can find it in stock.
 
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I jumped on the Ducky shine 3 9087 TKL, upgrading from a Logitech G19 and love it, I did go for the tenkeyless version which is cheaper but the main reason behind getting a Ducky TKL was I wanted a smaller keyboard, so the ones you've listed are all too big anyway :)
 
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