Found a good mechanical keyboard, here's what I bought..

4    08 Apr 2017 14:42 by u/vastrightwing

Some time ago, I asked what keyboards people liked and got some great answers.

Ultimately, I ended up with a FilCo Ninja. I looked at Das Keyboard, Corsair, Cherry, Azio, CoolerMaster, and a couple of others I can't remember now. I liked Das Keyboard, but you had to go with either blank keys or top printed keys. The Ninja offered side printed keys to give the cool looking black finish and the ability to actually find obscure keys when you need it.

For me, the Cherry MX Black keys gave me the most comfortable typing experience. The blues and reds just didn't work for me. The FilCo is solid, has a nice stable feel and is about as plain as it gets. I've gotten used to the mechanical sound while typing, you kind of forget about it. The wife doesn't seem to mind it either. That was my biggest concern.

If you are considering a quality mechanical keyboard, I'd say Das Keyboard or FilCo are about evenly matched. it really depends on your instinct at that point.

8 comments

1 u/WhiteRonin 08 Apr 2017 15:17

I've thought about this on and off over the years but I like my Apple keyboard.

Is this like a sensation thing?

1 u/vastrightwing [OP] 08 Apr 2017 15:23

Kind of. I mostly use a very thin laptop. The keyboard is the worst typing experience you can imagine. The keys have a very shallow throw and I tend to mis-type constantly. I finally decided to get a real keyboard. At that point, I had opened Pandora's box. There are tons of keyboards, and they all are better than my laptop's poor keyboard. The question then becomes, do I buy a $15 keyboard or a $100+ keyboard? A friend showed me his Das Keyboard. I was hooked. I really loved the feel of the mechanical keys.

1 u/RevanProdigalKnight 08 Apr 2017 20:46

The best thing about my ThinkPad was the keyboard. I'm a firm believer that the ThinkPad keyboard should be the industry standard for laptops.

That said, for you desktops I still use rubber-dome keyboards because I'm afraid I'll break a mechanical keyboard and be out the cost of a new one.

1 u/WhiteRonin 08 Apr 2017 21:31

I hate most laptop keyboards and that is a primary reason I stick with a MacBook pro and always have a spare apple desktop keyboard. I still mistype and it would take a serious effort to do ally learn all the symbol keys.

However, I do see the benefit and have followed Das Boot for a long time.

2 u/behindthetoilet 08 Apr 2017 15:36

It's one of those things you don't need but is nice to have. I use the little keyboard on my laptop all the time but rather use the mech when I'm at home. I've never met anyone that regrets buying one. People get into it and go all out with keycaps (if you do get one and the keys ware out I'd say get double shot pcb) and lights. Buy a switch sampler and try them out. Yeah your going to be spending a good bit but it'll be the last keyboard you need.

0 u/WhiteRonin 08 Apr 2017 21:28

I bet it's a preference thing. I never really liked the old IBM AT keyboards. The flashy lights would be cool but I don't game.

Ah, I'll have to try one again I guess :-)

1 u/Niggertown 10 Apr 2017 04:31

Nothing can compare to the feeling of a Model M. Solid like a rock, clacks with such a satisfying thud.

0 u/vastrightwing [OP] 10 Apr 2017 10:26

Yea. But you can't find them anymore. Sad.