Hi, So my new pc is up and running despite more technical hitches than a channel 5 broadcast and now I need to violence my keyboard. I currently use a Lycosa Mirror edition and it is awful and the worst piece of tech equipment I've ever owned. Honestly it is so badly bugged it is borderline useless. The media keyboard activates and spawns the old endless media player trick. The z key frequently stops working and now it's decided not to work during boot so I can't access the bios but works fine when windows starts. In short I've had it with this piece of junk! So I've short listed 2 keyboards for my gaming and just would like some opinions before finalising. G19 - LCD display would be nice to view my CPU and GPU temps during gameplay - Logitech gear has never let me down (Also use a G35 headset and G9 mouse). - Pretty expensive and needs it's own power as well as non mechanical. Black Widow - Very bad experience with them so far on the Lycosa, suspect quality control - Mechanical keyboard so nice to use - Looks really gorgeous and love backlighting as I play alot at night and need the lights off. So any advice from you guys before I make a choice. Kinda torn between them atm.
I'd strongly reccomend you to take a look at the thermaltake meka, the Steelseries 6g / 7g, The Zowie Celeritas, Mionix Zibal 60, Ducky 1087 / 9008 or iOne / qpad Xarmor for more gaming oriented boards. Also if you want a better mech at a budget a stock standard Cherry g80-3000 or Adesso mech pro are very good options. Mechs are fantastic. I have 2 (had 3) myself and have thrown my old rubberdomes in the bin. If you have around $130 and don't mind importing I couldn't recommend Leopolds enough. head over to www.geekhack.org for more keyboard info than you will ever need or want.
You know what that Mionix Zibal 60 looks really nice but shame about the green key colour. I'm guessing you can't change the illumination colour on it?
Nope its only available in a yellowish green. But if you don't need a warranty and are handy with a soldering iron....
ah damn lol not so handy with the old DIY myself but real shame as it looks fantastic. Don't think I can deal with green as well though with red CCFL lamps and various blues dotted about. Else that looked like one spot on keyboard! The steel series 7G looks nice but has no back lighting. Ironic that each has superb features and the ideal cherry keys but lacks something the other has that I want Honestly if that Mionix Zibal 60 Mechnical Gaming Keyboard came without the sickly green it'd be a purchase right now and I'd never even heard of them.
if you're after blue backlight the best option really is the Xarmor. There is also Deck Legend in various colors.
The xarmor does look nice as well but uses Cherry blue switches. I was to understand blacks are best for gaming but it is far from my area of expertise. How do they match up?
There really isn't a 'best' cherry switch for gaming. The Razer black widow has blues too. A bunch of professional sc2 players use blues, browns as well as blacks. Blacks are a heavier switch which requires more force to depress. Browns are probably the best 'all arounder' as they are fairly light and have a small bump mid key press at the activation point to let you know to stop instead of bottoming out the key into the keyboard body. Blues are similar in force to browns but also have an audible click. There are some other types of cherry switches, but they aren't common so I won't go into those. Really though, you'd be far better off if you can give up backlight. You'll be able to get a far better keyboard for the same or less money.
Would like to but it is awkard, I do alot of my gaming very late at night into the early hours of the morning as my gaming partner is in the US. As the wife and baby need to sleep I have all the lights off so the key backlighting really helps a tonne. Funnily enough I keep going back to that Mionix, the colour is starting to grow on me and the build quality looks superb. Ironically I'm no longer considering either of the keyboards in the header you really changed my perspective on this.
It's gotten pretty favorable early reviews asides from some minor complaints about the backlighting not being super bright. Build quality is viewed positively, It's for all purposes a thermaltake meka with backlight and a classier look.
I've just upgraded from the 'classic' g15 to the standard black widow (no backlighting or audio/usb ports). I miss the macro keys on the g15, I know the black widow has them but they record delays when you use 'on the fly' macro recording, I'd prefer it if they just recorded button presses. I haven't missed the lcd screen as much as I thought I would, although it was reassuring to see cpu/ram usage it's generally not information you need to know. I love the mechanical keys on the black widow, they justify the asking price on their own if you ask me. You get very satisfying feedback when typing (although if quiet typing is needed, say at night, they could cause an issue) and my typing speed jumped up by about 15wpm after a couple of days usage. I can't really comment on the g19, but I definitely prefer the black widow to the g15.
The audible click would be a major problem for me as it might well disturb my wife and daughter sleeping with constant clicking. I also have a very negative view of Razer due to the god awful piece of junk that is the Lycosa mirror edition I bought. Their service was hardly spectacular either and it has very much tainted them for me much like Dell. I have had a long hard look and prob will abandon the idea for backlighting and get a desk lamp instead I've taken a really good look and the Filco Majestouch keeps coming up again and again with cherry brown keys. I'm thinking blacks might be a bit too stiff for me and the brown seem to be a nice compromise. I mainly play MMO and FPS. It also seems to be a very sought after keyboard. Anyone have any feedback on this or is there something better I could opt for that would suite my FPS play better? Also looking at the Thermaltake Meka G1 for reference
If you have the budget for Filco, it is one of the best keyboards you can buy. It is definitely a very good choice. Much higher in quality than Thermaltake. I'd also highly suggest going with the tenkeyless version. It is much more comfortable for gaming since you can have you arm closer in a more natural position. Browns are a great switch, like I said earlier its the best 'all arounder'. I also mentioned before the Ducky 1087. It is very similar to the Filco, a little less in quality, but at nearly half the cost. Should run about 60gbp with shipping.
I'm pretty much swayed to a filco majestouch atm, I had a look at the keyboard company and I was surprised to see they carry a red switch version. Again from what I've red the linear are rated the best for gaming with the blacks being stiff and high acentuation force. However the reds seem to have the best of both worlds being smoother and easy fatigue wise than the blacks whilst still being linear. Given I mainly play world of tanks, BFBC2 and no doubt BF3 on release would the red be a suitable choice for this or should I go for the tactile brown.
I have a KBC Poker with reds. It's my favorite. The Filco reds are really limited and are in high demand and low supply. If they are in stock you should get it right away. They sell out fast and once they are gone there may not be more any time soon. I can assure you reds are excellent for gaming. I just didn't mention them before because they are usually much harder to find, and often have a higher price premium. They are really light though. You will probably need an adjustment period, especially coming from stiffer rubberdomes.
Perfect then I think I am settled on getting a Filco red maybe with one of those nice leather wrist rests as well Really appreciate the advice, wouldn't have even had this on my list at all if not for here!
