Peripherals Mechanical Keyboards

Figured I should chip in here - it's been exactly a year to the day that I received my K8 from this very forum and it's been my daily ever since. I'm not 100% sold on the switches as they feel a bit light to the touch for my liking, but coming from MX Blues (and before that, MX Greens... yes, an entire board with those!) I understand that my fingers are accustomed to a lot more resistance.

The best board I ever owned was the K8's predecessor, the CM MK750 in MX Blue flavour, which is now in the care of ModSquid, again from this very forum. I've always been partial to MX Blues for typing, and I'm grateful to my brother for keeping his original 1990s Cherry G80-3000.

Much like @Mr_Mistoffelees I'm totally sold on TKL and currently have two of 'em. I used my Poker at the office for a short while but the lack of dedicated arrow keys eventually killed it for me.

 

No, not really. I have the LEDs turned off anyway, so not something that bothers me as I touchtype, but if you like your RGB shine through, I would not get a south facing board. Long term, I found some annoying issues with the GMMK Pro. The plate fitment is poor, and switches come out when you remove keycaps. Third party stabilisers are a pain to fit. The gasket mounting is poor as well. Things have moved on in the entry level custom mech scene, and I would now recommend the Keychron Q boards as an entry into all this rather than the Glorious board.

 

I've just started the process of building my first 'custom' mech keyboard after using off the shelf options for many years.
Gone for the Akko Mod007v2 and have been spending the last few evenings lubing and filming my switches (Gateron Milky Yellows) and stabilizers.
I've got some Akko Jelly Blacks coming as well to try out.

 

Cheers. I put my keycaps on upside down as a test and came to that same conclusion on rgb shine through. I'm no touch typist. North facing does severely limit choices though.

 

I was very tempted to order one of those myself when the ISO version came into stock, but I'm trying to be a good boy...

 

Akko Mod007 would be a great north facing choice.

 

I wish there were more Alice layouts with an F row though.

 

Got a new one coming. Bagged it used on Ebay for £50.



I adore my Huntsman Elite for everything but gaming. Not because I don't like the keys or opticals. No I love them. The problem is the size of the bloody thing. It means I need to sit splayed out and I keep smacking my mouse into the jog wheel when gaming. I really fancied some pudding key caps but funds were tight. Then I spotted these for a fiver.



Customer return. A cheeky customer at that.



TBH I don't want to touch the two top rows any way, so at the price they were perfect.

 

Given how much I like my Hunstman Elite rest I ordered the TKL sized one for the new board.



Was £20 new, so I'm in a total of £75.

 

Turned out really nice tbh. God I hate stabilizer bars though. It wouldn't be so bad but my eyes are worse than ever.



Very pleased.

 

I'm after a bit of advice please keyboard aficionados.

Is there such a thing as a quiet mechanical keyboard or is that mainly the domain of the membrane (insane in the brain... I digress)?

I have a big standard Roccat Suora which is ok that uses some variant of their browns (iirc) and am a bit clueless tbh.

I would prefer a TKL sized board that has minimal clack clackity because it's starting to bug the hell out of me.

Am I better off looking for a membrane KB and resign myself to just not being cool enough or is there a mech option?

Ta all.

 

Also consider reverberation of the keyboard onto the desk. I had that exact problem until I bought a large mousemat type thing to put under the keyboard.

 

There are plenty of hotswap board choices these days, including gasket mount,
so you could fit your own choice of silent switches. I changed from Gat Browns to Boba U4 silent switches and that was the single biggest reduction in noise. MX silent are probably a cheaper option than U4 or Zeal Zilents.

This should not be underestimated! Made almost as much difference to me as a switch change.

Edit: the difference between a standard brown switch, Vs a silent switch (U4)

 

Thanks @Gareth Halfacree @The_Crapman . Come to think of it I'm not entirely sure if it clacks on the press down or on its way back up. I'm AFK for a few days yet so I can't check.

Think I'll hunt YT to give a listen to some of the keys you mention. I'll give that link a look too.

@Fingers66 @VictorianBloke Yeah there's definitely something in that. I do have an oversized keyboard/mousepad that covers the entirety of my KB and mouse.

Come to think of it my table may actually contribute too. It's a thick glass glass top on a metal frame that I intend to replace with a corner desk when I find one.

Damn though, I think I may have found a new Pandora's box that I may get lost in. At least there's company

Edit: @VictorianBloke Thanks for the link - that sounds soooo much better!

Edit: Edit: I really should be packing and not thinking about keyboards

 

That is something, obvious when you mention it, that I didn't even consider for one second.

I mean I have a nagging feeling that i may eventually go down that route if, for nothing else, I can talk about lube more often.

No but I do think I may go that way unless something of the shelf takes my fancy. I'll have to mull over all this food for thought, I mean I really have to pack now!

That said I may just have another five minutes perusing...

 

It doesn't take long to pack a keyboard.

It's not just case material that affects noise though, so does plate and keycap material. And that's before you even start to consider taming stabilisers.... (though lube, clipping, band-aid and holee mods work wonders)

 

The Blackwidow lite (I just got the storm trooper ed) comes in three variations. Silver, black and white. The ST one was from 2020 and you'd have to buy second hand.

All of them use Razer's orange switches, which are similar to browns but touted as being quieter. However, they also come with -



I picked my ST up used for £50. Which is Chinese money, and I am stoked with it. Took it for a test drive last night...



It was dope. I already have a Hunstman TE for here (my mother's) which I would have bought another one of, but I got it on PD for £55 new. They're back up to RRP now which is over double. Main difference is the optical sensors. I bought the ST for home.



You can see the issue there with the Hunstman Elite. It's friggin huge. The arm is in line with my arm, and the mouse is where I need to use it to be comfy. I keep hitting the wheel on the top right of the KB, letting off a shot, giving away my position, jumping out of my chair and releasing a little poo.

They're great boards tbh.