Mechanical Keyboard Suggestions

[JoeSchmuck]

Any 008 size o-ring will work. Look for something between 50A and 70A hardness.

The trick is to find a respectable hardness. 70A is actually pretty hard so that is why I went and purchased the 50A. I don't think $12 delivered is a bad price for 130 o-rings. Of course I'd rather pay $3.00 but that is pure fiction.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The ones I bought on Amazon were 50A and work well.
I think they were $7 for 130.

 

[JoeSchmuck]

Okay, so I've been using this Cooler Master Quick Fire XT keyboard for a few days now and I have also installed the o-rings. The o-rings made a difference in the sharpness of the keys bottoming out so that was well worth the investment. What I thought wouldn't matter to me and I could get use to it are the following issues:

1) The Mute, Volume Down, and Volume Up keys all require the user to press a Function key (FN) and then press F10/F11/F12 respectively to activate that function. The key placement it a real pain to quickly control and I truly hate it, it would have been better to use the DEL, END, and PAGE DN with the FN key then you could just use your right thumb on the FN key and your right hand fingers to easily press the three keys. This is my most significant complaint and I'm actually considering shifting back to my old dome keyboard because I do turn the volume up and down frequently. If I can figure out a way to use some hotkey combo or tool to make this work better, I'll do it. I also have an actual rotary volume control on the speaker cable that I could start using again as it provides very fast response times.

2) There is no CALCULATOR button. I use the calculator frequently (a few times a day) and I find myself looking for the key but as a work around I end up just setting up a hotkey (CTL+ALT+C) and I just need to get use to it. So this isn't much of an issue anymore with the hotkey setup but without it I'd be hating life.

What do I like about this keyboard...

1) The weight is great.
2) The keys feel pretty good, just taking a little bit getting use to.
3) My typing has improved as I tend to type faster and likely not perform a full keystroke on my older keyboards so a missed letter creeps in frequently, now things have improved.
4) The keyboard does not slide around at all. There are four rubber feet in play and even the flip out feet in the rear have rubber on them. It's a great feeling to be honest.

Not sure what else I can say, after all it's just a basic mechanical keyboard. Mine came with Brown MX switches and they are fine. I almost want to try the reds but I made my choice.

So before purchasing this keyboard, I'd evaluate what you expect and out of your keyboard before purchasing it.

If I could do it over again, I'd find a different keyboard to better meet my needs/desires. And I don't want to say that for the price this is a reasonable keyboard, that is very subjective and it's up to you if you feel it's a good value or not.

 

[sobe]

The Corsair K95 would have offered a volume wheel, as would the Das Keyboard 4 Professional and Gigabyte Aivia Osmium.

Research research before you buy I would love a DasKeyboard with MX Reds and backlighting personally due to their quality, or a Ducky Shine with volume dial, but sadly not yet at least.

Sucks to hear you may go back to the dome keyboard though.

 

[ninjacore]

Program a hotkey through windows for volume up/down.

And I've never seen a keyboard with a calculator shortcut? Why would you need one? Just hit the windows key and start typing "calculator" until the app appears, then hit enter. Fingers will likely leave the home keys less than if you did have a macro key. :thumb:

 

[bob4933]

Only one I've seen is my levetron mech5. Great keyboard... if it had a more subtle styling and back lighting it'd be the best selling keyboard on the market lol

 

[ATMINSIDE]

My Ducky Shine 4 has a Calculator button

 

[NZKshatriya]

My experience with Mech KBs so far is..........I am never buying a Razer again. I would have loved to program the Macro keys on my Blackwidow 2014, but their configuration/infotracking software is crap, doesn't install, wouldn't want it anyway as it is mainly spyware.

Decent keyboard for $60 or so on amazon I guess

 

[JoeSchmuck]

Research research before you buy

That wasn't the problem. The issue was I didn't realize these would be problems in the first place. If these do not bother a person then the keyboard is recommended.

Program a hotkey through windows for volume up/down. Just hit the windows key and start typing "calculator" until the app appears.

I have not found a way to do this without having a third party application but I'm willing to take some advice on how to make a hotkey for those functions. Also you are correct, pulling up the calculator using the windows key and just type calc and return works very fast for me, thanks for that advice.

 

[NZKshatriya]

Does this help?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-keyboard-shortcuts-open-programs#1TC=windows-7

 

[JoeSchmuck]

Does this help?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-keyboard-shortcuts-open-programs#1TC=windows-7

Nope, not at all for Volume functions unless I'm missing something.

 

[NZKshatriya]

Well.........you can at least bind calculator to a key, unless you already fixed that

 

[Dlaw]

I find using the in-line volume wheel or the knob on my speaker to be much easier to use than the volume control in Windows, even if my keyboard has a volume knob/buttons.

I was messing around with my keyboard the other night, trying to figure out a way to program a key to open Calculator. It worked, however there was a problem. My keyboard has to be in "game mode" for macros and such to work, and game mode disables the Windows key. Since I use Calculator at the desktop, which is the same time I use the Windows key, that doesn't work.

I tried making a shortcut to calc.exe, and programming a key combination, but for some reason there's a second or 2 delay. Windows key + cal works best for me.

 

[NZKshatriya]

*looks at 2in diameter volume knob on AVR next to monitor*

Yeah, I have no issues with volume control.

What I have issues with are macro keys I cannot program, and I keep hitting M5 instead of Ctrl, as they placed the macro keys too close together >.<

 

[ninjacore]

I have not found a way to do this without having a third party application but I'm willing to take some advice on how to make a hotkey for those functions. Also you are correct, pulling up the calculator using the windows key and just type calc and return works very fast for me, thanks for that advice.

I'll get back to you on this. I think when I did it, I was binding a mute toggle, but it should be the same concept. I'll post back tonight or tomorrow.

 

[sporktar]

1) The Mute, Volume Down, and Volume Up keys all require the user to press a Function key (FN) and then press F10/F11/F12 respectively to activate that function. The key placement it a real pain to quickly control and I truly hate it, it would have been better to use the DEL, END, and PAGE DN with the FN key then you could just use your right thumb on the FN key and your right hand fingers to easily press the three keys. This is my most significant complaint and I'm actually considering shifting back to my old dome keyboard because I do turn the volume up and down frequently. If I can figure out a way to use some hotkey combo or tool to make this work better, I'll do it. I also have an actual rotary volume control on the speaker cable that I could start using again as it provides very fast response times.

One of my biggest fears about getting a 60% keyboard was that there really isn't any models with scroll wheel or knob style volume control. I solved this issue by buying a Griffin Powermate volume knob off amazon. Costs ~30 dollars, pretty solid construction and smooth. It uses 3rd party software, but this makes it re-mappable and fairly lightweight. Even though my stereo has good volume control it's nice to have something sitting right by the keyboard for quick adjustments.