[Veetastic]

Have you guys tried das keyboards? I am currently using one of their keyboards and it has served me well for the past year and I will be soon upgrading to their new line coming out the das 4 professional keyboard. 
 
Here are some pictures:



 
 
And here is the Ultimate edition with blacked out keys (I currently have the ultimate version of their previous keyboard):

 
I really like the clean look of das keyboards although they are a bit pricey. It is definitely a minimalist style keyboard which some will love or hate. I personally love it with its brushed aluminum plate and matte black keys. It just looks amazing. I am currently using cherry blue switches and after prolong use I found it pretty tiring to type haha. I think I'm going to get the brown switches for this keyboard or the Corsair K70 with red switches later. 

 

[Sniping]

Meh, there's a LOT of awesome keyboards you can buy for that price. You can get a fully customized 60% Poker II, Ducky Shine 3, or a Realforce/Leopold Topre keyboard. Not sure about the newest rendition of the Das keyboard, but they silently downgraded the quality of their keyboards a long time ago. They cut some corners by using a cheap Chinese knock off OEM instead of the genuine one (Costar).

 

[Veetastic]

  Meh, there's a LOT of awesome keyboards you can buy for that price. You can get a fully customized 60% Poker II, Ducky Shine 3, or a Realforce/Leopold Topre keyboard. Not sure about the newest rendition of the Das keyboard, but they silently downgraded the quality of their keyboards a long time ago. They cut some corners by using a cheap Chinese knock off OEM instead of the genuine one (Costar).

Ouu. Interesting. I'll have a look into those keyboards you mentioned then. I'm not afraid to spend as long as I'm getting quality product. Out of the ones you've mentioned I've only known about the Ducky Shine series although I never really understood why people liked them so much. Can you tell me more about some of the keyboards that I can look into? I'll probably do some more research on my own but it'd be nice to hear your view on this. Thanks

 

[Sniping]

 
Ouu. Interesting. I'll have a look into those keyboards you mentioned then. I'm not afraid to spend as long as I'm getting quality product. Out of the ones you've mentioned I've only known about the Ducky Shine series although I never really understood why people liked them so much. Can you tell me more about some of the keyboards that I can look into? I'll probably do some more research on my own but it'd be nice to hear your view on this. Thanks

Ducky Shine 3 is probably the best backlit keyboard out there at the moment. Great build quality and the most lighting modes out there. There's currently a lot of hype for the Corsair RGB keyboards, but I'm not sure what the price of that is going to look like so be wary of a high price tag. 
 
Topre is another type of switch, it's capacitive and uses cup rubber (NOT rubber dome, everything in Topre keyboards are lightyears ahead of regular keyboards in terms of quality). Topre is quiet and practical for use almost everywhere, but has a deep satisfying "thock" sound when you bottom out. The switch basically forces you to bottom out because of the cup rubber, so depending on the way you like to type you may or may not like this. As for me, I love to bottom out, and I love Topre as well. Realforce keyboards are RELATIVELY cheap now (elitekeyboards.com price reduction), they come with PBT dyesub keycaps so they don't skimp on quality. 
 
The Poker II is a 60% reduced layout keyboard (60% refers to its size in comparison to a regular full sized 104 key keyboard). People love to customize this keyboard. If you want a great feeling Cherry MX keyboard, I recommend buying a used Poker II, buying MX clear switches ($30 or so), custom weight springs (55g, 62g, or 65g, which will run you $10-$20), and high quality lubricant ($15), and you can send it in to this dude http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=53817.0 and have everything assembled at a reasonable price. Alternatively, you can wait for someone to sell one used  that already has all the modifications (switches, springs, lube).
 
I love buying keyboards used, I don't see any reason not to, so I would recommend to buy used whenever possivle.
 
What's great about keyboards is that if you buy a used keyboard to try out and you don't like it, you can sell it back for an extremely small loss. If you end up liking it, that's fantastic. Just don't end up with as much keyboards as me LOL
 
If you're wondering what I'm using, I'm typing on an ErgoDox right now. After keycaps and assembly it'll run you around $300 realistically (A certain group buy website sells them in kits for $50 less, but they take 3 months just to arrive and ain't nobody got time for that). There two hands but only one is pictured lol 

 

[Veetastic]

Wow. Thanks for such a detailed response. I am currently looking into the mentioned keyboards and if I have any other questions I'll know where to look. This seems like some really juicy to really dig into haha. Thank you again.

 

[rawrster]

I picked up a corsair k70 yesterday for my pending computer build. I just need to pick up a power supply, ram and some fans and I'll be ready to actually use my keyboard.

This will be my first mechanical keyboard since those apple keyboards I used in grade school

 

[Pudu]

I picked up a corsair k70 yesterday for my pending computer build. I just need to pick up a power supply, ram and some fans and I'll be ready to actually use my keyboard.

This will be my first mechanical keyboard since those apple keyboards I used in grade school

Nice. (Though putting the cart before the donkey a bit there ).

The contoured keys are actually quite useful for gaming - at least for me. I picked up a set of their contoured WASD keys to stick on my Poker/Ducky 60% that I use for gaming and I like them.

K70 is a good looking board, enjoy.

 

[Blisse]

How do you buy a KMAC?

 

[rawrster]

Nice. (Though putting the cart before the donkey a bit there

).

The contoured keys are actually quite useful for gaming - at least for me. I picked up a set of their contoured WASD keys to stick on my Poker/Ducky 60% that I use for gaming and I like them.

K70 is a good looking board, enjoy.

 
It's goign to take some time getting used to a mechanical keyboard but I have all the parts now outside of the video card but everything should be here by the weekend. The wait won't be that long and I know what I'll be doing this weekend

 

[Pudu]

When I switched to mechanical I thought that the difference was pretty minimal and was, like most things discussed on the Interwebs, blown way out of proportion (not that that sort of thing would ever occur here on Head-fi).

The first time I went back to a rubber dome board I simply could not believe how strange and unresponsive it felt. Now, they really do feel awful whenever I use a different computer.

 

[Sniping]

How do you buy a KMAC?

Easiest way is to buy one that's used. If you know how to build a keyboard, that's great, but since you're asking how I'm assuming you probably haven't tried assembling a keyboard before. If you want to start from scratch you'll need to buy a KMAC 2 from originativeco.com (only place it's sold in the US AFAIK) and then purchase switches and lube if necessary. The KMAC 2 kit is already $400 so it's very expensive, even unassembled without switches. If you buy used you can find ones with switches for around $300-$375 depending on the edition, switches and other mods. geekhack.org has the largest abundance of KMAC keyboards for sale in the US. 
 
It's unfortunate though, there's an absolutely beautiful keyboard called the Lightsaver V2 that was sold out yesterday (group buy only had 15 spaces, they all filled yesterday). After looking at some pictures, I would choose that as a custom over a KMAC, but the KMAC is a strong second. Not a fan of the 356/LZ hype.
 
This isn't my color/switch preference, but this is an example of a cheap assembled KMAC. ($300) http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51887.0

 

[treal512]

When I switched to mechanical I thought that the difference was pretty minimal and was, like most things discussed on the Interwebs, blown way out of proportion (not that that sort of thing would ever occur here on Head-fi).

The first time I went back to a rubber dome board I simply could not believe how strange and unresponsive it felt. Now, they really do feel awful whenever I use a different computer.

 
This was my exact experience as well. I didn't think it was that big of a deal until I got used to it (my first mechanical keyboard) and had the luxury of using a public membrane keyboard. Eghhh. Mech keyboards are worth it.

 

[superjawes]

I'm a fan of mechanical keyboards. I got a Razer Blackwidow (Cherry MX Blue), and the only complaint was the noise. Fast forward a year or so and I discover WASDKeyboards.com, a company that carries dampening rings for Cherry switches. It took some patience to mod the entire board, but the rings completely silenced the bottoming out noise, leaving only the "click" of the switch actuation.

So I bought a Rosewill with Blue switches, added the rings, and now I get mechanical keys at work and at home
(Side note: much better than the cheapo Dell that I had been using, which looked like it was made in 2001...and had never been cleaned...)

I might consider Red or Black switches if I ever replace the keyboard on my gaming computer, but I still like the tactile feel of my current 'boards.

 

[Sniping]

Topre might be for you. Look out for a cheap used one. Most practical premium keyboard for the workplace and pretty much anywhere else as well. Try the 55g uniform Realforce or the Leopold FC660C (blank keycaps rule!)

 

[Netforce]

I always wondered about the effectiveness of the o-rings to use with my reds. Thinking about getting blues and just using this keyboard at work if it just wasn't so loud when bottoming out. Brought my keyboard once to work and it went fine as I was sitting in the corner of the office but now work right in the middle so would noise is a bit a of concern for me.