[AppleheadMay]

I got me one by the way, hopefully paired with this set: (live GB)
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=113766.0

 

[nepherte]

Mekanisk Fjell R6 | Full brass plate | Ultramarine switches (krytox 205g0) | Durock v2 stabs (krytox 205g0) | GMK White on Black

 

[Malevolent]

Mmmm, my most expensive keyboard remains a polycarbonate Tofu65 with lubed & filmed Gateron Ink Black switches.

I want to get a Mode SixtyFive, but I just can't convince myself to pull the trigger.... yet.

 

[rawrster]

I got this in the mail today. Funny enough the post right above is about this keyboard. The picture is a Mode SixtyFive in lilac with alpacas linear switches. I have some Akko Neon keycaps however those are just placeholders for now until I find something better. I'm probably going to change the bottom row to add an fn key as well.

I had a 60% before this and having arrow keys again is pretty nice. This is definitely my most expensive keyboard and hopefully end game assuming 65% works out for me.

 

[JamesCanada]

I actually like full size keyboards.
I love the mechanical feel but not the sound so much.
You guys have some beautiful gear!

Here is my plain ( Stock) setup.
Wireless Logitech G915 keyboard.
I love it for gaming and typing.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Today I have something special, a review, but on something that's related to audio, but in a different way than my usual review.

While most of my reviews are about hearing music, and making a difference to sound, today's product has absolutely no change on sound, but can be used in music production to improve your workflow. It is also a powerful programming tool, and while artists have been using a left hand keypad for years now, it only now has occurred to me that I could speed up my development process by using one, so I bring you my experience, thoughts and feelings about the Classic Gamepad from Azeron!!

To give you the short version, I love the aesthetics, and if you're willing to put up with a steep learning curve, you could streamline your process using macros, and it could help with both carpal tunnel and work related wrist pain!

Not to mention its fun for gaming!

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2...-classic-review-productivity-gaming-keys.html

 

[Malevolent]

I got this in the mail today. Funny enough the post right above is about this keyboard. The picture is a Mode SixtyFive in lilac with alpacas linear switches. I have some Akko Neon keycaps however those are just placeholders for now until I find something better. I'm probably going to change the bottom row to add an fn key as well.

I had a 60% before this and having arrow keys again is pretty nice. This is definitely my most expensive keyboard and hopefully end game assuming 65% works out for me.

Nice, I love the design of the Mode65 - simplistic, with a touch of flair, thanks to that customizable back plate.

I could never use a 60% - I need my arrow keys + Pg Up/Pg Dn keys.

I just got my KBD67 Lite R3 in dark blue, from the recent Black Friday sale. I have yet to do anything with them, though. I'm still mulling over my choice of switch and keycaps. Oh, well.

 

[mikey1964]

Rotated out my Topre Type Heaven, now using one of my fav, Ducky Shine 4 Fire 69 (6 colors, 9 Cherry MX switch types)

Edit - One thing I'd like to add, Ducky keyboards come with a plastic keyboard cover (on my soundbar), I use it to cover my keyboard when it's not in use, makes a very nice dust cover.

 

[Dobrescu George]

who else got rubber rings to dampen their keys?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Tried them, hated them, they completely ruined the feeling for me.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Tried them, hated them, they completely ruined the feeling for me.

I'm generally using a Logitech G512 keyboard with brown switches and the noise has been killing my fun with music sometimes, so I installed some dampener rings last week. So far, I can type faster now, the keys seem to rebound faster. I am hoping to try some less noisy switches in the future, I like the tactile feeling of brown but may be able to adapt to silver or different type if they work alright (?)

I have a mini keypad with blue switches and I like it too, but the noise is still annoying

---

What is the type of swtich everyone typically goes for?

 

[Draygonn]

My first mechanical keyboard was a Steelseries 6Gv2 with Cherry MX Blacks ten years ago. After 5 years I switched to a Leopold TKL, also with MX Blacks. That keyboard got lost during a move so I upgraded to a Leopold FC980C. I recently decided to focus on touch typing so I added an FC660C silent in black on black. I enjoy watching people get excited over their newest builds and deciding which switches and keycaps to get, but I've never been interested in any DIY myself.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I'm generally using a Logitech G512 keyboard with brown switches and the noise has been killing my fun with music sometimes, so I installed some dampener rings last week. So far, I can type faster now, the keys seem to rebound faster. I am hoping to try some less noisy switches in the future, I like the tactile feeling of brown but may be able to adapt to silver or different type if they work alright (?)

I have a mini keypad with blue switches and I like it too, but the noise is still annoying

---

What is the type of swtich everyone typically goes for?

If I may give you my unsalted opinion, just to try to help ...

The keyboard you have is an entry level mechanical with entry level switches. The rings dampen the sound of course but completely ruin the feel of a mechanical switch.
The pad with blue switches will probably be clicky switches, the loudest type.
A better way to silence your keys is with Zealencios from Zeal PC. But these are expensive and hard to find if at all, you can't get them from Zeal anymore since they also take (less) away from the feel which is why he doesn't make them anymore. You might still find them around the web though, but are they worth the price in relation to the price of your board?

The type of switch "everyone" (read keeb enthusiasts) goes for is linear mostly, some tactile, clicky is frowned upon usually although I enjoy a clicky from time to time as well. Some of the switch brands offer a regular and silent variation of their keys, I like regular because I like a nice sounding key but others like a silenced, dampened sound.
The best linears used to be vintage Cherry MX Blacks (reds are way too soft) but these will cost you a lot of you still find them and then you'll have to put in some maintenance (lubing, maybe spring change) since they're pretty old.
Zeal Tealios (67g) are as good or better than those vintage blacks but they cost about a $ a pop. They're absolutely worth it for me though, I compared them to about 150 other switches.
The silent versions of those are: Sakurio, Roselio and Healio in different spring weights. These have silicone dampening inside the top and bottom housing and might be what you're looking for.

Of course, putting those in your board would mean desoldering and soldering and I wouldn't recommend that for three reasons: first you could ruin your board, second the board is too cheap (read basic) to put such expensive switches in and third: it has a numpad which is unergonomic for a gamer. Forget about numpads unless you use spreadsheets all day.
If you put your keyboard in front of you so your left hand is placed correctly your mouse hand is at an angle which is bad for your wrist, elbow and shoulder, certainly over the long run if you game a lot. It aso gives you less space for your mouse. This is why you often see gamers orient their keyboard diagonally.
You don't need a numpad unless you work in spreadsheets all day long and even then I'd recommend a Southpaw for right- and left hand users alike.
So anything over TKL or 75% is bad.

I'd recommend looking into a GMMK Pro board from Glorious: has all the keys you need: numbers in their normal place, F keys for gaming, arrow cluster and PgUp, PgDn, Home, End and Del plus a nice volume dial you can configure for other things too.
It's also one of the cheapest ventures in DIY mechanical keyboards and doesn't need much DYI at all. Just put in some Roselios (hotswap, no soldering and really quiet) and your flavor of keycaps Like Glorious Aura V2 if you want shine-through the letters for your RGB or any other nice keycap set if you don't need shine-through the letters, there's so many beautiful caps out there.
Don't look at all those videos for changing the "bad" stabs of the GMMK Pro, they're infinitely better than the stabs on you Logitech and they are heavily lubed. Yes, you can put in better stabs like Zeal or Durock but that's not needed yet, I think you'll be amazed already.
And don't start off with lubing your switches yet. It's a big task, it needs to be done with the right lube and very lightly applied in the right spots, not everywhere around like you see in some videos. Also, I'm not a silent switch user (just regular linear) although I tried them all but I'm not usre it's a good idea to put lube on top of that silicone dampening, might create stickiness. And a silent switch won't get more silent with lubing anyway.

Total cost of this board: GMMK PRO + Roselios + nice caps: $350-400.

 

[Dobrescu George]

If I may give you my unsalted opinion, just to try to help ...

The keyboard you have is an entry level mechanical with entry level switches. The rings dampen the sound of course but completely ruin the feel of a mechanical switch.
The pad with blue switches will probably be clicky switches, the loudest type.
A better way to silence your keys is with Zealencios from Zeal PC. But these are expensive and hard to find if at all, you can't get them from Zeal anymore since they also take (less) away from the feel which is why he doesn't make them anymore. You might still find them around the web though, but are they worth the price in relation to the price of your board?

The type of switch "everyone" (read keeb enthusiasts) goes for is linear mostly, some tactile, clicky is frowned upon usually although I enjoy a clicky from time to time as well. Some of the switch brands offer a regular and silent variation of their keys, I like regular because I like a nice sounding key but others like a silenced, dampened sound.
The best linears used to be vintage Cherry MX Blacks (reds are way too soft) but these will cost you a lot of you still find them and then you'll have to put in some maintenance (lubing, maybe spring change) since they're pretty old.
Zeal Tealios (67g) are as good or better than those vintage blacks but they cost about a $ a pop. They're absolutely worth it for me though, I compared them to about 150 other switches.
The silent versions of those are: Sakurio, Roselio and Healio in different spring weights. These have silicone dampening inside the top and bottom housing and might be what you're looking for.

Of course, putting those in your board would mean desoldering and soldering and I wouldn't recommend that for three reasons: first you could ruin your board, second the board is too cheap (read basic) to put such expensive switches in and third: it has a numpad which is unergonomic for a gamer. Forget about numpads unless you use spreadsheets all day.
If you put your keyboard in front of you so your left hand is placed correctly your mouse hand is at an angle which is bad for your wrist, elbow and shoulder, certainly over the long run if you game a lot. It aso gives you less space for your mouse. This is why you often see gamers orient their keyboard diagonally.
You don't need a numpad unless you work in spreadsheets all day long and even then I'd recommend a Southpaw for right- and left hand users alike.
So anything over TKL or 75% is bad.

I'd recommend looking into a GMMK Pro board from Glorious: has all the keys you need: numbers in their normal place, F keys for gaming, arrow cluster and PgUp, PgDn, Home, End and Del plus a nice volume dial you can configure for other things too.
It's also one of the cheapest ventures in DIY mechanical keyboards and doesn't need much DYI at all. Just put in some Roselios (hotswap, no soldering and really quiet) and your flavor of keycaps Like Glorious Aura V2 if you want shine-through the letters for your RGB or any other nice keycap set if you don't need shine-through the letters, there's so many beautiful caps out there.
Don't look at all those videos for changing the "bad" stabs of the GMMK Pro, they're infinitely better than the stabs on you Logitech and they are heavily lubed. Yes, you can put in better stabs like Zeal or Durock but that's not needed yet, I think you'll be amazed already.
And don't start off with lubing your switches yet. It's a big task, it needs to be done with the right lube and very lightly applied in the right spots, not everywhere around like you see in some videos. Also, I'm not a silent switch user (just regular linear) although I tried them all but I'm not usre it's a good idea to put lube on top of that silicone dampening, might create stickiness. And a silent switch won't get more silent with lubing anyway.

Total cost of this board: GMMK PRO + Roselios + nice caps: $350-400.

Woah, really cool stuff, will investigate!

My biggest fear is that I won't get used to other layouts, only full keyboards, since I do use the numpad a lot, and when I tried to use a short enter key, I failed, can only use tall, large enter key layouts.

I had a feeling that this logi is considered entry-level, was curious to know if there are any keyboards that come preassembled and are better, since I'm not that great with DIY.

About this one, indeed, it is sad it doesn't have modular switches and you'd need to desolder them

 

[AppleheadMay]

GMMK Pro exists in ISO layout as well, which is with the big enter key.


And maybe look into Southpaw?
Those were originally made for left handed people since they have the numpad on the left.
For right handed people they have the advantage that they can use numpad and mouse at the same time in Excel for instance., but also for gaming they can use the numpad as a directional pad with extra macros and the mouse at the same time.
Those DIY keyboards are fully programmable.
Take a look at this on for example: Southpaw which can accept ISO layout with a multifuncntion knob.
https://candykeys.com/product/viendi-8l-keyboard-kit
They are at the higher end of the spectrum though, meaning pricey.

So the big enter key problem can be solved, but different layouts will indeed require a certain amount of muscle memory training, how much depends on the board chosen.
I once retrained for gaming from a TKL keyboard to a Razer Tartarus but in the end I’m much faster wit the Tartarus.
https://www.razer.com/gaming-keypads/razer-tartarus-pro/RZ07-03110100-R3U1
No more WASD, my thumb does that.
And I can use it as a numpad in Windows, you can set up profiles for different applications.
The switches aren’t bad at all but can’t compare with my Tealios of course.

I like different keyboards, I have a couple of Viendis on order, a couple of GMMK Pros, have 2 Tartarus and also 2 G915TKL, 2 K830 (for TV use) and an MX Keys Mini. And I just sold all my previous keyboards.
The G915 TKL for example are pretty expensive even though the switches suck (compared to …) but they look pretty good and have nice functions like wireless so I can use them from the couch on a Couchmaster Basic with a wireless mouse.