Long time user of Tek, but my first post here. Curently I'm using Microsoft All in One media keyboard which is portable, but has big - not used by me touchpad, and very annoying F1-F12 key organisation, where you have to push Fn key to have Fkeys, and normaly you got there media keys, and that can't be software changed... Thank you M$.
Now, I'm looking for something new. I write from Poland, so my options are quite narrow. The things that matter are : quietness, good sense of "have I clicked it yet", backlit.
For now I see only one option for me, which is expensive as shit and that is K65 RGB. Is there anything else? I need it to be shiped to Poland if not avalible here. Also I have a small son, which hasn't got even 12months yet. I have to takie him in mind. I just starter learning python, and this require me to write alot. Son sleeps with us, in the same room, so my wife goes crazy with me typing. My current M$ keyboard, while cheap is quite quiet at the same time. I know mechanical is louder, but is there a sound volume comparesment between keyboards? I mean cheap, old, new, MX, nova, topre etc? I've some research, but keyboards like many things in this world are in the state where cheap are bad, and good cost fortune. If I could go without backilt, there is just normal K65, which has good price for me, but i just neeed backlit :)
For the conditions you have mentioned, I would have to say mechanical keyboards will not be suitable, they are all loud enough to wake people up in the same room, even the "silent" ones from corsair are not much quieter.
I would have to recommend some thing like a laptop style chiclet board, thin, low travel, like an apple board, those are the quietest really.
You could get one of the horrible glass boards that has no keys at all but is touch sensitive, completely silent but not nice at all to type on, zero feedback for when you have pressed a key. I joke, but it is an option.
The K65 RGB is great but it is NOT quiet. No mechanical keyboard is really. I actually plan on ripping my old and broken macbook pro apart to reuse the keyboard because it is one of the quietest keyboards I have ever come across.
I used this for quite some time. Just membrane keys kind of like a laptop keyboard, but they aren't worse keys out there. They are quiet (because membrane) and have very bright illumination thanks to it not being RGB. If you have multiple devices, it's nice to be able to switch between them using the f1-3 keys, however this does cause a problem similar to what you mentioned in your post where you will need to use the fn key to override the f1-12 default actions (likes f1-3 being for switching devices, and the other f keys for media, calculator, and other functions I rarely used)
I don't know about it's world wide availability, but my VPN is set to Hong Kong and it's available, so...it's probably available in Poland.
that is interesting. can you elaborate more on this? as I said, K65 RGB is my main option. I can't bare flat keybords, they hurt my wrists and hands. I work as a printer operator, and 8h with keyboard plus work at home, I have to start taking in mind health issues which will become more and more visible in the years to come. Thats why my head turns for more ergonomic solution. Laptops and quiet, flat keyboards are there for the sake of mobility and compactability (is there such word?) and on my desk I have a plenty of room. I also have Logitech G13 for games, and it's not so loud when playing, as long as I gently push on keys, not raming them down like crazy.
So flag keybords, without palm rest pads AND little stands below F1-F12 keys are unfortunatly out of the equation. Even though the K810 looks great. But I want to play SC2 sometimes, and I can see some lag with wireless solution already with AllinOne, so I can't risk that happening again.
He's referring to rubber o rings you put on the inside of the cap. Give me a sec and I'll post a picture, and I can upload a quick video of the K65 with and without the rings... and also a CM Storm QFR with browns (no rings).
this! you'd help not only me, but also other people! are those rings widely avalible or are they named just "silencers for key caps"? never heard of them here :)
It sounded like a good idea, but listening to them now I don't know that it'll really be helpful. In the video they basically sound different, but the same volume. Video was recorded with Canon S100's built in mic.
ALSO - My QFR has PBT caps, where as the K65 has ABS.
IMO the MX Reds with ABS caps sounds barely louder than the MX Brows with PBT caps. The dampened MX Reds with ABS caps sounds a little quieter than undampened MX Brows with PBT caps. None of the differences are drastic to my ears though. The reason the dampened MX Reds aren't quieter is because of the keys topping out after a key press, the bottoming is definitely quieter though. Different o-rings could provider better results. These were red o-rings, and I forget the size.
I'll post the videos anyways...
Typing on dampened MX Reds (the loudness is from the topping out IMO):
Pressing dampened vs undampened MX Reds (this gives best representation of dampened Reds IMO):
Also - If quietness is a concern, I would probably skip both of them. I used to use the keyboard with MX Brows at my last job which was a large corp HQ with a white noise machine through the entire building. It wasn't a big deal, buddy in the next cube would give me shit just for sake of giving me shit. Likewise, his mouse (of all things) was louder because it was a cheap Logitech that he would hit on the desk without a mouse pad as he moved it around.
At my new job it's a smaller office, with much smaller and closer cubes. I will not be taking the MX Browns or MX Reds to the office b/c it's very quiet in there.
The up click still makes enough noise. O rings sort the down clak more or less but it is still noisy.
EDIT: To continue I am a huge mechanical keyboard fan, they are not silent, both my boards have o rings and a third is tactile clears, they all make noise one way or another, If the board you have is all ready irritating others around you a mech is going to be hell even with o-rings. They reduce the noise quite a bit but even a quiet mech is louder than a regular non mechanical board.
Mechs are loud, it is just their nature, it is built in, They are expensive too and to make them quieter is basically in vain and even more expensive.
To make it clear, I really like mechs and I purposely did not recommend one because of the noise.
If you're looking for quiet and good quality (not just a basic rubber dome keyboard) I'd recommend one with scissor switches like my Logitech k740. I can't recommend that board for your use case since you want tenkeyless (though if you are willing to forgo that restriction it's a pretty good board).
Of course on this forum most people recommend mechanical or buckling spring, but they aren't quiet no matter how you try to look at it.
