yah the g710+, i haven't used it in a bit lol.
Both the bottoming out and the travel distance aren't noticeably different for me.
Which type of o-rings do you use? (fat, slim, hard, soft)
whatever the ones that it comes with are. they seem average in all respects
I didn't know they come with o-rings included.
Lower heights caps, Pimp My Keyboard make a set called G20 the are flat and short. Like this.
They are PBT as well as far as i know so happy days.
Also I am currently running MX reds with o rings. It does shorten the travel but not a massive amount which I why I was saying you could double up the orings. I got them for about a dollar on AliExpress so you could order two sets for cheap and go nuts. They are also slightly squishy and translucent so it will help with LED shine through as opposed to the red and black o rings you commonly see for sale.
Also if you are suffering from the curse of indecision you can order a switch tester like the one Max Keyboards sell with 8 different switches to trybthem all out. Silent MX are just Reds with something stuffed in them like foam instead of the oring.
Oh also there is a board that popped up on TaoBao but it available on Aliexpress and was on massdrop that has switchable switch housing tops. So you can buy any switch slider or spring you like and change them in a few seconds. It allows for a fully customisable board, and itnis supposed to be very cheap. It is compatible with Cherry, Gateron, Khail or any other cherry clone.
This is the one
Not RGB though. But that switch swapping is really cool.
Someone will shout at me for all these edits, butnthey are relevant damn it.
There is a full size and RGB version too. Here it is from TaoBao, you either need to know Chinese or use an agent to buy from them. Still cheaper than most mechs, especially for what you get. News comes to me that they caps in this are also double shot ABS. Side by side this look exactly like the same LED effects as in the Ducky Shine 5. Thats a hell of a lot for the money.
How strange, for me Corsair has always been a great company to work with for me at least.. They sent out replacement parts free of charge and response in a few hours. Maybe it's something to do with USA/Europe, not saying it should be that way.
I was more thinking about DSA caps, since they are low profile but not flat.
The prices are a bit high though. MY MS Sidewinder cost as much as one of those key set.
~$37 for a key tester is a bit much, imo. I rather just send the keyboard back and get the same with different switches if I don't like the MX Silents.
As for the keyboards: do they have qwertz layout? I really need those ä ö ü ß
According to my cousin ordering from China is only worth it if the product ain't to expensive (-> customs) and you don't need it immediately (he waited ~2 months for a knock-off 360 wireless controller adapter).
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind for future purchases. My Strafe RGB with MX Silents will be delivered on Tuesday (hopefully). I'll make sure to give you some feedback about the MX Silents as my first mechanical switches and how I like them. MX Browns were a close runner-up.
All fair comments. None of them meet your requirements. I was just throwing out options.
Silents are the only one I don't know the inner workings of. But since Corsair have exclusivity deals with Cherry I also don't care at the moment. Once they are in other boards or optimally I can buy a box of the switches then things get fun. But please tell me what you think of them.
And I really appreciate it! I sometimes feel like I'm wasting people's time by asking for advice and then going the route that's been stuck in my head right from the start (recent example: which GPU VRAM size to get -> ended up not getting a GPU at all) :/
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No problem at all. I can speak at length about keyboards with out getting bored as long as someone actually wants some information. I am just glad I could help someone out. Even if the advice is not taken it is still something learned.
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My Strafe RGB arrived half an hour ago or so. Plugged it in, installed CUE and am already typing this sentence with it.
It is quite an unfamiliar feeling to type on it. While it certainly gives a different feeling it's not as bad as I was imagining it but the switches are way more delicate to press than I was expecting.
I'll give it a few days to get accustomed to it before I decide whether I want to add o-rings or not. So far it's actually as "noisy" and maybe even quieter than my rubber dome keyboard (but I'm still in the "ooouuuuhhhh! new thing! must treat carefully" phase and don't want to hammer on the keys). But it's still very quiet.
Edit - Addition:
So far I heard the "metallic noise" some users of the MX Silent switches are criticizing but I have to say that in my case I only hear them when I hold my ear over the keys and listen carefully. When I tested that the only noise in my room was coming from the case fans and the ticking clock on the wall. Yes, the metallic noise is present in some keys but by no means annoying. Compared to that the usual noise of the keys themselves (mild bottoming out + jumping up again) is much, much louder and even compared to that my rubber dome keyboard was way louder.
tl;dr - "metallic noise" accusations are true, but by no means loud enough to heard when typing normal.
I have to say, though, that before I start "hovering" for faster consecutive actuations I rather bottom them out (not as loud as I feared) or get a keyboard with MX Browns so I feel the actuation point.
I'm also quite surprised that I can already type almost as fluent as on my old rubber dome keyboard. The higher keycaps are a bit weird (I guess I'm out of luck getting low-profile replacements because of Corsair's non-standardized bottom row keys - Windows key, FN, context) but so far they are also better than expected.
A question, though: is it normal that the keys are "wobbling around"? They key press is good, nothing seems wrong with it but when I touch the keys and move them around without pressing down they are very wobbly.
This caught me off guard too. Red switches or silent in your case are very soft. You do get used to them though. You learn his much travel you have and while you instill bottom them out typing all the time it is not hard and when gaming it is easy enough to get used to the trigger point even in the linear switches. You just get used to the depth. Glad it is working out for you.
Ran into the first bug with the CUE software today. Booted up and noticed that the little sun sign in the top right corner for the brightness wasn't lighting. Opened CUE and was surprised that I didn't have access to my profiles. Turns out the software didn't recognize the keyboard eventhough it was plugged in. Unplugged and plugged it back, restarted the CUE software and then it worked again.
While not a huge deal, this should not happen with a 180€ keyboard.
So far I'm quite satisfied with the switches. Still don't know if I'll get the o-rings but typing is very smooth and not loud at all. But as I get more and more used to the switches (not pressing them down as hard anymore, sometimes not even bottoming out), I'm not sure if I want MX Brown switches in the future (honestly, just getting one for trying them out is a bit too costly imo).
First real test for the switches will be when I have to write a paper for University (I always read that for typing browns or blues are best). But so far I'm glad I got a mechanical keyboard.
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Some people don't notice enough response with browns, the bump can be slight enough that you don't notice and it more or less feels like a red but gritty or dirty, not so much tactile if that makes sense. A lot of people for the tactiles like the mx clears. Blues while supposed to be best for typing are loud and I don't like the feel at all.
I type on my reds all the time, no issue. I quite like them other then the softness, but as I have said and you are noticing now, you get used to the softness and travel so you can not type so hard.
Godd to hear you are getting along with them.
Just that Clears seem to be very rare and Blues are still quieter than Alps and buckling springs....holy shit, those are loud O.o
have you considered Blacks then if you find Reds too soft?
Oh I have replacement springs for my board, but I am not sure I want to take apart my board just yet, my soldering skills are not good enough yet. But the springs are 100g. For reference reds are 45g, blacks are 60g and greys are 80g. So I can fix it, but they are not so much of a problem that they annoy me, I would just prefer harder.
I also have plans to built a Planck board that the springs would go into straight away as I build it, so I am saving them either way.
100g seems very heavy. And isn't it quite a hassle to swap every spring in the switches?
Also, I've seen Planck keyboards on the internet before but I never figured out what the use case for those actually is. What's the advantage of those?
I want one to use out and about, to carry with me, small and can be configured through the Raise and Lower keys to have all the keys and more that would be on a normal keyboard. I all ready have a set of caps for it that look good, at least to me, and the afore mentioned springs for modding.
Yes 100g is fantastically heavy, which is fine with me. But might be strange swapping from them to the reds... Ha but I like the madness. I have a switch tester and it came with an MX grey at 80g and I swapped in a 100g spring to test it is super nice and hard to bottom out. I also asked for 2 120g springs to see what they would be like as they were the highest he offered but I though they might be a bit much. They are. So I have a bag of 100 or so 100g springs waiting.
If the Planck, when ever I get the time and funds, goes well I would look into swapping the springs in my Filco. But like you said it is a lot of work, and it is currently my only mech which is why I am waiting it off.
And the ortho-linear keys aren't a problem? Do have the keys for the version with or without the longer spacebar?
Is the switch tester worth it? The ones I found were either expensive or had only the 4 "standard" switches on it.
But I have to admit, building a mechanical keyboard by myself is pretty enticing (although I'll probably not do it because the "possibilty to fuck it up : cost" ratio is too high for me, haha.
Is the DIY factor the reason why you don't just by something like a Pok3r or Ducky Shine Mini?
Haha, same reason why I didn't try to fix the broken media keys on my Sidewinder X6. I was my only keyboard until I got the Strafe. (not counting the old Logitech in my living room because that was already in use and not a spare)
I dot see the ortholinear keys being a problem but I won't know till I get there, they would be different use case anyway so probably won't overlap and even if I did not go ortholinear on my carry around I would probably go Colmak or Dvorak on that one anyway so I would have to re learn either way. I like experimenting.
I have keys enough for either version but I am aiming for the MIT one with the 2u space bar rather than the all 1u Grid version.
I only bought the switch tester after my corsair dealings. But it turned out that my ideal Filco only came with reds, browns or blues so it was reds again for me. As above I like experimenting and I got the Max Keyboards 8 switch tester. Came with Red, Black, Brown, Clear, Grey tactile, Blue, White and Green switches and cherry being what it is you can open them and swap the innards to make any switch imaginable. That's whybingit the tester really to see the world more or less. It was €25 ish on amazon which is not cheap but keyboards for me are as much a hobby as a tool so I don't mind.
Building a keyboard is pretty low on the ability to fuck up scale, desoldering and repairing is a bit higher which was why I was saying I would build one before taking my main apart.
Yeah the DIY is a big reason why I don't just go buy another ore built one. Custom building unlike PCs is actually usually more expensive for keyboards so it is not a cost saving theng either. It would be a learning thing as well as getting a keyboard out at the end. Soldering, programming and layout design on the larnung side.
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