New WASD v2

[shawndumas]

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjXavDUx

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The legends are surprisingly dark for laser etching. They still need to make an ad-hoc dye sub machine though.

[Grendel]

AFAIK WASD changed to pad printing + UV coating. (yep, see here.)

[shawndumas]

yep, pad

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Why does Flickr make getting to the full-size image such a nuisance?

Anyway, pad printed text is normally beautifully smooth and detailed, and the legends depicted in this case appeared to have the grainy look of laser etching. However, that may also be an artefact of the image, not the printing process. It's hard to tell.

It does at least explain where the vim key came from, as that clearly wasn't doubleshot!

I'm not sure if this is good or bad news honestly — I wasn't impressed with QWERkeys's UV printing, but maybe WASD can do a better job. Laser isn't all that great either, so potentially the end result could be better. It's a tradeoff between lettering that is permanent but stains quickly, and lettering that's prone to wearing off.

[matt3o]

is it just me or WASD plastic looks cheap? every time I see wasd keycaps they seem like kid toys...

[Omikron]

is it just me or WASD plastic looks cheap? every time I see wasd keycaps they seems like kid topys...

WASD provides lots of options on EACH order. Customer can select all legends/placement/color scheme of caps/color scheme of legends etc.

And price is about 50 bucks for 105 keycap set. There is no competitive service. So WASD must cut some corners to make this possible. They cut costs by outsourcing their assembly and using thin ABS and pad printing. Also their yellow is washed out. Maybe they use cheap pigment or low concentration of pigment.

So people know what they are getting and nobody praises WASD keycap quality.

[gotbadger]

is it just me or WASD plastic looks cheap? every time I see wasd keycaps they seems like kid topys...

Its not just you, they look awful.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The galleries of Fisher Price-inspired, barf-inducing colour schemes doesn't go in their favour either. I never understood why anyone would want all their keys to be random colours that looked like they just dropped their dinner plate on the floor and then puked all over it. Nor why WASD would want to advertise this ghastly lack of aesthetics to the world.

[webwit]

I don't like the font or font size, but some interesting thought went into the alignment of the legends. I like it, it's very clean and symmetrical.

[brdrgz]

is it just me or WASD plastic looks cheap? every time I see wasd keycaps they seems like kid topys...

They're not DSAs by any means, but I didn't buy the keyboard for its keycaps. I have two V2s and the keycaps function just fine and are quite durable. I might be biased though because I don't go for all this color-coded nonsense, black printed keys are the ones for me.

[matt3o]

not arguing about functionality. just the keycaps plastic looks... well at least different from other ABS keycaps. From pictures it looks more shiny and "gummy". I was wondering if they maybe use a different material.

[archer]

Keycaps aside, how's the quality on the actual keyboard?

[Omikron]

Keycaps aside, how's the quality on the actual keyboard?

I got my WASD without keycaps. And I am very happy with overall build quality. It has good amount of features. I can't really find any downsides.

[Elrick]

Keycaps aside, how's the quality on the actual keyboard?

I got my WASD without keycaps. And I am very happy with overall build quality. It has good amount of features. I can't really find any downsides.

Same here, just buy the one with no key-caps because that's what Geekhack & DT is for.

The quality of the WASD V2 is Filco quality...... enough said

[Muirium]

Exactly. If only every manufacturer gave the option of a naked board. How much does it save you at WASD?

[rindorbrot]

seems to be 50$ less without caps, that is actually more than I thought...

[Yslen]

$95 is a great price for that board, given many of us would immediately replace stock caps anyway. It's a shame the international shipping is an additional $60. With VAT + customs it's actually slightly cheaper to get a Filco, at least in the UK.

[Muirium]

Yeah, they would do well to have a reseller in Europe. Importing is a real chore, and very costly. That's what makes HHKBs such a premium item over here too.

[brdrgz]

Yeah, I would say Filco quality. The case construction is better than my HHKB was actually. Feels more tightly assembled, and does not have any "flex."

[Yslen]

Yeah, they would do well to have a reseller in Europe. Importing is a real chore, and very costly. That's what makes HHKBs such a premium item over here too.

If they had a European reseller and sold at the same price ($95 is about 69 EUR or £59) they'd be a really really really good deal.

[Elrick]

Yeah, I would say Filco quality. The case construction is better than my HHKB was actually. Feels more tightly assembled, and does not have any "flex."

Geez, you figured if you paid that much money for the famed HHKB it would be absolute quality but you have certainly stopped me from wasting my money on that purchase. Despite having such poor quality, you still have the HHKB fanatics pushing their product over everything else, due to their own fantastical delusions.......who knows .

I loathe wasting money on poor quality junk, especially when it's priced far higher than any decent WASD/Filco model keyboard.

[imbattable]

Yeah, they would do well to have a reseller in Europe. Importing is a real chore, and very costly. That's what makes HHKBs such a premium item over here too.

If they had a European reseller and sold at the same price ($95 is about 69 EUR or £59) they'd be a really really really good deal.

You should really add the VAT to that after conversion, since US retail always advertises the net price. So in you would end up with ~82 € or ~68 GBP (at a 20% VAT), which is still a very nice deal.

[brdrgz]

Yeah, I would say Filco quality. The case construction is better than my HHKB was actually. Feels more tightly assembled, and does not have any "flex."

Geez, you figured if you paid that much money for the famed HHKB it would be absolute quality but you have certainly stopped me from wasting my money on that purchase. Despite having such poor quality, you still have the HHKB fanatics pushing their product over everything else, due to their own fantastical delusions.......who knows .

I loathe wasting money on poor quality junk, especially when it's priced far higher than any decent WASD/Filco model keyboard.

Yeah, I was highly disappointed with the build quality of the HHKB.. Especially for the outrageous price. I have a feeling that a Realforce would be a much better board, but I am hesitant now.

[Muirium]

Depends which switch you like, of course. MX just doesn't do it for me, which keeps me with my IBMs. Life would be much easier if those guys only took MX mount caps! Exactly the reason why I'm entranced by the NovaTouch. Which is just as well built as my Ducky Shine 3, with some nice extra details I probably shouldn't go on about…

Not that I've any complaints about HHKB build quality. I don't own one, but the one I proxied was solid and impressively light.

[woody]

Not that I've any complaints about HHKB build quality. I don't own one, but the one I proxied was solid and impressively light.

My HHKB squeaks very loudly when I rest my palm on the lower right corner.
There are couple of quibbles about HHKBs, they're not that perfect as one would believe reading over the net.

[Muirium]

Nothing ever is. People have their prejudices. Quite like Elrick said: a lot of people praise them too much when they've just plunked down the readies, and are still under their own inner salesman's spell.

I mentioned my one limited experience because I ought to be exempt from that bias. But then I do mean to get one eventually. Kinda always have done, but never get around to it.

[woody]

Quite like Elrick said: a lot of people praise them too much when they've just plunked down the readies, and are still under their own inner salesman's spell.

So true for keyboard fora. Direct boost by item's price and/or rarity.

[smknjoe]

I just got a WASD v2 with MX greens and no caps for $95 pre-tax/shipping. With shipping it was ~$113. I added a set of Ducky PBT blank black caps to it and it's great!. I'm really surprised with the overall excellent quality and feel of this board.

I own or have owned Ducky, Filco, Leopold, HHKB, Cherry, SIIG (alps), and IBM SSK. The SSKs have been my daily use keyboards for the last year or so and I love them. However, I enjoy MX and Topre as a change of pace every once in a while.

The HHKB is nice but the overall construction is very light and almost cheap and the rubber domes are not very tactile. The PBT keycaps feel great though and make it fun to type on. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but not $260+ fun.

Out of the MX boards the quality of construction currently would go from best WASD/Filco, Leopold - TKL Otaku (very close to Filco really), Ducky, and Cherry being the lowest quality.

The WASD is SOLID. I don't know if it's the PBT caps or the MX greens, or a little bit of both, but the action is more rigid and precise when compared to the other cherry switch boards I've owned. The case construction is very rigid, the texture is excellent and almost rubber like - it has a very flat finish. The rubber pads on the bottom grip the desk like it's bolted down; even when the rear feet are extended. So, far I'm in love. It reminds me a lot of my beloved SSKs, but newer and crisper.

...we'll have to see how it goes after the honeymoon...

[shawndumas]

Added some R5 keys...

keys.jpeg (555.66 KiB) Viewed 6062 times