best portable/compact mechanical keyboard?

[Sidereal]

Hi all,

I'm a recent convert to mechanical keyboards, having purchased a DAS Pro S, as my dekstop keyboard. However, I tend to travel around with a netbook a lot and after my switch to the DAS, I can't stand my netbook's keys anymore.

I am thinking of buying a second, smaller mechanical keyboard to pair with my netbook and was looking for recommendations (it doesn't necessarily have to simulate the DAS experience; in fact, I might prefer something similar but different). My personal research has lead me to the KBC Poker and the Filco Tenkeyless (and to a certain extent, the Noppoo Choc Mini) but I'm open to others. I'd prefer not to have to order abroad (i.e. China) if I don't have to, but that's not a dealbreaker.

Cheers!

[Maarten]

HHKB!

[Sidereal]

Isn't that a Topre/capacitive keyboard? I looked into that and the vids seem cool, but I have no personal experience with anything but Cherry/mechanical.

[GeorgeStorm]

If you want a small cherry based board.
Poker/Pure all the way, they're light, cheap, and in my opinion, still very nice to type on. No brainer

[longweight]

How much are you willing to spend? George is right, you can't go wrong with the Poker but the HHKB is just so nice

[RC-1140]

Poker, ChocMini anything like that. But if you want it cheap, you can try a G84-4100. These are even smaller, but you might not like the ML switches. I for myself like them, but there are others who hate them with a passion.

[GMC]

Go for the Poker or Pure unless you need deicated arrow or function keys, in which case go for the Race.

[Sidereal]

I guess I'm looking at about a $100 or so, longweight. I just looked at the G84-4100 (never heard of it until you mentioned it, RC). It looks really good, but you're right--I think ML switches are too shallow for my liking. Four votes for the Poker. I think we have a winner. Thanks, George, longweight, RC, GMC!

Now, any idea where I can order one? Aliexpress is the only site I know that carries it. Is that a reputable seller?

[codehead]

Read my review on Noppoo, maybe that answers some questions.

[Sidereal]

@codehead: Reading it now. Interesting. I actually read reviews comparing the Nippoo to the Poker and the Poker came out slightly ahead, as I recall. I'm not sure what POM keys are, but from the pics you've posted, it's the type of keys I've seen and tried before (without knowing what they were called). If it is the same, then from experience I didn't care much for it (a kind of graininess, if I'm not mistaken). Can you compare the feeling of the POMs to the PBTs? Have you tried the Poker?

I would prefer a white keyboard to go with my DAS so I''m looking at pics of white Nippoos now.

The misplacement of the Home and End keys is something I would find aggravating, too (I use those and the Page Up/Page Down keys a lot).

Thanks!

[Maarten]

If you grab a poker you can always get POM or PBT caps to try later on, sets for pokers are relatively easy to come by.

[Gilgam]

I would say
HHKB > Poker and al. > G84-4100
but i type every day on a g84-4100 (a server's keyboard) and it's a nice keyboard vene if i's far from the two above).

[Sidereal]

HHKB is waaay out of my price range.

Does anyone know if aliexpress is legit? I checked qtang's store and he doesn't seem to have Pokers. Anyone know where I can buy a Poker (new)?

Cheers.

[fossala]

Don't buy a poker they are shit. I cannot see why people think that they are good. I agree that they fill a space in the market, but the caps are shit, the flexing is shit, the firmware is shit (no esc and tilda bug), the case is shit. I would seriously recomend you try one before paying the inflated prices (they only cost $30 to buy where they are made (korea I think)).

[GeorgeStorm]

Caps aren't great, easily replaceable. There is little flex in the stock case (none in the 3 I have), and since he wants it to be portable, having a light case is a good thing.

Having spent some time with a HHKB this weekend, if I had to choose between the two, for the same price, I'd still go for a Poker. More choice, cheaper caps etc, more standard layout making it easier to switch to other keyboards.

Does anyone know if aliexpress is legit? I checked qtang's store and he doesn't seem to have Pokers. Anyone know where I can buy a Poker (new)?

Only place I knew you could get new Pokers was Geekhack, from either feng or p.s

[Limmy]

I own both HHKB and Poker and I like HHKB better just looking at the keyboards (without considering price in mind).

However, I would like to defend Poker a bit. All of the issues fossala raised of Poker are legit, but all of them have solutions to each of them. Caps can be replaced, flimsy feel from flexing could be improved by putting in some foam material under the PCB, and bad firm ware could be some what fixed using autohotkey scripts.

If you go with HHKB, you wouldn't face obvious issues like you did with Poker, but you get less flexibility in that you cannot really do anything to it. You get less choice in key caps, you cannot mod the switches like you can in Cherry boards, and finally the firm ware is not user programmable(Poker has the same issue too).

If you like to do mods on your keyboards, I would recommend you go for Poker. It is cheaper too. About one third of HHKB. With the saved money I would invest in nice key caps. I prefer Thick Cherry caps (double shots are nice, POM caps are good enough for me)

[fossala]

Type on a Poker, then any good cherry board (filco, wasd, leopold). And tell me it is good quality.

[GeorgeStorm]

I've sold my Filco but kept my Pokers.
They don't feel quite as good no, but the size and format easily outweigh that for me. While typing I didn't find it THAT much of a difference, it was when not typing that the differences really became apparent (weight, look etc)

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

I would like to defend Poker a bit. All of the issues fossala raised of Poker are legit, but all of them have solutions to each of them. Caps can be replaced, flimsy feel from flexing could be improved by putting in some foam material under the PCB, and bad firm ware could be some what fixed using autohotkey scripts.

That’s not a very compelling defence; it basically boils down to “buy the keyboard, then spend your time and money fixing all the shortcomings of its manufacture”. I don’t consider shoring up the manufacturer’s poor QC and cost-saving decisions to be a mod.

Even granting them a pass on the poor caps and wobbly case, shipping a keyboard with defective firmware that prevents your typing some characters is unforgivable.

[emptythecache]

fossala, my two daily drivers are a poker and a filco. I like my poker a lot. Granted, I've got it in treble's aluminum case, with a sheet of fun foam under the pcb.

[IvanIvanovich]

I will say Poker is good quality. It is just as good as ANY PCB mount board. If you compare to plate sure there is going to be some differences. I don't spend time doing any 'fixes' besides I repalced the keycaps with Cherry 2shots, but I do that with any board that dosen't come with them anyway. I don't like some of the 2nd layer of it, I wouldn't have put some things where they did personally but I think the choices on Pure are even worse. The bug with esc lock on the Poker is a non issue for me since I never saw the point of it to begin with, I never use that lock. I never had these flex problem either, but I am a light typist.
Poker is still my favorite board. The only thing I would replace it with would be the exact same size and layout with a programmable feature for the 2nd layer.

[Limmy]

To me Filco or for that matter any factory manufactured boards needs a little tune up. You might call this shortcomings, but if you go down that path, every keyboards have its shortcomings. Besides, Filco caps are horrible compared to what I consider good caps. Poker stock caps are just as good as Filco stock caps. It is just the way it is with modern keyboards with ABS caps. Important thing is the shortcomings can be easily mitigated in Poker.

Also, the firmware of Poker is not defective. It is just way it is designed. It may not be the best design, but it cannot be called defective. Even $300 HHKB has alot to be desired on the firmware side.

[Sidereal]

So, no Pokers available right now, which made me consider keyboards that were easily purchasable like the Leopoldo tenkeyless. I kinda dig it. Thinking about Cherry Browns, if so. Any feedback, guys? Filco is another big seller that is easy to find, but I get the impression it's too similar to my DAS. Am I wrong?

Also, why the hell are topre capacitive keyboards like the HHKB so much pricier?!? I checked out some Realforce ones and they were 3X more than the Poker or Noppoo.

[off]

@Limmy: I think defective refers to the esc/tilde swap issue. Where if you pull the lever so they swap, you can't FN+thatkey to get the other char. (believe it was fn+esc to get tilde, instead gets esc)
Might be jumping the gun and be totally wrong here, but seeing how the library is down....

[mSSM]

So, no Pokers available right now, which made me consider keyboards that were easily purchasable like the Leopoldo tenkeyless. I kinda dig it. Thinking about Cherry Browns, if so. Any feedback, guys? Filco is another big seller that is easy to find, but I get the impression it's too similar to my DAS. Am I wrong?

Also, why the hell are topre capacitive keyboards like the HHKB so much pricier?!? I checked out some Realforce ones and they were 3X more than the Poker or Noppoo.

To give you an easy explanation: because people are willing to pay that much. The HHKB should be more expensive than the Poker, but I agree with you that 3 times the price is hardcore.

[IvanIvanovich]

mechanicalkeyboards.com has Poker in stock if you are ok with mx blacks. Even if not it's easy to change the switch on pcb mount board without solder except for the few that have an led.

[Limmy]

@off: Yes, I know what the issue is. What I am saying here is that there is no absolute right or wrong on how Fn+Q(Esc toggle function) should behave. Some are more intuitive and some maybe less so. I would say the current implementation in Poker maybe less intuitive because intuitively when you toggle on Fn+Q you would expect Tilde key should be accessible via Fn combination. Current implementation is that when Fn+Q is toggled on, the Tilde key is Esc on the first and the second layer.

However, I think the current implementation could have its own merit in certain situations. E.g. in a case where you were pressing down Fn key to navigate and suddenly you have to hit Escape. If the Fn+Q were behaving intuitively, you would have to let go of the Fn key and then hit Tilde key, while in current firmware you can simply hit the Tilde key without letting go of the Fn key. I can think of certain cases where the current implementation is preferred over the intuitive solution.

Our intuition is not bullet proof. Sometimes intuitive solutions are not the best solutions.

[off]

I can think of certain cases where the current implementation is preferred over the intuitive solution.

Our intuition is not bullet proof. Sometimes intuitive solutions are not the best solutions.

I would agree on both of those accounts; it's just that making an entire function/character (tilde) inaccessible without explicitly being meant to do such (like a windows-lock switch is) is very counterintuitive indeed, to say the least.
Simply put, I really can't see this being the intended behaviour, hence classifying it as a bug.

[GMC]

So, no Pokers available right now, which made me consider keyboards that were easily purchasable like the Leopoldo tenkeyless. I kinda dig it. Thinking about Cherry Browns, if so. Any feedback, guys? Filco is another big seller that is easy to find, but I get the impression it's too similar to my DAS. Am I wrong?

Also, why the hell are topre capacitive keyboards like the HHKB so much pricier?!? I checked out some Realforce ones and they were 3X more than the Poker or Noppoo.

Back to topic.
Poker and pure are same format and size though locations of 2nd layer are slightly different. Personal preferences will take hold but I like the 2nd layer of pure. They are more readily available than poker now and have slightly less flex.
I type reasonably heavy and bottom out a lot but don't notice flex with my pure.
It's less solid than my wasd yes because switches are mounted on PCB instead of a plate. That's fine with me as I would hate to carry around the weight of a filco or my wasd every day!

[fossala]

The HHKB isn't plate mounted and it feels solid, just as solid as any MX board.