WASD v2 vs Filco, both TKL

[drrtyrokka]

Hey guys,

I already have a Filco Majestouch-2 Ninja with Brown Switches at home. (Waiting for Round5 Caps )

Now I want to buy a Tenkeyless for my Office, it should be Tenkeyless and i need the ISO german layout.
The WASD v2 or Filco both would cost me 170€, and they are the only ones who would fit my needs.
But I can't decide if the custom keycaps of WASD wouldn't be nicer than the filco standard caps.
What is your opinion in this issue?

Thx!

[Muirium]

Why not a Ducky? You prefer Costar over Cherry stabs?

[imbattable]

Teraset has a reduced price for their german layout Ducky Black Mamba G2Pro TKL at the moment.

http://deskthority.net/marketplace-f11/ ... -1590.html

If you are living in Germany, and a member of the computerbase forum, there is a GB planned there to take place in April.

[drrtyrokka]

I want to use the keyboard in my office and dont want any backlight (like shine) and the other ducky boards have a LED on capslock and num keys (or aren't they?), so how will i be able to replace them later on?
Is there a way to turn off the LEDs for these keys, so i could even replace them with normal ones (and loosing the led hint)

But nice hint, will look around!

[drrtyrokka]

How about the Cooler Master Storm Quickfire Stealth? How is the quality of the keycaps compared to the other ones?
(would cost me just 89 €, Filco and WASD 170€...)

[Muirium]

They're all a bit weak when it comes to caps, at least by default. WASD has a ton of cap options to play with, but none of them are high quality, far as I know. Cooler Master's legends look lame and their keyboard bodies tend to be covered in a rubberised finish, which is unfortunate. Filco makes a fine board but the MJ2's weak point is definitely its caps. They do front printed legends for good reason: touch them and they will wear off. Doubleshots are immune to all that.

In any case, you'll notice the upgrade when you (eventually) get your Round 5s! They are literally huge, and hands down my favourite ever caps.

I've got a set of Round 4 SPH here on a Ducky Shine 3 that I like a lot. (Won it as a prize, no less!) The backlight is effectively useless with doubleshots:



I don't mind, as I much prefer the fancy caps. You can disable the lighting quite easily, although I actually leave reactive mode on for a firey glow like above! The only key that behaves differently is caps lock, if enabled. I run OS X, and when I disable it (which is my preference) the LED never lights. Its state is controlled by the host computer.

There are a few keyboard models here and there that come with better caps. Ducky has the Premier with dyesub PBT coming out. One step down is that €99 "black mamba" Imbattable mentioned with engraved PBT caps. Filco even has its own version of Round 5 caps (same profile, made by SP) that I can't remember the name of. I don't know what CM is up to in the fancy caps stakes, though their Topre-switch NovaTouch sounds like a great option for putting Round 5s on when it comes out…

Anyway, definitely look around. Filco, Ducky, WASD and CM all make solid keyboards and are worth a bit of thought. You can read far too many words about my Shine 3 right here, if you like:

http://deskthority.net/news-reviews-f4/ ... t7130.html

[MOSFET]

@Muirium: Did you take that photo with a film camera?

[drrtyrokka]

Thank you Muirium, it looks pretty awsome. One last question: When I disable the backlight, is it for all keys? You say, that the capslock will stay off. So when you hit it, nothing will happen. Does this also happen with the num key?

I once got a ZOWIE Celeritas and there you could disable the Lights too (it was not a backlight, but the logo and capsloc etc. had LEDs) but if you hit any key with a led, all leds turn on again. That was pretty anoying...

If this different with the Ducky board, I definately will order a Ducky for me

Thanks for your awsome review!!

[Muirium]

My Shine 3 is tenkeyless so no Num Lock. I use Macs which ignore both Num and Scroll Lock anyway. I assume they would work the same way as Caps Lock: the host computer is in control. Certainly, pressing Caps Lock on my keyboard doesn't monkey around with the other keys.

An other thing to bear in mind: media keys. The Shine 3 does volume and screen brightness via its Function key and various keys in the Insert/Home/Page Up block. They're one thing you can't configure. So no moving them around.


@MOSFET: No film, but it is an SLR. That was a long exposure shot from a tripod. Something like 15 seconds at f/16 as I remember. The keyboard is a bit spooky in the dark, but to really bring it out you've got to steady your camera.

[drrtyrokka]

I meant scroll lock, not num... my fault. Thanks for your reply, i really consider getting this keyboard now ))

[Muirium]

If you want to keep the lights off, I'd go for the black mamba. I think physically they're the same or very close, just depends on whether you want a full set of LEDs.

Okay, I'll admit it, I've been hankering after one of those with MX clears for months now! But Round 5 kept me busy.

[drrtyrokka]

Yea, i've written teraset an email, hope they'll reply me soon...
I will buy one of the g2pro boards, i think they are pretty awsome. In the thread mentioned by imbattable above, there stands the offer will only be available until 20. March. I couldn't find a thread for a group buy for April. The only thread on 'computerbase' I found is about a group buy that i recently passed -.-

Thanks for your help guys, think I really found a good keyboard and can spend the money i kept now for another custom keycap groupbuy later on

[Muirium]

That would be this…


Matt3o's Granite DSA GB. Just finishing up the design stage.

Teraset makes those offers once a month in Ducky Nordic's thread. I expect they'll let you have it, otherwise just a little patience should do the trick.

[drrtyrokka]

Would the layout be german, it would be perfect... perhaps just the modifiers... but I will need an iso enter then.

[drrtyrokka]

Oh, it is a group buy... yea somebody mentioned this in round5 for me... will have a closer look, thanks for reminding!

[imbattable]

There is a GB planned for April, and the organizer (Amr0d) wants to contact them if they would maybe extend the special offer if we buy a whole lot of keyboards

[Muirium]

Their current offer is because they're low on stock of those particular PBT models. There will be updated versions out sometime this year. But I haven't seen anything teased about those yet.

Anyone following Ducky for a while knows that new model deadlines aren't their top priority. I'm yet to see something launch on time!

[drrtyrokka]

If the shipping is only 20 - 30 euros I won't wait for it
Better: I can't wait for it =)))

[drrtyrokka]

@Muirium, would you prefer the ducky over a filco? Is it just because of the stabilizers and do you see any advantage of getting a filco rather the ducky? Money isn't my problem...

[Muirium]

Well, I have my eyes on Filco because of Bluetooth. The Minila Air is a great move of theirs. Even picky Matt3o (and his missus) like it for build quality and very impressive battery life. But I'm sure if you've ever seen one you'll know what the trouble is: that layout!

Filco literally already has the Bluetooth controller to put inside the Majestouch, but so far have not launched it. The MJ3, whenever it comes, could be awesome just because of Bluetooth. But I've heard nothing about it so far and it could be quite a wait. They brought out a lot of stuff last year, so who knows.

I do indeed prefer Cherry stabs, which gives Ducky's boards an edge on Filco's for me; all else being equal. Cherry stabs are quieter and more convenient when swapping caps (no clips and wires to worry about) but have a different feel than Costar stabs; which just as many people prefer. Costar is snappier, Cherry is smoother.

Filco's higher price is very smart of them. You really have to wonder what's the catch when you're paying less for Ducky and the rest. Filco basically has the stronger brand. They're the guys who pretty much brought back mechanical keyboards from the dead.

[drrtyrokka]

One last question about this. Did you notice any pinging with the ducky (It's also plate mounted like the filco I think) Because my filco at home rings a little bit. Sometimes it drives my crazy and sometimes I dont bother...
But if I had knewn this then I wouldn't buy it again...
So does the shine 3 ring at all? (putting your ear near the keys and releasing it, do you hear anything?)

[Muirium]

Holds keyboard up to ear and listens closely…

Walks over to Model F, and covers ears…

I guess you could call it ringing, but you mustn't have been near a Model F typed in anger!

You're right that it's probably the sound of plate mounted switches bottoming out in general. The best way to fix it would be o-rings, I think.

[drrtyrokka]

Yea, the o-rings help a little bit, so it only rings when the key is released. Just installed a few rings I had liying around here.. and it's really better. Is the g2pro also pcb mounted like the shine3? (listening to your video with the yellow ducky, i couldn't here the rings as it is pcb mounted...)

[Muirium]

Like most mechanical keyboards, the Shine 3 is plate mounted. Here it is:



My recording sounds pretty much how the keyboard does to me in person. Maybe I'd need to put the microphone closer to pick up the ring.

PCB mounted keyboards probably are a bit quieter. The original Poker is the only one I know for sure. (Even the Poker II is plate mounted.)

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Switch_mount

The recoil sound comes from inside the switches. O-rings damp the downstroke but do nothing on the upstroke when the slider returns again. Cherry MX switches have no internal damping to deal with that. But Matias switches do. I have an old keyboard (an Apple Extended II) with damped Alps switches which is indeed very quiet compared to any of my Cherry boards.

Perhaps Matias is worth considering too. Or even silenced Topre…

[drrtyrokka]

Hm... but my filco really sounds like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNND9kaWP6s
except, its on every key...(is this really normal? It sounds a bit like those old toy microphones for children, do you know what I mean?)
i fear the same will be with the ducky g2pro...

Sorry if I am boring you with all these questions, but you are really nice and know what you are talking about (in contrast to me sometimes )

[Muirium]

Thanks. What colour of MX switch do you have?

[drrtyrokka]

brown

[Muirium]

Right. Brown is just as light as red. Hmm. I was thinking that maybe it was something to do with stronger springs, but clearly not.

Check out the recordings on Matias site:

http://www.matias.ca/quietpro/pc/

See if you can hear the same thing from those.

[drrtyrokka]

i hear it clearly on the tactile pro audio! when he stops typing. And also on the mx browns...

[Muirium]

And the Quiet Pro? Matias makes two different kinds of switches: clicky ones and damped ones. The damped "soft click" switches are the potentially interesting ones.