BTC 5339R-0 review (BTC foam and foil)

Chyros · 14 Nov 2015, 16:09

I thought it was high time for a foam and foil review so I made one of my capacitive BTC, with a guest appearance of a Key Tronic, the other major manufacturer of foam and foil keyboards. Hope you enjoy it!

Also, note that it's been only a week since the last review. Due to a recent influx of keyboards, including several donations (thanks guys! ), I'm going to up the ante for the moment and do A KEYBOARD REVIEW EVERY WEEK for as long as I can sustain it .

seebart · 14 Nov 2015, 16:42

Good to see you are finally getting around to foam and foil. About time.

I had to LOL at 6:25.

Halvar · 14 Nov 2015, 18:19

Great video again!

"The keyfeel is weird, something I couldn't quite put my finger on..." ...

seebart · 14 Nov 2015, 18:22

Halvar wrote: Great video again!

"The keyfeel is weird, something I couldn't quit put my finger on..." ...

Yes I also enjoyed that. Chyros needs to get into obscure 1970's keyboards that will "confuse" him further and make for great video reviews.

stratokaster · 14 Nov 2015, 18:48

I have an ANSI 5339R-O made in 1994. I actually happen to quite like it: it's very consistent and I can type on it with tremendous speed. Mine is also linear. And it has this strange Macro key to the left of the Ctrl which literally does nothing: the key is there, but the PCB lacks the corresponding solder pad.

Chyros · 14 Nov 2015, 19:04

Glad you guys enjoyed it!

Halvar wrote: Great video again!

"The keyfeel is weird, something I couldn't quite put my finger on..." ...

Haha, glad someone got that xD .

seebart wrote:
Halvar wrote: Great video again!

"The keyfeel is weird, something I couldn't quit put my finger on..." ...
Yes I also enjoyed that. Chyros needs to get into obscure 1970's keyboards that will "confuse" him further and make for great video reviews.

Oh yeah I'd love to! Haven't had any luck finding any so far though, oldest I have is early 80s.

stratokaster wrote: I have an ANSI 5339R-O made in 1994. I actually happen to quite like it: it's very consistent and I can type on it with tremendous speed. Mine is also linear. And it has this strange Macro key to the left of the Ctrl which literally does nothing: the key is there, but the PCB lacks the corresponding solder pad.

The keyfeel on the BTC isn't horrendous IMO, it's just weird. If you type hard enough to not bounce off the foam, it's not so bad, really.

The keys feel better with the sleeve mod I was talking about though, makes it into a pretty nice, very snappy rubber dome board... with the advantages of a capacitive mechanism.

P.S. we need a multiquote option on DT, badly.

seebart · 14 Nov 2015, 19:16

I'm looking foreward to your first 1970's keyboard review! That reminds me the LED foam and foil switches in my Key Tronic actually have a spring inside the switch housing which is of course only even possible due to the size of the switch housing. The simplicity in design of these foam and foil switches is brilliant, the feel less so no matter from what decade.