Zenith KBD17 / 163-73 review (Alps SKCL Yellow)

[Chyros]

Today we look at the Zenith KDB17, and yellow Alps finally make their debut on the channel! Hope you enjoy the video!

[green-squid]

yaay my keyboard made it into the video!!

[Sangdrax]

Gotta love the Zeniths.

[Brett MacK]

Nearing the end of the Zenith timeline! Great video.

[//gainsborough]

Another really cool thing with the lock lights is that you can change the color of them from green to red. There is ATGR and ATRD on the at/xt switch that you can set it too! It’s really cool!

[balotz]

Today we look at the Zenith KDB17, and yellow Alps finally make their debut on the channel! Hope you enjoy the video!

Great board, I love the stabilised control keys as they are prone to binding on many Alps boards.

[Chyros]

Another really cool thing with the lock lights is that you can change the color of them from green to red. There is ATGR and ATRD on the at/xt switch that you can set it too! It’s really cool!

Wait what? xD

[//gainsborough]

Another really cool thing with the lock lights is that you can change the color of them from green to red. There is ATGR and ATRD on the at/xt switch that you can set it too! It’s really cool!

Wait what? xD

yeah man - give it a shot!

Also, you now have the pieces to make the ultimate zenith board. Just use the PBT caps on the ZKB-2, and it's amazing =) Keep in mind you have to take out the stab inserts and use normal ones, since the ZKB-2 uses weird plate stab-inserts.

[Elrick]

Gotta love the Zeniths.

Just NOT this version.

Who the hell wants a keyboard that ignores roll over, what the hell?

So if anyone types at 120 wpm I bet this clown keyboard just freezes, like what Chyros said. I know there are still Zenith freako's who worship everything this company once produced but when a keyboard basically fails to accept your input under certain circumstances, you either have to slow down in typing to "Moron-levels" or simply go elsewhere and buy something else that actually works.

Sorry Chyros, NO this isn't a better nor decent version of a Zenith model at all and you clearly showed it as proof.

[//gainsborough]

Oh for sure - I've had two of these in the past and this keyboard's PCB is the worst one I've ever worked with. Aside from the one cool feature about changing the lock light colors this board was almost impossible for me to type on.

Also not a huge fan of the sandwich construction of the board. It's held together with screws, which is nice, but the screws in the bottom case screw into the top case with the mounting plate between them. Other zenith boards have the mounting plate mounted to the top case of the keyboard (via screws) and then the bottom case also screws into separate screw holes in the top case.

Honestly though, that's a pretty minor gripe - the main issue with this damn thing is the PCB and its awful rollover problem. If it had the ZKB-2's PCB, this thing would be freakin' badass. I actually tried using the ZKB-2s PCB in this board, but the dimensions were all wrong =(

[Chyros]

Gotta love the Zeniths.

Just NOT this version.

Who the hell wants a keyboard that ignores roll over, what the hell?

So if anyone types at 120 wpm I bet this clown keyboard just freezes, like what Chyros said. I know there are still Zenith freako's who worship everything this company once produced but when a keyboard basically fails to accept your input under certain circumstances, you either have to slow down in typing to "Moron-levels" or simply go elsewhere and buy something else that actually works.

Sorry Chyros, NO this isn't a better nor decent version of a Zenith model at all and you clearly showed it as proof.

I should stress that the problem is largely mitigated by using it over PS/2 (if you don't mind the constant beeping, that us), although even then the matrix is absolutely terrible.