Which mechanical keyboard should i buy?

Blacks at home.
Browns at work.
(The click is really nice for typing precision)

I like browns in general, as they make it so you can tell when the key is fully actuated but not yet bottomed out. It can make keying a tiny bit faster, and quieter without the o-ring bumpers installed.

boogle wrote:

Blacks at home.
Browns at work.

This really is the thread that keeps on giving.

Just for giggles I bought a poker 2 on craigslist. Price was just too good. We'll see if I don't go crazy over a lack of a dedicated arrow cluster.

I THINK I can live without dedicated function keys.

Hey so Boogle was right. I got that Rosewill with the browns for work, and it's like a hug for my fingers every time I use it. I'm super happy with my purchase. The case is metal and it's quite heavy, which means it stays put nicely on my desk.

The K70 RGB is up for pre-order on Newegg. They have put a release date of September 8 and a price of $170 for the Red Switch edition.

That's around two months past the initial release date and no word on the other switches. That price point is also at the full MSRP of $170 for the K70 and $190 for the K95. It could be October/November before a Brown Switch edition.

I figured if the RGB was going to be just another $20 more than the normal K70, it would be worth getting. Now it's looking like $40 more and the K95 will be up there with the Filco Majestouch (much higher quality).

Normally I would never pay that much for a backlight keyboard. I never look at the board when I type and have no use for it. However, I keep my pretty keyboards at my office and get a lot of comments over how nice they are. It has become an issue of keeping up appearances. I use a Saitek that changes colors to match my tie at the moment (G600 mouse also changes to match), but I actually have used it so much that I wore the keys out.

It will be interesting while waiting for Brown Switches what issues come out on the Red that may have caused such a delay. If it weren't for the backlight, I would rather have the Filco or two Quickfires at the same cost. Need the full 10 key and cursors though for spreadsheets. Otherwise the QuickFire Stealth TK would have been nice.

Phishposer wrote:

Hey so Boogle was right. I got that Rosewill with the browns for work, and it's like a hug for my fingers every time I use it. I'm super happy with my purchase. The case is metal and it's quite heavy, which means it stays put nicely on my desk.

Its like you people don't trust me.

I've got my eye on that K70 RGB as well...

Which means some lucky person is about to score a few month old k95 vengeance for cheap from me. Stay tuned!

OK, I was all set to buy a K70 with cherry browns to replace a Tesoro Durandal that crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago. Love the browns, but if I wait a week the 70 RGB will be out. But only with cherry reds.

Plus it's $50 more. But it can be macroed/color programmed to my heart's delight.

Is the really that much difference between the red and brown switches? Is the difference really worth the extra money?

Am I being impulsive because the RGB is newer and "shiny"?

sr_malo wrote:

Am I being impulsive because the RGB is newer and "shiny"? :?

I don't think so. Although I reeeeally want one, so I'm probably biased.

Cross Posting from the trading post since I'll have the new shiny next week

Corsair Vengeance K95 (cherry red switches.) $110 with free shipping.

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/9903?page=155#comment-3033348

sr_malo wrote:

OK, I was all set to buy a K70 with cherry browns to replace a Tesoro Durandal that crapped out on me a couple of weeks ago. Love the browns, but if I wait a week the 70 RGB will be out. But only with cherry reds.

I've tried different switches and I like the browns because I know when the key "switches" without worrying about bottoming out the key-cap. Is there a big difference in feel? It's pretty minor, but it's there. Someone not looking for that actuation point could probably not notice it right away. Someone with experience on the switches though will recognize it.

Been looking forward to the RGB about 6 months and so what's another month for the brown (a month is a guess, could be longer). I expect the keyboard to last me several years so I want to be sure and wait for the one I want. After all, I have used all of my prior keyboards to their breaking point. Waiting the extra month also gives me time to see if any issues come up on the red switches or the software. There has to be some reason the board was delayed 3 months... I would assume they fixed the issue or they wouldn't have held it back, but if there are any other issues, they will quickly become apparent.

If red switch was the only option, I would get it. Knowing there will be a brown though is something that will better suit my needs and preferences. I was going to get a K95 just for the macro switches even though it's red, but the RGB will have that ability (at a higher cost than the current k95s). Can't wait to program the insert, home, page up, etc. into one-push program launches and minimize/maximize buttons for my solitaire games at work.

If the RGB with browns is due in a month or so I'll wait. At the moment I'm using my backup (an old Logitech Elite).

Once you go brown, you never go back.

The Gigabyte Aivia Osmium is a very good keyboard, and it's not $170.

Anyone else get the K70 RGB yet? The gaming software is NOT intuitive.

Corsair is going to release an official response soon on the issues of the first RGB model. They are replacing it with a different version. It was 63 and now is going to 68.

Huh? It's been working just fine for me. What's been the issue?

Official response. There aren't any mechanical issues, it's just a different color scheme

Hello all,

To address questions and concerns about the various models of RGB keyboards: as with our previous keyboards, we will be releasing various versions of our RGB keyboards with variations in finish. Since, as a rule, we don’t comment on unannounced products, we can’t reveal all of the different color schemes at this time.

Underneath the skin, they will all be exactly the same, electrically and mechanically. There are no planned changes, electrically or mechanically, to the RGB keyboards that are currently for sale.

The Corsair Utility Engine (CUE) software is still in beta, and we really appreciate all the feedback you've given us so far. An official release is scheduled for later this month. All of our keyboards are field-upgrade-able for new firmware. We may issue new firmware updates to improve performance or to make other minor changes as they come up.

We thank you all for your patience and the passion you have for our products.

We thank you all for your patience and the passion you have for our products.

I'm so sick of corporate doublespeak like that. This means: "a lot of you hate this, and we're trying to fix it."

There's always going to be upset people. What should they say?

The software isn't buggy, it's just not intuitive at all, and it doesn't explain itself either. It was clearly designed by someone that was too close to the product.

I watched a 40 minute YouTube video to understand how to really program the thing to do complicated things. It's powerful and neat, but they need to make it more accessible and they should have realized the confusion was going to result in yelling.

What should they say?

"A lot of you hate this, and we're trying to fix it."

K70 RGB, K95 RGB, and K65 RGB now available in various switches.

K70 RGB Brown and Blue on Corsair's Website as in stock.

Wow; I'm so happy this thread exists. I have an extremely old G15 that I have used for at least 7 years that is starting to fail. I am using this as a hybrid PC gaming / Telecommuting keyboard. So, I am currently debating between the Cherry Red and Brown switches. I am curious how noticeable the 'bump' is. I appreciate this thread so much because I had my mind set on the Razer BlackWidow but now after reading this I'm more about the CM or Corsair for the build quality of the key.

I think I'm settling on the Corsair K70 RGB with the MX Cherry Red switch. The budget side of me says go with a standard K70 but the rest of me sees pretty colors and wants the RGB.

Blondish83 wrote:

I think I'm settling on the Corsair K70 RGB with the MX Cherry Red switch. The budget side of me says go with a standard K70 but the rest of me sees pretty colors and wants the RGB.

It's a pretty neat keyboard. There's been a lot of people that have had issues with it but mine is behaving just fine and only using a single USB 2.0 connection to boot (supposed to use 2, no idea why I can get away with just one) Keep in mind that a lot of the features with the LEDs are overkill and seem to be a "because we can!" feature.

I've still got this available if you wanted to save a few bucks, only 1 color though

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/9...

JC wrote:
Blondish83 wrote:

I think I'm settling on the Corsair K70 RGB with the MX Cherry Red switch. The budget side of me says go with a standard K70 but the rest of me sees pretty colors and wants the RGB.

It's a pretty neat keyboard. There's been a lot of people that have had issues with it but mine is behaving just fine and only using a single USB 2.0 connection to boot (supposed to use 2, no idea why I can get away with just one)

Is the second USB connector for the USB slot on the keyboard itself? That is what I assumed anyway.

There is no USB passthrough on the K70 RGB version. I was slightly disappointed at that but not really a big deal

The second connector is supposed to be for power needs if using USB 2.0. If you hook it to a USB 3.0 port they say you only need to use one usb plug but like I said I've got it hooked to a single USB 2.0 and it works just fine.

The second connector is supposed to be for power needs if using USB 2.0.

Wow, what a bad design decision.

You may be drastically shortening the life of your keyboard or your USB port if you're really plugging into USB 2 with that. Your motherboard may handle it for a time, but that's no guarantee that it will continue to do so.

The regular K70 has two connectors, but the second one is for the passthrough, and you can leave it unplugged if you wish. I'd definitely go that way over having das blinkenlights.

No idea. Apparently it's because each USB 2.0 port only provides 500mAh of power and the LEDs needs more. USB 3.0 provides 900mAh and you can use just the one. Of course that answer they are providing goes out the window since I'm running this thing on one USB 2 connection and it's just fine. Unless my Asus MB is running higher voltage to the ports.

No idea. Apparently it's because each USB 2.0 port only provides 500mAh of power and the LEDs needs more.

Right, which is just fundamentally a bad idea.

I'm running this thing on one USB 2 connection and it's just fine.

It's just fine now. That may not last. You could very easily be damaging the port, the keyboard, or both.