Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 (edited) Hello all, Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on an excellent gaming keyboard in case someone finds themselves in need of a new keyboard. It is Corsair's K70 series with red cherry mx switches (K70's are top of the line mechanical keyboards) I have owned one of these for about 18 months and I know several others that have owned them for more than 2 years. It is the best keyboard I have owned to date, and I have tried several different makes of keyboards. You can find several variations of it on this page below: http://www.newegg.com/Corsair-Gaming-Keyboards/BrandSubCat/ID-1459-3523 You will notice you can get it with Red Cherry mx switches, Blue cherry mx switches or Brown cherry mx switches. This matches the key action to your preference. I have found I really like the red. They have almost zero resistance all the way to stop which makes them a very fast and positive key action for me. Edited April 7, 2015 by Zathrus~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlon64~SPARTA~ Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 this is the one I have, not that costly thow http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ2ST8629&cm_re=stealth_keyboard-_-23-239-006-_-Product Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 (edited) yes well that is because the one you have is not a mechanical keyboard. mechanical keyboards use very high quality mechanical micro-switches that are tested to sustain millions of strokes without failure. In addition, they tune them to specific keystrokes. So you can buy switches in the keyboard that match your preference. The keys on my board are the "Red Cherry MS". These have very low resistance, no click, etc. They simply bottom out with a slight touch. In addition, the key action on a mechanical keyboard never changes in a manner that is detectable by the user as the board wears and ages with use. In otherwords, even though I have been pounding on this keyboard for almost 2 years, the key action is still the same as it was when brand new. I compared it to a brand new one about 2 months ago that I got for a client. There was no difference between them except mine had a lot more dust on it It took people two years to convince me to try a mechanical keyboard as I was baulking at the price of them. But after testing a few and settling on this K70 series, I will never go back to a non mechanical. They are just too nice. With the red cherry switches you can practically blow hard on the switches and they will actuate. This is fantastic during fps gaming as it allows you to multi-click a single button much faster than on a standard electronic board. In addition, mechanical keyboards typically have no limit on the number of keys that can be pressed simultaneously. Electronic keyboards usually have a maximum limit of 4 that can be pressed simultaneously and read properly. Another nice thing about mechanicals is if a switch does happen to fail you can change the individual switches out if desired. Edited April 7, 2015 by Zathrus~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlon64~SPARTA~ Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 (edited) Well the one I have has dedicated movement keys on the left side instead of a regular keyboard lay out with the movement arrows in a very odd place and mine are none slip rubber keys as well. I like how they take a regular key board and try and call it a gameing board. Had mine for 5 years now and trouble free. Whatever. Edited April 8, 2015 by Athlon64~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 erm whatever??... all mechanical keyboards can do what you describe. That is just programing the key setup.... That is a basic requirement for a gaming board. Yes yours has a momo hand pad on the side... but in a gaming board you can program any key to do anything. The link you provided goes to a keyboard that is priced at $239..... it better last 5 years. That is double the cost of the K70. I am sure you have had yours and been happy with it for 5 years, but the fact is, your key action has deteriorated over 5 years. The physics in an electronic bubble switch dictate that. In a mechanical keyboard, they do not change in a manner detectable by the user. The switch would fail before it changes action. So I am happy your happy with your keyboard.... but you do not have to spend that much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athlon64~SPARTA~ Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) actually it cost $90 and still works fine. that was the only one I could find for a example on amazon. Idealizon Merc stelth. great board and will buy another one if this one fails. it does it all as well. L,E,D back lite, programmable keys has 2 usb ports on it and it lasts. The little micro swiches wear out as well, toss it and buy another one, when its done. Edited April 9, 2015 by Athlon64~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) yep, typically it is years before they fail, so you would just replace it. Buying red cherry micro switches at only a handful at a time is pretty expensive to do. So yes dump it and buy a new one I agree. I know one guy that owns one of the initial mechanical keyboards that became available. I think he told me he got it in 2000... I want to say it is an IBM keyboard but I cannot remember for sure. It is over 14 years old I know for sure and he still uses it daily. So they can last a long time apparently. He has taken his apart a few times and cleaned it over the years but that is about it. Says he won't get rid of it till it refuses to operate.... which could be a long time because apparently he found a parts supply for it BTW I forgot to meantion the Corsair K70 comes with textured gaming keys also. I do not know if they are rubberized, but they are certainly zero slip. The texture of the key face provides a very comfortable but stable set for your finger. They come as a partial second set of key heads, you just replace the ones you use for gaming (ie. W, A, D, spacebar, etc.) You never have to look at the board to know where your hand is relative to the keys you use with these installed. So I also agree that gaming keys should have some type of special surface. It really enhances the board. The K70 (and I am sure Athlon's board) will also program the backlight LED's so that the only keys that are lit are the gaming keys your using. They have a factory setting button that only lights the standard gaming keys (A, W, D,1 thru 6, and the arrow keys). You can program your own setups. Today's gaming boards are coming with some really nice features.You can see in both Athlon's board and In the Corsair K70; both are packed with useful features for gaming. Everyone has their preference, but once you get over the initial shock of their cost, you really can purchase a very good gaming board for $90 to $130. It will typically be very user customizable. Giving you many options to tune the board to your specific needs. Most will store several configurations for you. So in short I guess I should say, do NOT skimp on your keyboard if your a gamer, eventually you will end up with a pretty good one.. and kick yourself for hampering your game play all those years with a cheap keyboard not designed for gaming. They really are a huge asset in your gaming performance if you get a good one, that matches your preferences in key action, etc. They all vary somewhat in customization features also, so it pays to take a look at what is out there, that also seems to be getting decent user ratings for reliability. I finally settled on Corsair's K70 because (1)It has really high ratings in reliability, etc. (2) the entire board frame, face, etc. is all aluminum so it is built to last (3) with programmable mechanical micro-switches, I can change it from a standard keyboard I use for work to a fully customized gaming board with a single click of a button. It just seemed like a good idea two years ago and I have NOT regretted that decision. Edited April 10, 2015 by Zathrus~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gon5~SPARTA~ Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 (edited) this is the one I have, not that costly thow http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ2ST8629&cm_re=stealth_keyboard-_-23-239-006-_-Product Had 2 of them and they are now trashed had the one before it the Original Ideazon with multiple keyboards I will not buy one of them again key wont last long. Now Im using a generic Microsoft one till I get a mechanical 1. Now take a look at this 2 bad boys: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826567001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=23-567-001 Edited April 11, 2015 by Gon5~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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