My first mechanical keyboard was a full-size, pink Filco Majestouch-2 with Cherry MX Blue switches. Let’s just say I fell in love with first use. Not only is it a gorgeous keyboard, it started my whole love affair with mechanical keyboards.
There’s just something special about typing on a mechanical keyboard versus your standard membrane keyboard. For me, there was something entrancing about feeling how responsive the keys are to the touch. There is something inherently gratifying when hearing and feeling that tactile feedback click. It was strange to adjust to at first, but I can definitely say that I noticed an increase in typing speed thanks to the reduced amount of force needed to actuate a key.
I’ve had my Filco keyboard for… six years now? I’ve never had an issue with it until recently, where I’m pretty sure one the switch in one of the CTRL keys happened to get misaligned, causing the key to struggle with registering key presses. I haven’t gotten around to fixing it (which I will), but that keyboard had me pretty convinced I would spend the rest of my life using Cherry MX Blue switches for the rest of my life.
That viewpoint changed within the past few years.
One thing I’ve always wanted out of a keyboard was that LED lighting, particularly after acquiring an Alienware laptop. I just loved the customization and the colors. My Filco was as standard as they come, with the only lights in place were for the lock keys. Of course, when Razer’s BlackWidow Chroma came out, Tyler and I were pretty quick to grab ’em.
Razer’s BlackWidow Chroma had the LEDs that I wanted; however, they didn’t have Cherry MX Blue switches. Didn’t really matter in the long run, though. The Razer Green switches in the BlackWidow Chroma had a very similar feel to the Cherry MX Blue switches, and they still had that audible tactile bump that I’ve grown to love. I have my BlackWidow Chroma connected to my home rig, and I love it all the same.
As for my Filco keyboard, I brought it to work. My coworkers commented on it when I first brought it there, even though my work is no stranger to mechanical keyboards. However, most people who also had mechanical keyboards also opted for switches of the silent variety. However, people did tend to comment that my keyboard was rather loud compared to everyone else’s keyboards. People adapted, though, and things were fine.
Well, that was until that one switch started having issues. It wasn’t really that big of a deal since it was just that CTRL key (and keyboards have two of them), but I was so adjusted to how I would work on documents that having to reprogram those processes were painful.
So, what to do? For one day, I settled for using my work laptop’s keyboard. Why one day? Because I couldn’t stand it. Constant typos and keys not always registering because of my light typing… I wanted to cry.
I ended up taking the plunge and ordering another keyboard. Sure, I could have toted my Razer back and forth every day, but that was a hassle I didn’t want to deal with. As for a brand new keyboard, I wanted to stick to a full-size keyboard since I used both ten key and the arrow keys frequently in my job. Also, I really wanted to try out a keyboard with Cherry MX Green switches. While I love Cherry MX Blue switches, I still found myself bottoming out my keys. Cherry MX Blue switches worked really well for me when I was constantly typing things, but when I was editing, I was bottoming out my keys left and right. Cherry MX Green switches have a higher actuation force, so I was interested in seeing how that would help with the whole bottoming out.
Even though I ordered my keyboard and had it shipped a bit faster than normal, I wasn’t sure how work was gonna go if I had to type on my laptop keyboard until it came in. Lucky for me, Tyler ended up getting a new mechanical keyboard himself, so he graciously gave (or let me steal) his Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE in the meantime. This particular keyboard has Cherry MX Silver switches.
Cherry MX Silver switches are similar to Cherry MX Red switches in the sense that they’re linear. They lack the same kind of tactile bump and audible feedback of the Cherry MX Blue and Green switches. While I’ve never regularly used a linear switch keyboard, I have messed around with Tyler’s linear switch keyboards. I always ended up missing the feel and the sound of my Cherry MX Blue switches. I was surprised to find that I really, really liked how the Cherry MX Silver switches feel.
The Cherry MX Silver switches have a shorter actuation point and travel distance than what I’m used to. I kind of like that feel a lot more than I thought I was going to. One other selling point for me was that it feels like there is a bit more resistance to the keys than my Filco. I know I looked it up at one point in time, but in general, the keys feel a lot more firm than the Cherry MX Blues (of course, I have to take in account the fact that my Filco is significantly more broken in than the Corsair). Combine all of that with the fact that my coworkers are no longer driven crazy by the loud clacking sound of my keyboard, all in all, I think that this keyboard is perfect for me at work.
So much for the other keyboard I had coming in (a Ducky One Orange Legends with Cherry MX Green switches).
When it comes to mechanical keyboards, I always tell people to try them out before they buy one. Get a feel for it. Try out different switches, if you can. A lot of commercial gaming keyboards are made with mechanical switches, so you can go somewhere, like Best Buy, and see how things feel. Another thing I recommend is purchasing a switch tester. It’s a cheap and easy way to see how different types of mechanical switches feel. Also, do your research! r/mechanicalkeyboards has a lot of good information, and a lot of people are incredibly helpful on there, too. There are a ton of different places to purchase mechanical keyboards, and there are a lot of ways to customize them, too. Different switches, different keyboard layouts, different keycaps…the world is your oyster.
I recommend mechanical keyboards because I don’t suffer from nearly as much hand/wrist strain as I used to. These keyboards can help you adjust to typing lighter and improving typing speeds. When it comes to computers, keyboards are something you frequently use–why not buy yourself a quality one that will last you quite a while? Sure, it’s a larger investment than simply using a laptop keyboard or that cheapie keyboard, but it’ll last you a while. Hell, I used to go through keyboards a lot. And now? I solely used my Filco for six years, and only now am I having minor (but fixable!) issues.
Maybe one of these days I’ll have to go and take pictures of all the keyboards Tyler and I both have. Then again… there are more on the way, haha. One of these days. ^^
Tags: Cherry MX, Corsair, Ducky, Filco, keyboard, keyboards, mechanical keyboard, mechanical keyboards, Razer, writing