Friday, February 20, 2009
I finally gave in to my year-long desire for a mechanical keyboard, birthed when I first read a review on Slashdot. Using a chunk of my measly National Service recruit conscript pay of 420 SGD I ordered a black/grey Customizer 104, an IBM Model M "clone", on the Unicomp site.
In my order, I requested two things:
1. A black, blank keyboard which my old keyboard has. I had read that they did them on the Internet, but...
2. Cheaper shipping options - Unicomp sent me an e-mail detailing several shipping options. Since I happen to be an international customer, cheap domestic shipping was out of the question. The only option on the site was USPS International Express (or something to that effect) which would have cost me around fifty USD. There, however, was an option for FedEx shipping at only forty USD in the mail, which was cheaper than the slower USPS delivery.
Naturally, I chose the FedEx route and waited with nervous anticipation for my blank, black keyboard to arrive.
(Why would a more efficient shipping option be cheaper? This question remains one of the Universe's great mysteries.)
After a week the package came and I gently unboxed it. Inside it was another box. Right. So using the same SOG knife (Thanks, NS!) I opened it and extracted my keyboard.
It wasn't black. Oh no.
I later discovered that they didn't make black keyboards anymore since they cost ten USD more to make.
Moving on with a slight taint of disappointment, I proceeded to swap my current half-blank, glossy, DIY-ed keyboard with my new procurement and tried it out with some Typeracer.
I noticed quite a few things with the keyboard within a few minutes of use.
First, the clicks aren't as loud or mechanical as I had imagined. They are quite high-pitched and tinged with the sound springs make when they are bent and struck against a hard surface. An interesting thing I noted was that each press generated two clicks. A louder, initial click comes when the key is fully pressed, and a softer, more 'springlike' click sounds off on the upstroke. Also, not all the keys have a uniform clicking sound. Some sound brighter while others sound "springy".
The second was that there was some flash (go google it) on a few keys, a product of sloppy manufacturing. This was dealt with easily, and quickly with some 120 grit sandpaper.
The third was that the keyboard feels kind of cheap in general. The casing doesn't fit perfectly and it squeaks when I squeeze certain regions of it. Certain keys have a more yellowish tint of grey than others. The keyboard certainly doesn't feel like a weapon. (It is heavy at 2.7kg, though, and I do not doubt its potential to pulverise enemies.)
And the last - the keyboard is very big. Much bigger than you would expect.
The keyboard does feel good while typing. The incessant clicks make me feel extra productive. The wider keyspacing increased my accuracy. Most keys feel 'tight' and the longer keypress distance feels nice. The spacebar also makes a resounding clank which makes it all the sweeter. Using this keyboard I attained a new peak words per minute (wpm) of 96. Sustained wpm was lower, at around 80-85, a marked improvement over 70-75. So yeah, this keyboard does live up to its reputation for typing.
Sadly, the keyboard doesn't perform as well while gaming. Initially, the clicks were distracting, but I gradually adjusted to them. One annoying quirk is that the simultaneous depressing of the keys "w", "d", and "2" doesn't transmit. This specific combination is frequently used in FPS games, and I had to release either "w" or "d" to change weapons. "3ed" worked, however.
I intend to buy some black vinyl paint and coat all the keys black for my very own pirated Das keyboard. And maybe see if I am able to give it a glossy coating, since I kinda miss my old keyboard's glossy keys.
Now, the keyboard is good, don't get me wrong. Indeed, it isn't of the highest quality, but I could learn to like it.