I’ve been happy with them (other than wishing they were still MORE tactile, but that’s the same with almost every switch) however I haven’t used some of the new boutique switches.
The complaints I’ve heard is that they aren’t the best with stem wobble and that some “scratchiness” is noticeable, maybe due to the reduced sound. More sound than feel from what I can understand.
To someone that isn’t completely obsessive like the Mech KB community they are quiet, just heavy enough (70g on mine IIRC) and have the softer bottom out I love about silent switches.
I bought a cheap (~€50) Royal Kludge RK61 to use until I built my Iris.
Iris rev. 2 with Zilent 67g v2 switches (lubed with Krytox 105) and Big Bang MDA keycaps, no LEDs.
I chose the silent switches for office use. For a future, home-use build I’ll go for really clicky switches with a lower actuation force.
Total part cost plus shipping was roughly €170.
It runs the open source QMK firmware
(the picture isn’t of mine, but it looks the same)
Wrist rests aren’t pictured.
For a deep dive into keyboards, including a deep dive into mechanical keyboards, look at “”Xah keyboard Blog”“:Xah Keyboard Guide (and ignore the grammar).
Thanks, that sounds great. I’m no switch snob by any means and it seems like we have similar preferences. Though I would probably go for the 80g variant. And those as you say boutique switches are too expensive, at least a buck a piece.
Currently I’m torn between Helix without bottom row, so 40, and column staggered such as your Iris, but in 40 so Corne (crkbd) is the most likely candidate. How do you like the layout in terms of ergonomics? The main reason I want an ortho split 40% is the idea of moving my fingers outside their home column as little as possible (as anyone else using similar keyboard, I guess). I have ran into that blog before, that guy Xah has bunch of boards originating from in one place.
Forgot to mention that apparently with both them and Zealios the heavier versions are supposed to feel even more tactile so if that’s the feel you want 80g would be a fantastic choice! :+1:
Unlike Qwerty, my fingers rest on the home row (in the center of each key) without any contortion. I’m still getting used to the left side (decades of Qwerty has you hitting the left bottom row with the wrong fingers) and the thumb cluster. Not having a full sized keyboard requires using layers, which will take some time to develop muscle memory for. I’m still deciding how to effectively get at all keys I need, I’m currently on three layers. I look at this as a multi-year project.
I would imagine that anything smaller than the Iris would require quite some layer-acrobatics - but you’re gonna look damn cool once you’ve got it down.
I’m well aware it’s all about efficient qmk layout map, apart from retraining muscles. And I won’t lie, I’m in it partialy for the cool factor. I enjoy people’s confused faces and questions when they realise my laptop has no desktop icons or start menu (i3wm user, tiling windows is the best invention after the internet), I guess 2 part keyboard with blank keycaps and oled screens looks pretty weird to the most of the people And there is this since I’m feeding a steretype.
My Keychron K4 with Gateron brown switches arrived today.
I was a bit apprehensive about the height of the keyboard, especially since I mostly use the very thin Apple Keyboard and Magic Keyboard, but I couldn’t find anything else with a 96% layout and good macOS out-of-the-box support within my price range. After a hours use the height hasn’t been a problem, but I’ll have to see how I go using it for a full day on Monday.
I’d be really interested to hear from any other macOS users with mechanical keyboards, especially anyone who has done a custom build. I know you don’t need a dedicated macOS keyboard, but I do like niceties like keycaps with macOS labels.
I have a feeling that K4 won’t be my last mechanical keyboard - I’m already having thoughts of trying blue switches, finding an old Apple Extended Keyboard with Alps switches and a locking caps lock, and maybe even a custom build with the number pad on the left.
Being used to Gateron Blue switches and Gateron Red switches I must say the Brown just seem rather unappealing to me so far. I feel better using the stabbing blue ones or the buttery red ones, yeah people praise the “browns” as being the best of both worlds, I cannot agree with that, it’s just a different feeling.
The fonts are ultra thin and ultra small fortunately so I can barely see any letter, without back light I have to say I can barely even see what letter is
what during daylight. Yeah I do not really look at the keyboard when I type, but instead of a quick glance to have all everything in my mind clearly when
typing now a quick glance pretty much does not do anything, rather strains my eyes.
Unfortunately during daylight the back lighting is so dim and combined with very thin letters it basically make no difference for my use, while my old Anne Pro 1 has some punch that they can be used even in daylight without no issues, especially important for the black keys.
Caps-lock takes a full second to cycle from white to red light to signal that it is pressed, which is well really slow, on both of my Anne PRO 1 they are
instant.
They USB-C cable they offer is as stiff as a cable can be, this is basically a joke, just cable you can’t even use.
The thickness of the K6 keyboard is too much for me, the Anne PRO 1 keyboards I have are much better.
The K6 does look to be molded with quality plastics that is for sure, appears as higher quality, which impresses quickly even with it’s rather rubber key tactile feeling, except letters are so thin on dark grey keys with such dim backlighting during the day is a big con for me.
Most of your issues with the K6 probably apply to the K4 as well, although I don’t have the caps lock issue. It’s definitely very tall, and based on the disassembly videos I’ve seen there’s no need for that. The USB cable is also very stiff, and as the port on on the right hand side of the keyboard it’s both a bigger issue and more difficult to find a suitable replacement.
I definitely don’t love the Keychron and I would hesitate to recommend it, but I knew what I was getting into.
Do you use the Anne Pro on macOS? If so, how do you find it?
i had an old server keyboard, each keystroke sounded like old typewriter, it was so old it had old type ps2 ports, and a trackball, i loved that thing, but i left it on a floor one day and my new puppy pissed on it, lol, had to throw away
I have managed to resurrect my rather old, but still treasured, IBM KB-9910 more than once after similar accidents involving liquids (although, I confess, not that liquid). Disassembly of the electronics followed by running the shell and keycaps through the dishwasher has fixed it at least twice so far in more than ten years’ continuous use.
I’ve yet to find a USB or bluetooth keyboard I really like by comparison.
I have two Anne Pro1, one red gateron another one with blue gateron, but I use them on Windows. I like how different those switches feel in comparison with each other.
I must say I miss the dedicated arrow keys a lot over these yeas on the Anne Pro, they are so useful for me, reason for which I bought the K6 and actually waited for it to be available since it was announced. I cannot say it’s a bad keyboard, but not really what I want from a keyboard now that I see it in real life.
Would buy the Anne PRO 2 with maybe some Box switches (supposedly less wobbly than Gateron), but I will need to find something that is 65% instead of 60% so that it has dedicated arrow keys.
This is what I’ve been liking the most lately of my several mech keebs.
If I remember correctly it is an OK60 PCB that I put gateron yellows into. It came with RGB underglow so I got a frosted acrylic case. The keycaps are some gradient MT3 R3 caps I got for cheap used.
I could never go back to anything larger than 60% at this point. I’ve programmed multiple layers for things from arrow keys, function layers, numpads, etc so I can reach anything I need one handed all without taking up massive space on my desk.
Honorable mention is my GK61 hotswap board that I alternate with my novelkeys Tactile 1 and novelkey cream switches.
I have two keycool keyboards, one 84 keys with blue MX cherry (great for typing) and one 108 keys with cherry MX red, easier to use and a must for gaming. Good quality for the price.
I love my dishwasher - just about anything I’m too lazy to clean by hand goes in there. I figure that if it can’t be cleaned in thee dishwasher (or clothes washing machine) I probably don’t want to keep it anyway.
I once disassembled and meticulously cleaned an Apple Pro Keyboard after spilling a can of Coke on it, only to ruin it by putting the parts out in the sun to dry - all the transparent plastic warped. That probably wouldn’t be a problem with normal keyboard plastics.
I’ve noticed that some more recent keyboards (like my Logitech K850) and even some laptops have liquid drain holes, but thankfully I haven’t needed them.
For touch typing having the tactile bump gives feedback as to when the key has actually been actuated, Gat Browns are pretty underwhelming as far as tactile swtiches go though. Heavier spring weight makes the “bump” more pronounced and better (but MUCH more expensive) boutique switches have smoother operation with a more satisfying and positive bump.
Sounds like most of your complaints here are really due to not touch-typing though. If you have free time and want to practice this site is what I used to get my WPM up to something halfway reasonable a couple years ago: https://www.how-to-type.com/ With practice finding the home row quickly and accurately orients you on the board even better than looking down IMO.
My complaints are of course mostly subjective, if not entirely subjective, even the ultra stiffest USB cable I have even seen which they include for some means nothing as they do not want to use a cable anyway, but the cable still remains ultra stiff as far as keyboards and mice cables go.
I do not seem to be a fan of Gateron browns after using Blue and Red for long.
And there are other things which I personally do no like with the K6, like I have said, thin, small letters with backlight during the day not being able to punch though the letter.
Or how tall the keyboard is at the bottom keys row compared to other keyboards I have. I see some even put rests or towels with this keyboard, I thought that is their preference not an actual necessity for certain people with the K6.
I can understand some people do not even want letters on their keycaps, but that is not for me.
My wife has _ two_ Kinesis Advantage keyboards. The new price is… steep… but at least one of them was reasonable at a used price. We disassembled it and cleaned everything when it arrived.
She used to have horrific carpal tunnel pain, but it’s gone now.
No you’re absolutely right to criticize it for those features, especially if it affects your use! I just think KB backlighting in general is a solution looking for a problem (and a result of gaming PC peripherals now needing to have RGB lights plastered over literally everything and anything) vs actually being better than well-marked keycaps.
Cherry and Gat browns are usually praised because they split the middle between linear and clicky switches (without the noise of clicky blues or greens), so they’re a good overall option to suggest to anyone that hasn’t used many mech switches before (and probably isn’t used to linear if they’ve been using rubber dome or laptop keebs). I will say that other tactile options are much, much better at doing what they should do… they’re just much more expensive and restricted to custom builds normally.
If you or anyone else here ever does want another board kbdfans.com is my personal favorite to order from. Lots of options and they can build it for you if you’re not comfortable soldering (should be rare on this site lol). That said lots of boards are “hot-swappble” now so you just pop new switches in/out whenever you want.
And there is 
