Official FFR Keyboard Review/Discussion Thread

[Elmerz]

Qpad mk50, cherry mx red switches. I've had no real issues when it comes to this "double tapping" I hear about with red switches. Works great, only real issue I've had is that the ps2-usb converter that it comes with is very touchy at times. Other than that, very durable, but if you're ordering from anywhere other than Europe, it's quite pricey for what you get. Its warranty is generally the same as any other mech KB warranty, the usual 5m keystroke nonsense. To summarize: works great, beware of converter, a tad pricey for what you get.

[Plan_Bsk81127]

Has anyone with a mechanical keyboard used o-rings on their keys when playing? Was curious how much of a difference it makes when playing and if it helps since they apparently reduce the travel distance to register the key or whatever.

[Wafles]

Steelseries 6GV2 (Red Edition)

Cost: $80-$100

Time Owned: Approx. 6 months.

Typing/Overall: Good option if you want something a little quieter than blue or green switches. Bottoming out the keys is still fairly loud so if you type with some decent force it wont really be any quieter overall but it has the possibility to be. Keyboard is really comfortable for general typing and I have a hard time saying which is better, red or blue switches. I'm leaning towards red because the sound it makes is a little less annoying, but I'm guessing browns would probably be my absolute favorite to type on based from my current experience.

The keyboard has no LEDs which is an added bonus for me since LEDs tend to annoy me more than anything else. Many keyboards have the option to turn the LEDs off though.

Stepmania/Gameplay: Red switches are awesome for Stepmania in my opinion but there is one pretty major drawback for people who hit keys very hard. Red keys have a low actuation force (40g) and therefore it is very easy to bottom the keys out. This makes it feel great to play StepMania with and I was personally not a fan of the tactile bump that the blue switches gave (aside from the clicking noise). I also tend to be significantly faster on red switches than blue, but depending on your preference and how hard you bottom out your keys you may find it a little harder to MA faster files, and brown switches might be the best for this.

The biggest problem with red switches is that the low actuation force tends to destroy the switches over time with a lot of playing. Any mechanical keyboard will have this issue but in my experience my setups on the red switches tended to die a little quicker depending on how often I play, the difference between this and my Razer Blackwidow Ultimate is relatively insignificant though, as my setups did tend to die after a few months with that keyboard as well. In the 6 months that I have owned this keyboard I have killed 3 keys ('L', ',', and '/'), all my right index keys basically. Because of this I am actually now on one of my last comfortable setups and will have to buy a new keyboard soon. I would recommend buying an extended warranty through amazon for this keyboard as it includes return shipping for exchanges.

Long winded review but I wanted to be thorough.

TL;DR: Awesome keyboard in general. Setups die kind of quick if you hit your keys hard like I do. Not too expensive in terms of mech keyboards. This is probably the go-to keyboard if you want to try red switches in my opinion.

[Wafles]

Originally Posted by Plan_Bsk81127

Has anyone with a mechanical keyboard used o-rings on their keys when playing? Was curious how much of a difference it makes when playing and if it helps since they apparently reduce the travel distance to register the key or whatever.

I have tried and they don't really make a difference to me. I tried the 4mm and 2mm o-rings. The 4mm were too large and made it awkward to play, the 2mm were okay for a while but eventually I opted to take them out because the sound of the keys bottoming out helps my MA a little bit and the 2mm o-rings dampened the sound a bit much. Honestly you should only consider o-rings for an office environment where you want to spare your coworkers the sound of you bottoming out your keys loudly.