Are mechanical keyboard worth it?

[Kovoet]

Got to be honest I thought everyone was just being over excited about mechanical keyboards. Now I got one,I will never go back to membrane

[Spreadie]

I have mech boards at home and at the office - having used them over the last couple of years, I find membrane boards unpleasant to type on.

It's a matter of preference though, some people just don't like mechanical boards, others like them but not enough to justify the price premium and some of us buy more of them than we need.

Try one out and decide for yourself - it's the only way to know.

[JackBeePee]

Turns out the K70 RGB is being delayed! I feel ok with waiting though - I get to think on it.
I'm also worried about the UK pricing and availability of it.

[aidanjt]

Yup. I bought a Corsair K65 recently and I love it. If you like a cushiony feel of membranes when you bottom out you can always buy a good pack of o-ring key dampeners. The great thing about this keyboard is the surface switch mounting means hair and dust and debris don't get trapped in a traditional closed keyboard chassis, to clean it, all I have to do is turn it up on its side and blow, and it all just drops out. Pure awesome.

[Brian224]

If, like myself, you are old enough to have learnt to type on an electric typewriter (or an old IBM keyboard) a mechanical keyboard will immediately feel familiar. After a while you get into the habit of not bottoming out the keys which quietens things down and makes typing low-impact, but after this using a laptop can hurt your fingers.

[JackBeePee]

If, like myself, you are old enough to have learnt to type on an electric typewriter (or an old IBM keyboard) a mechanical keyboard will immediately feel familiar. After a while you get into the habit of not bottoming out the keys which quietens things down and makes typing low-impact, but after this using a laptop can hurt your fingers.

Not quite typewriter age, BUT I definitely could benefit from the easier/faster typing, especially for programming projects!

Yup. I bought a Corsair K65 recently and I love it. If you like a cushiony feel of membranes when you bottom out you can always buy a good pack of o-ring key dampeners. The great thing about this keyboard is the surface switch mounting means hair and dust and debris don't get trapped in a traditional closed keyboard chassis, to clean it, all I have to do is turn it up on its side and blow, and it all just drops out. Pure awesome.

This is definitely one of the big selling points for me, I like keeping stuff clean. Besides, I think the way the keys really stick out looks AWESOME!

[Brian224]

I like keeping stuff clean.

Ease of cleaning is a big plus with any Cherry MX type keyboard, although Corsair take it to a whole new level. If I replace my 6GV2, it will be with one of theirs, but with any Cherry MX keyboard it is easy to remove the keycaps and wash them at intervals, less easy to remember which key went where if you touch-type and never look at the keys. (That reminds me of a practical joke from the days when office keyboards were mechanical - swapping the keycaps on the numpad to 123, 456, 789.)

[sgtfluffybutt]

Where's the best place to go and test all the switches? I really want to try them all and settle on a switch

[JackBeePee]

I'm not too sure, I just asked some friends.

[sgtfluffybutt]

I tried PC world but they didn't have any on show to test

[JackBeePee]

I tried PC world but they didn't have any on show to test

That's a bummer. There's not really a great selection of physical tech shops here in the UK so I don't know what to suggest really. You can get switch testers but they seem to be quite expensive...

[virtuo]

I've only really seen decent keyboard displays in the less specialist places like PC World, Maplin and Staples. Shame is they like to flog the cheapest membrane boards (at an unreasonable markup) so there aren't many mechs to try out.

Having said that, of the three, Maplins do seem to do a little better if they have the space to display them, they have more "gaming" boards than the others.

[sgtfluffybutt]

The only gaming board maplins had when I went was the G701+ but they wouldn't let me open it. I'll have to go to other pc worlds to see if they have a better display

[MrJim]

The only gaming board maplins had when I went was the G701+ but they wouldn't let me open it. I'll have to go to other pc worlds to see if they have a better display

My advice would be to read as many reviews as you can on a keyboard you like, & watch reviews on Youtube too. Remember you can return the keyboard for a full refund under the Distance Selling regulations if you don't like it, as long as you notify the seller within 7 days of purchase. Amazon have a particularly good returns policy, where you often don't pay return costs if you use Collect+

Edit!
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This is a useful guide to mechanical keyboards:

http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/of...keyboard-guide

[sgtfluffybutt]

My advice would be to read as many reviews as you can on a keyboard you like, & watch reviews on Youtube too. Remember you can return the keyboard for a full refund under the Distance Selling regulations if you don't like it, as long as you notify the seller within 7 days of purchase. Amazon have a particularly good returns policy, where you often don't pay return costs if you use Collect+

Edit!
-----

This is a useful guide to mechanical keyboards:

http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/of...keyboard-guide

It's more if I bought a brown switch keyboard and I like it I don't know how the others feel and maybe I like those more. I want to be able to test them all so I know in my mind that's the switch for me.

[MrJim]

It's more if I bought a brown switch keyboard and I like it I don't know how the others feel and maybe I like those more. I want to be able to test them all so I know in my mind that's the switch for me.

That's understandable, but I can't think of a 'bricks & mortar' retailer where you could do that, off the top of my head.