Choosing Cherry MX Switch

[dougakins]

I'm looking to buy my first mechanical keyboard. I'm not a gamer, but a developer and for the past 8 years have worked on a low profile scissor switch logitech (first the dinovo, then the wired illuminated) which I've enjoyed.

After researching online I think i want either a Blue or Brown. I don't want a linear switch for now because I want some tactile feedback on the actuation point so I can learn to type without bottoming out. I was leaning more towards the browns because it sounded like they would be lighter than the blues and would be less noisy (I work in an open office environment).

I went to Best Buy today to try and test some out and found a Razer keyboard (which I liked) with their own green switches in them (which I'm told are close to blues) and a Logitech G710+ which I didn't like at all - it felt like a membrane keyboard to me. I was surprised to find out that those were browns, but then also later found that they put those o rings in them to dampen them,

If the blues are similar to the greens in the razer I wouldn't have any problems buying them except for maybe the noise. Although I liked the clickiness myself and wouldn't be dead set against getting them because of the noise alone. However I feel I was robbed of the true brown experience because of the o rings.

So for those who use mech keyboards, what would your recommendation be after hearing my story, blues or browns?

 

[bitwright]

I am a developer myself, and I just recently got my first mechanical keyboard, a KBtalKing Pro with brown switches, a few weeks ago that I have been using primarily for gaming. It is a pleasure to type on, but I am considering buying a blue keyboard for work to replace the rubber dome keyboard I was given by my employer.

Browns aren't as light as reds, but they aren't much heavier either. The tactile bump in them is also not very noticable unless you're actively trying to feel for it. I dont have much experience with blues, but the ones I've used have not been too much harder to press than browns, but their tactile feedback was more noticable.

I also just happened to try the Razor green switch keyboard today at Fry's and found them to be much harder to press than I'd like. If you like those you probably will not be satisfied with brown switches. Go with blue or green switches (greens are heavier versions of blue switches). There are some people at my work that use blue switch keyboards and they aren't too noisy, so unless you have coworkers that are easily annoyed you should be fine. Also, from my understanding the O rings dampen noise, not the stiffness of the keys, so you might actually want a keyboard with O rings if you are really concerned about noise.

 

[dougakins]

I am a developer myself, and I just recently got my first mechanical keyboard, a KBtalKing Pro with brown switches, a few weeks ago that I have been using primarily for gaming. It is a pleasure to type on, but I am considering buying a blue keyboard for work to replace the rubber dome keyboard I was given by my employer.

Browns aren't as light as reds, but they aren't much heavier either. The tactile bump in them is also not very noticable unless you're actively trying to feel for it. I dont have much experience with blues, but the ones I've used have not been too much harder to press than browns, but their tactile feedback was more noticable.

I also just happened to try the Razor green switch keyboard today at Fry's and found them to be much harder to press than I'd like. If you like those you probably will not be satisfied with brown switches. Go with blue or green switches (greens are heavier versions of blue switches). There are some people at my work that use blue switch keyboards and they aren't too noisy, so unless you have coworkers that are easily annoyed you should be fine. Also, from my understanding the O rings dampen noise, not the stiffness of the keys, so you might actually want a keyboard with O rings if you are really concerned about noise.

Thanks for your input. I think I'm going to go with the blues. I mean - I think I'm the only one in our office who really has to have focused concentration during work (I'm the only developer), so the clickiness really shouldn't bother anyone else

 

[ssddx]

browns are similar to blues except without the audible click.

they still have the tactile bump and key letoff.

likely the installed o-rings were the issue.

if you like scissor switches, you could always get another keyboard of that style such as http://hexus.net/gaming/reviews/hardware/60345-gigabyte-force-k7-stealth-gaming-keyboard/

since you are used to scissor switches you may want a keyboard with low profile (half height) keys. this is fairly common nowdays but worth mentioning if you intend to buy something online without trying it out in store first.