Corsair announce a new Gamer focused K70 Rapidfire lines

Corsair is probably one of the few companies that closely identify itself with the PC enthusiasts.  Lately, they have been very focused on the gamer's market.  Corsair can probably say that their K keyboard product line aimed at gamers is quite successful.  Corsair, of course, has closely allied itself with Cherry.  Cherry has faithfully awarded Corsair's alliance with exclusives for years.  However, as Razer's rapid, short stroke switch based keyboard ascends in popularity, Corsair probably walked over to Cherry and said, "I want that."

Long and behold, Corsair has just announced K70 RGB Rapidfire, K70 Rapidfire and K65 RGB Rapidfire.  I will just focus on the K70 RGB since that's the flagship.  However, the rest are just tiers of the existing K keyboard line.  The K70 RGB Rapidfire keybaord itself is basically a RGB K70 keyboard with a new key switch type.  Ah...  See, it's the switch that is interesting.  Cherry has to respond to market pressure one way or another I suppose.  The switch is basically a modified MX red with shorten activation distance.  A typical Cherry MX design has about 2mm stroke distance for activation.  This new one shortens it to 1.2mm.  So, the keys activate faster because it has a shorter distance to travel.  The spring weight is kept around 45g, just like the MX red.  Also, it is a linear spring design.  Therefore, this is basically a short stroke Cherry MX Red.

I am guessing that Kailh must be doing quite well with the short stoke key switches they are selling to different keyboard vendors.  Each month or so, a new keyboard comes out with that particular feature.  Now, I am guessing such key switch design is gaining some popularity in the gaming circle, hence Cherry has no choice but to follow in this case.  It's interesting to think that we are going back to a shorter key stroke distance again because rubber domes and scissor switches tend to have shorter travel distance.  One of Cherry MX's claims to fame is the restoration of longer key stroke distance back to the good old days like the Model M.  I wonder how Cherry feels about that.

In any case.  Now, Cherry has come out with a short stroke mechanical keyboard switch.  Let's see if it shows up elsewhere like Ducky, Cooler Master or other vendors.  Then again, I wonder how long the time exclusive would be until we see another vendor get to use it.  As production cycle begins to shorten for keyboard switches like just about everything else, I wonder if Cherry can keep up with timed exclusives to a single vendor while allowing Kailh or other switch makers scoop up the rest.  Oh wait.  Kailh already did....

The other trend I worry about is the beginning of the short travel distance arms race.  Just watch, somebody is going to come out with a new switch with 1mm activation, and then another one with 0.5mm and finally Apple will just point and laugh at everybody because the virtual keyboard, technically, has no travel distance....

Microsoft Sculpted Ergonomic Keyboard Long Term Use Review

Again, after using or trying to use the keyboard for a while is the only way to understand if such board can be incorporate into someone’s workflow or part of the day to day system setup.  The person style can change and adapt.  So, sometimes, a person’s perception changes after using a keyboard for a while.  My impression and opinion for Topre switch changed and morphed a few times and finally settled down.

In any case, this is a quality Chiclets keyboard.  The key caps are broad, stable, just flat and tactile enough so that one’s fingers don’t just glide off too easily.  It has that soft curve eye appeal along with plush palm rest with a good design DNA and thoughts put into it.  The key switch are crisp, dances with agility and quiet elegance; for a scissor switch that is.  Indeed, it does deserve its moniker as a sculpture.  However, it is still a scissor switch based keyboard with flat Chiclets design.  So, if one simply cannot abide in shallow key travel distance, rubber dome like force distance curve behavior or simply don’t like the flat keys, there’s no need to apply.  However, if you are a fan of Chiclets style board with Natural Keyboard ergonomic sense, then you might have just found your perfect keyboard.

The Chiclets style keys caps are large, comfortable to type on.  The tactile feedback is pretty good for scissor switch, even though the key travel is relatively shallow compare to a standard mechanical keyboard switch.  If someone who has used any laptops for the last 5 years or so, one should be pretty familiar with the Chiclets keyboard design.  There’s no need to pound on the keys like some of the stiffer scissor switches out there.  The keys switches are fairly quiet, a bit better than most of the mainstream products in the same class I believe.  This is a very good office keyboard because of this.  Overall, this is a good, comfortable keyboard based on the popular Chiclets keyboard design and engineering.

Since I do strike the key fairly hard at times, the keyboard does flex ever so slightly and makes little squeaky sounds when the rubber foot pad shifts position.  The magnetic foot bar sometimes pop out of place.  Perhaps a few more magnets would resolve that.  If that’s the only problem, I think I can overcome that.  However, there’s more.  Let’s just say that I want to like this keyboard because I am a huge fan of the Natural Keyboard.  However, because of a fatal flaw, this keyboard is off the short-list.  My last 3 keyboards have been Natural Keyboard family members.  So, it was not easy.  My muscle memories are so ingrained with its design.  However, I ran into a very serious issue that I didn’t expect:  wireless interference.  This is rather surprising, but then again, when everything these days are on the 2.4GHz band, I should be more surprised that there aren’t more interference.

Long story short, this keyboard misses key strokes.  If I type “Hello World.”, I get “hlllo Worl.”  Yeah, not going to work for me.  I moved the keyboard to another location, hoping that someone is not using their microwave oven or something, but the result is similar, just a bit more abated.  I might lose one character out of 20 or so rather than every 4 keys.  I thought I found the culprit: the number pad.  Maybe the two wireless transmitters are competing over the same band.  So, I gladly shut the pad off.  The situation improved somewhat, but it just wasn’t like using the Logitech Nano-receiver enabled keyboards; which hardly missed a beat.  Finally I figured it out….  The transceiver on the computer is too far from the keyboard.  The limit seems to be around a foot and half or so.  Probably in the name of saving battery power, the transmission wattage is probably too low to go beyond that.  So, this explains why I didn’t experience such issue with laptop setup, but for a desktop, it is a show stopper.  No, fresh battery didn’t make much of a perceivable difference.  Indeed Microsoft proudly boasts how long the battery lasts in its product page.  This might be a design choice or some hidden constraints that I am not aware of.  Either way, this is rather perplexing because Microsoft knows how to make wireless transmitters that also has a reasonable battery life; ex. Xbox wireless controllers, which work well over 10 feet with multiple devices in the same band. 

So, for my use case, this keyboard just didn’t work out.  I might get a USB extension cable to put the transceiver closer to the keyboard, but that kind of defeats the point of being wireless.  I might as well call it close to wired keyboard, but not really.  This keyboard is liken to a classical Greek tragic figure; great at just about everything; especially if you like the guy, but that fatal flaw is just too much to overcome.

In conclusion: this keyboard indeed has what it takes to continue the Natural Keyboard legacy.  However, the wireless transmission needs work.  Therefore, if you can put the USB receiver closer to the keyboard, then you shouldn’t experience any issues.  For my use case, I might as well hook up a wired keyboard for my desktop scenario.  I don’t experience any issues for laptop setup on the other hand.  So, unless I am dying to use a split ergonomic keyboard on a desktop, there’s little selling point given that there are so many other good choices out there.

Grade: B- as it stands, A- if the wireless issue is resolved

Going back to basics, SteelSeries introduces Apex M500

A recent trend in mechanical keyboard manufacturers is the move toward simplicity and more "office" like mechanical keyboards.   I was wondering who might follow suit after Logitech's announcement.   I guess we are coming in full circle in some shape.  It's no surprise that many of the big keyboard makers have at least 2 lines of  mechanical keyboards.  One kept the traditional gamer look while the newer products ascribe to a sleeker image.  Following the lead of Logitech and Cooler Master, SteelSeries recently introduced the Apex M500.

The Apex M500 is positioned similarly to Logitech's G610.  The emphasis is on the clean look and a design that is uncomplicated and not distracting.  Also similar to Logitech, instead of using the proprietary switch SteelSeries employed for the M800, it's back to Cherry MX.  In this case, just MX red.  In many way, the parallel is quite uncanny.  In many respect, the M500 has hit all the right check mark and a price that's quite reasonable, at $100 USD.  It is slightly higher than other offerings from say Rosewill.  I suppose SteelSeries is counting on the integration with its other product lines such as mouse with an unifying controller software.  Wait, isn't this the same strategy Logitech is using?

Anyway, let's see where this lead and see if other keyboard makers follow suit.

Special Topre Type Heaven keyboards with different colors

One of my favorite sources for Topre switch based keyboard has been mechanicalkeyboards.com.  I just found out that they are offering 3 limited editions for Type Heaven.  Type Heaven is basically a more economical minded keyboard Topre manufactured to address the concern that Realforce keyboards are too expansive.  However, if someone is interested, this is a good place to experience a Topre switch keyboard without spending too much.  Too much being relative, of course.

So, here are the pink, red and white editions.  Enjoy!

Topre Type Heaven with pink case

Topre Type Heaven with red case

Topre Type Heaven with white case