Recent comments in /f/MechanicalKeyboards

kill3rb00ts t1_jea8jqt wrote

Reply to Thoughts on using an alice/arisu board as your main board by guitarhellboy

I had one for a while. They take a little getting used to, but it's not that bad. I eventually went back to a 75% for a couple reasons:

  1. They aren't a true split keyboard, which means that the distance between the sides and the angles are all fixed. Maybe that just happens to coincide with the right position for you, but it wasn't enough for me, so it wasn't any more ergonomic than a normal keyboard.
  2. They are very large for the number of keys they have.
  3. Certain keyboard shortcuts, or just specific keybinds in games, are annoying to execute on account of the split.
  4. It's harder, or at least usually more expensive, to find keycaps. You'll also need more stabs, which is more expensive and more annoying to lube.

So they're not bad and if you just like them, that's fine. But aside from preference, there's not really anything better about them.

3

RelativeChance t1_jea8bbp wrote

Reply to comment by dsarma in Make sure you check your recent GMK keycap purchases,,, by makermods

I think the warped spacebar issue might be extremely over exaggerated. I have opened like 10 gmk sets in the past year and have not run into any issues with the spacebar being warped and I only use the 7u one, it is also possible that it is just extremely rare. The people posting about it could be attributing issues with their stabilizer or switch to a "warped spacebar". Aesthetically I also don't believe you would be able to see these slight warps when it is on a keyboard.

When people have any issue with something as expensive as this they are going to be really loud about it and it will gain a lot of visibility, rightfully so, but you and the commenter two comments up have to consider that this creates a bias that makes it look like everyone is having problems with gmk when really almost no one is.

2

NoOne-NBA- t1_jea5jt2 wrote

Reply to Thoughts on using an alice/arisu board as your main board by guitarhellboy

As a graphic designer, I'm a very heavy key-chorder, so the modifier layout on the Alice doesn't work for me at all, personally.
That aside, I also don't like the weird stagger on the keys, and the lack of a proper 10-key.

The left half, in particular, feels like it is staggered backwards to me, during normal use, but I've always felt that about "normal" staggered keyboards as well.
As far as ergo-type layouts go, I've always preferred the way split ortho boards allow the keys follow your hands naturally, as you rotate the halves of the keyboard.

That said, both my dailies are custom ortho layouts, in standard 60% cases.
My typing style creates a natural splay to my arms, when I'm using ortho layouts, so I don't need an actual split, and the ortho layout allows me to work a proper numpad into the layout.

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