TR Forums

Hi,

I've got two keyboards that both use Cherry MX Brown switches. The first is a Das Keyboard Silent that I bought about two and half years ago and the other is a Filco Tenkey-less that I bought about three months ago.

The thing is, typing on the Das Keyboard feels so much better. Has any one noticed some sort of break-in period for mechanical switches and will my Filco feel good in a few months or is there just some variation among different brands of keyboards?

I have a Das S and a Black Widow Ultimate Stealth (2013). Both are Cherry Browns but I haven't really noticed a difference between the two... at least, not one that is large enough to carry over from when I return home from the office where the Das resides to the Black Widow at home. I've had the Das for about a year and a half while the Black Widow is about 3 months old.

The only thing I've noticed is that a few of the keys on my MX blue based 'boards squeaked a little bit for the first few weeks. It was the larger keys (Backspace, Enter, etc.) that tended to do this, so I assume it was an issue with the stabilizer springs.

Probably somewhat of an apples-to-oranges thing, since the internal mechanism of the browns is slightly different.

It's possible that after 2.5 years the older of the two units has loosened up slightly, since all things do wear.

It's also possible that in the intervening two-ish years between when the two units were manufactured, Cherry has experienced some minor variation in how the switches are manufactured.

I have 4 keyboards with MX Browns. The oldest is a Filco Majestouch (original version), and is 3.5 years old now.

Over time, the touch has lightened up a bit. Not sure if it's the keys or my typing, but I feel the so called tactile feedback more, so bottom out the keys less often. I'd say it's just as solid as ever. When new, the larger keys squeaked, with back-space being the worst. The spacebar stopped squeaking by itself in a month or two. For back-space, a light coat of dry teflon spray lube fixed the squeaks.

At this point, I'd say the Filco and the Rosewill RK9000BR are tied for my favorite. For a while, the Rosewill was in the lead, mostly because of its crisper feel, but I think it has loosened up a bit over time. There's also a thread going here about minor surgeries to keep the Rosewill's alive, while my Filco has never had an issue.

Personally, I don't like the newer Filco's quite as much as the older ones. I have a Filco Ninja 10-keyless that I do no like near as much as older Majestouch or the Rosewills. But, time will tell, since the older Filco is getting better with age.

Edit: Just checked, it's 3 1/2 years old.

Main keyboard was made in 1988, still feels exactly the same as the day I got it in 1992.

It's been about 6-months since I started to this thread and I can report that I've not noticed any really difference.

I still prefer my Das Keyboard to the Filco Majestouch.

I'm gonna bump this in relation to this thread.

I picked up a Rosewill 9000I with blues and installed the O-rings so that I could use it at work, and the rings make this one feel very different from my Blackwidow, and not in a good way. I'm hoping that there is some sort of "break-in" period, but if not, I am going to assume that it's the keycap design.

I'll be a little upset if this ends up not working out.