Anyone here own a das keyboard?

[dpodblood]

Hey all,

Recently I started to teach myself how to type properly (thanks Mavis Beacon!). I've been in the IT field about 6 years now, and have been a geek my entire life, yet continued to use the hunt and peck method. I find it a bit embarrassing so I decided to better myself.

Anyway... at the same time I have also been considering getting myself a nice mechanical keyboard for my gaming machine. In order to facilitate my learning to type properly I was considering getting a das keyboard with blacked out keys.

http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-ultimate/

Does anyone else here have a das, and if so what are your experiences with both gaming and typing? What do you think of the blacked out key idea? I think it looks pretty badass myself.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm too lazy not to want to have the keys annotated.

That said, I've had a couple of IBM Model Ms, and if the Das Keyboard is as comparable as some people claim, well, it'd be an excellent buy.

 

[N4n45h1]

I own that exact same keyboard and it's been great for gaming and typing. Some people don't like the blue switches for gaming, but I haven't really noticed anything abnormal about them. I admit that you should be cautious about whether you might disturb other people with the noise though. It's much louder than any non-mechanical keyboard I've ever used. I mainly got the blacked out keys because it looks cool, and it hasn't disappointed me so far. My only issue with them is hitting the correct Shift+# for "!@#$%^&*()_+", but that's really my own fault for not learning the arrangement better.

If you have any other questions, just let me know! =]

 

[dpodblood]

I'm not too concerned about the loudness of it. I would only be getting that for my home computer where it wouldn't disturb anyone. If I did get one for work I would probably get the "tactile soft" but more than likely I will just want to get some kind of ergonomic keyboard for work.

 

[chaojohnson]

Personally I prefer the Filco Majestouch 2 (blues), but the Das Keyboard is pretty good.

 

[dpodblood]

Personally I prefer the Filco Majestouch 2 (blues), but the Das Keyboard is pretty good.

Yeah that was another model I was looking at, although they are a bit more expensive. They have a similar model, except instead of the keys being blacked out they are printed on the front of the key (instead of the top).

 

[Doom 4d]

If you pick a Das, Filco, Leopold, Ducky, Deck, Noppoo and so on, you won't go wrong. They are all top caliber keyboards with excellent quality control.

 

[dpodblood]

Ducky keyboards look nice but I haven't been able to find any retailers in Canada.

 

[nataku00]

I have the DasKeyboard with Cherry MX blue switches, but with the keys labeled. It's a great keyboard for typing and gaming, very responsive, but can be loud. I use headphones so I can't hear them.

 

[dpodblood]

I have the DasKeyboard with Cherry MX blue switches, but with the keys labeled. It's a great keyboard for typing and gaming, very responsive, but can be loud. I use headphones so I can't hear them.

Do you know how loud it would be in comparison to the Razer Black Widow. I played with one of those in store. It was louder than a regular membrane keyboard, but nothing I would find too distracting.

 

[Doom 4d]

Do you know how loud it would be in comparison to the Razer Black Widow. I played with one of those in store. It was louder than a regular membrane keyboard, but nothing I would find too distracting.

It's the same switch, so it's the same sound.

 

[sygyzy]

I use a Das Keyboard at work. Typing with it right now. I just have a regular one though, not the one without letters.

 

[pcunite]

I'm using a Filco Majestouch with firmer black switches. I like the extra pressure required to press the key down.

 

[JS17]

A late opinion, but I have a WASD keyboard and I'm really happy with it. Mine uses browns, but they sell the keyboards in blue/brown/black/red. You can choose if the keys are engraved/blank. They start at $120 USD. I'm not 100% sure about shipping to Canada though.

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/

The keyboard has no media keys etc. I use autohotkey to create some bindings to change the song/volume/etc.

As for the black/unmarked keys: I like mine. I'm a pretty good touch typer so I don't have any major problems. The one downside in my eyes is if you want to just type a single letter (say a hotkey) and your hands aren't on the home row. I pretty much have to put them on the home row to know where that one letter is (minus more obvious ones like zxcv).