DasKeyboard 4 - simply The Dogs Bollocks

[Nec_V20]

I don't know how familiar you are with English idioms but "The Dogs Bollocks" is about as good as it gets.

On the scale of, Good-Magic-Better Than Sex, the DasKeyboard 4 gets the BTS rating from me.

I have had a previous version of DasKeyboard (The DasKeyboard 3) for about five years now and it has had coffee, cola, beer and wine spilled on it through one mishap or another in liberal quantities - and I mean soaked - and as you can read it is still working no problems whatsoever. It's the Captain Scarlet of keyboards.

I bought the DasKeyboard 4 for my new system and they have gone one better in many ways.

I slag Americans off, but this keyboard is just phenomenal. It addresses all the little niggles I had about the previous model, and not only that, the new design is actually a marked improvement and not just a "different to be different" marketdroid gimmick.

They have gone from making a keyboard that was a joy to type on to making a keyboard that is just about perfect - for me at least.

I'm autistic (Asperger's) and my favourite looking aircraft of all time is the Republic A10 Thunderbolt II so don't ask me about aesthetics. I just don't care. All I can say is that everything is where it should be - including the fact that they placed the USB3 slots at the top of the keyboard and not, (one of the little niggles) as with the DasKeyboard 3 with its USB2 ports, on the side.

If you type a lot then do yourself a favour and get one.

The differences between the DasKeyboard 3 and the 4 are going to take a little while for me to adjust to, but that's always the case when moving from one keyboard to another.

And another thing, if there is an intruder in your house, don't worry about where you put the baseball bat, just unplug the DasKeyboard 4 and brain him with that, it's a seriously robust and brutal piece of kit.

 

[Ben90]

Realforce is love, Realforce is life.
Costar built boards are really good if you put PBT keycaps on them.

 

[rchunter]

Maybe I was unlucky but I bought a das 4 pro from newegg a few months ago and it wouldn't even sit flat. It was like it was warped or something. Sent it straight back for a refund and bought a filco. Also I didn't really like the aluminum top all that much, the way it hangs over it's kind of hard to get used to.

 

[Nec_V20]

Maybe I was unlucky but I bought a das 4 pro from newegg a few months ago and it wouldn't even sit flat. It was like it was warped or something. Sent it straight back for a refund and bought a filco. Also I didn't really like the aluminum top all that much, the way it hangs over it's kind of hard to get used to.

I did say:

I'm autistic (Asperger's) and my favourite looking aircraft of all time is the Republic A10 Thunderbolt II so don't ask me about aesthetics.

The ruler stand was a bit warped in transit. I just bent it back and it was totally stable.

It is however a complete improvement over the little two feet at the back of the keyboard which over the decades has driven me to rage because the f@#kers keep on closing and I have to always open them again.

Just a little niggle but the ruler solution (after I bent it back again) is a vast improvement.

Want to know what is even better? You can get various sizes of magnets that you can use to increase the angle (in my case it was 6mm) to make the keyboard PERFECT for your fingers.

Good luck trying to do that stably with the traditional two little feet at the back of the keyboard.

 

[rchunter]

I did say:




The ruler stand was a bit warped in transit. I just bent it back and it was totally stable.

It is however a complete improvement over the little two feet at the back of the keyboard which over the decades has driven me to rage because the f@#kers keep on closing and I have to always open them again.

Just a little niggle but the ruler solution (after I bent it back again) is a vast improvement.

Want to know what is even better? You can get various sizes of magnets that you can use to increase the angle (in my case it was 6mm) to make the keyboard PERFECT for your fingers.

Good luck trying to do that stably with the traditional two little feet at the back of the keyboard.

I'm glad you like it. There was no fixing the one I got or I would have done it. If I could have gotten it to sit flat I would have kept it.

 

[DigDog]

blue or brown? great review btw.

 

[Nec_V20]

blue or brown? great review btw.

Blue.

I just like the "hit it and know I did" feeling from the keyboard.

Over the years I have made my blue keys relatively "silent" because the "click" has conditioned my fingers to stop before bottoming out at full force.

To be honest the new blue keys on my new keyboard are not as "clicky" as the ones on my DasKeyboard 3. This is part of the learning curve with the new keyboard.

 

[Ben90]

Are they actually MX switches? DAS was using knockoffs on one of theirs boards for a while.

 

[Nec_V20]

Are they actually MX switches? DAS was using knockoffs on one of theirs boards for a while.

I would like a source for that.

If you heard it, then I would surely have found some reference to something like this with a search.

I tried various permutations of search criteria and NOT ONCE did I find ANY reference to DASKeyboard or Metadot with regard to fake, bogus, counterfeit, knockoff etc. Cherry MX keys.

 

[bononos]

I would like a source for that.

If you heard it, then I would surely have found some reference to something like this with a search.

I tried various permutations of search criteria and NOT ONCE did I find ANY reference to DASKeyboard or Metadot with regard to fake, bogus, counterfeit, knockoff etc. Cherry MX keys.

Clone switches doesn't have to mean fake/counterfeit. Das recently used Greetech switches in 1 tkl model, its in the wiki. And several years ago they changed their oem from Costar to some other company in China.

 

[DigDog]

afaik, there's kailh switches, which are a cherry clone, but i dont think DAS has ever used them - they are supposedly a premium brand. also i think razer has developed their own cherry clones (with small changes, i think shorter travel), but again that's only on razer kbs.

 

[Auric]

The dog's bollocks are good but they're no cat's pajamas. :awe:

 

[bononos]

afaik, there's kailh switches, which are a cherry clone, but i dont think DAS has ever used them - they are supposedly a premium brand. also i think razer has developed their own cherry clones (with small changes, i think shorter travel), but again that's only on razer kbs.

Razer is using relabelled Kailh's, those switches have the Kailh logo.
I don't think any cherry clone can be considered premium at this time. The original Kailh yellow clones had pictures showing broken stems but current clones seem to be relatively problem free. A recent AT review said the Kailh QC was looser. The Kailh specs are looser compared to Cherry.

 

[DigDog]

but really, from an industrial point of view, cherry clones can be made which are practically identical to real cherry. they have the same failure rate, same smoothness, same feel.
i'm not saying there's never been bad clones, but it doesn't happen anymore; it's like trying to buy a bad motherboard - standardization, modernized industrial processes, materials science, making keyboard switches is just easy today.

i'm pretty sure those kailh / razer switches are totally fine.

 

[bononos]

Its 'easy' but the question is whether a company is willing to do it. The early teardown of kailh switches showed that it doesn't use gold plating or crosspoints like the cherry. The teardown of the Razer kailh showed gold plating however.

I checked and kailh has the same spec as the cherry mx so I was incorrect about what I said earlier about spec tolerances. The AT review was the Nixeus Moda kb.

 

[DigDog]

still, it's worth mentioning that keyboard using the new kailh switch are not cheaper than regular cherry; afaik the coolermasters are the cheapest full-mech you can get, around $80.
(well, some are, but unkown models from china)

btw i just got myself a set of PBT keycaps (shame they are not backlit, since my kb is), to replace the ABS that came on my CODE kb (from WASD Keyboards).
the abs plastic on my keys is not really good, six months in and it's already taken the shine.
will also try adding some tiny washers to tone down the bottoming.

it's true that owning a mechanical kb is a bad habit; in hindsight, i should just have gotten myself a IBM M clone and called it a day.