After trying several competing products, this is likely the one I am keeping.
Thoughts:
1. The LEDs are really bright. The only other company on par with this are the logitechs. The LEDs just look phenomenal and are true to color, unlike many competitors.
2. The alloy frame is solid and just screams quality. The only thing I don't like is that the keyboard is really thin overall. I prefer to use a wrist rest and I think it will be difficult to find one thin enough to truly match this keyboard's height.
3. The switches are really nice. I got the red linear and they are buttery smooth. They don't really thock but are relatively quiet. NZXT might be quieter but are higher pitched. steelseries was lower ptiched but very thocky, if you like that.
4. The pbt keycaps feel great but the legends on the the symbol keys look a little gamery and not really crisp (eg. ;: looks pretty trash).
5. The stabilizers are really the big problem. There is more lateral play than I would really like (my right shift is pretty wobbly) and they are really rattly. Such a stupid oversight for what is otherwise a really well thought out product, particularly since they chose to make it not hotswappable.
6. It's not hotswappable... I don't really want to swap the keys out, but it would be nice to have the freedom to do a little light modding like replacing the stabilizers with something that isn't trash.
All in all, after trying several competitors-NZXT, steelseries, logitech, royalkludge-this is likely what I will keep. The tecware phantom+ is on backorder, so I haven't been able to do a comparison of that yet.
Update: I followed a youtube tutorial on how to basically do a variant on the bandaid mod for this keyboard that significantly helped the stabilizer issue. While the stabilizers could use some lube, the main problem is that they are just way too loose on the top plate. I partially pulled up the stabilitzers by unclipping them from the top plate. Then, I cut some really thin strips of electrical tape and used some tweezers to feed them through the part where the clip is and then clamped the stabilizer down on top of the very end of the tape. This made the stabilizers more snug with the top plate and I think the rest of the tape is sort of under the stablizer and the padding it from the PCB. This has made it so the longer keys have a lot less play in them and they are also quieter. I am still trying to decide if I will use a syringe to inject some krytox on the stabilizer bar and maybe the housing. For now, this was a good enough fix and I recommend others give it a try.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 |
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