The Mechanical Keyboard Guide

I've just contacted e-buyer for an rma and they will be collecting the faulty Gigabyte Osmium keyboard which means I'll have to stay in all day for the colllection. The alternative was for me to pay to return it myself and then claim a partial refund from E-Buyer for that expense.

I bought this keybooard on 16th October last year and it's been pllaying up for aboout a month. E-buyer noo longer stock this keyboard so they've told me once they've proved it faulty they will refund me.

But there's a catch. They say that as it's over six moonths old they will only give a partial refund. I paid £102.84 for it (plus delivery) they tell me if and when they refund me it will be aproximately £85.70.

As I understand it all products have a years warranty oon them and if it can't be repaired or replaced a fulll refund should be given. I'll have to do my hoomework on this but I'll get any money offered back first but I will be folloowing it up, £17.14 is worth making a fuss about in my book.

Needless to say I won't be using E-Buyer ever again, especially after they asked for phootographs of an Asus motherboard they supplied that went faulty on me. They've gone from really bad to absolutely great to coomplete crap again.

So, that leaves the question - which mechanical keybooard do I buy? My main criteria is a fully illuminated keyset and any colour led's bar red. Time for a browse methinks.

The Gigabyte OOsmium is available at PC World (one day too get it in stoock at local store so they say) and Amazon but I think I'd be a mug to buy another one.
 
A Ducky Shine III, or II, that what I'd get if i were you Mr FBS. :)

Edit. or a Q Pad MK80/MK85
 
V_R, I thank you, before I read your reccomendations I was set to get a Logitech G710 mechanical keyboard which has white led's and brown keys. Fine but I must admit I didn't like the orange key surround on the left of the keyboard. £115 at PC World.

I looked at the Ducky Shine III, looks like a fine keyboard but it's been hyped to hell and is a bit pricey at £149 + postage.

So I read lots of reviews and checked out suppliers.

I've decided on the Q Pad MK-80, looks to be all I want in a keyboard and is reasonably priced. Novatech do it for £91 inc postage but only do the blue key version, I favour the brown keys. Kustom PC's do it for £105 + postage but only stock the red led version, I want blue or green led's.

So, PC World, blue led's, brown cherry keys, collect locally at Charlton - £115.

That'll do me :)

Thanks for the guidance V_R, appreciated :)
 
I am now the proud owner of a new Q-Pad MK-80 keyboard, all keys illuminated, choice of four brightness levels, blue led's and brown cherry switches.

On Tuesday I was just about to place an online order with PC World when I remembered the last time I done that when I went to the store for collection the item I ordered online wasn't in stock and they made me wait a week to refund my money. So I thought I'd phone them and make sure they would have one in stock as they wanted paying up front.

All phone numbers for PC World were 08 numbers, couldn't find a normal landline number so I went to the Charlton store where a shop employee looked it up and said they had not a single one in stock anywhere. But they were willing to take my money online - so beware.

OCUK had one in stock that met all my criteria, £105 inc postage (same price as PC World) so I ordered from them and was able to choose my delivery day and arranged Thursday delivery as that was when the faulty Gigabyte keyboard was being collected and I also had an order from RS Components arriving.

All three courier jobbies have now occurred. OCUK changed hands a few years back and since then I've used them twice including today (I had previously stopped using them cos they messed up several times). They now use DPD as a courier who in my experience are the best courier and they texted me to let me know the keyboard would arrive between 11:38 & 12:38. And it did :)

I will tentatively start using OCUK again cos E-Buyer definitely out of favour but I've no idea what OCUK are like now regarding RMA's and return postage costs.

The Q-Pad MK-80 feels better to me than the Gigabyte Osmium and I'm not just saying that cos I really liked the Osmium. The Q-Pad has a nice textured wrist rest and a smaller desktop footprint. It comes with a PS2 connector on the end of the connector lead (PS2 is meant to suit mechanical keyboards better than USB) but is supplied with a USB adapter which is just as well cos my motherboard doesn't have a PS2 socket.

I will wait and see what happens now with E-Buyer and the faulty Gigabyte keyboard.

My thanks to V_R for his recommendations - right on the money :thumb:
 
Good stuff, glad your happy sir. Me, I'm still debating a Shine III..... Just really taken by it... The GB can go on the OcUK Members Market and on here, will sell easy enough. (I cba with eBay these days)

As for OcUK, you know I'm a fan, and they haven't done me any major wrongs, only issue i had was sorted quick enough.

Wouldn't mind a pic of it, I find stock photos of things always look rubbish..... :)
 
Well, we're not quite sorted yet, I need to receive at least 85 quid from E-Buyer. As it happens, if E-Buyer stocked the Q-Pad MK-80 I'd take one of those instead for my bedroom machine, we shall see what transpires.

A few pix for V_R, I rattled these off quick, I could do better pix tomorrow if you want, just ask.

Lowest light setting (the pic makes it look brighter):

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Highest light setting:

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8588d1380833312-mechanical-keyboard-guide-mk80_003.jpg
 

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Like it. :)

You said this is browns rather than reds right? Much difference in pressure or general feeling? How 'clicky' are browns?
 
V_R said:
Like it. :)

You said this is browns rather than reds right? Much difference in pressure or general feeling? How 'clicky' are browns?
Click to expand...

Browns are less clicky than reds and as the guide says are a good compromise to get the best of both worlds for gaming & typing.

Myself, I can't detect any difference at all for gaming after using red keys for a year but can certainly notice a significant improvement in typing, it's a lot easier with browns than reds.

My E-Buyer RMA, Friday October 4th:

Your RMA ******* has now been received by the Ebuyer Returns Department and will be processed by one of our Technicians within 3 - 5 working days. However please note if your item is over 28 days old it maybe sent to the manufacturers for a warranty repair which may take up to 28 days.

Monday October 7th:

Following extensive tests by our Returns Technicians, we have been unable to locate the fault you reported. Therefore the goods will be returned to you with no further action.

:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
That to me sounds like a cop-out Flopp's, its something companies do when they do not want to take responsibility of either replacing the item or a refund, I have had it happen to me with faulty goods in the past thats why I only deal with Amazon now as they don't quibble they just replace or refund simple as..

Its pretty obvious theres a problem when its been doing it for some time, but wasn't it erratic anyway as in sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't..

I feel very sorry for you mate as that is not cheap for a keyboard, not sure what your next course of action is, only that you get it independently tested at a local computer retailer or repair shop and get them to put it in writing so you have written proof..You better be quick though.

This one could run and run with TS getting involved..I can see it! :mad:
 
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Update:

The rma'ed Osmium keyboard was returned to me by E-Buyer by courier on Tuesday October 8th, the day after I last posted here. They didn't charge me for the courier service to return it.

Prior to it's return, on Monday evening they e-mailed me saying they could not find anything wrong with the keyboard and were returning it.

I had used the Gigabyte Osmium with my Intel i7 setup (<< details over there, under my avatar) but am now using the Q-Pad MK80 with that machine so I hooked up the returned keyboard to my AMD machine in my bedroom.

I've been using it for nine days now and thus far it has worked perfectly, no 'ghosting' of any keyboard characters at all, and I've used it to type a couple of 500 word documents in that time.

So I'm puzzled :confused:. I can think of only two explanations: The journey to and from north of the country shook the dirt out of the keyboard or affected it in other ways - unlikely, imo. Or - A problem developed on the Asus Intel motherboard's USB bus, specifically between the Osmium keyboard and the USB bus. More likely, I think.

A third, but most unlikely explanation would be that E-Buyer swapped my old faulty unit for a new one but I know there's very little stock of this keyboard available at the moment.

My new Q-Pad MK80 is working great with my Intel machine so far. I like the Osmium keyboard a great deal (red cherry keys) but I honestly prefer this MK-80 (brown cherry keys) so much easier to type with, good for gaming, smaller footprint and on top of all that it looks good.

I will have to eat humble pie and acknowledge that E-Buyer have acted very honourably in this whole affair, they haven't charged me anything when I seem to be the one who made a mistaken diagnosis and they executed a very fast turn-around of goods.

I was thinking of replacing the keyboard I was using with the AMD machine (a Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard, non-mechanical) so the return of the Osmium has fulfilled that wish.

So, looks like E-Buyer are now on my approved list of suppliers again.
 
I'm pleased to hear what good customer service you got from Ebuyer! Weird that it just started working again... could have been the geek fairies

geek_fairy_1848005.jpg


:D
 
Well, as for it just starting to work again, bear in mind that it's now on a different machine, it would be interesting to try it with the machine it was originally with but right now tbh I just can't be bothered as everything's working well.

Pixel dust indeed ;)
 
Well glad it turned out well, but wonder what would have happened had you plugged it into your AMD machine and it suffered the same fault..Interesting that it just worked on that machine though..

Oh well alls well that ends well I suppose! :nod:
 
And translated from Vietnamese is:

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