received the pack from Djuzuh. it came in a standard mail envelope and the items in one of those small plastic sealable bags.
it came with 5 each of 50A-R, 40A-R, 40A-L (from WASDkeyboards.com) and the Soft and Firm Pads (from elitekeyboards.com). first i thought the shorter (0.2mm) o-rings were missing, because they looked the same as the other red ones. After looking closely I saw the difference: the ring isn't as thick and they aren't as tall (yet one has to really look closely).
To test them out, i put them on my brand new Filco TKL with MX Reds. The slimmer soft rings on the top QWERT keys, the thicker soft ones on ASDFG and the harder ones on YXCVB.
General impressions compared to without O-Rings:
They significantly alter the feel of each key press.
With the ring inside of the key cap, when you press down, it will come to a halt sooner, since the height of the ring bumps against the top of the switch sooner.
In essence, you're bottoming out sooner and have reduced key travel.
I consider this attribute as negative. I consider it more fun when the key reaches further down.
The main reason for O-Rings is their sound reduction. These rings are soft and cause less vibration than the hard plastic of regular key caps against switches. How much softer? Considerably! It's mostly in the high frequency range: That Loudish "Clack" of plastic clashing. Of course the clack can bounce against walls and you'll hear the reverb.
With O-Rings it still sounds like a clack, yet significantly quieter, more muffled sounding with many of the higher frequencies gone. Instead of a CLICK-CLACK it's a muffled clickety-click.
Enough basics, onto comparing them:
Pads from Elitekeyboards: Don't like them at all! They make the keys feel mushy like rubber domes. I tried them a couple of times but stopped reviewing them, as there's no way i'm going to be using them.
O-Rings: these are really hard to compare. each has their own unique feel, yet they are very similar. when i compare them, overall there's not much difference! i think it comes down to personal preference but here are some differences i found:
red 40A-R (0.4mm): has a nice soft landing, which feels slightly springy. however this could be interpreted as a slightly "mushy" landing (too soft). others may love it. it also removes the most noise (very slightly).
black 50A-R (0.4mm): more distinct harder landing. in terms of bottoming out: feels the most as without using o-rings. not as good of noise reduction as the other two however. the harder rubber can't absorb as much.
red 40A-L (0.2mm): in terms of feeling, this is like a hybrid between the other two: has a distinct soft feel like the other red, yet because the rubber is thinner it feels harder. due to the shorter height, this is my favourite of the three, as you get the most travel distance. also it's not as "mushy", yet still a soft landing.
hope this helps =)
feedback welcome
i think i'll order two bags of 40A-L.
shout out to Djuzuh for his nice gift! i'll be forwarding the favor.
if you want this bag, reply with "bag please" and i'll send it for free. i'd appreciate a review and that you send it further when you're done with it. if there's multiple people i'll pick one randomnly.
) to the community again (which is the idea of a PIF). But only if you want to, and whenever you like to do so. I don't want you to feel obligated.
