http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/on-b ... ml#p258209
I've looked at the Blackwidow Tournament from Razer various times in the past and thought, "hm, the shape doesn't look terrible, too bad it's a Razer product". Actually the shape of the bottom row seemed far from terrible, but rather positively agreeable! 1.5, 1, 1.5, 6, 1.5, 1, 1, 1.5 units. This meant that with some simple filler keys I could fit my Cherry dye-subs on there, except for the capslock and space, of course.
Then I discovered customs and the Phantom keyboard and decided that it would probably be the better way to go. So I have a 1.5u Phantom plate now, but never got around to ordering the rest of the parts.
Meanwhile, my black Gateron switches had arrived and were sitting unused for some weeks. When usopia then offered his Blackwidow tournament for sale, I thought, why not give it a spin and fit my Gaterons in there. Or even give the "Razer switches" a spin, since a lot of people seem fine with Razer keyboards they shouldn't even be so bad? A friend of mine is pretty happy with his Blackwidow after all, however he has the model with real Cherry blues. But I've even heard that Kailh isn't that much inferior to Cherry.
Long story short, I should've built a Phantom instead but went for the easier and cheaper option.
This is what I ended up with. Seems OK, no?
I actually have a bunch of observations to throw at you guys but since it's late and it turned out so badly, I'll try to sum up the main issues with this board, so you can see that it's really not much worth for either using or modding it.
- The absolute main problem is that Razer put their switches in upside down. While this makes it feel bad for their own switches it feels really bad with other MX-compatible switches, and my Cherry keycaps. The cherry profile caps are rather flat, and the Gaterons have this bulge at the back that makes the keycap hit on the top part of the switch, which is now on the bottom. This results in a very uneven feel, with short travel and weird bottom out. What's even worse, the switches feel like they get stuck occasionally, and do not react very well at all to off-center key presses.
Turning a keycap upside down, or testing with the few (2 or 3) switches that have the right orientation, improves this. However, the typing experience would still be lackluster. Why? Because
- It is not fun to desolder this thing. While easy to open up and take apart, the solder used is of the cheapest kind, as is common for these products, and did not come off very well. Granted, I have bad equipment, but that equipment is good enough to desolder and solder a board very quickly when I have put my own solder on it. It's very basic stuff, cheap from Amazon but it just flows so well. The solder on this board was even worse than on the QFR. It kept sticking to the PCB, or flowing through the holes so I couldn't suck it out anymore. It's dirty and heterogenous and creates a fine dust that sticks in my desoldering pump.
Just look at all that flux. That is before my mod.
Unfortunately, after flipping the spacebar it scratches on the outer case sometimes. Oh well.
But why the hell did they glue the LEDs to the switch??? So annoying.One LED came out just through force. The other two were stubborn. I tried to use a hairdryer to loosen the glue. It didn't help. I accidentally tore off one of the legs of the diode and decided to leave the third one alone.
RIP, brother.
Wish you were (MX) greens....
My ergo-clear board actually has a Razer replacement switch in its bottom right corner, and the difference is noticable, but not bad. Just opened a Razer keychain and put the clear stem and spring in there, sat it next to its MX brethren, all fine. So basically, it must have something to do with the construction of this board, plus the fact that the switches are all upside down. It sounds and feels plasticky despite the metal plate. 4/10 not worth it, except if you enjoy soldering (which I do).
This story once again proves that the good things don't come easy, or cheap.