Chicony KB-5170 - The TK that could

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Dra

12 Aug 2016, 16:41

I picked up this thing on eBay kind of mindlessly, since it was somewhat cheap. except for the shipping, which ended up costing more than the board itself

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The keyboard itself couldn't be in a better condition really, there's a little dirt and grime on the cable, but other than that it is like the seller described - New

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The specialty is the layout consisting of a Model F AT Layout with an F row on top. That also only goes to F10...
Notice any inconsistency on the Font?
Spoiler:
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What's worth noting is that these caps have a textured top and a shiny side
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Cherry mount doubleshots! And the mystery of the inconsistent Numrow revealed: all non-standard keys that don't follow the US Layout are Pad-Printed. Even Y and Z.

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Switch unveiled, this is the first time i've seen the MX Mount variant of the white Mitsumi Miniature switch, it's very tactile and bottoms out right after the tactile bump. Since this board is barely used the switches feel very nice and consistent.

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The back of the board, 2 rubber pads on the bottom, note the lack of these on the top, since I'm typing this review on this very board I can tell you it slips around if you don't flip out the feet.

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Normal Sticker, no idea in which quantity these were produced but I'm surprised to get such a low serial

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XT/AT Switch underneath one of the flipout feet, there's also 1 screw underneath each of the flipout feet, which are kind of unnecessary, as removing the housing was hard enough without it

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Chicony branding on the case shells

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PCB, sorry about this picture not turning out too well, still need to figure out how to deal with objects this large

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PCB Branding

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Branding on the mounting plate, I have no idea what's up with the chalk mark

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And lastly, the controller and everything else

All in all, a lovely small keyboard. if you like the layout that is :lol:

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ohaimark
Kingpin

12 Aug 2016, 20:21

I'm pretty sure the chalk marks were a quality control check indicator. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

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ideus

16 Aug 2016, 16:23

Nice catch! The keyboard looks nice, it is a shame that it sports that combination of pad printed keys along with the double shots; but well, congratulations.

terrycherry

16 Aug 2016, 17:29

Great new found! The FCCID is E8H5IKKB-5170. Rare to see the (Linear)White(Cherry MX mount).
Could you mind show me the switch under space bar? Because my UNITEK K151L has the very rare variant (Clicky)Peach.

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Dra

20 Aug 2016, 20:15

The spacebar has a white switch as well, would've been great if it was a different one

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