Talking w/ someone selling a Chicony KB5181 and I asked if they could tell me the color of the switches...

[tydye00]

Hey there, I made an account here to ask for help as it seems this is quite an oddity. I was looking at the wiki for the Chicony KB5181 right after I got a message from my seller, because I asked them to check the color of the switches and they said... they looked pink and green.

To be honest I have absolutely no idea what they are because they do not match any of the colors of the switches usually found in 5181's... I asked them to send pictures just in case, because this is just weird. I know Alps have many color variations (Salmon and green the only ones I can think of) but I don't know all that much about other switches besides those and Cherry in terms of all the colors possible. I'll update this when I do eventually get pictures of the switches.

Pictures below of the board itself, I'm still waiting for pictures of the switches themselves. I'm just kind of astonished. Anyone else know what it could be?? Thanks if you reply.

I will buy it regardless by the way, because I'm just genuinely curious.

The keyboard:

Spoiler:

The reply I got when I asked:

Spoiler:

[xxhellfirexx]

I honestly would say it isn't worth the gamble as the build quality of this keyboard is terrible.

[kmnov2017]

Obviously the seller is playing with you....
Most sellers couldn't be bothered with sending the pics because the very question of asking them for colour of switches is absurd to them.

If the seller knows what switches are and their value, they'll label it accordingly in the item description...

[SneakyRobb]

If you do not know what it is, the seller is being elusive and not giving a straight answer... You are gambling.

Still, Good luck.

[swampangel]

Wild speculation:

The wiki says Mitsumi is one of the switch providers for the KB-5181, so it could be their coloured MX-mount switches wiki/Mitsumi_miniature_mechanical

Alternately if the seller means *each switch* is pink and green -- I seem to remember seeing photos recently of a KPT-like alps clone switch with greenish housings. Can't find it now though, of course.

[tydye00]

Okay, I finally have an update. To be honest this was a bit anticlimactic, they sent the pictures, and I paid for it. They're kinda crappy images, no offense to the seller, but they're clearly Monterey switches from the images. I guess I can see why they thought it was green, maybe it was the lighting, makes it look a bit more teal. The "pink" they saw was just the part inside that holds the keycaps in.

At the very least these are the exact switches I wanted, so that's pretty great. I paid 30 USD.

Thank you guys. I'll try to stick around to get a bit more knowledgeable about this stuff.

Here it is.

Spoiler:

[SneakyRobb]

Hah! So not a lie. Highly amusing, nice.

[zrrion]

Looks like SMK alps mount

[fohat]

The guy was crazy to take off the bigass Enter key, that is the hardest one to re-install!

Also color was not necessarily the best question to ask, I bought one with blue Cherries once.

[Elrick]

The guy was crazy to take off the bigass Enter key, that is the hardest one to re-install!

Suspect the "BigAss Enter Key" is buggered to begin with, hence why he chose to uncover it then of course blame you for having to remove it in the first place when answering your request on what type of key switches are used within this keyboard.

Some shyster seller's will choose to lay the blame upon the buyer, for requesting an 'uncovering of this switch' which would entail, no liability to the seller.

Years of Flebay buying here with all sorts of sellers, some falling into a realm of dodgy secondhand car molesters. You'll know that feeling once the item arrives on your front doorstep.