Keycool 87 full backlit with Kailh Switches

mech greenhand · 29 Mar 2014, 13:53

Keycool released its first keyboards with Kailh switches. Keycool choose the 87 version with full white backlights. It is clone of cherry mx switches. Waiting for validation and recognition from kb enthusiastics all over the world..

Muirium · 29 Mar 2014, 14:22

Keycool was using authentic Cherry MX before?

Cherry better watch out. Kailh is taking off as a low cost alternative, and at the high end even Topre's waking up and getting more active outside Japan.

Daniel Beardsmore · 29 Mar 2014, 14:33

I am reserving judgement until we're sure that Kailh have figured out how to make switch stems not snap off ;-)

Muirium · 29 Mar 2014, 14:35

Indeed. Think they're just relatively new to the switch racket, and still learning the tricks of the trade?

Daemon Raccoon · 29 Mar 2014, 14:49

An Internet Explorer key!?

scottc · 29 Mar 2014, 14:53

Well I'm staying far, FAR away from Kailh boards until I've heard some positive news about them.

And wow: that *is* an IE key. Nice and tacky.

mech greenhand · 29 Mar 2014, 15:23

Absolutely it takes time to be accepted outside China, just as many other china made products. But it is good news if Kailh switches can offer an alternative with stable performance and affordable price.

Muirium · 29 Mar 2014, 15:26

Which MX are these blue switches meant to be like? I've seen yellow Kailh switches before, which is nicely confusing!

scottc wrote: And wow: that *is* an IE key. Nice and tacky.

No more so than Windows logos on hardware with nothing to do with Microsoft. One we're used to, the other we are not.

(Well, not me. My "Windows" keys press Command, and would have Ducky logos on them if they weren't already blank!)

mech greenhand · 02 Apr 2014, 13:11

Muirium wrote:Which MX are these blue switches meant to be like? I've seen yellow Kailh switches before, which is nicely confusing!

scottc wrote: And wow: that *is* an IE key. Nice and tacky.
No more so than Windows logos on hardware with nothing to do with Microsoft. One we're used to, the other we are not.

(Well, not me. My "Windows" keys press Command, and would have Ducky logos on them if they weren't already blank!)

This is paging cherry mx switches. So blue is meant to like cherry blue. Yellow switch is early product. Now it is much upgraded. Also now released the green backlights 87 versions.

Grendel · 02 Apr 2014, 20:45

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:I am reserving judgement until we're sure that Kailh have figured out how to make switch stems not snap off

I thought they did by discontinuing the yellow switch.. ?

Daemon Raccoon wrote:An Internet Explorer key!?

I was waiting for the 1st company to figure out the "Application Control - Home" usage. Guess Keycool it is

scottc · 02 Apr 2014, 20:50

Any idea about price, mech greenhand?

Stabilized · 02 Apr 2014, 22:11

Are there any key switch tester going around with both MX and Kalih switches? I am really interested to compare them both.

Julle · 03 Apr 2014, 10:04

Muirium wrote:Keycool was using authentic Cherry MX before?

Long story short, yes.

mech greenhand · 03 Apr 2014, 14:03

Grendel wrote:
Daniel Beardsmore wrote:I am reserving judgement until we're sure that Kailh have figured out how to make switch stems not snap off
I thought they did by discontinuing the yellow switch.. ?

Agree that yellow switch was not a good product.
But always need to take the 1st step.

Now it is new version and razer also applies the kailh switch on their new model.

mech greenhand · 03 Apr 2014, 14:07

scottc wrote:Any idea about price, mech greenhand?

This keyboard is already on market in China, just about 1 week before.
The price, just for your interest, is around $75 plus shipping. And they offer a full set of 87- key blank keys for this LED keyboard.

Findecanor · 03 Apr 2014, 16:34

Stabilized wrote:Are there any key switch tester going around with both MX and Kalih switches? I am really interested to compare them both.

I would like to see a comparison between Cherry MX, Kailh and Razer-switches. The latter is manufactured by Kaihua, and supposedly an improvement over the Kailh switches in materials, manufacturing tolerance and gold-plated cross point vs. not plated, but I would like to get those things confirmed.
I can provide a new Cherry MX Blue, new Cherry MX White, vintage Cherry MX Blue and Aristotle clone switches for a larger comparison.

Muirium · 03 Apr 2014, 17:06

From what I've heard, Kailh == Kaihua. Likely just different transliterations of the same Chinese characters. And so these are the same guys evolving their (clone) switches.

But I could be wrong. And Aristotle had a much better name!

Grendel · 03 Apr 2014, 21:12

Findecanor wrote:[..Razer SW..] improvement over the Kailh switches in materials, manufacturing tolerance and gold-plated cross point vs. not plated, but I would like to get those things confirmed.

From what I have seen the switches are not GCP. Razer certainly would have pointed at it in their spiel if they were (what marketeer would resist mentioning that their product contains GOLD ?

)

mech greenhand · 04 Apr 2014, 16:03

Muirium wrote:From what I've heard, Kailh == Kaihua. Likely just different transliterations of the same Chinese characters. And so these are the same guys evolving their (clone) switches.

But I could be wrong. And Aristotle had a much better name!

Yes, Kailh is Kaihua. Kaihua is the chinese pinyin(pronounication). They are same.

Stabilized · 04 Apr 2014, 17:30

I am actually very skeptical of the new Razer switches, and I think this is mainly due to Razer's attitude of: 'We are choosing these cheaper, Chinese switches, not because they are cheaper and boost our profit margin, but because they are so much better.' I would like to try out one though, to see if there is any truth behind the Razer hype.

mech greenhand · 07 Jun 2014, 15:17

Specifications of kailh switches from keycool for their new kc87 backlit with kailh switches.
Can be used as reference for contrast between kailh and cherry.

markvvaals · 19 Aug 2014, 16:13

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and to be fair I only registered to contact Mech Greenhand as he was advertising selling Keycool keyboards. I had been looking for their 22-key numpad (http://www.kc-keycool.com/en/product.ph ... tail&id=27) with brown switches for some time, in order to complement my CM Storm Rapid-I with MX brown switches. However I couldn't find any place that sold it except some USA shop for more than $60.
After a conversation in PM's I decided to order it with him and as it was a good experience I decided to take the time and share my experience here...

About the communication:
I have to say the communication with Mech Greenhand was clear and inspired confidence and rightly so. I have had a perfect experience ordering a product that he didn't even have advertised on the forum.
He gave a good indication of the time it took to order the product and then once it was sent he gave the tracking number. As the product had to be sent from Asia to the Netherlands it took a little over a week to get here. Which was faster than I expected, because I've had shipments from Asia take as long as three weeks. Once it arrived it was packed with thick padding around it which was nice.

About the Keycool 22-key numpad:
It does have back-lit keys, however the key caps are solid so that barely does anything which I was a little disappointed about. Since it has specific keys on it I cannot exchange these for other caps. Also, as you can see on the pictures, I have taped over the numlock LED since it was crazy bright and really disturbed me when the rest of the room is dark.

About the Kailh brown switches:
They seem to require slightly more force than the MX browns. But more noticeable than that is the difference in the tactile bump. The bump on the MX browns is a lot more pronounced and sharper while on the Kailh browns it is way lower and more gradual.
Since it is only a keypad I'm using the Kailh switches on the difference is not a big problem, but as for the difference between the switches I definitely prefer the more crisp bump on the MX switches than the smooth hump on the Kailh switches.
In my mind the Kailh brown switches are right in between the MX red and the MX brown switches. So they are perfect when you want MX reds with a little feedback.

Muirium · 19 Aug 2014, 18:30

Nice little review, Mark. Interesting Kailh chose to aim between MX brown and red. A lot of people (including me) find MX brown's tactility too light, and prefer the middle weighted tactile switches Alps and nowadays Matias makes. But maybe there's something good about that smoother tactility you mention.

I'd like to try some of these switches out sometime, just out of curiosity. Does anyone make a Kailh tester? We could send it on a DT tour!