I just got a keyboard from XMIT, an F122 in a silent auction more trouble than it was worth to him. But, considering I paid substantially similar prices for my Model F77 and my F122 (the F122 had shipping, plus had to get a Soarer's converter from Orihalcon, so it did cost a bit more), I'm going to talk to those of us here who might not have Ellipse's reproductions, and who don't have an F122, and are in the market to wildly overpay for a keyboard.
If you want a Kishsaver or an F77 for the size saving functionality, your decision is made. Buy a repro, because the F122 dominates a fucking desk. Here, you can barely even see the F77 in the far too large classic case behind an F122.
If you're worried about the lack of keys on the F77, you probably don't have to be. But, if you're a guy who uses an M122 and all them keys, don't buy an F77. Buy the F122 you maniac. The F77 makes you do weird shit like this. Yeah that's F5 on the split right shift. That's my life now.
Okay so now let's take a look at some things you guys might care about if you're properly on the fence.
Availability: Ellipse's keyboards are available right now. Kinda. Look they exist and that's what matters. It's not hard to get them, but at this time you may be waiting a few weeks. The point is, if you have $400 today and you want to spend it on a keyboard today, you can buy a repro and definitely have a keyboard.
The F122 is surprisingly difficult to find reliably. They sometimes don't even show up on ebay. There's one on eBay right now for $1200 (lol) and there's one people are bidding on that's now at $350. It's at $350 because I bid $350. Haha. But anyway, with some luck, you can get a Model F for $400-$500 right now, but you have to try.
Neither of these keyboards are what I would call particularly available, but I'm going to give the win to Ellipse here for having a guaranteed price and the keyboards existing somewhere.
Winner: F77 Repro
Build quality: This is difficult. The keyboards Ellipse is rebuilding are considered by many to be the best built keyboards of all time. Chyros I think unironically suggested that they could be used in the case of a bank robbery to stop a bullet. They weigh approximately 11 tons and are solid zinc magnesium alloy. Look at this photo. Look how thick that metal is. It’s solid fucking metal. A slab of goddamn magnesium.
The F122, on the other hand, has a plastic case, but with a solid metal backplate.
The F77 weighs more and feels more solid. But, does it type more solid?
No. It doesn’t. It feels worse. It feels rattly like an XT and a 4704. I have an F107, and my secondary keyboard at the moment is an XT. They feel rattly and slightly shittier than an F122 and an AT, and I’m not sure why that is, but Ellipse has replicated that slightly rattly and looser feel. Also, there are some reports of some slight issues. I have had none, by the way. Before you say “hur durr that’s cause you’re using shitty keys on the F77,” I’m using XT keys.
I’m going to say that the F122 is made better, but the F77 is constructed better.
Winner: tie
Repairability: Before I talk about this, I’m bringing it up because these keyboards either are no longer made in the case of the F122 or will soon no longer be made in the case of the F77. Probably. Who knows with Ellipse. He’s the boy who cried deadline. Anyway, these are keyboards worth hundreds of dollars. These should be a lifetime purchase. As a result, we need to know how we can maintain them if necessary, and how simple it is to do so.
The Model F122 is fairly repairable by F standards. It’s similar to the Model M in that regard, as the keys are surprisingly standard. BUT honestly it’s fairly difficult to drop in replacement pieces if it breaks. While you can find a guide for repairing every single part of an F online, the problem is that you are essentially fabricating the repair parts or modifying existing pieces to use them. That’s a problem.
Here, let me show you by way of example. I just picked up an F122 from XMIT on Deskthority. Here’s what I get.
Oh shit, the spacebar fell off. For those who don’t know, the Model F spacebars are creations of Satan. The XT and ATs are longer than a fucking Panamax ship and are impossible to reseat without disassembling the board. The F122 is built like a Model M. Easy. Except it uses a paperclip as a stabilizer wire. It’s incompatible with Model M spacebars and stabilizers. You have to bend your own wire, and then somehow increase the thickness for it to work with a Model M.
I found the spacebar in the package. Judging by the dirt, the keyboard’s last owner had tried to fix the keyboard with a Model M spacebar, which is incompatible. XMIT hadn’t noticed it was unstabilized, and the rough shipping kind of killed it. He shipped me a Model F spacebar shortly thereafter. I’m using it to type this right now.
But, you know what happens when your spacebar breaks on an F77? You go to Unicomp and request a spacebar for $5. DONE. Remember, Ellipse is one of us. He feels our pain. As a result, he sells repair kits, spare parts, and has made certain features of the keyboard, like the spacebar, easy to fix with readily available parts. He also has exhaustive manuals on fixing every single problem you could ever have with the board.
Winner: F77 and it’s not close.
Usability: The F122 has more keys and is therefore more usable. It wins by 55 usabilities. Well that’s not quite it.
Okay the F122 comes with a weird protocol and a weird plug. That’s a problem. You can program your own teensy or whatever or get Drake over on the Model M subreddit to make one for you for like $10, then you can use Soarer’s converter software to use the F122. Most people are just going to be adding on $40 for an Orihalcon converter. Then it’s plug and play, with fairly easy key remapping and little to do after. You remap the keys in notepad. EZ PZ
The F77 is plug and play. Works immediately. No problem. Unless you want to remap keys, and you sure as hell are because the damn thing has basically no keys. Here’s the problem. The new ones come with QMK firmware which requires you to go to some website or some shit and message a guy to get into a private trial in order to remap functionality, which require you to go to some different ass website and do shit that way. How about fuck off no goddamn way? I had to find instructions on how to flash the xwhatsit firmware on the xwhatsit controller, then initialize that. The IBM capsense software that comes with that is very easy to use, I guarantee if you’re into mechanical keyboards you can use it, I promise, but it does require you to set voltage for your keyboard to start with. If they came with xwhatsit as standard, I’d be much happier. Also by default they don’t come with keys. rofl
The size is going to have to be up to you. I typically prefer more keys, but can do without the nav cluster, as it’s basically just the base layer of the num pad. You can make macros and stuff on the extra keys on the 122, but you probably won’t use them. I have an incredibly small desk, so as long as my main key functions can be remapped to the base layer, I’ll typically value the size. I can do that on the F77, and it doesn’t even impede my mousepad. On the other hand, sometimes it does get annoying switching on and off that numpad a lot. So it’s going to depend on your priorities. You’ve seen the F122 on my desk in the beginning of this post. Here’s the F77.
Winner: F122 and it’s not close.
Conclusion: well, I think it’s a draw. For me, as a collector, I go with the F122 if the price is equal and I don’t already have one. I’m content with having a keyboard sit in my keyboard closet and not get used just to know that I have it. If you’re not mentally ill like I am, and you want to use your keyboard, then I think it really is a toss up. Do you care about ease of repair? Do you want the smaller size or more buttons? Do you want to just buy a keyboard and not think about it too much?
I’ll tell you guys something, though. I’ve paid about $475 for my 2 F122s I’ve bought (after shipping and stuff), and $400 for my F77s. I have purchased 2 F122s, and 2 F77s. I happen to have gotten an F122 for free at one point, but that’s not important. I hope that shows you how much I consider the buy a toss up.
But what’s on my desk right now? Today?
