BTC 5349
Posted: 05 Jan 2015, 10:52
I recently acquired some older keyboards that I randomly found on the internet on an old outdated site. However after taking a chance and contacting the seller many of the items were still not sold. So I grabbed 6 old keyboards for $50 including shipping.
One of these keyboards I had hopes for before they arrived as its looks intruiged me. The keycaps spoke to me with their a bit bigger than normal legends and also the typeface specially on ÅÄÖ the Swedish characters. They look old style. Unfortunately the "print screen" keycap is missing.
This is the condition the BTC keyboard arrived in (sellers photo);
As you can see some keycaps has turned noticably yellow while some were preserved. The housing also had a much darker than original color. So the first thing I did was to tear it all apart for a retrobright session (first time for me) as I wanted to put it back in its former glory as good as I can.
So after two days retrobrightning the results were good but not perfect. I would say perfect for the keycaps but not the case. It still has some yellow tint to it but I don't want to bright anymore at least not at the moment. So now it was time to put it all together again for the big test. I did not want to use it much before fixing it as I wanted to start using the clean product. Don't ask I'm just like that.
As you can see in the image the process definitely improved the looks of it. However look closely on the upper corners and middle part of the case. There are white lines and they are cymetrical. It's because of plastic underneath and it got whiter on those smaller areas. Going to leave it as is at the time being though.
The kecaps are perfectly fine however. They all have an even tone/color to them now. I like the feel of the keycaps a lot as they have texture that I can feel very well with my fingertips and the grip is good.
This keyboard has the foam and foil switches with rubber buckling sleeve. It has quickly become a favorite keyboard to type on as it's very very soft. Not mushy but soft. The bottoming of a key is silence as a mouse and letting go of it results in a clack like in the Topre boards. It's pretty silent. Very nice sound to it.
The keys feels consistent across the board and upon opening it up to take a look everything looks new and fresh. Not that much dirt under the keys either. I would believe that this keyboard has seen very little usage in the past. The foam is in very good shape. If some keys would be worse than others it would be easy to switch place with another one that has seen little usage and make it's life longer.
All in all I am very happy with my purchase and my expectations on this keyboard held up and even succeded them in some ways. This keyboard has now been revived from its deep sleep and will finally get some proper usage out of it just as it deserves.
One of these keyboards I had hopes for before they arrived as its looks intruiged me. The keycaps spoke to me with their a bit bigger than normal legends and also the typeface specially on ÅÄÖ the Swedish characters. They look old style. Unfortunately the "print screen" keycap is missing.
This is the condition the BTC keyboard arrived in (sellers photo);
As you can see some keycaps has turned noticably yellow while some were preserved. The housing also had a much darker than original color. So the first thing I did was to tear it all apart for a retrobright session (first time for me) as I wanted to put it back in its former glory as good as I can.
So after two days retrobrightning the results were good but not perfect. I would say perfect for the keycaps but not the case. It still has some yellow tint to it but I don't want to bright anymore at least not at the moment. So now it was time to put it all together again for the big test. I did not want to use it much before fixing it as I wanted to start using the clean product. Don't ask I'm just like that.
As you can see in the image the process definitely improved the looks of it. However look closely on the upper corners and middle part of the case. There are white lines and they are cymetrical. It's because of plastic underneath and it got whiter on those smaller areas. Going to leave it as is at the time being though.
The kecaps are perfectly fine however. They all have an even tone/color to them now. I like the feel of the keycaps a lot as they have texture that I can feel very well with my fingertips and the grip is good.
This keyboard has the foam and foil switches with rubber buckling sleeve. It has quickly become a favorite keyboard to type on as it's very very soft. Not mushy but soft. The bottoming of a key is silence as a mouse and letting go of it results in a clack like in the Topre boards. It's pretty silent. Very nice sound to it.
The keys feels consistent across the board and upon opening it up to take a look everything looks new and fresh. Not that much dirt under the keys either. I would believe that this keyboard has seen very little usage in the past. The foam is in very good shape. If some keys would be worse than others it would be easy to switch place with another one that has seen little usage and make it's life longer.
All in all I am very happy with my purchase and my expectations on this keyboard held up and even succeded them in some ways. This keyboard has now been revived from its deep sleep and will finally get some proper usage out of it just as it deserves.