I massdropped a Magicforce 82 (with the gateron blue switches) and it's by far my favourite. I also own an Ajazz ak33 blue switch, Filco Cherry MX Brown, and Noppoo 84 key (khail blue). As the Magicforce is my fave, I use it at work in my day job (I spend the whole day typing). The only thing I dislike about it is the spacebar - which has a totally different feel and sound to the rest of the keys. The best things about it is the buttery smooth key action, the affirmative (but not harsh) click, the very short key travel, and the hushed impact sound (like the Filco MX Brown keyboard). Keyboard I'm interested in but haven't tried yet are the Plum 84 with the 35g Electro Capacitive keys. A keyboard I have tried and returned is the Razer Chroma Ornata - I loved the electro-membrane keys because of the ultra-short travel and affirmative click, but I returned it because the footprint was ridiculously big - how are you supposed to use a mouse with that on a long day without causing pain?
It would be good to time a KBT Race drop with the Carbon SA drop that's coming up. Chances of seeing a group buy for a set that supports it is unlikely to come up very often with those weird keys.
The only real "75" KB is the Noppoo. I'm not saying is the best, but the others (with a extra column on the right side and the top row without space to separate the clusters ) are more like "80". Just look at the names, there is some "84" and "82". This is why I hate this bullshit of classifying the KB by the number of keys. It's so imprecise! A 75 KB should be 15:6 (not considering the extra space between the top rows). These other "80" KBs are 16:6. Completely different. Still, THIS is the smart way to compare sizes.
I have add another real 75 option with electrostatic capacitive switches...
I own a KBT Race II and a Noppoo Choc Mini—the Race is probably the superior keyboard in terms of functionality (programmability, dip switches), but the lack of a plate is unfortunate. I ended up switching to the Choc Mini but that's largely because I wanted POM keycaps very badly and the jelly POM set seems to be stuck in eternal limbo. Replacement keysets for either one will be a terrible pain; the odd arrow keys and right shift on the Race make it awkward, and the stock keys have a special profile for the F row. The Choc Mini, as noted above, has a nonstandard spacebar. Also it doesn't work in older BIOS environments, whereas the Race is much more universal.
This is probably the most optimal layout, in my opinion; I really like having dedicated funtion and navigation keys, as well as both an escape and a tilde. However, I also like having my mouse as close as possible to typing position, and these designs shave a lot of space from the TKL layout.
I know the Noppoo models NKRO is busted on OS X - which ones of these feature NKRO that isn't problematic (either works, or can be easily turned off) on a Mac?
As I understand the reason for Keycool 84 to receive more votes than Noppoo Choc mini 84 can be the non-standard spacebar of Choc mini.
However, it perplexes me that the top voted KBT 75% Race 2 is a PCB-mounted board, while Keycool 84 and Choc mini are both sturdier plate-mounted. I dislike the small right-SHIFT and the extra-size arrow keys of KBT 75% Race 2, but it is also one of the few keyboards in the market that can have high out of the box programmability.
Although I already have 3 sets of race (2 for race 1, 1 for race 2), and it's really handy for coding and gaming, the biggest problem is the keycaps isn't easy to find a replacement.
(At least in Taiwan, I have written an email and also ask on facebook, but the answer always said "I will consider that later, if I have time...blah blah")
In this case, i think Keycool Hero 84 or "THE NEW" enjoypbt 75% will be better than race 2.
Which one of these keyboard has the easiest time to find replacement keycaps?
Is the KBT full shine through keycaps? Also do they make all black Keycool race w/LED?
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