ENHANCE!
It’s fixed now…
3 Likes
CSTM80 with GMK Boho, which looks good with just about everything. I got some HMX Purple Dawn switches the other day and decided to try them out here. I’m a fan. Full travel linears with stable stems and smooth deep clacks. 22mm spring that is medium to medium-heavy. It’s my jam, for sure.
11 Likes
Trying out WS Purquoise. Also trying to convince myself I don’t need to pick up a June in Fairy Bread colorway 
Maybe I need to try these out of a purple board to help bring out the purple flecks in the plastic. It just reads like turquoise with static at the moment.
They’re quality keycaps for sure. The texture is slightly silky and dry. It’s not too different from a lot of other popular PBT caps.
Update:
Yep. Purple is the way
14 Likes
My DaringRun DR-70F in standard FRLTKL format.
Full specs:
- Creamy White case
- BT Hotswap PCB
- TTC Bluish White switches
- NovelKeys PBT Stone keycaps
- PC Plate
- TX AP screw-in stabs
- All the foams minus one case foam sheet
Technically, it’s been on my desk for a couple weeks, but I’ve been quite happy with this setup. The combination of the board, the Bluish Whites, and the NK PBT caps sounds lovely. Honestly shocked by how good it sounds considering it’s somewhat of a “budget” build.
16 Likes
Wow. Near perfect case/keycap color combo there.
1 Like
Thanks! I was thrilled when I saw how closely they matched. 
I wish more manus would make their “cream” color actual creamike this, and not a darker beige.
3 Likes
Very 80’s looking.
1 Like
I don’t own many OEM keyboards but on my desk today is the Epomaker DynaTab 75X
A friend joined the kickstarter for this board a long while back and somehow they sent him 2.
So, it was mine for the cost of shipping… I said “why not”?
It is both wireless and Bluetooth capable. I don’t have a use for either. I’m using it over USB-C
This one came with epomaker wisteria switches. Listed at 39g but in reality closer to a cherry red weight. Still a bit too light for my taste. However, they feel fairly smooth and stable and sound nice. I may spring swap them.
The keycaps feel good and thick. They have a font that is almost not offensive. I measure them to be 1.6mm thick on the sides and bottom, with a 1.8mm top edge thickness.
The board has good acoustics, as you would expect form a gasket mounted plastic board with added silicon layers for dampening.
The LED screen is the main attraction here. A press of a button can swap between premade animations. I think there are 10. You can add your own to the rotation as well.
It’s also backlit but the LEDs are a bit subdued in my photos because I’m using mostly opaque switches.
Listed at $139 I’d say it’s okay. Good sound and feel. The epomaker software is not exactly intuitive but you can program it do do most simple remaps (Which you’ll probably need to do because Home and End are currently bound to Fn + U and Fn + O 
)
There are some caveats for programming. There’s really only one Function layer, and some of the keys are locked out from reassigning. For instance, the arrow keys cannot have anything assigned on Fn press because they have a default command to control backlight speed and brightness.
It doesn’t feel premium but it’s not quite cheap feeling either. If it was $100 I would say it’s a good value for entry level hotswap with an added bonus of blinky lights.
Also… why does it say “Digital Display Game&Office Mechanical Keyboard” above the mode switch? I don’t know what is more of an egregious design choice; Is it the mere fact that it has this random phrase printed as some sort of logo, or that there is no space around the ampersand? Like… why the heck doesn’t it say DynaTab 75 or “Epomaker” or NOTHING AT ALL?
Lol, and why does the button have a big, ugly lightbulb on it? If there was a button, and pressing it made the LED mode change, wouldn’t you immediately understand what it was for, and never forget that going forward… like, not need to be remided that the big button makes the blinkies change?
Sorry, but the low hanging fruit is too easy to pick here. I digress.
5 Likes
HSA Blush on a good ol’ NightFox
Man, do I enjoy this profile. For me, it’s what I personally wanted out of SA and even DSA when I first saw renders of it. I’d mentioned yesterday that this set looks better than the Brown & Beige ones I have - the alphas especially are a lot more consistent.
I’d say the most disperate characters in terms of line weight with this set are the 6 and the 8:
Noticeable if you look for it, but nothing crazy - at least on par with good ol’ Signature Plastics, I’d say - and certainly a step up from the first runs of these. I’m super happy with them - especially since I can use them like crazy and not even think about shine… 
6 Likes
Just curious, does the glossy finish drive you nuts? How does it feel? I’ve never typed on anything remotely shiny/smooth like that. Also, compared to SA, what’s the biggest difference/advantage you see?
1 Like
I was worried it might after finding SP SA itself a little too grippy on my fingers, but it’s actually quite usable for me. Of profiles I enjoy, I’d say it is a little on the grippy side, but to a helpful rather than unhelpful degree.
So, while it’s visibly more glossy than Signature Plastics’ SA, it doesn’t seem to grip my fingers quite as much. I almost get stuck on SP SA and kinda have to get used to the level of grip it has. Not so much with this.
The biggest difference aside from that grippiness is the height and to a lesser degree the angle. Between those three factors, I find HSA quite a lot more usable for average typing tasks than SP SA, DSA, MDA, OSA, CXA, and even more user friendly for me than XVX, MT3, and MTNU which I’m a big fan of.
Perhaps second only to well-made classic Cherry profile PBT sets, these glossy ABS HSA ones rank exceptionally high for actual usability - and the kitting tends to be great, too.
4 Likes
That’s what I was shocked about with HSA. I bought it because it looked great to me, but it feels surprisingly good to type on. Top 3 profile for typing in my book
4 Likes
I really need to grab a HSA set to try. JTK has been getting better & better with their legends kerning & weighting recently it seems. I grabbed JTK tripleshot Griseann a couple weeks ago & comparing them to much earlier JTK sets (Toxic & Yolch) the legends consistency & weighting are way better on Griseann IMO.
2 Likes
So, the GE Healthcare Model M arrived. This one is a Unicomp PS/2 model 2054858, built in 2014. It is in pretty much perfect working order, as far as I can tell, and the healthcare legends are pretty sweet; I think they may even have blown it out slightly, or it was kept tidy at whatever clinic or hospital originally had it. I don’t properly touchtype, but I do have muscle memory on a tenkey, so the numpad legends are not an issue. I don’t believe I got the exact board from the listing picture, but if the legends are a bit less crisp and centered, then the spacebar with no yellowing makes up for it. There are a few others on ebay right now for around fifty bucks, and I’d highly recommend it if you have a PS/2 port or a converter lying around.
I really did forget how nice the typing feel is, and it’s unique, but my first impression is my Outemu dustproof greens probably feel the most similar*, though nothing at all sounds like buckling spring, with that soft click, PBT thud, and unapologetic ping. The spacebar is a bit hollow, maybe.
I may play with my soarer’s later and see if I can use it to remap, or if I get nothing at all, then that should be proof that I need to work on that before tearing up my Terminal Model M any further.
6 Likes
So lovely !!
A lot of medical clinics will keep plastic covers over the entire keyboard so they can disinfect it between patients. Could be those keys were never directly touched by human hands without a safety layer in the middle.
2 Likes
Safa 588 back at it again
Cherry MX Black with stock springs, oiled with Castrol 75W140.
Cherry Clip In with C3 wires, lubed with Tribosys 3204 on the housings and Krytox XHT-BDZ on the wires.
GMK Classic Arabic.
8 Likes
Hey,
If I may ask, how were the stabilizers that came with it? I understand it ships with “NeoStabs.”
They appear to be clip-in. Did you find them to be adequate? Or would you prefer to use something aftermarket?
Stabs that ships with Neo80 are not stellar in quality but at least decent. Didn’t feel the need to use other stabs I had.
Only hassle I had was with clip-in inserts. Too tiny. Easy to insert skewed. Doesn’t feel secure enough nor usable repeatedly without damaging. But more a hassle than a problem. Screw-in remains the best IMO.
2 Likes