Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Blue $40.19 + s/h @ monoprice

I'm only seeing the $57 price, do you have a coupon code or something? Went all the way to check out...

EDIT: thanks, I see it now, well glad I could be the one to ask the noob question

Quote from theyangster : I'm only seeing the $57 price, do you have a coupon code or something? Went all the way to check out...

go to the main page and click December deals. then find the keyboard for the discounted price.

link directly to the banner for this deal. click through to get discount

http://www.monoprice.com/home/pro...12#PID9433

The general consensus is that this is a rebrand of a particularly problematic iOne-based design, the Scorpius M10. Probably best to stay away.

Reviews for the iOne branded variant: http://www.amazon.com/Ione-Scorpi...B000UC1W3C

Quote from huevos : The general consensus is that this is a rebrand of a particularly problematic iOne-based design, the Scorpius M10. Probably best to stay away. Reviews for the iOne branded variant: http://www.amazon.com/Ione-Scorpi...B000UC1W3C

So the 3 bad reviews that show prominently on that page are from 2007/2008 with a different company that had it OEM'd at almost twice the price makes this one bad? Sure it may be the same OEM but that doesn't mean that Monoprice is getting the same build or quality. It may not be up to the quality of a ducky but neither is the price. For that matter, none of the mainstream keyboards would be. $45 for a mechanical keyboard is a great price plus you have monoprice's return policy if you get one you don't like. I'd rather have a basic mechanical switch keyboard than an equivalently priced rubber dome.

Good price. Ordering one for the wife for Christmas.

Would love to hear some user feedback on this. I'm on the fence, need to know if it's any good!

Quote from TooncesToo : So the 3 bad reviews that show prominently on that page are from 2007/2008 with a different company that had it OEM'd at almost twice the price makes this one bad? Sure it may be the same OEM but that doesn't mean that Monoprice is getting the same build or quality. It may not be up to the quality of a ducky but neither is the price. For that matter, none of the mainstream keyboards would be. $45 for a mechanical keyboard is a great price plus you have monoprice's return policy if you get one you don't like. I'd rather have a basic mechanical switch keyboard than an equivalently priced rubber dome.

iOne has a generally poor reputation when it comes to mechanical keyboards, and the Scorpius M10 is one of those keyboards that gave its reputation.

It doesn't matter if the branding says iOne or Monoprice. At the end of the day, both of these keyboards were made by the same OEM (iONE), and are substantially the same product. You can speculate that the quality has changed within this product line over the years, but to argue that the products are different due to a price discrimination phenomenon isn't really relevant.

Personally, I think that people looking for a basic mechanical keyboard should keep an eye out for a Rosewill. They are Filco-made, and their only real problem (loose USB connector) has since been corrected. They have been as low as $55 shipped recently, which is quite comparable to the Monoprice, and go on sale in the ~$60 range nearly every single week.

EDIT: To provide more color, the Scorpius M10 was discontinued, likely due to horrendous reliability issues. Monoprice likely commissioned excess stock or excess manufacturing bandwidth to be branded under the Monoprice name. User experiences show that this is almost certainly the case, as part numbers from the Monoprice model correspond to the M10, and build/revision dates from recently purchased Monoprice units are from 2010.

EDIT 2: http://imgur.com/a/bL3qR The solder quality is horrendous, which coincidentally was the primary problem with the M10. Photos 4 and 5 look like a blind man did it by hand.

Quote from huevos : iOne has a generally poor reputation when it comes to mechanical keyboards, and the Scorpius M10 is one of those keyboards that gave its reputation. It doesn't matter if the branding says iOne or Monoprice. At the end of the day, both of these keyboards were made by the same OEM (iONE), and are substantially the same product. You can speculate that the quality has changed within this product line over the years, but to argue that the products are different due to a price discrimination phenomenon isn't really relevant. Personally, I think that people looking for a basic mechanical keyboard should keep an eye out for a Rosewill. They are Filco-made, and their only real problem (loose USB connector) has since been corrected. They have been as low as $55 shipped recently, which is quite comparable to the Monoprice, and go on sale in the ~$60 range nearly every single week. EDIT: To provide more color, the Scorpius M10 was discontinued, likely due to horrendous reliability issues. Monoprice likely commissioned excess stock or excess manufacturing bandwidth to be branded under the Monoprice name. User experiences show that this is almost certainly the case, as part numbers from the Monoprice model correspond to the M10, and build/revision dates from recently purchased Monoprice units are from 2010. EDIT 2: http://imgur.com/a/bL3qR The solder quality is horrendous, which coincidentally was the primary problem with the M10. Photos 4 and 5 look like a blind man did it by hand.

The USB connector issue was corrected on the 9000 series? I hadn't seen that. It was the reason I didn't grab one of the $60 deals. Almost bit on the $89 9100 w/ browns on BF.

But again, this one is $40, not $60 or more. Sure you can pay for higher quality but I'm not looking to flex my keyboard or use it to kill rats. Just type.

The "terrible" Razer BW Ultimate Mac I picked up for $60 years ago still works great and hasn't fallen apart either. Maybe it will in the next decade or so.

Don't get me wrong, I am not stating that this is the highest quality mechanical, it's not. I don't have any illusions regarding iOne's quality. They don't make a $100 keyboard (the new Das w/ media controls?) nor do I plan on taking it apart and making sure the solder joints are all high quality, but is it a $40~50 keyboard? I think so. It'll do great as a replacement for the Logitech made Dell keyboard I use at work.

Quote from TooncesToo : The USB connector issue was corrected on the 9000 series? I hadn't seen that. It was the reason I didn't grab one of the $60 deals. Almost bit on the $89 9100 w/ browns on BF. But again, this one is $40, not $60 or more. Sure you can pay for higher quality but I'm not looking to flex my keyboard or use it to kill rats. Just type. The "crappy" Razer BW Ultimate Mac I picked up for $60 years ago still works great and hasn't fallen apart either. Maybe it will in the next decade or so. Don't get me wrong, I am not stating that this is the highest quality mechanical, it's not. I don't have any illusions regarding iOne's quality. They don't make a $100 keyboard (the new Das w/ media controls?) nor do I plan on taking it apart and making sure the solder joints are all high quality, but is it a $40~50 keyboard? I think so. It'll do great as a replacement for the Logitech made Dell keyboard I use at work.

It's $40...before shipping. It comes out to ~$50 for me shipped to NY.

The Rosewill model was fixed: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36106.0

You can obviously buy whatever you want, but when you're already paying in the neighborhood of $50 for a keyboard, it may be wise to spend $5-10 more for soldering that doesn't look like a blind man did it. I mean, look at that album. I haven't butchered a job that badly since I was a freshman EE.

Quote from huevos : It's $40...before shipping. It comes out to ~$50 for me shipped to NY. The Rosewill model was fixed: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=36106.0 You can obviously buy whatever you want, but when you're already paying in the neighborhood of $50 for a keyboard, it may be wise to spend $5-10 more for soldering that doesn't look like a blind man did it. I mean, look at that album. I haven't butchered a job that badly since I was a freshman EE.

Cool about the Rosewill. They had some good deals directly on Amazon. I avoided the 9000 w/ reds on NE for $50 because of that issue since I didn't know it was fixed.

Yes, that is a great job, isn't it The reality is that the keyboard will more likely to be returned because people won't like the noise or feel of it more than because of the quality of the solder job. I love mechanical keyboards but most people are used to the rubber done these days and the difference is something they need to get used to. The noise of the Blues is probably a bigger issue than the feel at that. I actually prefer the old Alps switches and would love to see a deal on the new Matias Quiet Pro for PC. until then I may just pick up some o-rings for the Razer.

MX Blues can get really loud imho, so if you don't want a noisy keyboard the Blues are a no-go.

That and to get N-Key rollover just use a USB to PS/2 adapter.

I doubt anyone needs to hit more than 6 keys at once though..