Mechanical Keyboard Suggestions

My keyboard broke today and it's out of warranty, so I need suggestions for an affordable mechanical keyboard. I had a Razer Blackwidow 2013, and I'd be happy to get a Blackwidow 2014 as my experience with the 2013 was really good. Except the breaking. I'm open to suggestions for anything better though.

My budget is under £100. Black widow 2014 is £90 by the looks of it but I'd rather spend less.

do you know what switch types you prefer? I have a Corsair K65 Vengeance and I love it. It has Cherry MX Red switches. Its only around $90.

I have a Logitech G710+, it's pretty great. It has Cherry MX Browns.

I have a CM Storm Quickfire Pro with cherry MX brown switches. It is pretty cheap coming in at under $90 US (at least when I ordered mine a couple of years ago), and mine at least is pretty rugged. I spilled a drink on it once that messed with a few of the switches, and all I had to do was pop the keys off, run it through the dishwasher, let it air dry for a few days, and it has been working flawlessly ever since.

But yeah it comes down to what type of switches you like. I like brown switches as I feel they are a good middle ground between gaming and general typing switches, but that is just my opinion.

I got the solar powered Logitech somethingmodelnumbersomething. I love it. I used to think I preferred big clicky keys, but typing on this thing is a blast! It's made me more verbose all over the Internet.

@shapeofdespair: mine are cherry mx blue but I'm not super clear on the differences. Reading about them doesn't give me an idea about the tactile feel. I really enjoy the one I was using though.

@starfoxa: Fairly expensive here in the UK. Its my max budget.

Razor products looks like spaceship equipment. Buy a ducky If you can find one, I have had nothing but good experiences with their keyboards.

@tothenines said:

When viewed as you would when using it, the black widow looks pretty plain which I like. Except the crappy illuminated logo.

Wait for at Corsair Vengeance K70 to go on sale.The can run around $100 quite often. Best keyboard I have ever had by far.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/landing/k70

I don't have advice for a good one, but my experience with a Steelseries 6GV2 would have me gently guide you away from that one. Mine failed outside warranty (keystrokes not registering/repeating, making passwords impossible), but also the key layout was asinine if you do any command-line stuff; they made the Enter key gigantic, and moved Backslash down next to Slash. That may not sound that bad, but I also do some sysadmin work from that PC and oh my god it was enraging.

I bring this up because I also would like to go back to a mechanical keyboard, and Steelseries is absolutely out of the question for me. I've been using a $10 membrane keyboard and have been much happier.

I've been using a Das Keyboard Professional (the not blank one) for a few years now. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

If you're planing on getting the Silent one excepting it to be quiet. Don't.

@alistercat: if you're not sure, there are a few companies that make switch "samplers" they sell for about $10-15. It's just a set of keys with different switch types so you can get the feel of them all. I bought one before I decided on this current keyboard. Here's a few samplers I found:

http://www.cmstore-usa.com/mechanical-key-switch-demo-board/

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/index.php/wasd-sampler-kit.html

A friend of mine stripped the wiring and fixed it up for me so I don't need to get a new one right away, but I will keep your suggestions for future reference. Thanks everyone!

I've been using a Das Keyboard for years and love the hell out of it. If you want a no nonsense keyboard that doesn't scream "video games!" you can't go wrong with Das Keyboard. Some people complain about the lack of multimedia keys, but it never bothered me. As a bonus, getting the one with blank keys is a great way to screw with your friends.