http://www.amazon.com/XARMOR-U9BL-Backlit-Keyboard-Illuminated-Mechanical/dp/B003XQE040

A few weeks back ya'll might remember me mumbling about various keyboards. I tried out a few during the last few weeks and think I found the one I really love now. But first a journey down memory lane.

I owned a Saitek Eclipse II, had this keyboard for many years. It's really great, no complaints. But I have commitment issues and just like to change things once in a while and it was time for a new keyboard.

* Logitech G110/G510
I had to go through four Logitech keyboards. The first G110 I got just had some weird grating issues with the keys, returned it and got another and it was better. Then I got a G510, and it had a broken spacebar, so got another and actually found it's key response was a little better than the G110. But overall, while nice gaming keyboards, I just didn't really like typing on them all that much, felt a little mushy for some reason to me. Very sad backlighting. G110 wrist rest pretty cheap too.

* Razer Lycosa Mirro
Pretty decent keyboard, typing felt okay. But I realized I don't think I'm fond of low profile keyboards. But for a low profile keyboard this is pretty nice. I was on the fence about the glossy appearance. This keyboard has very nice backlighting.

* Thermaltake Meka G1
This is the first mechanical keyboard I tried. There are a variety of key switch types that have different attributes. This has Cherry black switches which are pretty stiff, and were just too stiff for me to enjoy typing on.

* Filco Majestouch 2 Tenkeyless
In mechanical keyboard forums everyone pretty much tells you to get a Filco or Leopold. They love them, so I gave it a try. This has Cherry brown switches, they have little resistance, light tactile feel, and are the quietest. But with this keyboard I really missed having an attached wrist rest and media keys. This was also a very pricy at $140. Felt like I was just giving up too many small features I like in my keyboard.

* iOne Xarmor U9BL
There were two Xarmor keyboards I was looking at, the U9BL-S was what I most wanted, it used quieter Cherry brown switches, but only on person sell them in the use and charges $180, too much. The U9BL is the same keyboard, but uses Cherry blue switches, they are the loudest and have a more distinct tactile feel. Blues are generally best for typers, blacks are best for gamers, and browns are for those that want to compromise between typing and gaming.

Since the U9BL was $135 (pricey, but much cheaper than the $180 U9BL-S) I decided to give the Cherry blue switches a try. And I am pretty happy with the keyboard. It's definitely louder typing on this than a keyboard with brown switches would be, I was pretty worried about this before the purchase, but I'm actually not really bothered by it now that I'm using it. Though it's certainly loud enough that it might drive other people crazy, fortunately this room is on the far side of the house and should not be heard much.

The keyboard has very nice backlighting. Four brightness levels, I'm using level 3, because 4 is even too bright for me. Sadly the keyboard backlight defaults to off if you reboot the computer, don't think that'll bother me much. Wrist rest feels nice too. It has just about all the little things I want in my keyboard. The multimedia keys require pressing FN+F# keys, dedicated buttons would have made it perfect, but this is close enough.
http://www.amazon.com/XARMOR-U9BL-Backlit-Keyboard-Illuminated-Mechanical/dp/B003XQE040

There is also a $90 Xarmor U9Plus with Blues switches that doesn't have backlighting.
http://www.amazon.com/Mechanical-Computer-Keyboard-XArmor-U9Plus/dp/B004VU17E8

And a $90 Xarmor U9 (seems same as U9Plus) with Brown switches. Almost got this because I was still timid about blues and considered saving money by sacrificing backlighting.
http://www.amazon.com/XArmor-U9-Cherry-mechanical-keyboard/dp/B004S86PBS

The backlighting is likely so expensive because each key had a dedicated LED light.

Any reason you didnt give the G15 a shot? It's probably the most heavily loved gamer keyboard around. My feeling on the subject is the same as great many peoples..

They can pull it off my desk when I die, or it dies...

 

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I had all sorts of Logitech keyboards G15, G110 among them. All backlit, and in all the backlighting was way too low.
Made me buy Alienware TactX - 2 usb plug that light up the thing like a landing strip. Cost me $100.

Glad to hear there is another keyboard out there that is bright enough.

How is the software on this keyboard? Does it allow for color customization?

 

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It's out of production and very expensive.

There is no software. No macroing functions, and it only displays blue, so I wouldn't really call it a gaming keyboard.

There are keys for multimedia and back lighting. Which involves using the Fn key along with another key. Like Fn+Num 8 increases brightness. Fn+F3 increases volume.

One issue though is that the keyboard defaults to having now backlighting on, so everytime you turn on or reboot the computer, the backlighting goes off. Or if you plug the keyboard into the monitor and turn that off and on, then you have to turn the backlighting back on. My Saitek Eclipse II keyboard also had no memory for settings, but it's default nature was to turn on the backlighting, and it would have been nice if this defaulted that way too.

But I don't expect this to bother me much.

Having no macroing isn't an issue because I use an n52TE and use that for gaming mostly. And by the way the n52TE and this keyboard match up nicely with the black bodies and blue backlighting, exact same looking blues too. Now I gotta do something about that gray Logitech G500 with it's red LED lights.

Oh, one other thing about the Logitech keyboards I didn't mention earlier. I do use an n52TE as well and having the extra wide Logitech keyboard with an n52TE on the left and mouse on the right, was taking up a huge amount of desk space and a bit awkward. So being extra wide was a little bit of a negative for me as well.

I've been using this keyboard for quite some time now and it is basically a rebranded Filco.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201040

Granted I got mine from a Chiefvalue sale and it only cost me $70 back then.

 

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