Cherry are well known for making their MX mechanical switches, but they also make a nice range of keyboards themselves. Today we’ll be looking at three Cherry keyboards in the XS family: the XS Complete Keyboard, the XS Trackball Keyboard and the XS Touchpad Keyboard.
These keyboards are designed for industrial or medical use, but can be used anywhere you need a compact and durable low profile keyboard!
XS family for industrial and medical
As you can see from the photo at the top of this article, each member of the XS family starts the same way: a compact ISO / UK layout, including the F keys and arrow keys, packed into the space of just the alpha-numeric keys of a full-size keyboard. The design of the right side of the keyboard depends on the model you have:
- XS Complete (G84-5200): number pad
- XS Trackball (G84-5400): trackball w/ two buttons
- XS Touchpad (G84-5500): touchpad w/ two buttons
Each of these rack-style keyboards use Cherry ML switches, a low profile variant of Cherry’s MX design. These switches have a tactile feel and actuate at 45~50 cN of force, like a Cherry MX Brown, but have less travel distance. They’re also incredibly robust, rated for 20 million key presses in their service life.
When typing on the ML switches, you get much of the same excellent tactile feedback as you would expect on a full-size mechanical keyboard. The keys are a little smaller, but it’s still possible to type with speed and precision.
The choice of a number pad, trackball and touchpad is also quite helpful, as it means you only need to invest space, time and money into a single device, rather than needing to find a separate mouse and keyboard.
Durability and longevity
These keyboards largely resemble their office peers, but there are some small touches here and there which show the care Cherry have put into designing the ultimate industrial / medical keyboards.
On the bottom of the keyboard, there are places for two plastic feet to be inserted. Once plugged in, they’ll stay at a constant angle, unlike the folding feet on office keyboards that will sometimes sag over time.
The USB connection has also been upgraded for industrial use, with a thick cable that stretches 2.5 metres.
As well as the feet, you get some paper instructions. Additionally, the XS Complete comes with a PS/2 adapter; the other two models require USB as they are both a keyboard and mouse in one package.
These keyboards are ultimately built to last. The mechanical switches should last a long time, and the keyboards are rated for use between 0 and 50°C. They come with a two year warranty as well.
Available now at The Keyboard Company
All three models are available now at KeyboardCo. For more information or to place an order, please take a look at the product pages linked below.
- Cherry XS Complete (G84-5200): number pad
- Cherry XS Trackball (G84-5400): trackball w/ two buttons
- Cherry XS Touchpad (G84-5500): touchpad w/ two buttons
If you have any questions or feedback, leave a comment below or speak to our team: 0845 205 5555 or sales@keyboardco.com.
Thanks for checking out the article, and have a great day!
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