Adam 13/06/2020
This is my first mechanical keyboard since I used a Commodore-64 and other 8-bit systems in my youth! I'd previously been using a rubber-dome IBM keyboards.
I spoke with Bruce who was most helpful and didn't try to hard sell any particular keyboard. If in doubt speak to the team.
I selected this keyboard as I do use a numeric pad but not very much and so the extra desk space is useful as my hand has to travel less to reach the track ball. I write software for a living so I sit at my desk all day either writing code, or documenting code or testing code, so I use a keyboard more than 8 hours a day on average. I use the same keyboard for work and home use (via a KVM) and I don't play game much.
The keyboard arrived nice and early much faster than I expected. It was well packaged and survived its trip across the channel. I swapped the windows keys for blanks and plugged it in. I've been using it for a week and so far while I'm still getting used to it I'm very happy.
It's heavy and has rubber feet on all four corners, so it doesn't slip or slide on my desk. I'd prefer to have routing options for the cable, but the centre position is actually fine for how I have my desk aligned at the moment. It doesn't have a USB hub which would be useful, and doesn't it have fancy LEDs which aren't useful to me.
They key caps don't wiggle on top of the switches and travel down in a neat positive manner, there is very little lateral rattle, which is good. As you learn to type without bottoming out, the keys make less noise, if you whack them all the way down, they obviously do make a noise, but the MX brown switches do not make a distinctive click. They keyboard is not silent, but it is no worse than a rubber dome keyboard with regard noise.
You can buy a keyboard with more features for less money and you can also spend a lot more money than I did on this already expensive keyboard. Personally, media buttons, flashy lights and macros don't add value to me so I wasn't bothered with them. If you want a specific keyboard for gaming with macros and other gaming specific keyboards then this probably isn't for you. If you type things for a living then this is the perfect keyboard for you.
The Ten-Key-Less version is only a few quid less than the standard one, and if you don't need the numeric keyboard then the full sized keys but smaller foot print of this TKL version is worth the sacrifice of the numeric keyboard. I think I'd only get the full version if I was working with numbers all the time - it's not worth buying on the off chance that you may use the numeric pad. There is a separate numeric key pad, but I don't work with numbers often enough to merit the paying the price for it.
Is it perfect? No, but for the price you pay for it it is as good as it going to get, because everyone would want slight variations and that would be impractical.