Majestouch arrives

Finally getting around to trying some new boards.

Next up is the brown-cherry, tenkeyless Filco Majestouch (FKBN87M/EB). Thanks to elitekeyboards.com, I got this board from a US retailer at a fairly decent price. They shipped pretty quickly, so I'm pretty happy with them.

Short version: Like that it has more keys than HHKB2. Like the key feel. For me Cherry MX Brown > Topre. Would still prefer sun layout and usb hub of HHKB2.

I got a chance to use the board at work for a few hours. Typed a 3000 word document with it.

Interestingly, hands don't hurt that much, even though it's not a ergo keyboard. Probably about the same amount of tension as I would get with the HHKB2, but I like the feel better than the HHKB2.

I can't seem to type on the Topre boards with out bottoming out on every key. Maybe the resistance is too light, or the "give" is too fast. On this board, I feel like I can type a little faster and not stress my fingers as much. It reminds me of the Kinesis countoured boards (as it should, same switch), which I also very much like.

The layout is also much more useful than the HHKB. Yes the HHKB is small, but the layout compression is over-doing it. Separate F-keys are still useful, as well as the most important arrow and page up/down blocks.

I've put a palm rest that I had from before in front of the board. Oddly though, it seems that the rest is too high.. elitekeyboards sells a FILCO-branded one that seems a bit lower, so perhaps I'll try that one.

Also ordered the new version of the thinkpad keyboard. You can read about that one here.

Now if only they made the majestouch in the Sun layout like the HHKB. And also with a USB 2.0 hub. Those are the only to places where I still like the HHKB2 over this board.