alt Hacker NewsNote that Ellipse/modelfkeyboards is notorious in the keyboard community for poor quality control and support. The keyboards often come misaligned or damaged in shipping, and it's up to you to fix them. I'm not sure about their beam spring keyboards, but their Model F keyboards come without keycaps installed, meaning that the keys haven't even been tested to actuate properly before the keyboard is shipped. If you have the money and free time, you can usually turn what you receive into a working product with enough tweaking. You just have to keep in mind that you'll be paying over $400 for a keyboard that may arrive broken, and if it does you will have as close to no warranty as what's legally possible. If you dig around on forums and in comments you can find a bunch of examples of this, but here's a decent summary: https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Model_F_Labs
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At about the same time ModelFKeyboards posted his comment here, somebody created a new account on that wiki, then removed much of the negative information on the page and replaced it with similar wording to the comment (including deleting a scan of the warranty policy for "DMCA reasons"). This was what the page looked like at the time I made my comment: https://consumerrights.wiki/index.php?title=Model_F_Labs&old... . If it was him, this would violate the wiki's conflict of interest policy: https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Consumer_Rights_Wiki:Conflict_... .
I have a model F and yes it was tricky to get working. The new beam spring (v2, metal case) was a breeze to set up (just put the caps on, mx style) and works flawlessly.
The keyboard sits very high and it is a very different feel (long travel, very loud) but it is unlike any other keyboard I have used and very inexpensive compared to used original beam springs.
Worth a look if you are a retro keyboard enthusiast.
> You just have to keep in mind that you'll be paying over $400 for a keyboard that may arrive broken, and if it does you will have as close to no warranty as what's legally possible.
PinePhone Pro vibes, except the PPP's problem isn't lack of QC; it's just lack of (FOSS) SW support. Pay 400 bucks, may need lots of tweaking/work to get it usable. Market is enthusiasts that aren't satisfied by anything else and/or that want to support it out of principle.
Thanks for posting this. I've been looking at getting one but this has made me pause.
The keyboards look janky. Why buy this over something like Das Keyboard which has mechanical keys as well and is cheaper?
I suppose you have to look at it as this person is just unwilling or unable to operate in a different way at this price point, and if you want a new beam spring keyboard, right now there is no competitor.
Guess I spin around and go back to Unicomp...
Kinda digging the Mini M. https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/MINI_M
What a contrast against MoErgo, which I recently contacted just to notify them that a keycap broke in transport due to rough handling by the postal service.
Although spare keycaps came with the purchase and the broken one still worked anyway, they insisted on sending me a replacement for the keycap that broke.