The Quick Fire Rapid – With Cherry Red Switches!
I’ve got to say, getting used to the feel of mechanical switches after using rubber domes for years was really weird. It’s hard to explain without actually using these keys yourself, but the Reds are very light and very springy. Because I’m using a significantly lighter amount of force to actuate my keys, I can type or game now for longer sessions without my fingers tiring out. I used to only be able to get through a page of straight typing before having to flex my fingers from fatigue, but now once I’ve finished grinding through one on the Quick Fire, I’m ready for another five, or even ten pages!
The lack of a Num Pad only puzzled me for the first few days. I can’t count the number of times where I’d try to hit ‘Enter’ to go to the next page, wonder why my webpage wasn’t loading, and then looking down to see that I was tapping on empty space!
Perhaps the biggest caveat that I have with the Quick Fire (if you could even call it a caveat) is that the LEDs for Caps Lock and Scroll Lock are just a little too bright. I just need a little indicator light telling me if I have either one engaged, not a blinding red LED that’s screaming into my peripheral vision.
But other than that, I’ve been having the time of my life using this board since the day I pulled it out of the box. What’s especially satisfying, besides the overall feel of typing, are the mechanical clicks that occur with each stroke. Each click is so powerful, so commanding, so manly. I know that I don’t need to hit these keys as hard to type, but I do type a little harder than I probably should just to hear the clickity-clack of my fingers flying across the keys.
So if you’re looking for a mechanical keyboard optimized for gaming on the cheaper end of the spectrum – $80 for Blue/Black/Brown MX switches, $90 for the Reds – look no further than the Quick Fire Rapid.
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Cherry Switches are the best switches.
At times, yeah, the Reds are a little bit too sensitive. Every now and then, I’ll hold shift too long and get two caps at the beginning of my sentences instead of just the one that I asked for. I’ve also noticed that since acquiring the Reds, I’ve been making a few more errors that look “lik ethis” instead of “like this”, where my fingers are jumping the gun from moving so quickly across the board. However, with practice, I’ve reduced those significantly.
And the bottoming out thing really isn’t a problem for me. I know that I could get a hell of a lot more typing speed if I trained myself to only push down halfway to where the key actuates and gets detected, but I am far too used to a full press to do that. Full presses haven’t bothered me in the slightest. Like I said, I really do like the clickity-clackity sound that I get as each key bottoms out. And even then, I’m still experiencing a lot less typing fatigue.
Thanks for the detailed response. I just got my Quickfire Cherry Blue 2 days ago and I like it a lot. I do typing as much as I game and they’re great.
I love the size of the keyboard, it takes up hardly any space and makes the keyboard more in the middle of my seating (since the numpad is gone) which makes it even easier to type.
I just ordered a QuickFire a few days ago from Newegg, except I got the Cherry Blue. I’ve heard from virtually everyone mechanical keyboards are great, the only problem comes with picking the right color having never used one before.
My question would be, do you feel the cherry red is too sensitive? The one thing I hear about reds is that they bottom out because they are so light to press, this sounds like it could present a problem. You mentioned that you had no problem typing with it, and that’s the big thing for me. I type more than I game and my fingers get sore pretty easily, so I was debating between the Blue and the Red.
From my understanding, Blue / Brown are good for typing and Red / Black is best for gaming, but since I seem to be more sensitive to keystrokes than most computer users I figured red might actually be a better bet for me. Basically, do you have any extended impressions for the Cherry Reds when it comes to typing?