The EpicGear Defiant Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Review
by E. Fylladitakis on May 11, 2016 9:00 AM ESTEpicGear EG MMS Switches
Since the company was kind enough to provide us with a sample kit of their switches, we went ahead and had a closer look at their construction and individual characteristics. Unfortunately, even after tearing the switches apart, we were unable to discern anything that would give us a hint as to who the manufacturer of these switches might be. Because of the body being a direct copy of Cherry’s design, it is highly unlikely that these switches are being made by Kaihua/Kailh or Gaote, as they are using their own body designs. Their internal design of the straight gold-plated contact area does not match any Gateron, Alps or Trantek designs that we have seen to this date either. EpicGear claims that this design is proprietary and patented, therefore we expect that their manufacturer has an exclusive partnership with EpicGear and we are not going to see these switches on any other products.
The actuation distance of these switches has been reduced to 1.5 mm and they can allegedly survive 70 million keystrokes. We have no means of actually testing that, but we feel that these figures are being greatly exaggerated. In order to reach 70 million keystrokes, a user would have to press one single key nearly 10.000 times every day for 20 years. Even Cherry’s 50 million keystroke rating is absurd. The alloy that the switches are made of is most likely going to corrode much before the switches get destroyed from mechanical stress.
Since there are no travel/force diagrams available for these switches, we decided to use our analyser and composed them ourselves. The three following figures show the force/travel diagrams that we extracted, with the red dots showing the actuation/reset points. We can see that we usually get actuation points about 1.6 mm down the travel distance and force readings slightly lower than the 50 cN rating of the switches. Note however that the following diagrams were created by testing four of each switch type for 20 steps between 0 and 4 mm, which is the travel distance of the keys. As we know from our quality testing sections, real products have variations; therefore, these should be considered as indicative, not absolute.
The force diagram on the left shows the switch being depressed, and on the right is the switch being released. Click each image for a closer examination.
The orange and grey switches are effectively mirror images of each other for the depress and release, with a minor deviation in the release of the grey. The purple switch however gives a pair of profiles quite different, providing a sharp release point when the key feels light.
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Samus - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
I personally used a few Microsoft Natural 4000's for years, a few because they only last about 9 months before the keys start to bind (especially return and space bar)I found the layout just aggressive enough to be comfortable but not so aggressive that I was unable to go back to using a rectangular ANSI keyboard layout, which is inevitable since I work on multiple computers daily (I'm in IT) or even my own notebook.
Which is the real issue with the uber ergonomic designs. They are awesome once you are used to them, but it's like typing on hot ashes when you have to inevitably used a standard keyboard again at some point.
BrokenCrayons - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
The Natural 4000 was one of the models I tried using. I didn't have it long enough to test the longevity before I gave it away, but I older model MS Naturals suffered from the same key binding problems. I had some beige Natural from the early 2000s that I used in place of a Model M for a year or so and it was misery to use before it started to wear out, but after the keys turned crappy, it was a hand destroying monster.Anyway IIRC, I used the 4000 for three-ish months and it was disappointing that it made my wrists and hands feel just as bad, but much of my computing time involves typing because I write extensively so I'm always looking for an alternative design that will spare me the pain. It's important for my work and for my hobby writing books that I can type for hours. For me, the transition back to a flat keyboard was always a huge relief. I can't describe how much better it felt to use a normal keyboard on a laptop or netbook. Yeah, I realize that's an experience unique to me, but I was really disappointed that mechanical keyboards and ergo keyboards always fall short of making things better than a membrane board. At the moment, the least painful keyboard I've used is the one built into my workplace Dell Latitude e6440. Typing on it is fantastic and I've long since unplugged my docking station keyboard.
As for longevity, the only membrane keyboards I've managed to kill off are dead because I spilled tea on them or the MS keyboards that, after hearing about your experience with the 4000, might just have a long-running design problem. And there's an original Model M that I typed to death. My experiences with other cheap $10-20 keyboards and laptop/netbook keyboards is that they've all been pretty much bulletproof for as long as I've needed them.
erple2 - Saturday, May 21, 2016 - link
You can still buy the Model M today (sort of) - Unicomp bought the licensing rights to the buckling spring, and they can now be bought in USB varieties from pckeyboard (http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/category/UltraClass...Impulses - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
They've already tested some ergo options, read thru back reviews.Ogewo - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
Those reviews are few and far between. I'd like them to be numerous and close together.althaz - Thursday, May 12, 2016 - link
Those keyboards are pretty rare though, they are over-represented here, really.ACeeTee - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
Just made an account to point out that this is not the first modular keyboard, Mad Catz has had the S.T.R.I.K.E 7 since 2012 and that is modular :/alexvoda - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
I have not read the article yet, but I already spotted bulshit in the first paragraph.I quote: "which is the first modular and expandable mechanical keyboard"
Starting from the end:
- Yes, it is a keyboard
- Yes, it uses mechanical switches
- Expandable?? Umm, NO! Expandable means 1. to increase in extent, size, volume, scope, etc.; 2. to spread or stretch out; unfold; 3. to express in fuller form or greater detail; develop.
The keyboard on the IBM Thinkpad 701c is the only expandable keyboard I know of. You can see it in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLj3aCfqzOM
- Modular?? Umm, NO! The Azio Levetron Mech4 is modular. The Microsoft Sidewinder x6 is modular. The Tesoro Tizona is modular. The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard is very modular. This one? Not so much.
- First? As in first to use user replacable switches. Nope. AFAIK the Team Wolf Void Ray+ and the Team Wolf Zuque+ were launched before this one. And certainly the "Smart 68" was launched before all three.
hoarangE - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
Personally, I think you are reading far to into that sentence, as it could have easily been a typo and read as "GeIL’s latest gaming keyboard, which is THEIR first modular and expandable mechanical keyboard and comes with EpicGear’s own proprietary switches" which would make your whole statement moot.Plus if you read more of the article, you would have seen that this product IS, in fact, modular (though the modular units were not available for review at this time).
Anyways, to the author, thanks for the article!
fanofanand - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
The Razer Tarantula from circa 2006-2007 also had replaceable keys. Worst keyboard I ever bought.