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Xamor U9BL-S It's finally here!!!

1487 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  The Solutor
After a long (and quik) journey across the Atlantic ocean, and a two day stop in the Italian tolls, the keyboard is finally here.

So I'm posting the my very firs (and not necessarily definitive) impressions.

First: the keyboard sounds very solid, with a pleasant low pitched sound when a key is pressed to the bottom. A waaaay better sound than the one that comes from the Black Widow i used in thr past week.

Second: The blue light is pleasant: is not the standard blue used on most (really too much) electronics in the last ten years, btw i still think that a red or amber baklighting is a better choice.

Third: I bought the brown switch version because I've already tried the blues, but with the idea of swapping them with a bunch of clears.

After a quick test I'm still not changed my mind, the blue's click sounds a bit fake, the brown's bump is definitely too weak for my taste, I'll go for clears and likely i will do some LED mod at the same time.

Fourth: The legends seem a bit changed since the photos previously seen: the lower and upper case symbols are now "printed" roughly with the same font (I'm not sure this is a good idea, but definitely not a biggie).

Fifth: the keyboard in general seem very well built, the key and case finish is very good, the legend are well centered on the keys, the wrist rest is nice and also well finished, the USB cable is thick but flexible enough, the USB hub is more than welcome.

Sixth: I still hate the stupid linear enter key, I will never get used to it, and I really hope that an ISO or Bigass backlit version will come in the near future, from Xarmor or whatever.

To summarize I got exactly what I've expected, for a price that is really too much for a person outside the US, but is absolutely reasonable if the shipment and import fees aren't taken in account.

Surely a definitely better spent amount money than the one used to try the Black Widow.

As usual apologies for the very poor English, I'll upload some photos later...
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7






The Xarmor keycap side by side whith the BW one: more than a segment of DNA is shared...





There was some concern about the soldering points, really they are perfectly done, as you can see.



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is this the only new xarmor keyboard that was released?
cause i was told that a u9gbl will be released around this time
Quote:


Originally Posted by itzzjason
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is this the only new xarmor keyboard that was released?
cause i was told that a u9gbl will be released around this time

ATM just the U9BL and U9BL-S are available, probably Phaedrus2129 has some more information, try to contact him.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Solutor;13022420
Sixth: I still hate the stupid linear enter key, I will never get used to it, and I really hope that an ISO or Bigass backlit version will come in the near future, from Xarmor or whatever.
Most of the mechanical keyboards I've seen are like this. I'd love to get one with a french-canadian layout but that'll be only in my wildess dreams.
this seems like an excellent mech kb but doesnt get much love on OCN, not sure why, no one ever recommends or mentions it
Quote:
Originally Posted by koven;13028897
this seems like an excellent mech kb but doesnt get much love on OCN, not sure why, no one ever recommends or mentions it
The urban legends are easy to born, and hard to die.

The first look at the xarmor was given when the keyboard was in a prototype stage so the opinions are still based on that early [p]reviews.

At least I presume that this is the cause of the lack of love, from the OCN users.
Yeah I just had my first one arrive. It was the U9BL. Instantly after touching a few keys it felt incredible compared to all the keyboards that came before. I did suffer a little though but only because I kept hitting "\" when I meant to hit "Enter" and pressing "z" when I meant to press "\" grrrr lol. Other than that though its been rock solid. Passed all the NKR tests and tried its response time in games and it was excellent. I've got mine hooked through the PS/2 and it works great so I'm not even going to bother using the free USB adaptor. I like how all the connectors are gold plated too it matches my deathadder gold usb plug. I'm really happy with the level of brightness. A lot of illuminated keyboards get slated for weak lighting, well this works great and is really bright even during the day and at night you can turn it right down to a low ambient eye friendly glow. Overall I have to say I'm very happy. I see what people mean about the blue switches being a little clickerty clackerty but they do feel very nice. It should be really interesting to see how much better the browns are going to be when the U9BL-S arrives tomorrow.

Thanks for setting up the thread btw "The Solutor"

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?2d3b28187b.png
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3
Quote:


Originally Posted by Ace Telekinesis
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Yeah I just had my first one arrive. It was the U9BL.


Then you bought both of them ?

I'm just curious to hear your opinion about both the switches.

Quote:


I did suffer a little though but only because I kept hitting "\\" when I meant to hit "Enter"

Yes my documents now are also full of backslashes


At least I manged to build an "UKish" ANSI keymap, I posted it here

The Solutor's UK like ANSI Keymap (easy diacritical with the ANSI keyboards)

Maybe you don't need the accented vowels, but at least you can reach easily the £ sign.

Quote:


Thanks for setting up the thread btw "The Solutor"

You are welcome
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Yep I bought both. Sadly the U9BL-S is in the country but the USPS tracker says it has only gone as far as customs. Hopefully itl clear soon, if not then something fishy is going on and perhaps customs have stolen it.
2
Quote:


Originally Posted by Ace Telekinesis
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Yep I bought both. Sadly the U9BL-S is in the country but the USPS tracker says it has only gone as far as customs.

My keyboard arrived in a week, 2 days to cross the US and the Atlantic Ocean, the rest to pass the toll routines, so don't worry...

P.S. I find funny the fact that a mechanical keyboard comes from "warm springs", seem really the right place to start...
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Yeah hopefully. On a lighter note I'm really starting to get used to the U9BL now, the trick is to type without bottoming out. It feels so much better typing when you have a decent keyboard and you don't have to jab the keys to make them register like I did on the G19.
Finally I replaced the stems. My UB9L is now "beige" (white switches + brown springs).

I posted the details here
I had the XArmor U9BL-S for a few weeks now. Love the keyboard, but my only issue is that the space bar sometimes squeaks... like rusty hinges. Easy to ignore, but has anyone else experienced this?

Another issue I have is the Media Keys. I try to use them with iTunes but they don't work unless I have iTunes opened up, so when I'm in a game or something and try to cycle through songs none of the media function keys work besides the volume control.
I really haven't experienced any strange sound coming from the spacebar, not with the original brown switch, nor with the new modded gray one.

Likely you need to put a bit of lithium grease on the stabilizer hinges.
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