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What is "The Best Keyboard Ever Made"?

My favorite is the IBM Model F. It was a really expensive piece of gear back in the day I am told, and was one of the main reasons why people would be interested in buying an IBM XT. Anyways, it's really big, really heavy, clicks like a machine gun, feels great, and has sweet retro looks.
 
I want to get these keyboards:

Victor 9000
BASIS 108
Memotech MTX512 (or 500, RS 128 )
Wicat 150
DEC VT series

Has anybody tried any of these? I've never had the chance, but they look amazing (I've got a thing for black sculpted keys). If anybody's selling any one of them, CONTACT ME!
 
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Here's the list from my stockpile

#1 Northgate Omnikey 102 (what I'm typing on at this moment after several months rest, going to see what needs fixed on it)
#2 IBM Personal Computer "Model F"
#3 Any one of the three IBM PS/2 Model "M" Keyboards I have
#4 Tandy 1000
#5 Monterey International K104

I'm a big fan of buckling spring and Alps Keyswitches. I need to do some work on this old Northgate though, it's pretty used up.
 
Please don't think less of me,but my favorite is a Wirelss(I know,HERESY,BURN HIM!!!)Keyboard made for,of all places Target.It was sold as a "Designer"branded Keyboard(Designed by Michael Graves,I think) and Mouse combo.The mouse was awful,but the keyboard ....ahh.The look and fell of an old IBM style (without the clicky sounds,tho)with interesting color and some decent weight.
cgrape2
 
I just got a couple Apple Extended II keyboards (M3501 made in USA, not Mexico) and compared to the original Apple Extended, they're crap!

I don't get it. I've read many many reviews that say the Apple Extended II is the best keyboard Apple ever made. Whoever wrote those reviews must not have tried the original Apple Extended (M0115) or the ADB Apple Keyboard (M0116). For feel, my ranking of Apple keyboards would go like this:

1. Apple Keyboard (M0116) - smooth and "clacky", not too firm - perfect
2. Apple Extended (M0115) - similar to M0116, but requiring a bit more pressure (a little too much for comfort)
3. Apple Extended II (M3501) - less precise feel than M0115, shorter key travel, more "mushy" and indistinct

What a disappointment. (...another victim of internet hype)
 
IBM Model M

IBM Model M

The model M,IMHO is the best ever made.

My friends still like to hear the story about how an old friend of ours (now deceased, sad) was
totally whacked out on PCP one night and came down to my basement, looking for a fight.

I detached the cable from the model M (With my custom pink/black/gold flake paintjob) Whacked him over the head with it, then proceeded to plug it back in and go about finishing up
working on some HTML for my page.

Needless to say, the guy had about 8 stiches in his head. Keyboard 1, PCP-guy, 0

'Nuff said :p

It was working up untill i lent it to a friend of mine....I gotta try and get it back....
 
salamontagne said:
The model M,IMHO is the best ever made.

My friends still like to hear the story about how an old friend of ours (now deceased, sad) was
totally whacked out on PCP one night and came down to my basement, looking for a fight.

I detached the cable from the model M (With my custom pink/black/gold flake paintjob) Whacked him over the head with it, then proceeded to plug it back in and go about finishing up
working on some HTML for my page.

Needless to say, the guy had about 8 stiches in his head. Keyboard 1, PCP-guy, 0

'Nuff said :p

It was working up untill i lent it to a friend of mine....I gotta try and get it back....
Click to expand...

I would believe that if you said some keycaps popped off in the process.
 
The Victor 9000 did have a very good keyboard. The machine was designed to out-IBM IBM, after all. I got to use them while employed doing typewriter repairs in a shop that sold the Victors.
 
saundby said:
The Victor 9000 did have a very good keyboard. The machine was designed to out-IBM IBM, after all. I got to use them while employed doing typewriter repairs in a shop that sold the Victors.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Now I'm even more obsessed about finding one. If it feels as good as it looks, then it's probably my idea of the ultimate keyboard. It has the old-style thick plastic, double-shot keys, with spherical (not cylindrical) keytops, centred text, black, white and cream. I'd love to be able to convert one for PC use. (somehow)

Any other good keyboards out there? Has anybody tried the BASIS-108, Memotech MTX or Wicat 150? What about the SUN-1?
 
My favorite keyboards to date :
-The one on my Newbury Data NDR 9500 terminal (circa 1983). It has black Cherry sliders (=linear). It is very silent and smooth, and I can almost just let my fingers touch the keytops to type. Very nice. And its unusual layout (well, different from a post-1985 microcomputer, that is, but almost the same as a Televideo 925/950/...) puts the Escape key nearer from the rest of the keyboard, which is a treat for a VI user. You can see it here (don't worry, it was cleaned the following day!)
-A rubber-dome Hewlett-Packard keyboard which has caps, num and scroll lock LEDs on the related keys (circa 1995). Yes, it's a cheap rubber dome model, it's not even closed with screws but with cheap plastic clips (a nightmare to open) but I love it. Totally unlike the Newbury Data, the contact is made at the very end of the travel. What makes it special is that it's very precise : at the exact end of the dome "click", the contact is made, and you can't press the key a single millimeter further by pushing harder (which you can with every other rubber dome keyboard I've used), it's really blocked ; I really like that "hard stop". The cable is on the right side of the keyboard instead of the rear, which I found more practical in many situations. The key rows are very staggered, which I am not sure whether I like better or not.
-A NMB clicky keyboard (ca 1995). The clicking is not made by the contact mecanism itself but by a kind of plastic pin sliding in a zig-zag rail. The consequence is that by pushing really slowly a key, you can type a key without (=before) making it click. Still, it's usually not a big deal and it's a very nice keyboard for who likes to literally "strike" keys, typewriter-style...
-The Amiga 500 keyboard. Nice linear action. I also like the distinctive, bowl-like shape of the F and J keys. The 600 and 1200 do not feel as good.

I like when key action is light. Keyboards with keys I really find too stiff include the Apple //e keyboard and a mid-nineties clicky Dell...
I'd really like to try a classic IBM though!
 
amigalynx said:
-The Amiga 500 keyboard. Nice linear action. I also like the distinctive, bowl-like shape of the F and J keys. The 600 and 1200 do not feel as good.
Click to expand...

I love the Amiga 500, but I'm not too thrilled with the keyboard. The keys are sprung and upward pressure increases the more you press down. Typing can be tiring. The key plastic is thicker than any other Amiga keyboard, but the letters are pasted on, rather than the dye sublimation used in other Amiga keyboards (meaning they can eventually rub off). It is possible that there were multiple versions of the Amiga 500 keyboard though.

My favourite Amiga keyboard is the Amiga 1000 - which I think was made by Cherry. It has a nice light and smooth feel. The key plastic feels a bit cheap though. The NMI Amiga 2000 keyboard is not bad either. It has very shallow keys and short travel, but smooth linear feel (a bit stiffer than the A1000). Again, it has cheap plastic keys though.
 
I've recently bought a TRS-80 Model 100. The keyboard is very nice to type on. It has double-shot keys, but not as high quality plastic as keyboards like the TRS-80 Model III, Kaypro or TI-99/4A. It has a bit of a loose feel, like the stepped "Type 1" (narrow "O") Atari 800XL keyboard.

I must say, I absolutely love the look, feel and sound of the early TI-99/4A keyboard - with its awesomely crisp double-shot keys. There were multiple versions of this keyboard (some had slightly rounded keys), so here's a picture of the one I mean:

View attachment 3628
 
I suppose I like the Northgate Omnikey best. The Gateway RT-3602 is also pretty good, though not as heavy-duty. I agree that the TI-99/4A keyboard is well-designed, especially considering it's from 1981. Right now I happen to be using an old XT/AT generic keyboard that's just starting to wear out after almost 20 years...
 
Unfortunately, the TI-99/4A has one of the worst layouts of any keyboards I've ever used. I don't think I've seen any other keyboard without a backspace key (delete). To delete, you have to press FCTN + S. Common keys like question mark, apostrophe and quote are also missing and need to be entered using FCTN.

I really like the clickiness of the IBM XT keyboard and it would be a favourite, but that layout is annoying too. 90% of the time, I accidentally press back quote instead of Enter and backslash instead of left Shift. (not to mention the lack of separation of the numeric keypad and unnecessarily shrunken keys)
 
The best keyboard ever made to me right now is my MS natural keyboard 4000. Previous to that was my original natural keyboard. Everything prior to that was just a keyboard. Yep, I'm talking from a typing perspective, can't stand rectangles. I even bought the "cheap" MS natural keyboard especially for a data entry job I had in 2008 that I took in everyday and used instead of their standard things. :) I'd just move their crap to the side and plug mine into a front usb. It's still going as my "LAN" keyboard now.
 
While I wouldn’t recommend it as an ergonomic wonder, rather the opposite in fact, the first keyboard I used extensively was the one on the family Commodore SX-64. It’s amazing what you subconsciously expect as “the right way for a keyboard to feel” after something like that.

In other news, I own a variety of Apple-branded extended keyboards (including at least models M0115, M2980 and M3501), and they vary enormously in quality. The one I like best is the M0115, which seems to agree with Mr.Amiga500’s impressions.
 
Best keyboard for me is the Northgate Omnikey Ultra. Bought it at a thrift store for $2.50. I also have a SIIG Suntouch clicky keyboard I got from one of my coworkers as a bday gift a few years ago. It has an AT to ps/2 adapter on it right now. Love typing on those keyboards. It sounds like a machine gun is going off in the apartment when I type lol Right now I'm using a DELL 0W7658 black keyboard. It's a pretty good for a rubber dome keyboard. Love the design. The laptop I'm using doesn't have any ps/2 plugs so I can't use my clickies. I went to frys with my Suntouch keyboard and the comp tech guy tried all the ps/2 to USB adapters and none works >.<
 
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