WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 We've got a little piece of history here. We've got the Model F keyboard. 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:12.760 They used to make these back in the 80s, and oh my God, they've got a bit of a reputation 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:16.600 along with the Model M. IBM made these keyboards for quite a while, 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:20.040 and they've been out of production for I think over 25 years now. 00:00:20.040 --> 00:00:23.600 And one company, oh, that's so heavy. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.760 One company is now recreating them. 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:32.880 It's using die-cast aluminum, so there's no CNC going on, 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:37.160 and frankly, I believe it. Look at how big and thick this thing is. 00:00:37.160 --> 00:00:41.680 I gotta weigh it. I wanna weigh it first thing. It's over five pounds for sure. 00:00:41.680 --> 00:00:43.360 This thing's awesome. 00:00:45.760 --> 00:00:49.460 It's so big. Have you ever, we've unboxed a lot of keyboards. 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:53.280 Have you ever seen one this large before, right? 00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:57.600 Like we've done a bunch of full-size boards. This is nothing new in terms of that. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:04.720 Oh yeah, it's like 3.2 kilos. That's what, that's like 10 pounds. 00:01:04.720 --> 00:01:08.360 No, no, no, it's like eight pounds. Seven, six, it's over six. 00:01:08.360 --> 00:01:13.040 Yeah, seven pounds, so not quite 10, but oh man, this thing is chunky. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:15.160 Can I have a tape measure? Yeah, that'd be good. 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:22.040 Let's measure this bad boy. It's almost 19, 18 and a half inches long. 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:25.400 It's pretty long. And then we got just over seven, 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.960 like seven and a quarters wide. And then how thick is it? 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:33.120 I need to know the thickness. So up near the front here at the max height, 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:37.640 it's about an inch and a quarter thick. It comes in a lot of colors. 00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:42.160 We've got the red, but it also comes in gray, beige, black, 00:01:42.160 --> 00:01:46.440 silver, gray, light blue and dark blue. I love it, we've got the old school 00:01:46.440 --> 00:01:50.440 num lock caps lock, scroll lock LEDs. It's, this really takes me back. 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:54.200 I don't know if I was old enough to actually type on one of the OG Model F 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:58.080 or Model M's in school. I am old enough where we had like IBM's and Model twos 00:01:58.080 --> 00:02:01.800 or Apple twos in school and they must use something similar. 00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:07.120 That's right. There's something incredibly distinct 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:10.720 and interesting about buckling spring switches. And you know what? 00:02:10.720 --> 00:02:14.080 I'll be frank, I don't like them. There's something comforting about this sound, 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.720 but there's also something terrible about it, you know? Like it's, it's this like high-pitched 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:25.240 shrill kind of pingy noise. Sounds super rattly everywhere. 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:32.080 However, I'm an uncultured heathen. A lot of people absolutely love these things. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:36.040 They grew up typing on them and they have got such crazy fond memories. 00:02:36.040 --> 00:02:40.080 For me, that's really not the case, but there is something really satisfying 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:45.640 about the feel at least. Up until now, I'd only typed on really old Model M's. 00:02:45.640 --> 00:02:49.920 We've got a couple floating around the office from the Model M video that we did years back. 00:02:49.920 --> 00:02:54.000 If you want some more information, definitely go check that out. And I haven't enjoyed them too much 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.000 and I think that's just because they're old. 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.000 While I don't like the way this sounds all that much, I really actually do like the way it feels 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:06.160 and I didn't on the older switches. They just felt bad. 00:03:06.160 --> 00:03:09.640 They just felt kind of gunked up and old. I don't really know how to explain it, 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:11.920 but I wasn't a fan. These though, 00:03:14.320 --> 00:03:17.560 they feel nice and crisp. The big difference between a traditional switch 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:21.720 that we know of today and a buckling spring that we've got here 00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:25.640 is that instead of the spring being on a center post, 00:03:25.640 --> 00:03:30.040 it's kind of just hanging out. And when you press down, the spring buckles 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:33.160 and then connects on the side of the switch. It's a super cool design. 00:03:33.160 --> 00:03:38.600 And you know, it's got a really unique, both feel and sound, but I'm a bigger fan of kind of where we've come to 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:42.040 rather than where we come from. While the typing experience is great, 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:46.880 I can't get over the sound and how pingy it is. It might be a little better 00:03:46.880 --> 00:03:50.760 if you were to open this thing and mod it a little bit, maybe add some foam, 00:03:50.760 --> 00:03:54.920 maybe add a couple layers of tape, but alas, we've got the classic Model M, 00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:01.440 Model F experience right now. I can't say if it's perfectly replicating the original, 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:05.520 but it does feel very similar and sound very similar to Model M's 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.680 that I've personally typed on. We're gonna give it, you know, 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:13.320 a classic typing test, plug it in. We got a really long cable actually, 00:04:13.320 --> 00:04:17.360 unless I'm mistaken, it's all coiled up here, so I don't know the exact length. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:22.320 Oh yeah, this is longer than six feet. I'll tell you that much. So this has got to be like an eight or nine foot cable, 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:26.400 which is great, nice and sleeved. Most, I don't think I've ever gotten a keyboard 00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:30.280 that's got a cable this long. I know that I keep repeating that, but it's like, I don't know what to tell you. 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:34.160 Every keyboard usually comes with like a six foot cable. Anyway, this is cool. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.000 We've got this like huge socket here for the USB-C 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.940 and it's actually way deep inside there, but luckily should be easy enough to plug in. 00:04:43.940 --> 00:04:48.800 Sure. A wrist rest, I think is gonna have to be necessary 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:52.740 for just about anyone else who wants to buy this keyboard. 00:04:52.740 --> 00:04:57.060 All right, we're gonna try a buckling spring, see if I'm any less accurate, you know, less speedy. 00:04:57.060 --> 00:04:58.380 Ha ha ha ha ha. 00:05:03.540 --> 00:05:08.600 106, 96%, you know, it's not great. It's not awful though, it's okay for me. 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:14.400 Man, I get it. I hate it and love it at the same time. 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:19.200 I think that if you are in an office or if you have people around you, 00:05:19.200 --> 00:05:24.640 this is like the worst thing to have and they're gonna hate you. I would like be more annoyed by this 00:05:24.640 --> 00:05:29.680 than I think like a set of actual clicky switches. There's something about the high-pitched spring ping. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.760 It's like, that kind of just trails 00:05:33.760 --> 00:05:38.560 after every single key switch. I think that honestly, if you want to use this anywhere 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:43.640 other than your own desk or your own office with no one around, you really should try to figure out 00:05:43.640 --> 00:05:48.920 a way to foam it or tape it or something. However, that might really detract 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:53.240 from just the uniqueness of this keyboard. 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:57.240 There's something incredibly special about this. I still am not 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:03.240 super crazy about the feeling. It doesn't feel like a linear, 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.880 it doesn't feel like a tactile and that's because they're just, it's so different. 00:06:06.880 --> 00:06:12.060 Actually, let me put some feet on real quick and see if that makes me like this anymore. 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:15.360 You know, good, just a little stick on feet. These are great, these are fine. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.460 Oh yeah, with this you're definitely gonna need a wrist rest. Oh, that's not going anywhere. 00:06:19.460 --> 00:06:23.200 Those are some nice stable feet. Let me do another, oh man. 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:29.040 You're not for this. Oh, thanks, Glenn. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:33.120 That being said, they actually come with a number of different options or at least ours did. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:40.580 It's got these little smaller flat guys here and then it's got these little four square guys right here. 00:06:40.580 --> 00:06:45.020 Oh, this is actually really cool. They've given you replacement switches as well. 00:06:45.020 --> 00:06:49.180 So what we've got, they're just springs sitting on these platforms here. 00:06:49.180 --> 00:06:53.220 This is something, you know, we're both kind of learning today. This is something I don't know a ton about 00:06:53.220 --> 00:06:56.580 because I, as much as I kind of grew up with these, 00:06:56.580 --> 00:07:00.060 I also didn't really. Yeah, so it's just kind of hanging out in there. 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:03.580 That's so wild. And then this guy goes down and as you push down, 00:07:03.580 --> 00:07:07.820 it kinks the spring and then it makes contact. Really cool design. 00:07:07.820 --> 00:07:11.460 I don't like it all that much, but I think it's a really cool design at the very least. 00:07:11.460 --> 00:07:16.020 And anyone, you know, there's one thing that's got to be said is anyone who rocks one of these, 00:07:16.020 --> 00:07:19.820 it's definitely a conversation starter. One thing I forgot to mention is the color. 00:07:19.820 --> 00:07:23.900 I personally wouldn't have chosen red, but that being said, I do like it. 00:07:23.900 --> 00:07:28.380 It's a really nice metallic kind of red. They're calling it true red, I believe, 00:07:28.380 --> 00:07:31.980 which is a little weird. What is a true red? I don't know. 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:35.740 All of those other colors I mentioned before come in a paint or powder coat finish. 00:07:35.740 --> 00:07:41.060 And at least on the website, they all look pretty good. If they look as good as this red does right here, 00:07:41.060 --> 00:07:44.980 then they're probably all beautiful. Honestly, this looks a lot like it does on the website. 00:07:44.980 --> 00:07:49.700 So I don't think you have to worry about ordering a certain shade and getting something completely different. 00:07:49.700 --> 00:07:53.180 That's probably not gonna happen here. As for the keycaps, what they've done 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:56.740 is they've tried to replicate old-school keycaps as well. 00:07:56.740 --> 00:08:01.620 They feel really bumpy and gritty on top. On the sides, it's actually nice and smooth. 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:05.700 But as soon as you get to the top, there's that textured feeling. And I actually kind of like it. 00:08:05.700 --> 00:08:10.340 Honestly, I would really like to buy a set of keycaps that are basically like this, 00:08:10.340 --> 00:08:14.500 except, you know, they fit across or box them 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:19.060 so that you're not stuck trying to jam them onto a buckling spring that you don't own. 00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:22.820 The other really great thing about the keycaps is I just love this colorway. 00:08:22.820 --> 00:08:26.660 It's really simple. You've got like a beige and then a slightly less beige 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:30.240 or gray kind of style. And then you've got just a little hint of blue. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.520 And it's a really nice blue that I think goes really well 00:08:33.520 --> 00:08:37.960 with this true red that they're calling. My only other issue, I guess, 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:43.880 with the kind of fit and finish of everything is I don't like how recessed all of the keycaps are 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:49.280 into the keyboard. The row up here, like row zero or row one 00:08:49.280 --> 00:08:52.440 is actually pretty high up compared to everything else. 00:08:52.440 --> 00:08:55.760 And this might feel a bit better if I had a wrist rest 00:08:55.760 --> 00:09:00.440 and I changed the typing angle a bit. But I don't know. There's something visually about it as well 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:03.640 that I don't find as appealing as like this effero. 00:09:03.640 --> 00:09:10.960 I just love how high all of these sculpted, almost SA, if not actually SA profile keycaps are. 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:15.200 They look great. But then as soon as you've got them almost like level 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:18.440 with the edge of the case, I'm just not crazy about that look. 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:21.880 The keycaps do come in a number of colors and languages, 00:09:21.880 --> 00:09:27.360 but I think that they're all the same profile. So if you don't like something super sculpted like this, 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.160 if you want something really flat, you're probably not gonna find that here. 00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:34.240 And this probably isn't the keyboard for you at that point. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:39.320 But yeah, just stuff like the numpad, like I love the zero and I just don't like how close 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:42.800 the seven and the four are to the rest of the case. 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:46.800 It's a really minor thing. Same with the delete home insert, all those guys. 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:50.800 I really wish that they were just a bit more pronounced, but it's really not the end of the world. 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:55.040 Just kind of weird. And you may or may not be a fan of it. One kind of neat piece of history 00:09:55.040 --> 00:09:59.040 is the original model F122 key layout 00:09:59.040 --> 00:10:03.640 cost $295 back in 1984. 00:10:03.640 --> 00:10:07.760 Adjusted for inflation, that's like over 800 bucks, almost $900 today. 00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:11.960 So this is a bit more premium 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:17.000 and it comes at a higher price tag. It's still nowhere close to if you had bought one of these 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:22.000 and then adjusted for inflation, which is actually pretty nice. If you had to modelfkeyboards.com 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.000 and wanna pick one of these up for yourself, whether it's this guy, the F104, 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.960 or one of the different layouts, this one specifically is going to run you 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:33.080 a bit of a higher price tag of $400. 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:39.520 The other guys come in a little lower, more like 350. I think the least expensive one is about 300 or 330, 00:10:39.520 --> 00:10:45.800 which is still a decent chunk of change for anyone. And I gotta say, you are getting what you pay for. 00:10:45.800 --> 00:10:50.400 This is an incredibly unique product. And on top of that, it's not plastic. 00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:54.960 You're paying for die cast aluminum. You're paying for a neat little LED screen. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.960 You're paying for these unique buckling spring switches that you can't find all that easily. 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:06.720 You're paying for these unique keycaps that feel like you're typing on a keyboard from 25, 30 years ago. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:12.480 Man, it's really like rose tinted glasses. Like, I don't know if everyone just remembers these fondly 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.680 and if they were to type on it today, they wouldn't actually like it all that much. 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:20.560 I know that for myself, to make this a lot more enjoyable, 00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:25.240 I'd have to open it up, go in and mod it a little bit just to become a little bit more modern, I guess. 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:28.480 But overall, it's pretty sick. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:34.840 If you wanna kind of break the bank a little bit and go extra, you can get yours custom serialized. 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:38.920 It'll cost you though. Single digit is upwards of $200. 00:11:38.920 --> 00:11:44.800 And below that, you're looking at 100. And then for just $30, you get something standard. 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:48.440 I don't know what exactly they mean. I'm guessing that by single digit, 00:11:48.440 --> 00:11:52.200 all you're paying for is a lower number 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:57.200 so that you can say, oh, I've got number eight, I've got number nine, I've got number one. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:00.760 So you're paying 200 bucks for basically bragging rights. 00:12:00.760 --> 00:12:04.320 If that's worth it to you, hey, feel free. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:09.080 Get number three or four, whatever one you want. There's one other really cool add-on though 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:12.520 that I actually highly recommend everyone and it's their Repair Kit. 00:12:12.520 --> 00:12:17.240 One of my problems with a lot of boutique keyboards these days is they don't really ever come with extras 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.640 or at least not anything in terms of screws or hardware. 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:24.120 You might get extra feet, you might get some extra gaskets 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.640 but that's typically about it. So I would be totally okay with paying an extra 00:12:27.640 --> 00:12:31.960 like 20 to 50 bucks if it just comes with an extra set of screws. 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.840 This is a statement piece. If you buy one of these, if you want to daily drive it, 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:40.620 good for you, I'm glad you like it. However, personally, I would probably get this. 00:12:40.620 --> 00:12:43.920 Try to mod it a little bit. There are a bunch of screws on the bottom here 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:47.200 that you can take out and open it up and do whatever you want to it. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:52.600 But I think I'd just leave it and I would put it on a wall somewhere 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:56.480 so that people could walk up and try typing on a Model F. 00:12:58.160 --> 00:13:02.520 Cause it's an experience that kind of sticks with you. I remember as soon as I came here, 00:13:02.520 --> 00:13:06.560 one of the first things I did was seek out the Model M or Model F that we have in stock 00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:09.800 and I tried typing on it cause I needed to see what all the fuss was about. 00:13:09.800 --> 00:13:14.800 I wasn't crazy about it then. I'm still not crazy about it now, $400 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:18.160 just for like materials and uniqueness alone. 00:13:18.160 --> 00:13:22.920 I think that's a fair price. If you want to take a look at another modern, very unique, 00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:26.520 but similarly priced keyboard, you can check out the Cyberboard video 00:13:26.520 --> 00:13:31.320 I did a couple of years ago. That thing is also sick and it sounds a little better, 00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:33.120 but you know, that's always subjective.