Chicony KB-5191 review (Mitsumi miniature mechanical yellow)

[Chyros]

Here's this week's video - a kind donation by Muirium this time .

[Muirium]

Credit where it's due: this board came from The Surprise Shipping Container Box. So the true benefactor is a mystery! I gave it to Chyros to get a good review out of it, and to get things down to the 15 kilo absolute maximum domestic shipping limit…

Even before watching the video, I'm sure he enjoyed reviewing this one! I've got one just like it, myself.

[Chyros]

Yeah definitely, it's a very interesting board!

[Muirium]

Brutal! And yes, quite accurate. The flextastic Chicony keyboard itself is as much of a letdown as these fairytale gone sour switches. I think their problem is the miniature part. They bit off more than they could chew is that tiny form factor. MX does such a better job remaining smooth under off-axis keypresses: these fellas need more of that. Their tiny size isn't doing them any favours.

Interesting way of pronouncing Chi-cony by the way. I say it more like Chickeny! And as for pronunciations, my palindromic username isn't the easiest. But, strangely, I've found Americans get it more than people over here: Muir rhymes with pure. I suspect it's their greater familiarity with my grand old namessake.

[Chyros]

Brutal! And yes, quite accurate. The flextastic Chicony keyboard itself is as much of a letdown as these fairytale gone sour switches. I think their problem is the miniature part. They bit off more than they could chew is that tiny form factor. MX does such a better job remaining smooth under off-axis keypresses: these fellas need more of that. Their tiny size isn't doing them any favours.

Could be, but it's just a stabilisation issue, really. I'm not sure how a bigger size could've helped them in that regard. Besides, in the dimension that matters most (sideways), they retain full size.

Interesting way of pronouncing Chi-cony by the way. I say it more like Chickeny! And as for pronunciations, my palindromic username isn't the easiest. But, strangely, I've found Americans get it more than people over here: Muir rhymes with pure. I suspect it's their greater familiarity with my grand old namessake.

The wiki specifically lists the pronounciation to be "chi-KOH-nee", that's what I based it on. As for your username, I didn't have a clue where to even begin xD .

[Laser]

I wonder, does the typing feeling improve by lubricating the switches?

Nice review BTW! And that was a heavy quote: "it sounds like a ... small animal being tortured"

[Halvar]

Great review again!

And indeed a worthy subtraction from the Surprise Box.

[stratokaster]

Nice review as always, and I completely agree with you. I have an NTC KB-6251EM with those switches, and it's really horrible. If you take off the keycaps and just play with the switches, they feel nice, but if you try to use the keyboard for typing, the binding is unbelievably bad. Ugh. Mine doesn't squeak though.

[Scottex]

I have the same keyboard and I agree it feels like shit.
I also got a Chicony 5160 with Mitsumi yellows NIB and it feels pretty good, the degradation might have to do with the shitty feeling in old used keyboards with Mitsumi switches.

[Chyros]

I have the same keyboard and I agree it feels like shit.
I also got a Chicony 5160 with Mitsumi yellows NIB and it feels pretty good, the degradation might have to do with the shitty feeling in old used keyboards with Mitsumi switches.

Hmm, interesting, someone on Youtube with an old and a brand new board with these in mentioned that both of his feel "awful". I'm sure their quality doesn't improve when they're heavily used and/or dirty, though.