ADE-KBW100... Oh. Yes.

Ahh, Those Fond Memories

It should come as literally no surprise to anyone reading THIS blog, that I had a bit of a facination with my old, and while still somwhat functional, now clearly showing its age and with a few minor faults Advent KBW100 model keyboard.

It served me for years, and I came to really hate using pretty much any other keyboard, the spacing was wrong, the keycaps horrid, the keystroke too clunky or needing the wrong pressure per key-stroke.

And so, when I finally gave up my old KBW100, it was with hesitance and a tiny amount of regret. My VERY loving wife had spent a long timesearching to find me the very closest possible match, the AKBWLBL15. And, to be honest, it was okay. I grew to adjust to the different keysize, and the other features while lacklustre didn't make me hate it. Good Job bluetooth keyboard - you weren't awful!

But... After years of looking, and finally having given up on a product line which has long since been discontinued, having found that there was for a brief time a knock-off version built to the same specs, but that too dissappeared or could not be found. I was left in a world in which I had to move on.

Until;

The scene, March 2021 - COVID lockdown has driven everyone on earth insane, the last few humans struggle through a broken world. Among them, one hunter known only as 'that guys wife' remains vigilant, ever ready to take advantage of the world, sholders haunched against the harshness of life around her... she returns to the safety of the dwelling under her arm a precious bundle. Is it food? Is it toilet roll?

No. It's two brand new in box KBW100 keyboards.

By the horn of the invisible pink unicorn, she'd found a replacement! and not just one... TWO of them... BRAND NEW AND SEALED. - a big shout out to "some office supplies warehouse guy" that sold these to my ever thoughtful wifey, you are a hero to me.

And so, in 2021, I sit here typeing away on a nice shiney NEW advent keyboard, with aluminum frame, shallow key-caps, media keys. MMmhhhmmm it's good to be home!

Let's hope this can last as long as the previous one did, with a tail wind and some luck, these two lovely silvery techno-thingies should last me the rest of my days.

BEHOLD some pictures!

The Front of the box:

The back of the box:

The unsullied seal...

Some oddly erotic box seal breaking footage:

And, finally - There it is! Mmmm that smell of new (old) tech:

And yes... I have TWO of them!!

Huge respect to my wife who, for years has had to put up with this old geek whining and moaning about keyboards. I'm so stuck in my ways I could be a pot plant. But, I thank her eternally for her patience, and her perserverance in having been able to find one after I don't know how mush searching. 2021 was a good birthday!

Uh-Oh It's Happening Again...

So, many years have passed, I've now conceded to never owning a laptop on which I feel comfortable typing with any ease...

But now, My long suffering PC keyboard is finally croaking. My KDE-ABW100 is suffering with some keys no longer responding.

What does this mean? well... For one I posted the following to Reddit:

Hey,

I hope this is the right place that can help me, a little upfront info on this request;

• I'm a VERY picky douch-bag, but I like what I like.
• my wife has been driven to desperation by my insanity about keyboard preference.
• What I want seems to no longer be produced...

With that in mind I'm looking for a replacement of my ADVENT ADE-KBW100 I know, I know ...

"But it's not RGB!?" - "It hasn't got X, Y ir Z feature" - "It looks like shit" - "Do you even CherryMX bruh?!"

... I get it, it's not a 'great' keyboard... But for me, to-date it has given one of the best typing (and gaming?) experiences, I have grown to love it. But, it's failing me. And after just a decade of constant use (I mean really, PAH!!!) I note that some keys are entering retirement ... aka, it's broken.

I note that the company 'Speedlink' appear to also have the same design with model numbers such as 'SL-6465 Ultra FLAT Metal' but even that appears to be gone the way of the dodo.

My very courteous wife bought me an Advent AKBWLBL15 by way of 'approximate' replacement, but honestly, it really is a different league, in not a good way :(

The keys miss keystrokes and have apparent problems with ghosting, it appears to have a latency issue i'm still trying to figure out and most keys have enough travel and are stiff enough that an actual adult gorilla using it's full weight pushing down, might just might just register.

I'm not overly excited about having to battery power a thing which has absolutely no reason to be battery powered.

THE QUESTION:

Is there a keyboard I can find with ultra low profile, short travel and hopefully "silent" (or near silent) keys, I really just want another KBW100, but it appears that I have the only one in the entire UK.

Is there a mythical keyboard out there that I might like?

Pest edit:

Some must have details:

• Bevel key edges...
• Dedicated multimedia keys
• Good number pad ( I do a lot of data driven work, and this is a must)

And so, here I am, typing on a keyboard that only just suits my whimsy needs. My greatest PC using fear is come manifest, no longer can I even find second hand keyboards that I would like, the days of comfortable gaming and typing are at an end.

I have, at this point, literally spent hours, possibly devoting days of effort at attempting to find a suitable replacement. But I don't have infinite time, and i'm growing tired of searching and finding nothing.

Once again frustrated that the "industry standard" is, to me... utter bollocks.