# Illuminated Keyboard with blue LEDs ON SALE



## Quickbeam (Mar 7, 2006)

BestBuy has a backlit illuminated keyboard on sale right now. Made by Saitek, called the Eclipse. 2 light output levels, or you can turn the light off. I'm typing on it right now in the dark and it's pretty darn cool. It appears to be lit with blue LEDs, one under each key (spacebar has 3). As near as I can figure that makes it 109 LEDs if you include the 3 indicator lights. The letter/number/symbol printed on the key illuminates and the light also spills out around the keys for a very neat effect.

Here it is!

The keys are very quiet and responsive, and provide a little resistance - just enough in my opinion. The Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock indicator LEDs are the same blue, but have clear covers which makes them a bit blinding, so I covered them with small cutouts from white address label stickers, which fixed the problem.

Enjoy!
Doug P.

Oh, and it doesn't come with any software or programable keys like the copy on the page says - It's just an illuminated keyboard. It does have a control for speaker volume - mute, up, and down just above the keypad that does work without any need for additional software.


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## Radio (Mar 7, 2006)

Very Nice, thanks Doug, just ordered two!!!


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## ViReN (Mar 7, 2006)

I wish they were white as my Mac PowerBook....

well.... there is always chance of "Mod"  

Let's fit 8 - 10 Luxeon's in them n drive em with 700 mA ...... Aaahh... that would be awesome lit 

but seriously... it's a good find... and simple Snow / Nichia LED's would give it a much better look.

ViReN


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## PhotonWrangler (Mar 7, 2006)

Interesting find... thanks Quickbeam!

is it possible that the're using those woven fiber optic illuminators behind the keyboard? If the keyboard has a separate LED for each key, then 109 keys x 20ma each = 2.18 amps. That seems like a lot of current.
:thinking:


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## carrot (Mar 7, 2006)

Thinking about it... I want one... pimp up my computer.


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## spock (Mar 8, 2006)

quickbeam, have a "blue led" saitek keyboard that i ordered from woot. agree that it is a great keyboard. however i find that when i use the leds on high, the letters are hard to read for me. the lower output works fine. it is also made in "night vision" red. not sure who has the red ones yet. i really like the feel of the keys. good buy.


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## dca2 (Mar 8, 2006)

ViReN said:


> I wish they were white as my Mac PowerBook....
> 
> well.... there is always chance of "Mod"



Lucky. I'm on an iMac and an eMac. The backlit Powerbooks came out a few months after I go mine. If I get a Powerbook keyboard, some wire and don't tell my wife :naughty: ........

Dave A


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## LitFuse (Mar 8, 2006)

Also available at Amazon for about $2 more, with free delivery. I hate BB, and would gladly pay a bit more to have it delivered to my door.

Looks like a nice keyboard, and user reviews are excellent.

Peter


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## The_LED_Museum (Mar 8, 2006)

I just purchased one of these.
For CPF sakes of course.


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## The_LED_Museum (Mar 9, 2006)

I got the money order in the mail about an hour ago; so I should have this keyboard within a couple of weeks.


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## James S (Mar 9, 2006)

I do like backlit keyboards  this mac has white LED's that actually light the keyboard through fiber optics. It fades in and out too which is a nice effect.

Since the keyboard is opaque and the letters are where the light shines through, in the daylight they look black like regular, but when the backlight comes on (automatically when the room light goes off) they fade up and you just see the letters, very nice 

One funny thing though, since the keyboard is silver and the light is white, if you have very dim light in the room you can dim the backlight to just visible and make the letters effectively completely disappear since you've lighted them to the same level as whats reflecting off the keys. It's fun to play with to try to make them as invisible as possible. Course, the machine wont set itself up that way, you have to play with it


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## NickelPlate (Mar 9, 2006)

I made my own green LED keyboard illumination bar:







The ultimate commercial backlit LED keyboards can be found here:

http://www.deckkeyboards.com/

Regards,

Dave


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## Navck (Mar 9, 2006)

I rather have a durable keyboard, like a Model M


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## carrot (Mar 9, 2006)

double post


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## carrot (Mar 9, 2006)

I've been looking at the Deck keyboards for awhile now.. but I'd rather buy something I've had the chance to try typing on first, especially with a $100 price tag. No doubt they are durable...

I think the IBM M keyboards are too "clickity-clack" for me -- nice to type on during the day, but at night I try to be stealthy -- and the Powerbook G4 keyboard feels just velvety, and a pleasure to type on (compare to Dell laptops, which I loathe typing on). Unfortunately I found the 12" suited my needs better, and they don't have backlit keyboards on that model. I'm trying to find the money and the excuses to upgrade to a Macbook 15"... And by the way, using a USB flexy light doesn't work too well because of the odd translucent lettering on the keys.

Navck, do you have an M-series IBM keyboard? How is it?

How come it's everyone else's keyboards that are broken, never my own? Hmm?


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## spock (Mar 10, 2006)

quickbeam, not trying to steal thread. just had to mention this keyboard. http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/ each key is a display screen. any key can be programmed to display any letter, number, or symbol. about $200. but, i love my saitek.


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## AJ_Dual (Mar 10, 2006)

Sopck, you just beat me to it. I was going to post about the Optimus.

EVERY key is a full-color OLED display. The keyboard can re-program for software, games, or different layouts QWERTY - Dvorak etc. or other languages.

Imagine the fun you'd have when someone sits down to your keyboard and everything switches to kanji or the keys keep moving around, or all the characgters just vanish.


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## carrot (Mar 10, 2006)

They are now selling an Optimus mini keyboard for $100 with 3 buttons. Is it worth it? Hmm, I'll reserve judgement... but it certainly looks cool.


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