Keyboard Protectors

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Yes, what could be simpler than a sheet that drapes over your keyboard to keep out dust, food, liquid spills and human detritus? Yet, it’s apparently much simpler in concept than in execution.

As a dealer, it’s important not just to sell one keyboard protector...but to addict the customer so he comes back to you for a consistent supply. These protective sheets shouldn’t be as disposable as Kleenex... but once you have one, you can’t live without it. You’ll want one for each computer and you’ll want to replace them every so often. You'll even want to introduce them to friends and family.

Digimore Anyone who lives on a computer, including this journalist, ends up amazed at what a garbage magnet a keyboard can be.

Some of us eat and drink in the vicinity and that’s just begging the Geek Gods to punish us with spillage. Some of us are growing old at our keyboards and losing our hair, strand by strand, and that’s just pathetic enough without seeing the evidence snarling under the keys on your PC in front of your very eyes.

And let’s not talk about swine flu and other passable contagions that can come from “guest keyboarding.” Filthier than a toilet seat says the research...a virus hotel where check-in is quick and easy...

In this day of H1N1 and worse coming, even that tech guy that “took a look” at your faulty motherboard can be more dangerous than a virtual virus.

I must have four or five cleaning products on my desk, plus a couple of home-geek inventions to try to keep my keyboards clean of debris. Sliding Scotch tape under the keys is a very painful way (the equivalent of keyboard flossing) to stop keypad plaque from being deposited and building up. Throwing a fluorescent green glob of Swiss cleaning compound on the keyboard and squishing it around was fun, but it failed to really pick up under the keys like I hoped.

Prying up the keys to clean (they are meant to come off, aren't they?) seems to ensure that the little buggers never fully recover from the trauma. They take to traveling on their own initiative after that.

We tested two samples of membranes that protect keyboards. One supplied to us by Digimore in Taiwan and another from a German importer who brings it in to Europe under a Japanese brand.

The Japanese brand came all fancy, wrapped in wonderful German packaging, the type of packaging that really makes you feel something valuable is inside...and available at MediaMarkt at a high price.

The Taiwan sample came in a humble envelope.

Digimore provided 100% silicone material at 0.3 mm, ultra thin design with soft and highly elasticity. It really did not interfere with typing operation and speed. It offered 70% opacity so you can see the keys easily...and it is suitable for 15” notebooks,

After weeks of trial (these sheets are washable with soap-&-water and we wanted to test the durability), both products were satisfactory but the Digimore proved more durable. One got the sense it was just better in a tactical sense, too. The key to keyboard protector success is in the tactile feeling and the durability of the sheet.

That leaves us with the question of what's best way for dealers to sell keyboard protection sheets; all boxed up and fancy like the Japanese...or humble and less expensive like the Taiwanese.

Drum roll, please! ...and the Winner is...

...for us, we found the keyboard protector from Digimore to have better tension, better tactile sensation and longer-lasting.

But whether your customers prefer fancy wrapping or more durable protection, almost everyone needs tyboard protection.his ke

Sell them next to keyboards and even use them on your own demo notebooks and PCs. Yes, what better way to show customers they need keyboard protection..and what better way to save the world from infectious geek diseases!

Go Digimore