Quick rundown now that I got a chance to test these out a bit.
1) Build quality is nice. The pins are great looking and strong thanks to the little holtite covers. They have the least slider wobble out of any mx style switch I think I've ever tried.. big difference compared to gateron, and ever cherry. The white housings look nice as well.
2) Weight is in between cherry red and gateron yellow.. just a little lighter than yellows. Force curve feels like a yellow, moreso than a black (not pillowy at the bottom).
3) I do notice that tiny little notch at the bottom of the switch press.. not all the time, but sometimes, perhaps when pressing at an angle? Not sure. Only feel it when really looking for it, not when typing. It's a non-issue for me.
4) The downside is they are not smooth right out of the bag. Now, I don't have these on a board yet, just a few in a switch tester with basically no break in time so take this for what it is.. but they're just not smooth or quiet. Gateron linears are much smoother. Cherry linears are smoother. And both are much quieter. When pressing the panda at speed, or slowly between the top and bottom of travel, it's noisy. You can hear the stem rubbing against the housing. You can hear a bit on a cherry linear. Gateron linears are very quiet. I think the lack of wobble is probably due to tighter tolerances between the stem and housing, which leads to more contact. Guess you can't have it both ways.
Final thoughts. I'd lube any linear anyway, so the fact that I think these need a good lubing is a bit of a disappointment, but not a deal breaker. Top switch for build quality and wobble (really, the lack of wobble is awesome), but not so much for smoothness. Gateron takes that crown by a mile.
