[IC] Gateron Root Beer Float Tactile Switch

[PuNkShoO]

On a bright and sunny day in the 1960s, the playground is teeming with life as the air rings with the joyous laughter and playful screams of children. You spend your day basking in the thrills of swings that take you higher and higher, seesaws that bounce you up and down, and monkey bars that challenge your climbing skills. As you look around, you see some kids busy with hopscotch, jump rope, or tag, while others are having a blast on the merry-go-round. As the sun begins to set, you and your buddies head to the nearby soda shop for a refreshing treat. The classic root beer float is always your go-to drink, with its foamy root beer mixed with creamy vanilla ice cream making for a delightful, refreshing blend. You all sit outside on the patio, savoring the deliciousness, and reflecting on the great time you had on the playground, feeling happy and content with the perfect ending to a fun-filled day.


Hi there, I'm PuNkShoO, designer of the Gateron Cream Soda, Aflion Melody, and Aflion Runner switches. Today I am here to introduce my latest Gateron design, the Root Beer Float. Since the release of the Cream Soda one of the main questions I received was “Will there be a tactile version?”. Well I can finally say that, yes, there is a tactile version and it's a banger.

The Root Beer Float pairs the same wonderful housing material combination of Ink bottom and Milky top which are used in the Cream Sodas. However, with this design we introduce a new Ink material long pole tactile stem into the mix to spice things up a bit. This stem is the first of its kind and only the 2nd ever Ink material stem used outside of the North Poles. This material is harder than POM and when combined with the new longer pole gives a nice crisp bottom out on the keypress.This is accomplished while retaining the smoothness we love from Ink material and there is no slip stick on the polished Ink Oil King style bottom housing mold.

This time I also opted for a slightly different spring in order to emphasize the tactility of the switch. While the new gold plated dual stage spring does have a lighter bottom out at 58g, it allows for the nice medium-heavy bump of the switch to shine with the peak tactility coming in around the same as the bottom out force of the Cream Sodas. This results in a typing feel that is more aggressive than the Runner switches but a more comfortable typing experience vs other more sharper tactiles. It really is a nice sweet spot.

Lastly, another popular request for Cream Sodas was for an unlubed version. While I understand the demand and necessity in the upper echelon of enthusiasts, having an unlubed variant was not only counter to the design intentions of Cream Sodas but also more difficult to achieve due to splitting SKUs. However, the opportunity was realized here with the Root Beer Floats due to the simple nature of boutique tactile switches. Each of us have our own desired way of tuning our tactiles to our feel preferences and it was a priority of mine to make sure that this was taken into account for this design. As such, Root Beer Floats come as a completely unlubed sandbox for each of us to tune to our heart’s desire.

Switch Specs:

Tactile
Milky Top Housing
Gateron Long Pole Ink Material Stem
Ink Bottom Housing
58g Bottom Out
62g Tactile Peak
22mm Gold Plated Long Spring
3.5mm Travel
Expected Price: 70-75c

Interest Check Form

Available for pre-purchase in April 2023

Expected fulfillment by Q2 2023

Vendor List:

US: Keebhut
CA: RNDKBD
EU: Keygem
UK: Keebcats
CN: Moyu.studio
VN: Shibay Mech
SG: Qwertyqop
PH: Squishy Types
AUS: KeebzNCables
...more to come


Renders









Photos







Force Curve



FAQ

What does the bump feel like?
The bump is a bigger rounded bump. It is in the same family as Gateron Blizzard, Baby Kangaroo, SolDark Tactile, etc. See force curve for details and check out reviews for more insights.

Will you offer pre-lube?
Tactiles are a funny beast. Lubing them can alter their performance in many ways and most tactile enjoyers in the enthusiast space have a preferred method of lubing. Because of this, I decided to offer these unlubricated so that each person can customize these to their preferrence. Due to the Ink material stem on the Ink material bottom using a polished mold the rails are already quite smooth. I am not opposed to offering prelubed in future runs in the demand is high enough but I do have concerns about reduced tactility if/when lubricant migrates to the stem legs.

Is there going to be fancy collector packaging?
That is entirely up to vendors. At the moment there is no plan for packaging but, as with all my designs, I am having a sticker design commissioned so that if vendors opt to purchase and distribute them they can.

Price is kind of high. Why is that?
You know the old "I know what I got?" Yeah, Gateron "knows what they go" and they change a premium for it. Anything Ink adjacent carries an Ink tax. The price for these switches was originally 25% higher but through negotiations we were able to get the price where you find the Soda Shop switches at today.

Is this a group buy or in-stock?
These will be in-stock just like Cream Sodas. So long as these are received well Gateron and I will make sure that both Cream Sodas and Root Beer Floats will have better availability to vendors to reduce gaps in stock availability.

Reviews and Coverage

Coming Soon!

Alexotos
Georen
Gokving
ItsFirewire
Kimlynnwin
Nainaigogo
PuNkShoO
RandyOcean
Starfirepenguin
SwitchDoctorAU
Tofu_Types
…more to come

Typing Sound Demos

Starfirepenguin - TGR x Monokei Tomo
ItsFirewire - Glare TKL
Gokving - QK65
RandyOcean - Honeyboard HB60
RandyOcean - Maja V2
Nainaigogo - Zoom65
Nainaigogo - Zoom75
Georen - Geonworks F1

Content and Other Projects

PuNShoO's Project’s and Links

Join the Discord

[mr_foggy]

Cream sodas are actual bangers. not a tactile guy but I'm so tempted to try these

[gokving]

that's good-looking root beef float 

[caughtquick]

As good looking as your upcoming video?

[aicyborg]

Please try to get a UK vendor if at all possible. Keygem does not ship to UK if the order value is under 150EUR which means we'd have to buy a few hundred of these in order to get them here. There's plenty of UK vendors, I'm sure one will be interested after the success of Cream Sodas!

[LosTaquitos]

I recently just got my pre-orders from Keebhut for the Cream Soda and Melody switches, and both are truly amazing switches. The Melody in particular is a switch that I enjoy a lot. I'm very excited for the Root Beer Floats and will definitely be getting some!

[CaesarAZealad]

Aight now this is epic. As a certified tactile enjoyer, I'm in.

[PuNkShoO]

Please try to get a UK vendor if at all possible. Keygem does not ship to UK if the order value is under 150EUR which means we'd have to buy a few hundred of these in order to get them here. There's plenty of UK vendors, I'm sure one will be interested after the success of Cream Sodas!

I have a UK vendor lined up so no worries!

[ReDsNoTDeAd]

[PuNkShoO]

Updated vendors and content creator list.

Pre-order timeframe has been moved up to April with fulfillment for Q2. Lets go!

[CaesarAZealad]

WAIT ARE THEY ALREADY SOLD OUT ON THE US VENDOR? WTF!

[KiserDesigns]

As a fan of root beer, and tactile switches, this excites me. Will the vendors that are already sold out re-list them as the GB opens up?

[Nothatso]

I was just now able to order from Keebhut without any issues.

[CaesarAZealad]

I was just now able to order from Keebhut without any issues.

They were OOS when I saw them so I bought them through RNDKBD. Wish I had known they just hadn’t stocked them yet, would’ve saved me a lot of money. They probably shouldn’t have a listing open for a switch that isn’t for sale yet.

[caughtquick]

They were listed as [UPCOMING] on the website. We launched a little later in the day as we coincided it with our website redesign.

[Toxic_Piano]

can't wait, these look hella nice

[CaesarAZealad]

They were listed as [UPCOMING] on the website. We launched a little later in the day as we coincided it with our website redesign.

Understandable then. A bit inconvenient for me, but then again the world doesn't revolve around me now does it?

[PuNkShoO]

Updated content creator list and added a few typing sound demos.

Join the Discord for real-time updates as they come. I'll be frank, last time I tried to shift a switch from IC to a preorder on GH it was never approved so I am not entirely sure how to handle it here. As such, I will update the IC post itself with updated URLs and the like but anything related to the actual sales will not be added to this post to respect the spirit of the post.

Thanks for understanding.

[CaesarAZealad]

Just got these in, fun little switches! I only have one concern and that is that the travel is so short that keys see-saw very easily which can lead to sticking very easily on anything that needs a stab. Besides that these are really nice despite the fact I absolutely abhor long pole switches nowadays.

[TerraKeycaps]

The colours are perfect, love the design!

[LosTaquitos]

Just wanted to come back to say that I'm loving these switches! I'm still bummed about them being dry because the factory lube is part of what makes the Cream Sodas so nice IMO, but I understand the reasoning behind the decision. I bag lubed the springs and put a light coat of lube on the leaf contacts and stem rails, and now they sound and feel much better. No films needed which is great because I hate installing films. The tactility was not lessened by my application of lube and the bump feels very nice, as does the spring. Very comfortable for typing. These are definitely going on my list of favorite switches!