Author Topic: what switches do you guys use?  (Read 5956 times)

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Offline Diced

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what switches do you guys use?
« on: Mon, 11 November 2019, 19:48:09 »
asking so if i wanna make my own kb ill have good insight on what to buy.

Offline Venaros

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 11 November 2019, 20:06:57 »
Assuming you're looking for MX-style switches, I'd recommend:
Linears: Vint Blacks, Gat inks, Gat yellows, Tealios, Creams, Healios
Tactiles: Holy Pandas, Zealios, Zilents, T1s, Outemu Skies
Clickies: Any of the Box Clickbars

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 12 November 2019, 05:46:43 »
asking so if i wanna make my own kb ill have good insight on what to buy.

I use MX reds, but i love razer greens.

I feel like you should go with the box switches. They have a longer lifetime than cherry, are less wobbly and are insanely smooth when lubed. The Box Navys are amazing, go try them out .

Online Rob27shred

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 12 November 2019, 06:20:59 »
It really depends on what type of feel & sound you're looking for, what quality you're looking for, & how much you have/are willing to spend on switches TBH. If you could give us a little more info on those points we could help much better than just naming the usual suspects when what the best switches are is brought up.

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 12 November 2019, 11:49:32 »
It really depends on what type of feel & sound you're looking for, what quality you're looking for, & how much you have/are willing to spend on switches TBH. If you could give us a little more info on those points we could help much better than just naming the usual suspects when what the best switches are is brought up.

You seem to make a good point.

Offline Venaros

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 12 November 2019, 18:27:38 »
asking so if i wanna make my own kb ill have good insight on what to buy.

I use MX reds, but i love razer greens.

I feel like you should go with the box switches. They have a longer lifetime than cherry, are less wobbly and are insanely smooth when lubed. The Box Navys are amazing, go try them out .
Box switches don't take very well to lube, probably due to their dustproof design. Only thing worth lubing on Box switches are the springs, and the actuation nub for Box Tactiles, when they turn clicky.


Offline Sintpinty

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #7 on: Wed, 13 November 2019, 11:39:48 »

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 14 November 2019, 11:25:59 »
asking so if i wanna make my own kb ill have good insight on what to buy.

I use MX reds, but i love razer greens.

I feel like you should go with the box switches. They have a longer lifetime than cherry, are less wobbly and are insanely smooth when lubed. The Box Navys are amazing, go try them out .
Box switches don't take very well to lube, probably due to their dustproof design. Only thing worth lubing on Box switches are the springs, and the actuation nub for Box Tactiles, when they turn clicky.

I have only tried box switches once, they feel very amazing though. Might consider them for my next build.

Offline williampeterson

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 26 November 2019, 07:03:22 »
Cherry MX switches offer great variety: from very fast and clicky to the most smooth. My choice and suggestion is Zealio switch.

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 26 November 2019, 11:16:10 »
Cherry MX switches offer great variety: from very fast and clicky to the most smooth. My choice and suggestion is Zealio switch.

The 65G zealios feel the best in my opinion. They are not too light, not too heavy and make a good alternative for clears. The tactile bump is very strong , noticeable and sharp so if you like that go ahead

Offline Ckeeb

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #11 on: Wed, 27 November 2019, 17:14:14 »
I like brown ;D

Offline noisyturtle

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #12 on: Wed, 27 November 2019, 17:38:07 »
lubed pandas for years now

Offline SBJ

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #13 on: Thu, 28 November 2019, 06:16:05 »
67g zealios.

Offline bananasplit_00

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #14 on: Thu, 28 November 2019, 07:19:51 »
Gateron silenced browns at work, Cherry browns at home. Not the most tactile switch in existence but it works for me!

Offline NewbieOneKenobi

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #15 on: Thu, 12 December 2019, 14:12:12 »
Blues mostly, though I'm getting closer and closer to going over to linear camp. 35g, 1 mm actuation distance, 1000 Hz polling, 1 ms reaction time and full NKRO sounds just about right for my typing needs. My palms are aching from all the recoil provided by tactility, and I remember this was also the case when using the scissor switch.  I could live without the tactile bump. I'm unlikely to miss keys and even more unlikely to miss keys without noticing on the monitor — while writing for work. While gaming, I'm just gonna bottom out anyway. And I did gymkhana in Dirt 3 on my cherry blues! Even the parts people say you can't do on a keyboard at all and need a wheel for.

My laptop has some version of rubber dome — either plain or scissors, in any case an island chiclet board (Latitude 5550) — and I use that quite a lot. Probably preferred the older non-island traditional keyboard on my previous laptop, which was Latitude 7240.

I love buckling spring, but unfortunately my fingers can't do that any more. My step-father, a lifelong programmer, has the same problem. We're both after the lightest board possible.

However, I like to keep my hands on the board while not actually typing, and at 35g or even 40-ish, I end up pressing keys. Oh well, still prefer lighter. But first of all I think reaction time and polling time have a lot to do with how I feel about a board, which has nothing to do with switch type.

Offline pixelpusher

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #16 on: Thu, 12 December 2019, 14:57:50 »
My MX based list of switch preferences:

Strong tactile Holy Pandas, lubed with 3204.

Medium tactile 78g v1 Zealios wtih 3204.

Subtle tactile tie between Kailh brown and MOD M tactile.  Again with 3204.

Linear Anything Gateron with lube.  68-72g springs.  My linjar with 205g0 are the best switches I've tried to this date.  Better than retooled blacks.  Better than Tealios.  Better than vint blacks.  Avoid milky tops that can sometimes rub on cap stems.  Lubed, retooled Cherry blacks are a good runner-up.

Clicky Kailh box whites or pink.

Silent MX Zilents (MX silent stem in Gateron clear housing) with 3204 lube.  I prefer 68-72g spring again.  Absolutely fantastic switch.  Smooth as you can possibly get.  Completely silent.

Other novel switches that I feel like I should mention:

**MX Clears. Novel bump and spring feel.  Never found anything else out there that gives the same feel.
**Novelkeys Cream with 205g0 or Christo-112. Best sounding switch on earth.  Have to live with the catching/rubbing pom on pom feel during slow press (yes, even when lubed), but totally worth it.  Also, you have to put switch films on them or they make a terrible racket, and the housings are huge, off-spec to make it a nightmare to use in tightly cut plates.







Offline walton19

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #17 on: Tue, 31 December 2019, 02:10:24 »
asking so if i wanna make my own kb ill have good insight on what to buy.

I use MX reds, but i love razer greens.

I feel like you should go with the box switches. They have a longer lifetime than cherry, are less wobbly and are insanely smooth when lubed. The Box Navys are amazing, go try them out .
Box switches don't take very well to lube, probably due to their dustproof design. Only thing worth lubing on Box switches are the springs, and the actuation nub for applinked on firestick tv Box Tactiles, when they turn clicky.

I have only tried box switches once, they feel very amazing though. Might consider them for my next build.
same here
« Last Edit: Fri, 23 July 2021, 04:02:18 by walton19 »

Offline 1391401

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #18 on: Tue, 31 December 2019, 03:35:47 »
I am a tactile guy - currently running MX Grey on my board at work and I recently built a board with Zealios V2 78g which I absolutely love and will probably be putting in all my future boards.
People I've given money to from this webform who never respond to me and have not shipped me anything: ctrlalt.io 1 2, Team Readline Reputable alternatives to GH group buys: http://pimpmykeyboard.com, https://www.massdrop.com,

Offline jacethesaltsculptor

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Re: what switches do you guys use?
« Reply #19 on: Tue, 31 December 2019, 09:03:37 »
I'm all about Buckling springs, but you can't really make a keyboard with those,

for Mx I prefer blues, I love clicky switches, the sound feedback feels really good to me.

So in this order:

Kailh Box Navy,
Kailh Box Jade,
Cherry MX greens,
Cherry MX blues.

It gets less clicky on the way down, it's all about that click.

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