Author Topic: Were vintage terminal boards w/ linear switches closer to MX Reds or MX Blacks?  (Read 2034 times)

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Offline dante

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I hear a lot of praise for the Honeywell and boards with Hall Effect switches .. curious what modern implementations come close.

Offline dorkvader

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It depends on the board of course.

Weight wise, most hall effect switches are closest to cherry blacks. This is the case with a number of vintage switches.

Now that said, the other asoects of the switch: how wobbly it is, how it responds to off axis hitting, etc. These will vary greatly from switch to switch.

Also note that Green Tee mount alps isnt really linear, and reed switches, while linear, do make a slight click on actuation. I think it's nice.

As far as sound: it depends mostly on the case construction, and other things. For example, the pingmaster keyboards (ibm chinese/japanese tee mount alps) have essentially a resonating cavity between the PCB and the plate. It's even closed off on both ends by the case. Other tee mount alps KBs aren't nearly so pingy. old "dual magnet" hall effect switches have a removable switch body the holds the stem in place over the hall sensor. This acts as a small resonating chamber and makes for really nice "thock" sounds on bottom out and top out.

Though the weight is closer to black, I would say reds are closer in feel for me, but my reds are all new and my blacks all heavily used. Your mileage may vary. (I've never tried unused blacks before, it occurs to me)