Cherry to begin selling 110-key switch kits for 40EUR

[ahmad]

http://bit-tech.net/news/tech/peripherals/cherry-launches-mx-switch-developer-kit-bundles/1/

Feeling the pressure from Gateron, Kailh et al, I think.

I was about to buy a set of Kailh pros; now I'm in two minds...

[killyou]

Good news, I'm interested in Silent Blacks. I already bought 10 pcs from Reichelt to test them out and they are interesting. I'm thinking of pairing them with some gold plated spring with slightly lower bottom out force than original blacks. Nothing beats Cherry MX Clear for writing but that would be a nice setup for gaming.

[xondat]

Going to buy both.

Good price and OTT packaging will be worth the wait.

Just wish they'd hurry up and list them for sale; I'm presuming it'll be on Monday

[simon5858]

Good move from cherry i think. We already have the switches available through other means, but this sends a message to the DIY community, and i think that is really important. It's something that i want to support no doubts!

[tp4tissue]

Hahahah.. this will barely slow the bleed..

Kahle will just come out and do $20 and blow them out of the water..



What Cherry REALLY needs to do, is make a NEW god damn switch.. One that others can't copy..

Get off their lazy asses..

Optical analogue switch IMHO is the way to go.. HIGH TECH...


There's only so much you can do with SPST..

[dante]

Hahahah.. this will barely slow the bleed..

Kahle will just come out and do $20 and blow them out of the water..

What Cherry REALLY needs to do, is make a NEW god damn switch.. One that others can't copy..

Get off their lazy asses..

Optical analogue switch IMHO is the way to go.. HIGH TECH...

There's only so much you can do with SPST..

Do you have evidence that Cherry is hurting because of the competition?  The last I checked their factories were making all the switches they are able to produce.

Despite the community claiming Gateron and Kailh have better and more unique options they have yet to impress the big 3: Filco, Leopold, Ducky.

What I do know is that Varmilo initially stopped carrying warranties on boards made with Gateron switches and then phased their switch option out all together due to quality issues.

Kailh seems to only be interested in the enthusiast market and producing cheap keyboards with nasty aesthetics.  Is that enough to run a successful long term business?

[Azmodan]

Great news, since I was planning building a board with Cherry MX Greens! Now I will have to wait a bit and spend much less money on this!

[SpAmRaY]

I really don't understand any of the hype for this. Most of us have been buying loose cherry switches for years now. Nowadays there are dozens of vendors all over the world for all sorts of switch types.

[_haru]

I really don't understand any of the hype for this. Most of us have been buying loose cherry switches for years now. Nowadays there are dozens of vendors all over the world for all sorts of switch types.

Agreed.

[ahmad]

I really don't understand any of the hype for this. Most of us have been buying loose cherry switches for years now. Nowadays there are dozens of vendors all over the world for all sorts of switch types.

Not sure there is really much 'hype' - have you seen anything other than this thread and the bit-tech article?

To me it's the price that's interesting; isn't it ~60% of what you'd usually pay for new Cherry switches?

[SpAmRaY]

I really don't understand any of the hype for this. Most of us have been buying loose cherry switches for years now. Nowadays there are dozens of vendors all over the world for all sorts of switch types.

Not sure there is really much 'hype' - have you seen anything other than this thread and the bit-tech article?

To me it's the price that's interesting; isn't it ~60% of what you'd usually pay for new Cherry switches?

I'm not sure what the final delivered price to USA will be on these but I've always paid $0.50 or less per switch for cherry switches.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[chyros]

It's a natural consequence of the market. If you sell overpriced but below-par products that offer no additional or innovative aspects whatsoever, you're going to get out-competed. There's only so much a twenty-year old champion title granted by default can do to keep you in business.

[_haru]

It's a natural consequence of the market. If you sell overpriced but below-par products that offer no additional or innovative aspects whatsoever, you're going to get out-competed. There's only so much a twenty-year old champion title granted by default can do to keep you in business.

This is the most savage thing I've read for the past month.

[tp4tissue]

It's a natural consequence of the market. If you sell overpriced but below-par products that offer no additional or innovative aspects whatsoever, you're going to get out-competed. There's only so much a twenty-year old champion title granted by default can do to keep you in business.

This is the most savage thing I've read for the past month.

I wouldn't call it below-par..

It's par..

But, that's just it... they're trying to sell what's fundamentally a plastic spoon at metal spoon prices..

China comes in, hey guys.. we'll sell you plastic spoons, at plastic spoon prices..

And the idiocy of GHers  are like,  NO we want PREMIUM plastic spoons at metal spoon prices.

[Azmodan]

Well there is a good point there.

I have used both Cherry MX Blue and Outemu MX Blue clone switches and I like the Outemu ones much more. They had a crisper point of actuation, then needed a bit more force to be pressed and they did not feel scratchy at all, unlike the Cherry MX Blue switches that I have now stopped using cause you could literally feel the the stem dragging on the switch casing as you pressed the key!

[xondat]

Available 15th of November. Guess I'll have to wait a little longer.

Silent Reds

Speed Silver

I misread and thought Silent Blacks would be the first variant. Probably will pick up just the Silvers.

[dante]

It's a natural consequence of the market. If you sell overpriced but below-par products that offer no additional or innovative aspects whatsoever, you're going to get out-competed. There's only so much a twenty-year old champion title granted by default can do to keep you in business.

This is the most savage thing I've read for the past month.

But, that's just it... they're trying to sell what's fundamentally a plastic spoon at metal spoon prices..

China comes in, hey guys.. we'll sell you plastic spoons, at plastic spoon prices..

And the idiocy of GHers  are like,  NO we want PREMIUM plastic spoons at metal spoon prices.

The problem with Chinese spoons is they are always in perpetual Beta testing.  Kailh is just now starting to figure out how to make less wobby switches.  As much as everyone jizzed over Gateron they've been tossed aside until they can get their wobbly switch situation addressed.

Honestly I think Kailh is screwed.  They spent a crap ton of money on new tooling/qc/etc. and so far no one that sells keyboards of large quantities is using their product.

In 2018 I think Kailh is going bye bye or at the very least rethink their business model.  Amazon is jam packed with keyboards in sub $80 range using non-Kailh switches, then you have the upper range $100+ using Cherry switches.  Where does Kailh fit in?

No hating - it's ok to be a fan boy to your favorite company - and who knows maybe Kailh is quite happy with just selling several thousand switches to Enthusiasts a year.  I just can't imagine this is a sustainable business model.

[ahmad]

Too far away. Bought some Kailhs.

[chyros]

It's a natural consequence of the market. If you sell overpriced but below-par products that offer no additional or innovative aspects whatsoever, you're going to get out-competed. There's only so much a twenty-year old champion title granted by default can do to keep you in business.

This is the most savage thing I've read for the past month.

It's not even like I WANT to hate Cherries either, but this is the sad truth. They are the torchbearers of a stagnated market whose monopoly got granted to them because nobody else wanted it, not because of the quality of Cherry's products, for which they weren't known at the time either. It's utterly bizarre that with the revival of mechanical keyboards the majority of the community appears to believe that Cherry are the only producers on the market or even INVENTED mechanical keyboards. In the 80s and early 90s, at the height of mechanical keyboard popularity, basically NO-ONE was talking about Cherry, and if their competitors were still in the mk business, I'm convinced they still wouldn't.

Ever since that time, Cherry have lazed in the background, kept afloat only by their large presence in the POS market, while not making innovations or maintaining quality control, and selling off the equipment used to manufacture their more high-quality stuff such as their dyesubbing and injection moulding machines, and lowering the construction quality of their keyboards, defaulting to what's practically the cheapest crap they can come up with. With the arrival of competitors who may now legally clone their switches, using brand-new machinery to manufacture fresh new switches at prices much lower than Cherry's own, while also making innovations, I don't see how they have a leg to stand on.

[_haru]

I wouldn't call it below-par..

It's par..

But, that's just it... they're trying to sell what's fundamentally a plastic spoon at metal spoon prices..

China comes in, hey guys.. we'll sell you plastic spoons, at plastic spoon prices..

And the idiocy of GHers  are like,  NO we want PREMIUM plastic spoons at metal spoon prices.

Very good analogy, Tp4.

Well there is a good point there.

I have used both Cherry MX Blue and Outemu MX Blue clone switches and I like the Outemu ones much more. They had a crisper point of actuation, then needed a bit more force to be pressed and they did not feel scratchy at all, unlike the Cherry MX Blue switches that I have now stopped using cause you could literally feel the the stem dragging on the switch casing as you pressed the key!

Yup, I've been feeling the same about Outemu Ice Blues/Teals and Greetech Blues/Greens for a while now. They both have a nice feeling, crisp click that is far better than any MX Blue.

It's not even like I WANT to hate Cherries either, but this is the sad truth. They are the torchbearers of a stagnated market whose monopoly got granted to them because nobody else wanted it, not because of the quality of Cherry's products, for which they weren't known at the time either. It's utterly bizarre that with the revival of mechanical keyboards the majority of the community appears to believe that Cherry are the only producers on the market or even INVENTED mechanical keyboards. In the 80s and early 90s, at the height of mechanical keyboard popularity, basically NO-ONE was talking about Cherry, and if their competitors were still in the mk business, I'm convinced they still wouldn't.

Ever since that time, Cherry have lazed in the background, kept afloat only by their large presence in the POS market, while not making innovations or maintaining quality control, and selling off the equipment used to manufacture their more high-quality stuff such as their dyesubbing and injection moulding machines, and lowering the construction quality of their keyboards, defaulting to what's practically the cheapest crap they can come up with. With the arrival of competitors who may now legally clone their switches, using brand-new machinery to manufacture fresh new switches at prices much lower than Cherry's own, while also making innovations, I don't see how they have a leg to stand on.

Indeed. It's quiet a sad situation. Switches and recombination switches from smaller manufacturers are now absolutely thrashing Cherry. Holy Greilh switches (Greetech Black/Red stem and spring in a new Kailh housing) are incredibly smooth to the point where they're better than any MX switch, and basically beat Gaterons, Tealios, and BOX blacks.

[tp4tissue]

I wouldn't call it below-par..

It's par..

But, that's just it... they're trying to sell what's fundamentally a plastic spoon at metal spoon prices..

China comes in, hey guys.. we'll sell you plastic spoons, at plastic spoon prices..

And the idiocy of GHers  are like,  NO we want PREMIUM plastic spoons at metal spoon prices.

Very good analogy, Tp4.

Ghers are mostly insane...  it comes with the territory..


@ Dante..

Kahle makes ALOT of stuff,  think of them like foxconn (not as big) of little plastic things..

For example, all the new logitech mice use their wheel encoders..

[badziew]

I do not think even you all can deny Cherry makes relatively reliable products, even if quality of most is not market-leading.
Hopefully Chinese manufacturers will be faster in fixing their issues and responding to market demand, so that competition will actually work as intended.
I have one more observation: I think that more obscure Cherry switches are regarded as "better". Or, in all fairness, more rare switches in general? Isn't that, um, elitism speaking? Especially, since a lot of the "nice" stuff, like Alps switches, Alps clones and capacitive buckling springs can't be had in a brand new boards any more...
I honestly would not like to succumb to this, but as I invest more in keyboards, I feel the disease creeping. Already, I'm laughing at cheap rubber domes and "edgy" gaming boards...

[tp4tissue]

I do not think even you all can deny Cherry makes relatively reliable products, even if quality of most is not market-leading.
Hopefully Chinese manufacturers will be faster in fixing their issues and responding to market demand, so that competition will actually work as intended.
I have one more observation: I think that more obscure Cherry switches are regarded as "better". Or, in all fairness, more rare switches in general? Isn't that, um, elitism speaking? Especially, since a lot of the "nice" stuff, like Alps switches, Alps clones and capacitive buckling springs can't be had in a brand new boards any more...
I honestly would not like to succumb to this, but as I invest more in keyboards, I feel the disease creeping. Already, I'm laughing at cheap rubber domes and "edgy" gaming boards...

It's all in your head..

Plastic is plastic..

Price is price..

There's nothing technologically advanced going on in the keyboard world