They are nice but they require some efforts. First you need to make sure you don't buy the ****ty batch. Then most likely you need to film + lube + spring swap them. I find it easier to go buy Gateron and after lubing they are relatively the same.
And what is a reliable source (for a good batch)? And have you modded vintage blacks or only modern ones? Are you referring to GMK QMX dampening?
No i don't refer to GMK QMX dampening. That is a foam to mute the sound of your keyboard. Film is some sort of plastic to put between your top and bot housing so the switch does not/ does less wobble. Lube is ... lubricant to make the switch smoother. And spring swap is buying new spring and swap them in.
I only mod old black, vintage black, and retooled black. Let me explain a bit what i mean by those type of black, because that sort of answers your first question.
So gathering from reading numerous posts, threads about vint black and also hunting for vint black myself, I draw these conclusions to my own:
1. Vintage black is said to be undisputed champion of of linear switches, and they are made prior to 1994. 1994 is often the point of segregation due to some information on the internet about how Cherry change their tooling in making switches there. However some also argues that Cherry gradually changed their production over the year so it is not 1994 cut and dry. So the ideal way is to acquire a board made in the late 80s for gurantee vint black. You can rely on the date code of the board or any date on the pcb to identify the year of production.
2. The other important mark is sh it black. These are the scratchiest hell you can encounter. Buy any board from the early 2000s until 2017, you will see. This is what made people hated mx black because it is hailed like industry standard during this time but it is literally crap.
3. Old black: so these basically are made after 1994 but not like sh it black. They are the switches in these period that some strongly discount them as vint black and some believes that they are just as good as vint black. Personally I think both vint black and old black are good BUT you must cherry pick them (no pun intended
). Yes, the quality is very inconsistent with vint black and old black, you can get like 100 from the same board and 20 would be bad while 80 are good.
To tell the different between sh it black vs old & vint black is easy if you can a- try them next to each other or b-open them. The stem on good blacks are much shinier smoother than sh it black, becasue they are made from better material.
4. Retooled black: in 2018 Cherry made changes to their equipment, and the retooled black came to life. They are very smooth linear switches. However, after just mere of few years, people start complaining that there are scratchy retooled mx blacks. So the quality of production is rapidly deteriorating as you can see.
Well, from this long post i guess the reliable source for good batch would be getting very old board, 1997 and before. Or getting keyboards from a very specific date: early 2018. That is all I have for you. After so much effort I acquire the batch that I like and they are in my board now and I just stop and move on from hunting this ****. My info therefore might be incorrect in some parts or lacking important updates, please be aware of that.
