Linear silent switches recommendation?

[bondonin]

Lots of silent switches got released more recently and I haven't kept up. I've only tried outemus silent whites, akko silent pinks and cherry mx silents.
The problem with outemu and akko switches is that they fail far too often (typically within months/a year) and while they are cheap and replaceable, I want a better switch especially for a soldering project in the future. Also the Akko silent pinks don't dampen the noise on the upstroke.

So apart from cherry mx silent reds what are my choices for relatively inexpensive linear lightweight silent switches? Are gaterons a reliable option compared to outemus?

[lakeboredom]

Really important for me that they have full 4mm of travel. Cherry silent stems in the kailh creams forget the name, have been the closest thing I found back then.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[Rhienfo]

A lot of the older silent switches while silent, have a lot of drawbacks. Recently there have been a lot of silent switches that have been using the stem acting as the dampener with a relief cut in the stem to quieten the bottom out  instead of a piece of rubber dampening it, which removes almost of all of the drawbacks of a traditional silent switch. They also have holes in the bottom housing of the switch, which also makes it quieter (I believe by dispersing the sound waves so that they don't bounce of the switch as much creating less resonance but I'm not 100%)

One manufacturer makes them but sells them under different companies Wuque and Haimu, both seem to be really similar though, so just find the one that fit's your preferences more. The prices are very similar to the prices I've seen for mx silents so they are pretty decent value. They are pre-lubed so if you want to manually lube them then you will have to clean them.

[bondonin]

A lot of the older silent switches while silent, have a lot of drawbacks. Recently there have been a lot of silent switches that have been using the stem acting as the dampener with a relief cut in the stem to quieten the bottom out  instead of a piece of rubber dampening it, which removes almost of all of the drawbacks of a traditional silent switch. They also have holes in the bottom housing of the switch, which also makes it quieter (I believe by dispersing the sound waves so that they don't bounce of the switch as much creating less resonance but I'm not 100%)

One manufacturer makes them but sells them under different companies Wuque and Haimu, both seem to be really similar though, so just find the one that fit's your preferences more. The prices are very similar to the prices I've seen for mx silents so they are pretty decent value. They are pre-lubed so if you want to manually lube them then you will have to clean them.

I prefer outemu silent whites for the larger silicone damper which is  most silent of the switches I've tried but they have poor reliability. Kindof surprised that there aren't more complaints or warnings about them. I think they are so cheap because they use cheaper metals/alloys which tarnish/corrode faster compared to other brands.

Hows the reliability of Kailh silent red/pink switches?

Could you provide some links to the Wuque/Haimu, I normally buy thru Chinese online stores like aliexpress/taobao.

[Rhienfo]

I prefer outemu silent whites for the larger silicone damper which is  most silent of the switches I've tried but they have poor reliability. Kindof surprised that there aren't more complaints or warnings about them. I think they are so cheap because they use cheaper metals/alloys which tarnish/corrode faster compared to other brands.

Hows the reliability of Kailh silent red/pink switches?

Could you provide some links to the Wuque/Haimu, I normally buy thru Chinese online stores like aliexpress/taobao.

I don't know what you mean by reliability but I would assume they would be similar to cherry silents because they are basically cherry clones, I have heard they have a "mushy" bottom out like the cherry silents. They reason why otemeus are cheaper than cherry are because of build quality and cheaper plastics used (they also charge much less than cherry, especially when buying direct which you can't really do with cherry)

I think the issues may stem from the rubber piece being damaged but I don't know enough about silents to know what is happening there so unfortunately I won't be of help there.

I also can't find a place on aliexpress/taobao where you can find the silent haimu switches, but I believe this is the aliexpress/taobao store for wuque so you should be able to buy those switches there (I not sure how to navigate taobao well so I can't help you there, I am from Australia after all, hope this helps otherwise.)

https://m.aliexpress.com/store/1102091482 - Aliexpress

https://wuquestudio.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.1000126.3.59f918d5l6TR4H - Taobao (believe is the taobao store but can't check because it's hard to access taobao stuff here)

[bondonin]

I prefer outemu silent whites for the larger silicone damper which is  most silent of the switches I've tried but they have poor reliability. Kindof surprised that there aren't more complaints or warnings about them. I think they are so cheap because they use cheaper metals/alloys which tarnish/corrode faster compared to other brands.

Hows the reliability of Kailh silent red/pink switches?
Could you provide some links to the Wuque/Haimu, I normally buy thru Chinese online stores like aliexpress/taobao.

I don't know what you mean by reliability but I would assume they would be similar to cherry silents because they are basically cherry clones, I have heard they have a "mushy" bottom out like the cherry silents. They reason why otemeus are cheaper than cherry are because of build quality and cheaper plastics used (they also charge much less than cherry, especially when buying direct which you can't really do with cherry)

I think the issues may stem from the rubber piece being damaged but I don't know enough about silents to know what is happening there so unfortunately I won't be of help there.
......

What I mean is whether those switches may fail to type or double type, outemus are quite bad for that as I have said earlier because they have no gold crosspoints like the cherrys.
And I found out that Wuque are listed as 'WS' for wuque studio. Thanks for the info.

[Rhienfo]

What I mean is whether those switches may fail to type or double type, outemus are quite bad for that as I have said earlier because they have no gold crosspoints like the cherrys.
And I found out that Wuque are listed as 'WS' for wuque studio. Thanks for the info.

Yeah kalih are closer to cherry than outemu so it won't have those problems, but I don't think outemu switches shouldn't have those issues regardless, so maybe it was a bad batch or they switches that are like outemus but actually aren't but I don't know.

[bondonin]

What I mean is whether those switches may fail to type or double type, outemus are quite bad for that as I have said earlier because they have no gold crosspoints like the cherrys.
And I found out that Wuque are listed as 'WS' for wuque studio. Thanks for the info.

Yeah kalih are closer to cherry than outemu so it won't have those problems, but I don't think outemu switches shouldn't have those issues regardless, so maybe it was a bad batch or they switches that are like outemus but actually aren't but I don't know.

I've swapped out to outemu silent whites which also had the same problem so I think its an issue with the brand. My older mechanical kb which used the orig cherry mx switches never had any such issue.
 I actually prefer the feel of outemus compared the cherry, the tactility of the outemu brown is better and the outemu white is more silent but they just aren't reliable. Anyway I've ordered some samples of wuque and kailh silents and I'll probably install several silent types and see how they hold up.

[Rhienfo]

I've swapped out to outemu silent whites which also had the same problem so I think its an issue with the brand. My older mechanical kb which used the orig cherry mx switches never had any such issue.
 I actually prefer the feel of outemus compared the cherry, the tactility of the outemu brown is better and the outemu white is more silent but they just aren't reliable. Anyway I've ordered some samples of wuque and kailh silents and I'll probably install several silent types and see how they hold up.

oh ok, I haven't used their silent brand but their other stuff doesn't have issues where switch parts can break so maybe it's an issue with the silent swtiches they sell. Hope you find the right switch for you then.

[garynguyen]

Did you try the wuque silent linear? I highly recommend it, it's pre-lubed

[bondonin]

Did you try the wuque silent linear? I highly recommend it, it's pre-lubed

Yes. On an old keyboard without any foam, its abit louder than the cherry silent. But on a dampened keyboard its less loud than the cherry mx.

I've also tried the kailh deep sea silent islet and it feels the best but also more expensive.

[AJM]

I think I haven't heard of this wuque switch before. Maybe I'll try it.

I'm currently using "JWICK semi-silent". As the name suggests it's only silent on the up-stroke. Unfortunatey they don't have a fully silent version yet.
But apart from that I'm very happy with it. The smoothness (without modification) and stability are great. I will never again use a non-box switch. Using an ANSI-enter without stabilisers is absolutely fine with that switch.

Before I had Gateron silent Inks (red and black), but apart from wobbling-problems some of them failed after only a few months (on two keyboards).

[dunsparth]

i like silent alpacas alot i have them in one of my boards and was surprised with them although these were the first and only silent switches i have ever tried.