Hako True vs Halo True feel

[TheNamesTy45]

So, I just received a bag of Halo True switches, and I've been using Hako True switches on my main board and my white fox. I was expecting Halos and Hakos to be near exactly the same, but they definitely felt much more different than I thought they would in my comparisons of loose switches and mounted on a plate (not soldered to board though).

In short, the stock Halo Trues were noticeably more tactile than the Hako Trues, and their springs felt like they got heavier MUCH quicker than the Hako's. I will also say that of the 87 Halos I have, they seemed more consistent than the Hakos. Additionally, on 10%-15% of the Hakos I have have this weird click feel and sound on the way up, and some of them are noticeably more tactile than others. To the advantage of the Hakos, they are readily available, and they are in themselves a great feeling switch that is incredibly stable because of the box design.

Putting the Halo True stems in a Zeal housing with a 67g Zeal spring produced a nice tactility, BUT the travel was reduced because the center post of the switch is longer than a Zeal switch, which caused it to hit the bottom of the housing.

Putting the Hako True stems and springs in a Box Royal housing produced a supremely tactile switch, that I really want to do a full build with.

Just wanted to share my quick thoughts because I know there is always a lot of talk around these particular switches, and Halos are not easy to get a hold of to try. Anyone else with experience with these switches, feel free to chip in because this is all in my limited exposure to the Halo Trues. If anyone has any questions about them, I can try to answer.

[portbaron]

I agree. I just put 100 Hako True spring/stems in BOX royal housings in preparation for a board. It's like a more tactile mx clear that gets heavier after the bump.

[Kevadu]

I feel like I've talked about this topic a lot...

Yeah Halo and Hako switches feel completely different.  Since I tried Halo Trues first I was really disappointed when the Hako switches finally got released.  I was expecting basically the same thing in a box switch but that's not what we got...

Unmodded I would take Halo Trues over Hako Trues any day of the week.  I genuinely like stock Halos, they're just better switches.  And pretty unique too.  Keep in mind that the main tactile bump you feel is actually post actuation and I don't know any other switch that really feels like that.  But it lets your fingers know when you've traveled far enough and works well with the whole preventing bottoming out concept.

Putting Hako Trues in a Box Royal housing is a nice mod that has a lot going for it as well but it still doesn't feel that same as a Halo switch.

[Kevadu]

Woah, Massdrop is finally going to be selling Halo switches on their own:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-halo-switch-pack

Anyone curious should probably check this out.

[TheNamesTy45]

Woah, Massdrop is finally going to be selling Halo switches on their own:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-halo-switch-pack

Anyone curious should probably check this out.

This is awesome! Will definitely be stalking up.

[Rob27shred]

Woah, Massdrop is finally going to be selling Halo switches on their own:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-halo-switch-pack

Anyone curious should probably check this out.

This is awesome! Will definitely be stalking up.

Yep, I'll be ordering 220 at the very least just to have. Even if I can't get the Pandas for making Holy Pandas, Zealio housing seem to work well with them too. I swapped a Halo stem into a Zealio housing with a 78g Zealio spring & it definitely produces a noticeably more tactile switch than stock Zealios.

[_PixelNinja]

As a heads up — Mike from NovelKeys is working with the guys at Input Club to produce stock Royal Hakos. Keep your eyes peeled for more info soon™.

[TheNamesTy45]

As a heads up — Mike from NovelKeys is working with the guys at Input Club to produce stock Royal Hakos. Keep your eyes peeled for more info soon™.

I feel like all of the good things I wanted happened at once. Waiting for the announcement that Nixies will be all you can buy for $0.50/switch next.

[Aerizu]

So, I just received a bag of Halo True switches, and I've been using Hako True switches on my main board and my white fox. I was expecting Halos and Hakos to be near exactly the same, but they definitely felt much more different than I thought they would in my comparisons of loose switches and mounted on a plate (not soldered to board though).

In short, the stock Halo Trues were noticeably more tactile than the Hako Trues, and their springs felt like they got heavier MUCH quicker than the Hako's. I will also say that of the 87 Halos I have, they seemed more consistent than the Hakos. Additionally, on 10%-15% of the Hakos I have have this weird click feel and sound on the way up, and some of them are noticeably more tactile than others. To the advantage of the Hakos, they are readily available, and they are in themselves a great feeling switch that is incredibly stable because of the box design.

Putting the Halo True stems in a Zeal housing with a 67g Zeal spring produced a nice tactility, BUT the travel was reduced because the center post of the switch is longer than a Zeal switch, which caused it to hit the bottom of the housing.

Putting the Hako True stems and springs in a Box Royal housing produced a supremely tactile switch, that I really want to do a full build with.

Just wanted to share my quick thoughts because I know there is always a lot of talk around these particular switches, and Halos are not easy to get a hold of to try. Anyone else with experience with these switches, feel free to chip in because this is all in my limited exposure to the Halo Trues. If anyone has any questions about them, I can try to answer.

I'm thinking of trying Halo True stems on Zeal housing when my switches arrive.

Can you comment more about how they feel? Is the the travel significantly reduced like more than 1mm? How do they fare compared to stock zealios and stock halo true/clear?

[_PixelNinja]

Following up on my previous post — the Hako Royals are live over at NovelKeys.

[rainb1ood]

Following up on my previous post — the Hako Royals are live over at NovelKeys.

what are the differences with the two option available? (Clears and Trues)

[Kevadu]

Following up on my previous post — the Hako Royals are live over at NovelKeys.

what are the differences with the two option available? (Clears and Trues)

Just the spring as far as I can tell.  The Trues have a heavier bottoming out but they have less preload and are actually a bit lighter at the start of the keypress and where the bump is (because the bump is very early in all of these).  So the Trues start lighter and then rapidly increase in force required towards the bottom of the keypress while Clears are relatively heavy to start with but not quite as heavy to bottom out.

Note that they're both pretty heavy.  Get regular Royals if you want a big bump but a lighter spring.

Anyway it's super cool that Novelkeys is doing this.  Guess I don't have to make any more frankenswitches myself.

[TheNamesTy45]

So, I just received a bag of Halo True switches, and I've been using Hako True switches on my main board and my white fox. I was expecting Halos and Hakos to be near exactly the same, but they definitely felt much more different than I thought they would in my comparisons of loose switches and mounted on a plate (not soldered to board though).

In short, the stock Halo Trues were noticeably more tactile than the Hako Trues, and their springs felt like they got heavier MUCH quicker than the Hako's. I will also say that of the 87 Halos I have, they seemed more consistent than the Hakos. Additionally, on 10%-15% of the Hakos I have have this weird click feel and sound on the way up, and some of them are noticeably more tactile than others. To the advantage of the Hakos, they are readily available, and they are in themselves a great feeling switch that is incredibly stable because of the box design.

Putting the Halo True stems in a Zeal housing with a 67g Zeal spring produced a nice tactility, BUT the travel was reduced because the center post of the switch is longer than a Zeal switch, which caused it to hit the bottom of the housing.

Putting the Hako True stems and springs in a Box Royal housing produced a supremely tactile switch, that I really want to do a full build with.

Just wanted to share my quick thoughts because I know there is always a lot of talk around these particular switches, and Halos are not easy to get a hold of to try. Anyone else with experience with these switches, feel free to chip in because this is all in my limited exposure to the Halo Trues. If anyone has any questions about them, I can try to answer.

I'm thinking of trying Halo True stems on Zeal housing when my switches arrive.

Can you comment more about how they feel? Is the the travel significantly reduced like more than 1mm? How do they fare compared to stock zealios and stock halo true/clear?

The bump didn't feel significantly different from my stock Cherry housings. If anything, the bump on Cherry housings felt slightly more pronounced than the Zealios housing.

I don't have an exact measurement on travel reduction, but from the ones that I made, it was definitely significant enough for me to be bothered by it and feel like I was hitting a hard wall before the switch was done with its travel. Bothered me enough that I totally ditched the idea of making more and putting them in a board.

I like stock Zealios better than a Halo true stem in Zealios housing for the sole reason that they actually feel like they're traveling as much as they're supposed to. Something to note other than the travel interruption is the bump location. Zealios have some travel before the bump, which makes it feel less responsive because of this "dead zone". The Halo true stem has an immediate bump. I hesitate to throw around "Topre-like" with MX switches, but this is the closest thing to that feel. Personally, it has almost completely satiated my Topre cravings.

The Halo Trues by themselves aren't a bad switch by any means. They're like a heavier brown with the only difference being the bump at the start of travel. I wouldn't be opposed to using the Halo True switches alone, but once you try a Halo stem in another housing with a lighter spring, you'll probably crave the tactility that they offer.

TL:DR;

So far... Cherry Housing 67g Spring > Halo True stock > Zealio > Halo True in Zealio housing.

Really wanting to try Holy Pandas to see how much more tactile it can get.

[Aerizu]

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

I have a board with 65g zealios and another with Hako clears.
I like the responsiveness of the Hako clears but I find the bump in zealios better.

Personally, I almost never bottom out so the reduced travel distance may not annoy me. Do you think replacing just the springs of Halo True to 67g would be better?

[TheNamesTy45]

I think that the bottom out feel was close enough to the bottom of the bump, that it'd be really hard to not get that feeling even without bottoming out. But, if somebody else has done this and got different results, please let us know because if hate to make universal comments and be wrong.

I think a 67 g spring swap is a pretty good starting point just to see what you're working with.

[Glod]

I got both the hako and halo trues and clears. The clears honestly feel closer to MX clears than I expected--crazy tactile. The trues are really unique feeling, but they gave me a bad first impression and i had them sitting for months. I am going to use the Hako Trues for the next week and see what happens. The positive of them is just how stable and unwobbly they are, I was using BOX Browns for a month and its hard to go back to non-box switches these are even more stable than BOX browns but they are much more heavier and my fingers are confused.

Honestly after 6 years in this hobby taking apart switches, i am f'ing done modding switches, i am sick of it. I am glad Kaihua came along but damn there are some misfires. I guess I have yet another switch to try (Hako Royal Trues)........ damn it.

[Harms]

I got both the hako and halo trues and clears. The clears honestly feel closer to MX clears than I expected--crazy tactile. The trues are really unique feeling, but they gave me a bad first impression and i had them sitting for months. I am going to use the Hako Trues for the next week and see what happens. The positive of them is just how stable and unwobbly they are, I was using BOX Browns for a month and its hard to go back to non-box switches these are even more stable than BOX browns but they are much more heavier and my fingers are confused.

Honestly after 6 years in this hobby taking apart switches, i am f'ing done modding switches, i am sick of it. I am glad Kaihua came along but damn there are some misfires. I guess I have yet another switch to try (Hako Royal Trues)........ damn it.

No need to mod to get Hako Royal Trues.

They are sold on NovelKeys .

https://novelkeys.xyz/products/hako-royal-switches

[Glod]

I got both the hako and halo trues and clears. The clears honestly feel closer to MX clears than I expected--crazy tactile. The trues are really unique feeling, but they gave me a bad first impression and i had them sitting for months. I am going to use the Hako Trues for the next week and see what happens. The positive of them is just how stable and unwobbly they are, I was using BOX Browns for a month and its hard to go back to non-box switches these are even more stable than BOX browns but they are much more heavier and my fingers are confused.

Honestly after 6 years in this hobby taking apart switches, i am f'ing done modding switches, i am sick of it. I am glad Kaihua came along but damn there are some misfires. I guess I have yet another switch to try (Hako Royal Trues)........ damn it.

No need to mod to get Hako Royal Trues.

They are sold on NovelKeys .

https://novelkeys.xyz/products/hako-royal-switches

Oh i know, I was saying, now i have to try yet another switch. at some point i have to press the stop button.

[TheNamesTy45]

The elusive stop button.

[invariance]

That’s on top of the switch after the next new one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Glod]

Wallet Hack Strikes Again!

woah these switches feel a log more different than i thought they would, ill put royals on my K-Type to test them out, the winner goes on a new keyboard.

2018-07-19_04-46-33 by almightyglod, on Flickr

I have been using the normal Hako trues for a few weeks and i really got used to them, very solid typing experience.

Banana Split 2 by almightyglod, on Flickr
(using them with EnjoyPBT not DSA as pictured)