Author Topic: Review of Varmilo MA105C Panda edition with new 'Sakura' Pink EC switches!  (Read 11379 times)

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Offline the pokemon kid

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Hey All! I got the amazing opportunity to review this Varmilo with their brand new 'Sakura' pink EC contactless switches! Here is my honest review of what I was sent:

https://caps-unlocked.com/blog/mathews-reviews-varmilo-ma105c/

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on this board! I really enjoyed reviewing it and I hope this translated well into my post!

Offline zslane

  • Posts: 2297
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Very interesting switch! I'm curious how the green (tactile) variant feels, especially the clarity of its tactile bump.

But most importantly, how loud is the bottom-out and upstroke noise? These are not internally dampened, which means they are going to be noisy, but I've noticed that noise can be mitigated somewhat by the type and quality of the keyboard they are installed on. Varmillo makes very good keyboards, which makes me especially curious how these new switches sound in terms of noise.

Offline the pokemon kid

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Very interesting switch! I'm curious how the green (tactile) variant feels, especially the clarity of its tactile bump.

But most importantly, how loud is the bottom-out and upstroke noise? These are not internally dampened, which means they are going to be noisy, but I've noticed that noise can be mitigated somewhat by the type and quality of the keyboard they are installed on. Varmillo makes very good keyboards, which makes me especially curious how these new switches sound in terms of noise.

Yes, I am also curious how they are going to come out. While I was writing the review they brought out the keychain versions of the switches. I am hoping that they will allow me to review the greenery switches next!

Coming from 72g springs, I was bottoming the switches out pretty hard. There is a little more thock on the bottom out compared to the silent black, but not by a lot. The upstroke is nearly the same. However the major difference is there is a slight sound of friction for the silent red compared to the silence of the Sakura pink.

Offline zslane

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Yeah, I have a couple of boards with MX silent reds, and the sound of the slider friction is unappealing. The smoothness of these new switches is of great interest, especially as it pertains to the lack of slider friction.

Offline the pokemon kid

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Yeah, I have a couple of boards with MX silent reds, and the sound of the slider friction is unappealing. The smoothness of these new switches is of great interest, especially as it pertains to the lack of slider friction.

I will also note, as I did in the review. The Sakura pinks are unlubed and the silent red has been lubed with Krytox 106.

Offline pixelpusher

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I don't like silent reds at all b/c of the scratchy sound.  But I found an interesting idea.  Heroinebob on reddit was saying that he recommended drilling out the center stem (spring column) to alleviate that friction.  Said that the plastic shrinks on cooling and a proper size drillbit can make them much better.  I wonder if that would fix silent reds/blacks.

Offline Jae-3soteric

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Very interesting switch! I'm curious how the green (tactile) variant feels, especially the clarity of its tactile bump.

But most importantly, how loud is the bottom-out and upstroke noise? These are not internally dampened, which means they are going to be noisy, but I've noticed that noise can be mitigated somewhat by the type and quality of the keyboard they are installed on. Varmillo makes very good keyboards, which makes me especially curious how these new switches sound in terms of noise.

I’ve had one of the Sakura pink boards since late last year, and aren’t as impressed as Mat is - but I’m more of a tactile guy anyway.

On the greenery switches, I have a numpad with their early version in and tbh it’s not very tactile at all. I know they are working on revisions of this, so hopefully they will improve but the bump is very similar to stock Aliaz - barely there at all.


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Offline dwarf.factory

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i just bought Varmilo Panda 2018 version, can't wait till i receive it
My pure desire is GOLD

Offline bloos

  • Posts: 16
Re: Review of Varmilo MA105C Panda edition with new 'Sakura' Pink EC switches!
« Reply #8 on: Tue, 20 November 2018, 13:49:49 »
Very interesting switch! I'm curious how the green (tactile) variant feels, especially the clarity of its tactile bump.

is there a force graph of the ivy switch? i couldn't find one, would love to see it :)

Offline Rob27shred

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Re: Review of Varmilo MA105C Panda edition with new 'Sakura' Pink EC switches!
« Reply #9 on: Tue, 20 November 2018, 14:34:25 »
I don't like silent reds at all b/c of the scratchy sound.  But I found an interesting idea.  Heroinebob on reddit was saying that he recommended drilling out the center stem (spring column) to alleviate that friction.  Said that the plastic shrinks on cooling and a proper size drillbit can make them much better.  I wonder if that would fix silent reds/blacks.

Honestly i doubt it, I think most of the friction on MX silents come from the slider & housing. I tried to do this to a few old stock Cherry blacks I had with one of the bits I bought from Heroinbob & found it was much harder to control the drill bit with Cherry housings vs. Outemu Skiy housings. Not sure if this is because of the type of plastic Cherry uses which seems to be harder than what's used to make the Sky housings, the sizing tolerance of the shaft the slider runs in on Cherry housings, or a combination of the two. The first one I did got completely wasted since the drill bit really bit hard into the Cherry bottom housing, which caused it to go straight through the bottom & pull tight at the top causing the top to flange out. The 2nd I tried was more successful as I was able to keep the drill bit from running itself all the way down & flanging out the top, but it still went through the bottom. The third one I managed to keep from blowing out the bottom or flanging out the top, but still no luck on making it any smoother. All of them felt a tiny bit smoother than before re-tooling, but the difference between a re-tooled one & stock one was negligible IME.