Cherry announces official Ergo Clear switches

[Coreda]

News post. Also cites geekhack. Didn't notice any prior topic.

CHERRY MX is expanding its own portfolio with the CHERRY MX Ergo Clear, a derivative that is primarily intended to address the DIY community: In 2011, what originated as a modification by enthusiasts from the mechanical keyboard scene has now been launched as an official MX switch

Especially enthusiasts should already know the Ergo Clear for years: In March 2011, the user "mtl" presented the modification in the well-known Geekhack forum.

This essentially consisted of swapping the spring of the conventional MX Clear with the one from the MX Black in order to reduce the actuation and especially the bottom-out force. The result is a smoother typing feel and a more relaxed typing or gaming experience, even over many hours, without tiring the fingers.

Additionally, the community member coated the spring and plunger with PTFE-based lubricant to further optimize actuation performance and acoustics. Since the modified MX Clear now felt like a hybrid of classic MX Clear and MX Brown, but had an even better typing feel than the original due to the user optimizations, "mtl" named this switch mod "Ergo Clear".

[Signature]

News post. Also cites geekhack. Didn't notice any prior topic.

CHERRY MX is expanding its own portfolio with the CHERRY MX Ergo Clear, a derivative that is primarily intended to address the DIY community: In 2011, what originated as a modification by enthusiasts from the mechanical keyboard scene has now been launched as an official MX switch

Especially enthusiasts should already know the Ergo Clear for years: In March 2011, the user "mtl" presented the modification in the well-known Geekhack forum.

This essentially consisted of swapping the spring of the conventional MX Clear with the one from the MX Black in order to reduce the actuation and especially the bottom-out force. The result is a smoother typing feel and a more relaxed typing or gaming experience, even over many hours, without tiring the fingers.

Additionally, the community member coated the spring and plunger with PTFE-based lubricant to further optimize actuation performance and acoustics. Since the modified MX Clear now felt like a hybrid of classic MX Clear and MX Brown, but had an even better typing feel than the original due to the user optimizations, "mtl" named this switch mod "Ergo Clear".

The fact that this is 10 years too late as well as using the wrong type of spring for the mod (the OG ergo clear uses Blue/Red/Brown springs and this one uses Black) is really absurd 

[HungerMechanic]

Yes, timing-wise, this is 10 years too late. Or at least 6 years too late, if you count the introduction of Zealio V1.

As for the springs, it's my understanding that MX Black was one of the first springs used in Ergo Clears. Before they were even known as "Ergo Clears."

For example, the MX Black Ergo Clears had their own name, which was something like "Panda Clears" IIRC. Basically, there was a heavy spring "Panda Clear," and then the lighter-springed variants that became known as "Ergo Clears."

[There was somewhat of a plethora of terms for them, before people settled on "Ergo Clears."]

So MX Black spring is a legit Ergo Clear spring from 10 years ago, although on the heavy-side. [I've built something like these BTW, and they are great, except I prefer lighter Ergo Clears.]

The real story here is that this is maybe an opportunity for Cherry to retool its MX Clear line, which is in desperate need of new tooling. At least maybe these Clears will be nicer than those from the past 5 years, and could make a good basis for spring-swapping into lighter Ergo Clears.

[CommonCurt]

I just saw this article.   I will have to wait until I try them to judge.
60 -  62 gram springs is what I've always used in my "Ergo Clears"

[HungerMechanic]

It's my understanding that 62 G springs were sought after / popularized in part because they were seen as a better option for Ergo Clears than 60 G.

Those early Korean and similar springs helped establish the modding scene that exists today.

[tp4tissue]

they really need to do way more if they wish to differentiate from the crowd.

[HungerMechanic]

They should ship it with alternate springs, since people are going to swap them anyway.

[But that would be expensive, and not somebody's preferred brand.]

Honestly, though - freshly retooled housings and stems would make these competitive. Wouldn't even need lube with ~65 G springs and up. Or just ship with lubed 65 G TX springs, could just use them as is.

[CommonCurt]

they really need to do way more if they wish to differentiate from the crowd.

I agree 100%.            If they suck.  I will just have to keep sourcing old switches.

[lakeboredom]

This woulda been siiiiiick, in 2017.

[HungerMechanic]

I agree, would have led to fierce comparisons to Zeal V1 back in the day.

One way to differentiate the new switches would have been to make them more compatible with MX Blue. I heard that people put Clear stems into MX Blue housings for greater tactility. So if that was facilitated somehow, since that's a dubious process, it would make the switches more interesting.

[I don't want greater tactility, though. 58 G Naevy 1.5 is good enough for me.]

[Findecanor]

Back when Purple Zealios V1 were introduced, MX Clears were known to be scratchy and that keycaps sat unusually tight on them — both problems which Zeal fixed.

Has Cherry improved the Clear stems since then, or are they still plagued with those problems?

[lakeboredom]

I just want top housings that don't rub against muh gmk. Have they fixed that yet? I'm a bit weary after buying like 220 hyperglides in the first run, and they're just sitting there useless.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

[HungerMechanic]

Back when Purple Zealios V1 were introduced, MX Clears were known to be scratchy and that keycaps sat unusually tight on them — both problems which Zeal fixed.

If anything, MX Clears have only gotten worse. If the search function here worked better, you could perform a search and see that posts since 2018 have not spoken of Clears favourably.

I doubt even the official Ergo Clears will have normal-sized stems now.

Zealios were never 1-for-1 Ergo Clears anyway. They actuate or have the tactile event a little lower, I think, and it's not the exact same shape. Being Gateron, the tactile legs, leafs, and springs are simply different.

So Zealios are more of an alternative than a replacement for Ergo Clears.

The original OUTEMU Sky stems were a direct attempt to replicate Ergo Clears, and some preferred those in their day. [Then they got changed to 2.2 or whatever, which was its own thing.]

It is the Naevy switches that attempt to simply produce a factory Ergo Clear, and they are pretty close. Don't know what the new 2.0 are like, though. Custom switches tend to go their own way over time. CAP Browns kind of feel like light Ergo Clears, though.

Lakeboredom, good point about Hyperglides. Incompatibility with GMK is unforgivable, esp. for Cherry. That would be an interesting thing to find out, and restoring compatibility would make Cherry Ergo Clears more competitive in the short-run.

[CommonCurt]

If it's between Cherry or "Zeeliost"   

Cherry all day everyday.

[caughtquick]

Despite not being an actual "ergo" clear, I feel like the MX Black spring will be better received and I'm sure that Cherry has probably done tests confirming that as well.