Hate MX Browns? Post here. (Like them? Go away.)

[ander]

Which switch does Cherry sell the most? MX Browns.

Lifehacker called Browns "some of the most popular on the market."

Ergodox says Browns are "our most popular switch."

PCGamer.com prattled, "A good blend of typing and gaming. Cherry MX Brown is widely considered the best 'middle-ground' switch... Its tactile bump, silent travel, and medium actuation force makes it versatile."

CODE says, "[We offer] the wildly popular Cherry MX Brown mechanical keyswitches... [They] are very balanced for typing or gaming excellence."

Yeah, well—blah, blah, blah.

As more than one GH member has astutely observed, MX Browns feel like MX Reds with sand in them. It's such a dead-accurate description, it baffles me why those guys above didn't say something like, "MX Browns are Cherry's most popular switch, even though they feel like MX Reds with sand in them, so go figure." I can only surmise that strangely focused cosmic rays disrupted their brains and prevented them from finishing that otherwise bloody obvious sentence.

Is it just a coincidence that Cherry made MX Browns the color of excrement? I don't think so.

If you don't like MX Browns, please post your honest, uninhibited, pedal-to-the-floor opinions here.

If you do like Browns, there are lots of other threads, so please go away and post in some of those instead. We're not interested in groundless, pathetic whinging proving only that Browns have clouded your judgment.

Some peeps are so brainwashed by the Brown's supposed popularity, they're convinced they should like them—and that if they don't, there's something wrong with them, not the switches.

When others start using the bumpy, scratchy things, it apparently creates an subconscious, hypnotic effect that transports them to a dreamy magical brown world where they're so busy floating around humming and smiling and eating brown candy or whatever that they don't realize they're thumping away on gritty, icky, scratchy excuses for switches they could be using to polish beach rocks.

Press, scratch, bump, scratch... Bleah! MX Browns.





OK, now you.

[tp4tissue]

They're uber bad when new..

Broken in , they're not toooo awful

OVERALL.. they're p00py

n00bers buy them because they read internet, and never had the time to compare.

[sncbraxsc2]

but have you ever tried vintage browns ??

[vegs]

but have you ever tried vintage browns ??

I have, they are still bad. Smoother, sure, but still pretty bad in my opinion.

I know some people like the close to non-existent tactile bump in mx browns, but I just find it annoying The only reason I'd use MX browns would be to mix things up a bit. They're in the same category as clickies for me. Interesting for a short amount of time, then just annoying

[Sup]

I don't like browns as well but what can you do. The mainstream only knows of 4 switches Red,Black,Brown,Blue. And it doesn't help that people see Chinese switches as a inferior product to cherry's switches.

[Halverson]

Wow “mx red with sand in them”. That’s how I describe it to anyone that asks about switches. Research before GH led me to believe they were the best, what a lie.

[Signature]

Wow “mx red with sand in them”. That’s how I describe it to anyone that asks about switches. Research before GH led me to believe they were the best, what a lie.

Same, when I researched my first kb it was common thought that browns were the ultimate switch (just before the ergo clear bandwagon). I have always hated that MX brown board.

[Kavik]

The only full board I've tried them in was a Kinesis Advantage. They didn't seem as terrible as I thought, but I was more focused on the weird layout than the key feel.

I have one MX Brown in a switch tester, and I understand the hatred from that. As someone who doesn't think Zealios have enough tactility, I can't imagine even noticing the bump in browns when typing. I have to say that I'm sometimes tempted by the ultra cheap boards with MX Browns just to try them out.

[SBJ]

I gave away my mx brown board because I hated it.
My friend really loved it though so it turned out for the best.

[ArchDill]

This is how I view MX Browns...

[Halverson]

Wow “mx red with sand in them”. That’s how I describe it to anyone that asks about switches. Research before GH led me to believe they were the best, what a lie.

Same, when I researched my first kb it was common thought that browns were the ultimate switch (just before the ergo clear bandwagon). I have always hated that MX brown board.

I was lucky and fell in love with the Ducky Year of the Rabbit, only option were blacks. Ducky saved my soul.

[chyros]

'Sup.

[Tom_Kazansky]

n00bers buy them because they read internet, and never had the time to compare.

yeah... I read the internet and buy them as my first mech
after trying MX Blue, I never touch Brown again.

Wow “mx red with sand in them”. That’s how I describe it to anyone that asks about switches. Research before GH led me to believe they were the best, what a lie.

exactly

[xarkkon]

Read about them around the time I first started learning about keebs (was using a blackwidow then). Sounded like heaven. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS! Tactile... but quiet!

Met someone who had reds and browns. Learnt the painful truth that very day.

Best of both worlds? More like a switch that can't make up it's f-ing mind!

[livewirerc]

I'd only tried blues or reds, and I wanted something quiet I could use in the office so my first two mechanical keyboards were a Magicforce and a KUL with MX brown switches.

Whoops. I wish I'd tried a keyboard with broken-in blacks sooner. Or clears. Or anything else. My browns sit in their boxes, while I use everything else. Lately topre 55gm have been my one true switch. I've converted 2 HHKBs to 55gm with type-s sliders and they're my favorites.

[jamster]

OP was hilarious, and it's all true.

(Though TBH I feel largely the same way about all stock MX switches, I just don't like Cherry.)

[SpAmRaY]

I thought I hated mx browns until I got a leopold 980m PD with them, been using them everyday since.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Darkside]

MX Browns feel like MX Reds with sand in them

YES. That's exactly what they feel like hahaha

[Findecanor]

The only full board I've tried them in was a Kinesis Advantage. They didn't seem as terrible as I thought, but I was more focused on the weird layout than the key feel.

They were in fact designed for the Kinesis in the first place. I agree that they work much better there than on a flat keyboard where your fingers don't press the keys in the same way.

Ergodox says Browns are "our most popular switch."

That's ErgoDox EZ, which is a company that sells ready-made ErgoDoxen. ErgoDox is open hardware, designed by people on this board. It came about partly through discussions here on Geekhack.

[Photoelectric]

It might seem like there are a lot of people who like and recommend MX Browns, but there are also a lot of people who just love to talk about how terrible MX Browns are--this thread is not the first and not the last of its kind.  Seems super subjective, and the only right answer is to try them out and decide for one's self.  MX Brown is a very polarizing switch, for some reason.  They are still a safe intro to mechanical switches coming from rubber domes and not being alienated by really clicky or oddly linear varieties, but a bad batch (scratchy) can create a very negative impression.  People who tend to bottom out a lot when typing and not be sensitive to small variations in tactility might also not like MX Browns.  Personally there are almost no switches that I hate, but I strongly dislike switches with sharp, prominent tactility (like Box Royals) or wobbly-too-long-bump of 62-65g swapped spring MX Clears.  I have a healthy appreciation for good smooth MX Browns, even after having tried dozens upon dozens of different stock and modded switches.

[ollir_]

I have a healthy appreciation for good smooth MX Browns, even after having tried dozens upon dozens of different stock and modded switches.

Wrong thread, mate!

[chyros]

The point of these switches is just beyond me. The tactility is laughable. What's the point?!

[pr0ximity]

The point of these switches is just beyond me. The tactility is laughable. What's the point?!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=98778.msg2698969#msg2698969

[Rumblehotep]

Anyone try mx brown in panda housing with gateron clear springs?

[Myth]

Describing Browns as tactile switches is insulting to all the real tactile switches

[ander]

This is how I view MX Browns...
(Attachment Link)

LOL. What if they were actually that big?

The point of these switches is just beyond me. The tactility is laughable. What's the point?!

Exactly! They're a weirdly apologetic switch. "Okay, I don't want to offend anyone by clicking, but I'll make a little bump so people don't consider me completely boring. Not a significant bump, though, because that may offend the person who's typing on me... Best to play it safe all around."

The point of these switches is just beyond me. The tactility is laughable. What's the point?!

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=98778.msg2698969#msg2698969

It might seem like there are a lot of people who like and recommend MX Browns, but there are also a lot of people who just love to talk about how terrible MX Browns are--this thread is not the first and not the last of its kind.  Seems super subjective, and the only right answer is to try them out and decide for one's self.  MX Brown is a very polarizing switch, for some reason.  They are still a safe intro to mechanical switches coming from rubber domes and not being alienated by really clicky or oddly linear varieties, but a bad batch (scratchy) can create a very negative impression.  People who tend to bottom out a lot when typing and not be sensitive to small variations in tactility might also not like MX Browns.  Personally there are almost no switches that I hate, but I strongly dislike switches with sharp, prominent tactility (like Box Royals) or wobbly-too-long-bump of 62-65g swapped spring MX Clears.  I have a healthy appreciation for good smooth MX Browns, even after having tried dozens upon dozens of different stock and modded switches.

Anyone try mx brown in panda housing with gateron clear springs?

Read about them around the time I first started learning about keebs (was using a blackwidow then). Sounded like heaven. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS! Tactile... but quiet! ... Met someone who had reds and browns. Learnt the painful truth that very day... Best of both worlds? More like a switch that can't make up it's f-ing mind!

Yep!

Describing Browns as tactile switches is insulting to all the real tactile switches

Yet Deskthority says:

Nowadays, the Cherry MX Brown is a popular switch and available from Cherry directly. Many mechanical keyboards continue to be available with Cherry MX Brown switches. It was voted Best keyboard switch at the Deskthority Awards 2011.

It's a wacky world.

[BundleOfJoysticks]

I hate them











a lot less than I hate blues.

[fanpeople]

Mx browns are turds.... mx are turds... real men use rubbers.