Blacks: heavy spring, heavier than Cherry Blacks and, from memory, Clears. Not as smooth as I was expecting. They felt a little gritty to me too. They're more stable, but not buttery smooth. Still nice.
Are you comparing against vintage or worn-in Cherry MX? When I tested, I found them to be more smooth than brand new switches but less smooth than my vintage switches.
When I placed a new Cherry MX Black switch against a Gateron Black and pressed together, the Gateron started moving first indicating that it has a lighter starting resistance.
I usually use used Black switches, whether you want to call them vintage or broken in. They don't seem much better than the ones in my QFR, but they are a little better. When I press them slowly, it does feel almost like there's a thin layer of dust or plastic powder or something in them, making them gritty. It's not bad (more noticeable on the Clears), but they were hyped so much that I expected them to feel like Krytox lubed Blacks. Fake Edit: I just played with them and if you hit the Gaterons head on, perfectly straight up and down, they're very smooth. If you hit them off center, they get that gritty feel.
I was going from memory in at lunch time with the Black springs, so I could be off, but they did feel heavy to me. Not in a bad way though. Fake edit: I just tried the unscientific test you tried. Maybe it's because the Blacks are used or on a plate, but the Cherry Blacks moved a little first, then the Gateron Blacks moved, then it was the Cherry Black again.
I'm interested to see how the Blues are when I get the ones from the giveaway.
Fake edits because I typed the comment, went away, came back and added impressions before posting.
Blacks: heavy spring, heavier than Cherry Blacks and, from memory, Clears.
Is this consistent throughout multiple switches? Rip-O-Meter says same as MX Black.
In my unscientific testing (then again, the Rip-O-Meter is scientific), yes. That could be the result of used vs new though.
