[GB] Gateron Switch (CLOSED)

[lalien]

Got mine ! (300 swiches in the UK)

[TLExile]

Nothing here for toronto, customs is a real pain sometimes

[asdfjkl36]

Damn you post lady!
She is lazy and never want to get out of her car so packages that don't fit in the mailbox are marked as "Notice Left" but she doesn't even leave a notice!!! EVER!!!!

Now I have to wait till Monday to pick it up and I ain't got time for that -__-

[Mooksie]

Got my clears yesterday, modded them late into the night(lube and 62g springs), and soldered them into my KUL today. Shadovved, you're the man. This is the best and fastest groupbuy I've ever been apart of. Thank you <3



REVIEW - These gateron linear clears are the smoothest I think cherry MX can possibly be. They are literally FRICTIONLESS. If reds feel like pencil on paper, these feel like rubbing a warm stick of butter in a hot frypan. If you press a switch down slowly, you feel no little bumps or scratches or anything. I think this is as good as cherry mx can get for me, next is to add topre and buckling springs to my collection. (X-post from reddit)

[hwood34]

Got my clears yesterday, modded them late into the night(lube and 62g springs), and soldered them into my KUL today. Shadovved, you're the man. This is the best and fastest groupbuy I've ever been apart of. Thank you <3

Show Image

REVIEW - These gateron linear clears are the smoothest I think cherry MX can possibly be. They are literally FRICTIONLESS. If reds feel like pencil on paper, these feel like rubbing a warm stick of butter in a hot frypan. If you press a switch down slowly, you feel no little bumps or scratches or anything. I think this is as good as cherry mx can get for me, next is to add topre and buckling springs to my collection. (X-post from reddit)

lookin good :thumb:

[Magna224]

Got mine last week. Thanks a lot! Everything went amazing.

[feizor]

REVIEW - These gateron linear clears are the smoothest I think cherry MX can possibly be. They are literally FRICTIONLESS. If reds feel like pencil on paper, these feel like rubbing a warm stick of butter in a hot frypan. If you press a switch down slowly, you feel no little bumps or scratches or anything. I think this is as good as cherry mx can get for me, next is to add topre and buckling springs to my collection. (X-post from reddit)

Technically these are not 'cherry MX' 

[shrapneL]

Got my switches earlier in the week. Thanks again hwood and shadov!

[awhitedev]

A quick observation I made...

If you have a board where your switch tops show and you don't like the translucent or clear tops provided by this group buy... a black switch top from a Cherry MX switch actually works just as well. The Cherry tops fit just as snugly as the Gateron ones do and do not cause the switch to wiggle as Cherry switches do. The "optimal girth" Gateron speaks of appears to be with the bottom portion of the housing and not the top.



Edit: 200th post! 

[Mooksie]

I don't know if it's just me, but I actually found the gaterons to be much more wobbly than stock cherries. Side to side and front to back.                           

[awhitedev]

I don't know if it's just me, but I actually found the gaterons to be much more wobbly than stock cherries. Side to side and front to back.                         

Oh really? Hmm... What's your setup like? Are you plate or PCB mounting them?

[ideus]

A quick observation I made...

If you have a board where your switch tops show and you don't like the translucent or clear tops provided by this group buy... a black switch top from a Cherry MX switch actually works just as well. The Cherry tops fit just as snugly as the Gateron ones do and do not cause the switch to wiggle as Cherry switches do. The "optimal girth" Gateron speaks of appears to be with the bottom portion of the housing and not the top.

(Attachment Link)

Edit: 200th post! 

One of the reasons I got them was the translucent material, I am a little tired of the black cherry housings.

[Hoaryhag]

Damn you post lady!
She is lazy and never want to get out of her car so packages that don't fit in the mailbox are marked as "Notice Left" but she doesn't even leave a notice!!! EVER!!!!

Now I have to wait till Monday to pick it up and I ain't got time for that -__-

I'd call the post office and let them know what she is up to.  Postage paid, service nill.  My post lady brought something to the door twice last week, thx Shadovved.

[hwood34]

im still lookin to trade 90 blues for 90 browns

[BlindLemonLipschitz]

Damn you post lady!
She is lazy and never want to get out of her car so packages that don't fit in the mailbox are marked as "Notice Left" but she doesn't even leave a notice!!! EVER!!!!

Now I have to wait till Monday to pick it up and I ain't got time for that -__-

I'd call the post office and let them know what she is up to.  Postage paid, service nill.  My post lady brought something to the door twice last week, thx Shadovved.

my post lady used to do that too. I asked her about it, and she said her manager said it was up to her discretion if she wanted to bring packages to my door. I filled out a complaint online( I couldn't find a link, here is a # though 1-800-ASK-USPS ). Her boss called me and apologized. He gave me a number to call if she did it again. I haven't had any problems since.

[phx]

anyone got like a few spare blues? I bought 100 and just decided I want to put this on a full 104 board :\

thanks!

[potatowire]

For the sake of the weight/count question, I ordered 300 blacks, and they came in two bags of 150. One bag was perfect, and the other was three short. No complaints...

I use an electronic balance to weigh the switches, uncertainty is around +-2. Sorry about that

Shadovved,

You definitely don't owe me an apology! I ordered 10% more than I thought I would need anyway, and by using a scale instead of counting, you were able to get these out to us impossibly fast. I would take that trade-off any day. Thank you for your hard work!

-potatowire

[E3E]

Damn, wish I wouldn't have missed this group buy, the prices on Massdrop are terrible compared to how cheap this GB is! D:

[VanGhost]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Asininity]

I received all of my switches a few days ago. They all seem to be in good condition. Haven't counted them out, but it looks like it is all there!

[Moderate]

I must be getting wrecked by Aussie customs. The switches were sent last Monday, but there still hasn't been an update beyond that - not even an indication of arrival. The wait is painful

[wlhlm]

I must be getting wrecked by Aussie customs. The switches were sent last Monday, but there still hasn't been an update beyond that - not even an indication of arrival. The wait is painful

German customs is killing me as well!

[leesofi]

I got, but omitted 300blacks and 5 clears from my order. The box was too small to filled my total order.

[Shadovved]

I got, but omitted 300blacks and 5 clears from my order. The box was too small to filled my total order.

I probably missed out your 300 blacks

5 clears was my margin of error. I'll send it to you then.

[leesofi]

I got, but omitted 300blacks and 5 clears from my order. The box was too small to filled my total order.

I probably missed out your 300 blacks

5 clears was my margin of error. I'll send it to you then.

Thanks.

[alex952]

So jealous of everyone with their switches home already  My tracker info hasn't changed since the date of dispatch, so no idea how long it will still take..

[ideus]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

It should not happen; question, does it happen with all the row profiles - of the key caps - ?

[rpeterclark]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

It should not happen; question, does it happen with all the row profiles - of the key caps - ?

This has been reported before: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70376.0

The reported solution was to flatten a bit of plastic on the housing.

[VanGhost]

I don't get it, what separates a HHKB from any other 60% keyboard?

Buy one and never look back. Ordered a second the other day and getting rid of all my other boards.

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

It should not happen; question, does it happen with all the row profiles - of the key caps - ?

This has been reported before: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70376.0

The reported solution was to flatten a bit of plastic on the housing.

Wow, thank you man. That post is describing the same exact problem as me. My switch housings look a little different and there is no lip like the one shown on that thread, but I filed down the side that the cap was catching on and that fixed my problem. I guess this is another tedious step before spring swapping and lubing.

[rpeterclark]

I don't get it, what separates a HHKB from any other 60% keyboard?

Buy one and never look back. Ordered a second the other day and getting rid of all my other boards.

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

It should not happen; question, does it happen with all the row profiles - of the key caps - ?

This has been reported before: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70376.0

The reported solution was to flatten a bit of plastic on the housing.

Wow, thank you man. That post is describing the same exact problem as me. My switch housings look a little different and there is no lip like the one shown on that thread, but I filed down the side that the cap was catching on and that fixed my problem. I guess this is another tedious step before spring swapping and lubing.

Yeah I find it a little worrying that there are already a number of reports of problematic housings and corroded leaves in the Gaterons, with so few people having received them yet. They seem to have tolerance and quality control issues that Cheery doesn't have. I have a batch on the way still from this GB and am looking forward to seeing how they are.

[ideus]

This GB was a sort of experiment for the community on this new offering. In order to capitalize the learning, it would be great if reports on actual issues with the switches are compiled to provide feedback to the manufacturer. Maybe the organizers, that have the contact with them could do that.

[metalliqaz]

So far I really like my Gateron Browns.  So much so I actually ordered another set from the recently completed MD buy.  I have no reason to expect trouble, but if they have reliability problems in the future I will report back here.  I think the smoothness is totally over blown.  If anything it has more friction than the Cherry MX, but the different plastic sounds better.

[VanGhost]

I don't get it, what separates a HHKB from any other 60% keyboard?

Buy one and never look back. Ordered a second the other day and getting rid of all my other boards.

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I've run into some problems with my Gaterons. I haven't installed them yet, but after swapping out the springs and testing the weight I noticed that my caps (GMK) catch on the switch housing. I believe it is the bottom of the stem hitting against the lip of the rectangle that the slide descends into. This only happens on the side opposite the Gateron logo. When I push the cap even slightly in that direction (towards myself if they were installed) the cap "sticks" and won't go down without a lot of force. Other than that the switches are super smooth. This the first time I've dealt with switches of any kind outside of a keyboard, so I don't know if this is normal or if it wouldn't happen once they're installed. This isn't a problem with all of the switches, but it does effect most of them (only 4 of the 20 that I tested worked without catching).

I don't know if I described what's happening very well, and if anyone has any tips or suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

It should not happen; question, does it happen with all the row profiles - of the key caps - ?

This has been reported before: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=70376.0

The reported solution was to flatten a bit of plastic on the housing.

Wow, thank you man. That post is describing the same exact problem as me. My switch housings look a little different and there is no lip like the one shown on that thread, but I filed down the side that the cap was catching on and that fixed my problem. I guess this is another tedious step before spring swapping and lubing.

Yeah I find it a little worrying that there are already a number of reports of problematic housings and corroded leaves in the Gaterons, with so few people having received them yet. They seem to have tolerance and quality control issues that Cheery doesn't have. I have a batch on the way still from this GB and am looking forward to seeing how they are.

After going through and doing this to a few switches, they no longer catch, but there is a little bump that I don't think I can get rid of without filing down the entire side of the housing that the cap stem rubs against. It sort of ruins the insane smoothness of these switches.

The QC is definitely an issue, they were so cheap that I'm not too upset though.

[FoC_Tow]

My Gaterons are still on the fly, but I ordered quite a few and plan on doing some more investigating and testing once they get here.

Im not really as concerned about corrosion, because cherry switch leafs are mostly bare copper as well (with only the contact points being plated) and you still don't see coroded cherry seitches that often.

Going by other peoples reviews it also sounded like mainly switch top and slider are responsible for the increased smoothness over genuine mx, so if corrosion really becomes an issue there is still the option to change the bottoms for cherry ones. =)

[rpeterclark]

My Gaterons are still on the fly, but I ordered quite a few and plan on doing some more investigating and testing once they get here.

Im not really as concerned about corrosion, because cherry switch leafs are mostly bare copper as well (with only the contact points being plated) and you still don't see coroded cherry seitches that often.

Going by other peoples reviews it also sounded like mainly switch top and slider are responsible for the increased smoothness over genuine mx, so if corrosion really becomes an issue there is still the option to change the bottoms for cherry ones. =)

I only mentioned corrosion because a couple users reported finding a number of them in new batches. Odd, but there it is.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71364.msg1728547#msg1728547 (10% of new batch was corroded)
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71288.10

[Asininity]

I have neither had a issue with corrosion or the PCB legs. The only PCB I have at the moment is for the six-shooter, but it fits fine.

[FoC_Tow]

My Gaterons are still on the fly, but I ordered quite a few and plan on doing some more investigating and testing once they get here.

Im not really as concerned about corrosion, because cherry switch leafs are mostly bare copper as well (with only the contact points being plated) and you still don't see coroded cherry seitches that often.

Going by other peoples reviews it also sounded like mainly switch top and slider are responsible for the increased smoothness over genuine mx, so if corrosion really becomes an issue there is still the option to change the bottoms for cherry ones. =)

I only mentioned corrosion because a couple users reported finding a number of them in new batches. Odd, but there it is.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71364.msg1728547#msg1728547 (10% of new batch was corroded)
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71288.10

I've seen the pictures as well rpeter and got slightly worried at first tbh.
On the other hand the same thread also shows pictures of corroded cherry switches tho and comparing them the differences seem not to be as big.

From what I understand, both Cherry and Gateron seem to have plated cross points only, so the majority of the copper leaf is actually non plated for both and could potentially have corrosion issues.

I guess there could also be a difference in the copper or gold plating used, but from what I understand Gaterons might still be just as durable as Cherry switches. And the fact there is a small amount of corroded switches might just be related to storing/shipping conditions or quality control rather then the actual durability of the switches.

So Im not as concerned for now, as none of those Gaterons has corroded in a regular use case environment inside a board. (especially if frequently used so the cross points get some friction/wear to keep them polished and stop patina from building up as much)

[awhitedev]

My Gaterons are still on the fly, but I ordered quite a few and plan on doing some more investigating and testing once they get here.

Im not really as concerned about corrosion, because cherry switch leafs are mostly bare copper as well (with only the contact points being plated) and you still don't see coroded cherry seitches that often.

Going by other peoples reviews it also sounded like mainly switch top and slider are responsible for the increased smoothness over genuine mx, so if corrosion really becomes an issue there is still the option to change the bottoms for cherry ones. =)

I only mentioned corrosion because a couple users reported finding a number of them in new batches. Odd, but there it is.
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71364.msg1728547#msg1728547 (10% of new batch was corroded)
https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=71288.10

I've seen the pictures as well rpeter and got slightly worried at first tbh.
On the other hand the same thread also shows pictures of corroded cherry switches tho and comparing them the differences seem not to be as big.

From what I understand, both Cherry and Gateron seem to have plated cross points only, so the majority of the copper leaf is actually non plated for both and could potentially have corrosion issues.

I guess there could also be a difference in the copper or gold plating used, but from what I understand Gaterons might still be just as durable as Cherry switches. And the fact there is a small amount of corroded switches might just be related to storing/shipping conditions or quality control rather then the actual durability of the switches.

So Im not as concerned for now, as none of those Gaterons has corroded in a regular use case environment inside a board. (especially if frequently used so the cross points get some friction/wear to keep them polished and stop patina from building up as much)

Interesting. Do Gateron's have the same 50 million click life-cycle as Cherry? have they ever been tested in this manner?

[FoC_Tow]

Interesting. Do Gateron's have the same 50 million click life-cycle as Cherry? have they ever been tested in this manner?

I don't think anyone can really answer how durable Gateron exactly will turn out to be on the long term since no one seems to have been using them for a long enough period of time to actually report failures as far as I know.

Cherry usually does loads of durability testing, with switches being hammered (pretty hard) for 50 million and more click cycles, while comparing the 'force curves' and therefore tactility and feedback for example.
50 million click cycles I believe is not actually the estimated limit for the lifetime of the switch, but pretty much as far as they felt comfortable releasing the results showing a very consistent feedback over such a long period of time.
(They even do testing under crazy temperatures, quick temp changes, humidity etc)

So its really hard to compare since we don't have as detailed long time testing for Gaterons.
I don't know if Gaterons have ever been tested in this manner, but I don't know of any public released results so far.

[Red_dino]

My switches were released from Opa Locka last night and made their way to my door by today! The blacks are not perfectly un-gritty and a little heavy, but overall it's the best linear experience I've had. I can't wait to solder them up and start using them! Thanks Shadovved!

[CommonCurt]

Got mine today.  Thanks Shadovved & Hwood 

[Ngt]

I did thanks Shadovved but I forgot Hwood! My very bad! I love you too hwood    and thanks for everything you've done.

[atectatifern]

Picked up my switches from the post office today--thanks HWood and Shadovved for all the work! Now to go fill a pool with switches and roll around in them like Scrooge McDuck, um, I mean wait for the Infinity and shop for interesting 40/60% kits.

[hwood34]

Now to go fill a pool with switches and roll around in them like Scrooge McDuck

never let anyone tell you you can't achieve your dreams

[swill]

A quick observation I made...

If you have a board where your switch tops show and you don't like the translucent or clear tops provided by this group buy... a black switch top from a Cherry MX switch actually works just as well. The Cherry tops fit just as snugly as the Gateron ones do and do not cause the switch to wiggle as Cherry switches do. The "optimal girth" Gateron speaks of appears to be with the bottom portion of the housing and not the top.

(Attachment Link)

Edit: 200th post! 

Thanks for posting this, that's a good thing to know.

[VanGhost]

A quick observation I made...

If you have a board where your switch tops show and you don't like the translucent or clear tops provided by this group buy... a black switch top from a Cherry MX switch actually works just as well. The Cherry tops fit just as snugly as the Gateron ones do and do not cause the switch to wiggle as Cherry switches do. The "optimal girth" Gateron speaks of appears to be with the bottom portion of the housing and not the top.

(Attachment Link)

Edit: 200th post! 

Thanks for posting this, that's a good thing to know.

Does this effect the smoothness?

[mlng]

Just reporting in that mine's arrived safely here in Sydney.  Haven't counted them but am happy to have the box of blues and browns on my desk. 

Many thanks to Shadovved and hwood for the smooth GB!

[CPTBadAss]

My box just arrived but I haven't counted them yet. Regardless, thanks shadovved and hwood34.

Now did anyone order extra Browns? I'd like to get my hands on 4 just to try out .

[Flyersfan1]

My box just arrived but I haven't counted them yet. Regardless, thanks shadovved and hwood34.

Now did anyone order extra Browns? I'd like to get my hands on 4 just to try out .

pm me your address son.

[omen7288]

Got mine in! Thanks Shadovved and hwood34



Left to right: Clears, blues, blacks, browns, switch tops.

So far, don't think I like the browns, or the clears. The browns feel muddy (I should caveat that I don't like cherry mx browns either) and the clears might be too light like other posts have mentioned. Blacks feel good on their own (not sure how long it would take to get used to stiffness on a full board). Blues are good.

However... The first two blues I pulled out of the bag felt inconsistent in terms of the pressure needed for the click. One needed more pressure to activate and the click was louder. This was even after I lubed it which is interesting. I grabbed a bunch out the bag and checked for consistency and they seemed pretty good, so maybe the one I happened to grab was not as good.

I'll have to upload more pictures when I have time for a build with these.