Author Topic: Cherry MX silent discussion. (Read 8818 times)

Sup · « **on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 06:48:36 »

So since a few days i build a keyboard with 60g silent switches with clear Gateron top housing lubed with krytox. They do feel smooth and super silent to the point i don't know if i bottomed out or not

. They do feel weird because of the shorter travel and me going back to heavy 60g switches. I will get used to the heavy feeling of the MX black springs that is not a problem i used to type on blue alps. But it feels super weird hearing almost nothing when bottoming out and feeling a soft cushion when bottoming out.

So my point of this post is what is your experience with silent MX switches when you used it for the first time?

Polymer · « **Reply #1 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 07:36:17 »

I noticed that the travel is slightly less but it isn't a big deal...

For me they feel better than using o-rings...and I agree, they actually feel slightly heavier than they're supposed to be...

oumakavoula · « **Reply #2 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 07:51:30 »

I'd like to try some to make a 60% for work but i'm afraid i'll hate the short travel

davkol · « **Reply #3 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 08:56:04 »

MX Silent Black, when I tried it, felt… rubbery. During the whole travel, as if the stems were damped on the sides as well. Weird. I haven't had this issue with other damped switches (Alps SKCM Damped White, Matias Quiet Click, Aliaz) or with QMX Clips.

I haven't kept them in active use, because I don't really need damping that much. It turns out that my fingertips hitting keycaps tops produce noise comparable to switch release or very soft if any bottoming out.

JianYang · « **Reply #4 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 09:36:37 »

Yeah, the real way to get around switch noise is to type on an MX Blue keyboard until someone complains, then switch to Reds or your favorite tactile and everybody will thank you for it

Sup · « **Reply #5 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 09:55:20 »

Quote from: oumakavoula on Fri, 25 May 2018, 07:51:30

I'd like to try some to make a 60% for work but i'm afraid i'll hate the short travel

The travel it feels like i lost 1/8 of the travel down. It doesn't feel bad but weird something you should get used to if you want to go the silent way. At the moment i am using it at work and i only hear cheap rubberdome keyboards going ham while mine is almost silent

. In the begin it felt weird and i only managed to get 84 wpm after some time i got back up to 90-105. so yeah it isn't for anyone but its interesting. but it's still comfortable to type on i can give you that.

Sup · « **Reply #6 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 10:01:32 »

Quote from: JianYang on Fri, 25 May 2018, 09:36:37

Yeah, the real way to get around switch noise is to type on an MX Blue keyboard until someone complains, then switch to Reds or your favorite tactile and everybody will thank you for it

Don't want to stand out

.

killyou · « **Reply #7 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 10:18:55 »

If one wants regular 4mm travel and silent switches then just get Gateron Silent Blacks. Also the rubber is thinner there so when you bottom out it's silent but you can't feel the soft rubber, it feels solid.

Source: I own 70pcs of Gateron Silent Black and used to own couple of Cherry MX Silent Blacks and Silent Red.

floristfran · « **Reply #8 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 14:00:54 »

ive only used them at a meetup but WOW i love them, something about that slightly rubbery keyfeel that i go crazy for tbh

DALExSNAIL · « **Reply #9 on:** Fri, 25 May 2018, 14:06:28 »

Have silent reds in my filco, and love them. Tried the same ones in a corsair board and they were almost unusable.

Considering desoldering them to lube them up though.

Kavik · « **Reply #10 on:** Sun, 10 June 2018, 00:27:58 »

I did a build with MX Blacks, lubed and filmed with 100g springs. They were obnoxiously heavy with SA keycaps, unusable. When I put OEM profile Tai Hao keycaps on them, they actually felt decent though, but still a little ridiculous.

I think if I put maybe 80g springs in them, they would be enjoyable. They are very, very quiet and fairly smooth. I have to say that I miss the clack with them. They're a little *too* quiet. The reduced travel didn't bother me much, and I agree they do feel slightly "rubbery" even before lubing.

jcoffin1981 · « **Reply #11 on:** Sun, 10 June 2018, 05:58:12 »

To me the decreased switch noise along with shorter travel sounds like a winner all around.

zslane · « **Reply #12 on:** Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36 »

I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

tp4tissue · « **Reply #13 on:** Sun, 10 June 2018, 16:19:58 »

Stealth mode..

killyou · « **Reply #14 on:** Tue, 12 June 2018, 07:02:39 »

Quote from: zslane on Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36

I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

I tried Cherry MX Silent Blacks and Gateron Silent Blacks and to me Gateron Silent series is scratchier than Cherry. To get the proper switch you would probably have to wait for silent Tealio from Zeal or go with Cherry Silent Red and lube it. Cherry silents come with shorter travel while gaterons have regular 4mm travel. Also worth noting is the fact that Gaterons rubber is sticky while Cherry and one Zilent that I tried doesn't seem to be affected.

DALExSNAIL · « **Reply #15 on:** Tue, 12 June 2018, 07:58:10 »

Quote from: zslane on Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36

I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

I hear you on the slider friction, This board Im using would sound much nicer with some lube I think, but I am way way to lazy to desolder and resolder this back together. Might be worth it in the long run though, really like them so far.

Just using them for a small amount of time has them feeling very smooth, it's just the sound that is scratchy for me.

Sup · « **Reply #16 on:** Tue, 12 June 2018, 08:05:10 »

since this discussion is back to the top. I will give my feedback about the silent switches. after a few weeks the normal shorter travel feels normal to me but the bottoming out feeling doesn't feel good as a regular switch. I think the rubber personal feels weird and not nice with bottoming out but it does a great job at silencing the bottoming out and return noise of the switch.

lemur · « **Reply #17 on:** Tue, 12 June 2018, 16:14:37 »

I think cherry silent switches are pretty great, by far my favorite switch to type on as a daily switch right now. At first the rubbery bottom out is kinda not-great.. but I kept going back to them over normal linears and tactiles....

They do not feel 'scratchy' to me but they are slightly noisy without a good lube job, for sure can also report the 'shuff shuff' noise... which doesn't exactly go away but can be made better.

Overall I think it is a good switch.

BUT... Without lube row 1 SA profile caps bind pretty noticeably on 'upside down' switches that have the LED/slot on the north side... especially when you press them towards the top tip of the keycap... Maybe they break in after a short period, I have no idea because I lubed them up after noticing this... but some part of the rubber bumper is binding all the way as they travel down the slider. it goes away with some lube, in my experience at least...

This binding is probably? mainly a problem for people with pre-built boards ..as so many seem to have the LED facing north on them these days...

I honestly didn't check to see if it happened if the switch was facing 'south' i.e. 'not upside down'..

blighty · « **Reply #18 on:** Tue, 12 June 2018, 18:20:22 »

I use Cherry silent reds with SA caps with no problems on any of the rows. All my switches are in the standard south-facing position. I used to put one or more large o-rings inside of the caps, in part to add a bit more weight to the caps, and to deaden the sound that the empty space underneath the caps can make. With the Cherry MX silent reds, I don't need to have the o-rings at all (but I still leave them in for a more solid sound/feel/less reverberation).

Riverman · « **Reply #19 on:** Wed, 13 June 2018, 12:58:58 »

I had a Cherry G80-3494 with silent reds, and I didn't like them. It's hard to say what I didn't like about them, but they felt mushy and it definitely felt like travel was reduced. Part of the mushiness could have been because the keyboard itself was so flexy, and I have to admit the silence was amazing.. I've gotten used to MX browns with QMX Clips, which have a similarly slightly reduced travel and are about as quiet, so it may just have been my dislike of linear switches that turned me off. I'd love it if Cherry made a silent brown switch since there are some keycaps that QMX clips just don't work with, and they're hard to come by.

zslane · « **Reply #20 on:** Wed, 13 June 2018, 13:47:49 »

I think Gateron has a silent brown switch now, but AFAIK nobody offers a keyboard with it yet.

TheNamesTy45 · « **Reply #21 on:** Wed, 13 June 2018, 22:47:55 »

Quote from: zslane on Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36

I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

Yeah, that "shuff" noise got on my nerves. Only thing I found to stop it is Zealios housing with lube.

MrDongblaster · « **Reply #22 on:** Wed, 13 June 2018, 23:33:41 »

I honestly really like the silent gat blacks in my 75%. Yeah, you can tell the travel is a little more shallow, but it doesn't feel bad to me. The case I use tends to have a little ping with other switches, but is nice and muted with the silents.

Sup · « **Reply #23 on:** Thu, 14 June 2018, 04:49:55 »

Quote from: TheNamesTy45 on Wed, 13 June 2018, 22:47:55

Quote from: zslane on Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36
I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

Yeah, that "shuff" noise got on my nerves. Only thing I found to stop it is Zealios housing with lube.

I changed the top housing to Gateron. It has way more wobbel now but the annoying sounds shuf sound is gone i also lubed the switches with krytox.

elcubismo · « **Reply #24 on:** Thu, 14 June 2018, 10:23:00 »

Quote from: Sup on Thu, 14 June 2018, 04:49:55

Quote from: TheNamesTy45 on Wed, 13 June 2018, 22:47:55
Quote from: zslane on Sun, 10 June 2018, 11:29:36
I just wish the sliders were factory lubed and the bottom pads were a tiny bit thinner. I don't want to hear any slider friction, and I'd like to hear a soft "thump" on bottoming out. Silent reds make a less-than-satisfying shuff shuff shuff sound when typing. Are Gateron silent reds any better than the Cherries in either regard?

Yeah, that "shuff" noise got on my nerves. Only thing I found to stop it is Zealios housing with lube.
I changed the top housing to Gateron. It has way more wobbel now but the annoying sounds shuf sound is gone i also lubed the switches with krytox.

Have you tried switch films? Perhaps you can reduce the wobble with that.

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Author Topic: Cherry MX silent discussion. (Read 8818 times)