Ducky's XM Mechanical Key Switches

[win]

Geekhack, allow myself to introduce . . . myself. Anyway, first post. :wave:

I'm generally curious about Ducky's XM mechanical key switches (XM 機械式軸承). There's an XM Green shaft (XM 綠軸) and XM Black shaft (XM 黑軸). It seems like these are ALPS(?) and very light ALPS by ALPS standards, the XM Green being even lighter than Cherry Blues and XM Black being not particularly heavy, despite Ducky's chart.

Can anyone share any more information about these switches? I am particularly interested in the XM Blacks, and their actuation force, for example, compared to Cherry Blacks and Buckling Spring, and if they really are linear.

[Av180]

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[win]

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Oh no, I'm not thinking of buying one of these Ducky boards. I'm just curious about the switch itself.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

WTF? XMs are pretty much the stiffest switch on the face of the planet. I get around 80 cN for them, which is ridiculous. An XM keyboard is what you'd give Arnie for a birthday present.

Also, modern clicky ALPS switches are white, tactile are black (standard colours since the early 90s or thereabouts). Linear XMs are green, the only switch type to retain a classic ALPS colour; don't know if Fukkas come in a linear variety, as the Tactile Pro has Fukka whites for all keys except those with LEDs, where linear green XMs are used instead.

Either Ducky is sourcing XMs from someone else, or the Ghost of ALPS Past is having its last laugh by messing up the switch colours for one last time.

Given how ALPS go, I guess it wouldn't be a great surprise if Ducky ALPS are nothing like those found in Matias and Diatec keyboards. If you do want to go ALPS, definitely go Fukka – they're absurdly lound and pingy but they have a very smooth feel and they're a decent weight. Personally I find Cherry MX too much on the light side, but I don't imagine I'll ever see a 105-key FILCO Zero.

[aegrotatio]

I just got my tenkeyless Ducky with the XM series keyswitches which was recently discounted.  What a great bargain.  It's noisy but the layout is literally perfect.  I want more small keyboards to have the normal key layout and not some weird variant.

While I love my two Poker keyboards the ESC/tilde and FN keys make it a huge impediment for Unix users like me.  Is it really that verboten to add another row of keys at the top, honestly, to keep the layout normal?  I know the useless function key row is why they moved it down but I would like the option, anyway.

A while ago I tried to draw the layout of the perfect tenkeyless keyboard and the Ducky DK-1087 is just about perfect.
The switches, on the other hand, are an acquired taste.  They're very light and loose, possibly the ultimate example of a low-end ALPS clone.  I happen to really like ALPS (and I even own DSI ASK-6000 and love it) and will probably get other tenkeyless Ducky keyboards with other styles of switches.  Note that the DSI keyboard has very high quality ALPS clone switches.

[Grimey]

^^ Pretty much covers it.  The Ducky XM Green switch is moderately light and loose.  The tactile/clicky point is high and very prominent/sharp (which I really like), and the key travel is smooth.

I would also be curious to see a review of the linear black variant.

[mkawa]

yep, a great description. it feels very light, with a high sharp (not pingy, but clicky), engagement.

[aegrotatio]

The Ducky DK-1087 with cloned ALPS switches wears well.  It gets loose over time.
I am also updating this old post to note that it's still available at many outlets for around fifty dollars.  I can tell you they're not discounted due to any sort of manufacturing or design fault but I suspect for another reason, possibly unpopularity of clone ALPS switches or just that they're cheap to make.  I've already spilled one drink into it and it cleaned up nice (this was well after it was well broken-in) and it still runs like a champ.  I'm typing on it now, perhaps I will get another.

[Hak Foo]

I will definitely buy the "cheap to make" story.

I was researching on alibaba, and you can find a OEM offering the Solidtek 6600, a full-104-key board with ALPS switches, claiming a cost of well south of ten dollars per unit in quantities of a thousand.

I like my 1008XM Green very much, except I never get any of the cool keycap action.

[alaricljs]

Hopefully with Matias' new keyboards and releasing their switches as well we might see some GBs for Alps caps.

[Matias]

I was researching on alibaba, and you can find a OEM offering the Solidtek 6600, a full-104-key board with ALPS switches, claiming a cost of well south of ten dollars per unit in quantities of a thousand.

That's gotta be old stock they can't get rid of.  $10 is well below the cost of just the components.

Hopefully with Matias' new keyboards and releasing their switches as well we might see some GBs for Alps caps.

I believe that Mr Interface is planning to release adapters that let you use Cherry caps on ALPS boards.  I haven't seen one in person, but it sounds promising.

[alaricljs]

I believe that Mr Interface is planning to release adapters that let you use Cherry caps on ALPS boards.  I haven't seen one in person, but it sounds promising.

While intriguing, looking at the Alps clones I have and some MX keycaps it would seem that the only way to do that increases the total height by a significant amount.  This is not something I would appreciate.

[Matias]

I believe that Mr Interface is planning to release adapters that let you use Cherry caps on ALPS boards.  I haven't seen one in person, but it sounds promising.

While intriguing, looking at the Alps clones I have and some MX keycaps it would seem that the only way to do that increases the total height by a significant amount.  This is not something I would appreciate.

You're probably right.  Like I said, I haven't seen them in person.

[daerid]

I plan on replacing my entire 1087 XM board with those new Matias tactile switches (the clicky ones).

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Considering the failure rate of those boards, you might be better off with a Tactile Pro 4 ;-)

[alaricljs]

Given what's inside mine (which is the only part that survived shipping) the failure rate is closely tied to the craptacular assembly job they did before soldering.  A lot of these switches are not up against the PCB.  Since mine was shipped with nearly no protection I can't speak as to the quality of the case, but it only appears to have been dropped once and that was enough to shear every single standoff and also crack the corner that hit, this was while inside the original box.

[daerid]

Considering the failure rate of those boards, you might be better off with a Tactile Pro 4 ;-)

True... but the switches come in a pack of 200, and I want an 87 key alps board. That leaves me with 113, I can replace every switch on my Tactile Pro 3, and still have some extra.