Cherry cheaping out on MX construction recently?

[Phaedrus2129]

So a user on OCN recently posted that his Das Professional S Silent has nearly completely lost its tactile bump after only a couple of months of use.

As we all know, the only difference between a Cherry MX red and brown switch is the color of the plastic stem, and the presence of a bump on the brown switch's slider, which gives the MX browns their tactility. Plastic is not an indestructible substance, and over time the bump on the MX browns wears down and the switch loses its tactility, becoming nearly linear.

Normally this wear process takes millions of keystrokes over years of use. I had a Compaq MX-11800 that was between five and ten years old and heavily used, and it was perhaps 90% linear.

Now, my Cherry G80-8200 and G80-62410 (MX SPOS) have been used for about eight months and five months, respectably. Both are still very tactile. There was a change in feel during the first month or so, but that was merely the switches breaking in, becoming a little more loosey-goosey.

So knowing the wear process takes year, hearing this OCN newcomer to mechs talk about his MX browns becoming linear in only a month, I laughed him off. But it got me thinking.


I have one other MX brown keyboard; an XArmor U9 prototype that I got last fall. I did product testing for a couple weeks, reported the results, then put it away for several months. Its feel during that time was very similar to that of my Cherry G80 keyboards, just with a harder landing and perhaps a slightly lighter feel.

But I lent the U9 to my step dad to use, after he spilled a Dos Equis on his HP rubber dome. He's been using it for maybe two or three months.

Today I tried using it, and the tactility is almost gone! It isn't quite as smooth as an MX red, but it's much closer to that than to an unworn MX brown.


Has Cherry started using a softer, less wear-resistant plastic in its MX switches? Or are plate mounted switches made less durably than PCB mount switches? Clearly there is a major difference between the switches in my G80s and the switches in that Das and the XArmor.

[majestouch]

Has Cherry started using a softer, less wear-resistant plastic in its MX switches?

Like anyone here would know. This is one of those loaded conspiratorial questions, intentional or not, that spreads dumb rumors. If you're gonna do this on a Friday, try not to be so insipid; put some effort into it next time so that you at least make people laugh.

Or are plate mounted switches made less durably than PCB mount switches? Clearly there is a major difference between the switches in my G80s and the switches in that Das and the XArmor.

Despite a very small amount of substantiated evidence (from a couple Cherry brand boards manufactured when?) that can probably be written off as stems from an old die that is no longer on the factory line; it would cost Cherry *more* to do what you're proposing then to just use the same stems for all switches, plate or pcb mount.

[wanabe]

(somebody is in a bad m00d)

it's friday!

[Noregrebt]

Oh my...

[Exoverture]

He probably just got accustomed to it....

They aren't exactly in your face like Cherry Blues.

[wanabe]

i think you mean

[pitashen]

True or not, I don't think that is not going to stop keyboard geeks from being keyboard geeks. We do live in a time when cost cutting is inevitable when economy is not so great and with rising raw material cost.

[keyboardlover]

I thought Ripster voted against memes outside the meme contest thread?

[strum4h]

I think ripster lost it

[keyboardlover]

In other news, TIL (Today I Learned) that I REALLY like vintage cherry blues.

[Phaedrus2129]

What? Sorry, I couldn't hear anything over the sound of the forum crapping itself. Or maybe it was just ripster.

[spolia optima]

I wish Cherry would build some sturdier G80s... They just don't build em like they used to. There is a HUGE difference in sturdiness when you compare an early 90s G80 with one made recently.
 
The typing experience is the same, so it doesn't really matter, but still.

[Megaweapon]

I wish Cherry would build some sturdier G80s... They just don't build em like they used to. There is a HUGE difference in sturdiness when you compare an early 90s G80 with one made recently.
 
The typing experience is the same, so it doesn't really matter, but still.

Don't be ridiculous.  Didn't you see the post up-thread?  Any change at all in any aspect of the keyboard would cost more to implement than it would save.  Period.

Doing any kind of redesign or using a cheaper plastic is completely out of the question.  There is also absolutely no way that production could ever be farmed out to some unscrupulous Chinese sub-subcontractor who shaves off tenths or hundredths of a cent from his cost-per-unit by cutting the plastic with something that makes it go farther but degrade quicker.  They only do stuff like that with milk.

Counterfeit switches are also an impossibility.  Unlike the bootleg WKRP boxed set my mother unwittingly ordered from Amazon, each Cherry switch is stamped with a unique serial number and accompanied by a notarized certificate of authenticity signed in blood by Herbert Cherry himself.

[n12]

I find the tactile bump in my Filco board to be barely noticeable(on my most used keys). Not saying that this is due to their "cheaping out on MX construction". This is why I prefer blues!

[RiGS]

Typing doesn't count. You have to abuse the switches with serious gaming.

Basically that's partly the reason why I like linear switches. They remain pretty much consistent over time.

[aegrotatio]

I really think the complainant doesn't like the keyboard after it's "broken in" which would naturally have a different action than a brand-new one.  Cherry Browns are Cherry Browns.  I don't think blaming Metadot will help any.

[ch_123]

Try a 10 year old one. You'd start to doubt that they're the same keyboard.

[woody]

Oh, now this is saaaad......

Dear Autotune,

I miss you.

Sincerely,
  R.B.