Forgive me for I have sinned.

[nubbinator]

I used to be a firm believer in #vintagehype, but I may have seen the light and acknowledged that there is a considerable difference between some vintage switches. 

While I still hold onto the stance that I cannot for the life of me feel a difference between a good broken in/used Black and a Vintage Black, I have come into possession of a Dolch Pac 62 keyboard with Blues and an MX 8100 with Browns.  While I can't say if they're any different compositionally or in the mold or if they're just well broken in, the feel is amazingly different.  Up until this point, I always described Browns, even lubed Browns, as scratchy Reds or Reds with sand in them.  They just felt like utter crap.  Then I tried Browns on the MX 8100.  They are a wonder to use...as long as they're one of the more commonly used switches.  The less commonly used switches feel better than modern Browns, but not amazing.

The used ones, however, I could actually see myself using and not just using, but enjoying.  They feel really smooth, almost linear.  If you really stop and think of it, you can feel a gradual bump and it definitely feels different than a Black or Red switch, but it doesn't have that scratchiness that is the trademark of Browns.  It's like driving down a stretch of well paved highway that you can see the road going up and down, but as you drive down it, you don't feel anything jarring.  You just feel the hint of an up and down movement that breaks the  monotony of a flat road, but also isn't jarring like a stretch of road with a ton of patches and small potholes all over it.

Vintage Blues are also radically different from modern Blues in feel and sound.  They feel almost a hair lighter, but not in a bad way.  And the sound, the sound is glorious.  Modern Blues are shrill and have an annoying sound to them.  The vintage Blues just are much more muted and pleasant sounding. Yes, they still can be a little much with thin caps, but they're far more tolerable. That said, the tactility is a little less pronounced due to wear, but the feel is still there.  While I couldn't happily use modern Blues, I could easily use vintage Blues.

[dorkvader]

man I Hated the blues that came in my iNet (dolch). I replaced them with used blues from a DAS and a stainless steel plate, Way better.

That's why I never minded browns. Worn in properly (a's my many hundreds from cherry POS boards are) the bump is just enough to remind you not to bottom out.

Muted sound of vintage blues: have you tried light whites I use 62g whites in my skeldon and it's great.

[Dubsgalore]

The vintage browns in my 5K are my favorite switch. Literally the best switches i've come across so far, including stock whites, stock blacks, stock browns, lubed vintage 62 blacks, stock vintage blacks, vintage blues, stock clears, and 65 lubed ergo clears.

the vintage blues in my dolch board were really, really nice, but most of them don't click. I think I got a heavily used board 
I'd like to try different vintage blues...maybe from a 1000

But seriously, the vintage browns are at the top of my list no doubt. completely stock, not modified at all.

[nubbinator]

man I Hated the blues that came in my iNet (dolch). I replaced them with used blues from a DAS and a stainless steel plate, Way better.

That's why I never minded browns. Worn in properly (a's my many hundreds from cherry POS boards are) the bump is just enough to remind you not to bottom out.

Muted sound of vintage blues: have you tried light whites I use 62g whites in my skeldon and it's great.

I guess you either love those switches in old Dolch PAC/Dolch MACH/Inet Spectra/Finisar PAC units or you hate them.  I can see where the decreased tactility would be a turn off, but they're just so much nicer all around in spite of that to me.

I guess I've just never tried worn in Browns.  All the ones Iv'e ever tried were, at most, 2-3 years old and still felt like crap.  That said, even the rarely used switches like the Function row and other switches like that felt better than even the slightly worn Browns I've felt.  Good, well worn Browns do feel great though.

I have tried Whites.  The vintage Blues are midway between modern Blues and Whites in noise level (to me), but far more consistent in feel and sound.  Whites would be great if they weren't so inconsistent.

The vintage browns in my 5K are my favorite switch. Literally the best switches i've come across so far, including stock whites, stock blacks, stock browns, lubed vintage 62 blacks, stock vintage blacks, vintage blues, stock clears, and 65 lubed ergo clears.

the vintage blues in my dolch board were really, really nice, but most of them don't click. I think I got a heavily used board 
I'd like to try different vintage blues...maybe from a 1000

But seriously, the vintage browns are at the top of my list no doubt. completely stock, not modified at all.

I still love me my Ghost Blacks and 67g lubed Ergo Clears, but damn, those vintage Browns are nice.  I definitely would lump them into a top three spot.  For being completely raw and unmodified though, that is hard to beat.  The fact that I had to mess around and "tune" my switches to get something I like better is saying something.

Fortunately, all of the Blues on my Dolch appear to click.  I just need to figure out how to convert it from 4P4C to PS/2 or USB.

[Tony]

The Keyboard God always has mercy. You're forgiven instantly and repeatedly for your past, present and future sins.

Filco, Ducky, Realforce, Rosewill, Noppoo, CMstorm are his most known missionaries.

[Sifo]

The vintage is real, as it always has been.

**** the non believers

[nubbinator]

The vintage is real, as it always has been.

**** the non believers

Just not with Blacks.  #blackvintagehype

[False_Dmitry_II]

Wait, you've never ended up with a POS cherry with browns?

[nubbinator]

Wait, you've never ended up with a POS cherry with browns?

Nope.  Whenever I went looking and saw one I wanted, it was always too expensive. The one I got was $25, so I was more than happy.

[intelli78]

If you think a YouTube typing test of the vintage blues would be indicative of their sound (and by extension, feel), I would love to hear...

[noisyturtle]

Wonder if NIB vintage Cherry actually feel different than their more recently manufactured counterparts.

[ebacho]

man I Hated the blues that came in my iNet (dolch). I replaced them with used blues from a DAS and a stainless steel plate, Way better.

That's why I never minded browns. Worn in properly (a's my many hundreds from cherry POS boards are) the bump is just enough to remind you not to bottom out.

Muted sound of vintage blues: have you tried light whites I use 62g whites in my skeldon and it's great.

I'm gonna echo this: I hated the blues in my PAC keyboard until I swapped the springs for black ones and made ghetto greens.  Now it's passable as a board I'd actually use, but it still very much collects dust most of the time.

I did like lighter whites (I tried 65g and 62g) over vintage blues (stock and 62g).  Dunno why there's such a big difference between 62g springs in vintage blue housings versus stock ones, but its definitely there.

[Oobly]

Wonder if NIB vintage Cherry actually feel different than their more recently manufactured counterparts.

I have never felt vintage NIB Browns, but I can definitely tell the difference between my oldest, most used Browns and new ones. I get the feeling that those who hate on Browns have never felt properly worn-in Browns. That so-called "scratchiness" goes away with use and I find the little tactility they have does wonders for my typing compared to Reds.

Browns are great.

Worn-in, lubed, stickered, 62g ErgoClears are better, though...

[Dubsgalore]

Wonder if NIB vintage Cherry actually feel different than their more recently manufactured counterparts.

I've tried brand new modern browns on a new das and then NIB vintage browns and well...............huge difference 

Fortunately, all of the Blues on my Dolch appear to click.  I just need to figure out how to convert it from 4P4C to PS/2 or USB.

All ya gotta do is solder on a ps/2 cable in place of the 4P4C and it works fine. You have to be extra, extra careful with plugging it in while the computer is one however, you can potentially fry the controller :O

[epzy]

I want some vintage switches now...

[SpAmRaY]

#hypetrain

Someone design a mechanical process to use switches so we can turn some modern switches into vintage switches

[minho]

#hypetrain

Someone design a mechanical process to use switches so we can turn some modern switches into vintage switches

Aren't there machines like this that are used to test the switch lifespans? I'm pretty sure I've seen one in a video somewhere before...

Obtaining these machines or something like it would be rather difficult I'm guessing though

[Pacifist]

take board
put upside down
stomp on it

[rowdy]

#hypetrain

Someone design a mechanical process to use switches so we can turn some modern switches into vintage switches

You need a time machine.

Something like a simple cupboard should suffice.

Insert your keyboard, carefully close the door, go away for 20 years, come back, open the door - vintage switches!

[davkol]

I don't really get it about those browns.

When I first tried NIB modern stock browns, they felt scratchy, just wrong. I knew lubed browns were supposed to be pretty nice and they usually needed to break in.

However, when I acquired a 12-year-old used Cherry board with browns, there wasn't that much of a difference compared to the NIB switch, but keycaps appeared to be a big deal, as even stock "L" Cherry keycaps were a huge improvement from ABS caps from WASD. Then I got a new Kinesis Advantage and used it for a few months. The feel was more or less still the same (although altered by the curved plastic plate and another different kind of keycaps), but I didn't care this time, because the buzzer that emulated clicking somehow masked the scratchy sound, which tricked me into feeling better even about the tactility itself... WTF?