Your experience with o-rings

[gr3yh4m3]

Hey guys,
I'm thinking of buying a poker 2 with mx blues but from what I've heard the clicking can be really annoying for some people. I also know that o-rings are supposed to soften the blow a bit, but what I'm wondering is if they take away from the typing experience blues have to offer - and whether they really do make enough difference to the sound to warrant using them?
thanks.

[madhias]

The sound all in all is not that loud anymore, i would say about the half. Especially the bottom out sound is different. Also the key travel is less, so it feels that you press the key only about the half. In the beginning it's a weird feeling. I use o-rings on my Filco board with MX blues. Also different to the sound is the caps you use, if it they're thin or thick, 'small' or 'big'. I only tried ABS caps (standard Filco thin ones), thin PBT caps (from a Ducky board) and old doubleshot Cherry caps. I'm wondering how SA caps will make the sound different.

I would say the sound and the feeling is completely different with o-rings. You definitely have to try it out for yourself!

What annoy people is maybe the high pitch clicking sound of the MX blue switches. It's like 'click click' and not 'CLICK CLICK'. Hard to describe with typography

[gr3yh4m3]

hmm thanks! that's very interesting. Would you say they're harder to press down at all? And would this have more of an effect on someone who doesn't bottom out?

[madhias]

No, not harder, but shorter key travel. That's an huge change in the feeling. As for bottoming out i can't really say anything, because i'm always bottoming out!

[EDIT] It could be that if you normally never bottom out you're now bottoming out, because it's much easier to press down to the bottom. The travel is reduced, so no much room left.

[gr3yh4m3]

No, not harder, but shorter key travel. That's an huge change in the feeling. As for bottoming out i can't really say anything, because i'm always bottoming out!

[EDIT] It could be that if you normally never bottom out you're now bottoming out, because it's much easier to press down to the bottom. The travel is reduced, so no much room left.

oh ok, because the starting point at which you press is now reduced? Or the whole pressing action is now a lot smoother?
That's really cool, thanks!

[rowdy]

MX blues (and greens) make a high-pitched tick-tick sound as you type - this is the switch mechanism.  O-ringer will not alter this at all.

O-rings are useful if you bottom out all the time i.e. push the switch all 4mm down to the bottom - O-rings will reduce the travel distance slightly, and significantly reduce the bottoming out sound.

They do not affect the sound of the switch returning to the upper position.

If you don't bottom out, O-rings will do little for you.

[gr3yh4m3]

Right. Thanks

[madhias]

I made a silly video some months ago, here you can hear the difference. But i'm hammering on the keys, so no 'soft' clicking comparison... There are a lot of videos on YouTube.

[gr3yh4m3]

I made a silly video some months ago, here you can hear the difference. But i'm hammering on the keys, so no 'soft' clicking comparison... There are a lot of videos on YouTube.

awesome thanks! Will watch when i have better internet (yes its that bad atm haha)

[umeboshi]

I had this problem at work - tried to use blues and had to switch back after about 10m   

Bought some clear o-rings from ebay and thought that would solve the problem, but as others have suggested, this makes the sound more muted but doesn't fix the click.  I then bought some thick PBT caps, thinking this would also help dampen the noise but still not enough to appease the crowd.  I ended up with ergo clears and the PBT caps, and it feels much better than I expected.  I also either met the noise requirement or they gave up asking me to switch keyboards

[Oobly]

I had this problem at work - tried to use blues and had to switch back after about 10m   

Bought some clear o-rings from ebay and thought that would solve the problem, but as others have suggested, this makes the sound more muted but doesn't fix the click.  I then bought some thick PBT caps, thinking this would also help dampen the noise but still not enough to appease the crowd.  I ended up with ergo clears and the PBT caps, and it feels much better than I expected.  I also either met the noise requirement or they gave up asking me to switch keyboards

ErgoClears and thick keycaps.. Good end result 

If you want the tactility without the "click", try Browns or Clears with orings. Unfortunately I don't think they make Pokers with Clears, so it may have to be Browns.

[madhias]

At work i also had the same problem - my co-worker sitting next to me didn't like the all-all loud sound (the click is just the tip of the iceberg) compared to all these quite DELL, Microsoft, etc. rubberdome keyboards we have here. Since i'm always hammering on the keys the o-rings helped, but not for the click. I also use a Ducky with clears at work, and i'm again the loudest here. At home i use a keyboard with browns, and that's also very loud - because i bottom out all the time. The click of the blues is sometimes really quiet But i think the click itself is not that loud, for a lot of people the high-pitched sound is just annoying.

Sometimes i will learn quiet touchtyping. Sometimes...

[davkol]

If you want blues without the click, lube them. A lot. Or use whites.

Browns and clears have a very different kind of tactility and still aren't silent—they make a "grinding" sound, unless broken in or lubed.

Dampeners affect only the feel and sound of bottoming out. If you bottom out heavily, get stiffer springs or change the way you type. Otherwise, there's no point (other than reduced key travel and mushy landing) in using dampeners, because the upstroke still isn't quiet. For that, there's currently only the latex mod. Or dampened Alps.

[aref]

O-rings will not significantly diminish the noise level of MX Blue switches. The best and perhaps only remedy is to lube them. I've used red, blue, black
o-rings; but I prefer red because they reduce key travel by only 0.2mm rather than blue and black rings 0.04 key-travel reduction. However, I'm not sure
I prefer the feel of MX switches with diminished key-travel. It may be that many of us have become accustomed to 4mm down-strokes.

[Lpwl]

If you are still looking for information, I quickly made a video yesterday trying to catch some dampening noise and key travel reduction with Red, Black, Blue, Green, Brown MX switches :

EDIT : I have to say that birds tried to mess with me all day long. Sorry about dat background noise !