This is my first review so please cut me a little slack. I have read a lot of buzz about the new Gateron switches which are sometimes being called Cherry clones. I purchased the board from Rabbit Web Factory in Singapore. They actually sent me the wrong board by mistake, but in the end it was corrected. At first it seemed sketchy and the seller took about a week to respond to my original inquiry. After which though he was in constant contact through "what's app" and email. The board was shipped from Singapore in a "FedEx Pak" which is just a thin envelope with no padding. Fortunately it arrived with only minor damage to the outer box.
Since the KBP V60 Mini has been reviewed extensively and those who are fans of the 60% form factor are well informed of it I will skim over this part. This particular model does not come with LED's (I do not know if it can be modded). They keycaps are rather cheap, thin, ABS; pretty standard fare for this. There is a removable mini USB cable. My board came without any instructions, but they can easily be found online. The dip switch functions can easily be looked up online and it comes with modifier extra modifier keycaps as well as a keycap puller.
I have read many people testing the Gateron switches side by side with their Cherry counterparts and many seem to prefer the Gateron, but most who do so have not a actually typed on it. I wish I had sophisticated equipment to give you quantitative, objective data, but I don't. There are so few boards that are being sold with these switches commercially that they are not getting fully reviewed other than on a switch tester.
Gateron lists them as having a 45g actuation force. However, this number does not give you a lot of information. Cherry actually lists the force required through the entire curve. This is where the switches differ and Cherry (at least the brown) is not all that similar to the Gateron. It takes 55g of pressure to break through the tactile bump on the Cherry switch. It takes considerably less for the Gateron and I'm going to guess it's 49-50grams. I am finding that as my fingers graze other keys accidentally the keystrokes are registering. The bottoming out pressure is different as well. Cherry lists it at 60 grams. I'm going to estimate that the Gaterons are more like 50 to 55 grams. If the entire force actuation curve was published I think it would allow others to make a more informed decision about a purchase.
I have read that most people described that the Gaterons are a smoother switch, and in my opinion they are. However, I think some of this perception my also be from the decrease of the tactile bump, which many felt that the even the Cherry MX switches themselves were lacking anyway. The only time I ever felt any roughness or friction on the Cherry brown switches was if I hit one of the larger "backspace" or "delete" keys off-center, and this was minimal. The Cherry reds however, yes, I have felt the "scratchiness."
I do not think that these are bad or worse, but just not as similar as people would like to believe. As long as you are aware that you are purchasing a keyboard with switches that are most likely lighter than you are expecting. If you feel that Cherry MX Brown switches are too light, you definitely will not like this. Maybe gamers would have a use for this switch. I would like to add that as I am typing this review I am becoming slightly more accustomed to the switches and I find myself stabbing at the keys less and bottoming out less. It's like anything other board: there is a period of adjustment.
Finally, I find that typing on this board is certainly quieter than on my Pok3r. I don't know how to quantify it practically, but it is less. I found the Enter and Backspace keys on the Pok3r to be particularly loud, and they are much quieter on this board.
And grrrrrr, just as I'm a bout to post this I'm finding all of these extra spaces in the text.... the backspace bar is repeating characters, well spaces. I do not feel like shipping it back again.
