Cherry MX vs. Gateron (specifically browns, generally as well)

[Macpants]

First topic here! Woo!
As the subject states, I'm wondering what people's preferences are between the two and why. I recently saw a video where the host seemed to indicate that the Gateron switches were lighter and more cheaply built, like they would break more easily. I'm new to this so of course I have no idea.
Any info about these, or any other switch makers would be helpful. Appreciate your time!

[klennkellon]

Gaterons are smoother, lighter, and actuate slightly higher up, but it is true they are slightly cheaper made but I wouldn't let this discourage you.

[LunarisDream]

First topic here! Woo!
As the subject states, I'm wondering what people's preferences are between the two and why. I recently saw a video where the host seemed to indicate that the Gateron switches were lighter and more cheaply built, like they would break more easily. I'm new to this so of course I have no idea.
Any info about these, or any other switch makers would be helpful. Appreciate your time!

They are significantly cheaper and, imo, feel better than their Cherry counterparts. You honestly can't say they're worse quality-wise from what we currently know.

Take a look-see: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=74836.msg1847809#msg1847809

[jcoffin1981]

Well, as owner of both I can only give you my opinion.  Gateron is accepted to be a smoother (very slightly) switch.  They are also cheaper per switch which factors into less cost for the board.  I have several boards with Gateron Browns as well as two with Cherry Browns.   The Cherrys are stiffer, but in a good way.  I dislike bottoming out and you will type faster if you press the key only far enough to activate the letter. 

The very last mm or so of the Cherry Browns offer more resistance during the keystroke, so the impact is absorbed before there is ever actually an impact.  If you are a perosn who likes to slam down on his keys, then you will need to find a heavier keyswitch.  I was a Gateron fan for a while and it was what I felt was superior to Cherry, but after going back to Cherry again I had to rethink this.  I do have to say that a Cherry Brown with ABS keycaps and PBT keycaps are night and day.  The PBT has a pleasant texture on the fingertips, but I like the feeling of the keystroke better with ABS.  This is all highly subjective and my opinions may vary wildly from somebody else's, so this has to be taken with a grain of salt.

[SBJ]

Gaterons are smoother, lighter, and actuate slightly higher up, but it is true they are slightly cheaper made but I wouldn't let this discourage you.

I much prefer my Gateron keyboards to my MX ones.
I've had a CM Quickstorm that was MX brown and although it was good, it was just not nearly as smooth as the Gateron board I'm typing from now.
I've found that I get less fatigued when typing for longer periods on the Gaterons vs the Cherry MX.
If you're looking for a little more resistance I guess is the word (new to this whole thing still so forgive me) I'd go with the Cherry MX.

[klennkellon]

imo if you're looking for more resistance and a smoother switch you can't really beat linear ALPS.

[davkol]

Vintage MX rule them all, as long as you don't consider entirely different designs.

Modern Cherry MX feel like garbage (esp. browns), mostly because they're gritty. I recently got a couple of Gateron sets (incl. browns) and they're still mediocre. Either the hype is completely fake, or Gateron has really ****ty quality control, which sounds plausible, considering the reports, that I read all over the place.

So yeah, vintage Cherry MX it is. And before someone starts with all that "wear, break-in blah blah blah", I'm talking about switches on NIB keyboards.

[Erzegovaz]

mmmh io  have some question...so modern cherry are very different from vintage? Where?
So best switch are vintage cherry>modern cherry>gateron?
And where u can find vintage cherry?

[klennkellon]

mmmh io  have some question...so modern cherry are very different from vintage? Where?
So best switch are vintage cherry>modern cherry>gateron?
And where u can find vintage cherry?

vintage cherry on old keyboards from ebay

[Zar7]

I have the Rantopad MXX Gateron Reds as my first Gateron-clad board. The keystrokes are buttery smooth, and it is very enjoyable to type on. However, several switches on my keyboard are not uniform with the others, such as my ESC, I, and 8 key (they have a metallic click to it. Linear switches are not supposed to click). Quality wise, Cherry MX is still on top. The only thing Gaterons are better than Cherry MX is their smoothness.

[Macpants]

Thanks for all of your input, everybody. Dang, this is tough... I definitely bottom out my keystrokes, but that's most likely because I have never used a mechanical before and I'm used to rubber domes. In that sense, I could be called a mech-noob. I don't think I 'slam' down on the keys and once I feel where the actuation point is i can definitely learn to back off. Never was a typewriter user. (26 y.o.)
So I'm less inclined to get these than I was before, but maybe just getting a higher weight would help? So say, a blue rather than a brown, though I was hoping for the tactile without the click. As for ALPS, they look interesting, but I can tell that there seems to be many fewer keycap sets made for ALPS stems which worries me slightly. I guess as long as the switches will solder to a Phantom TKL board, I'm cool with the option.

[jcoffin1981]

I can kind of feel this "gritty" feeling with the MX browns.  Supposedly as the switches wear in the surfaces wear smoother and this decreases.  A switch that felt super scratchy to me was the MX reds.  The best way to describe it is jumping on the bed and the springs make that grinding, squeaking sound; eee eerrr eee eerrr.  I felt that grinding/scratching feeling emulating through my fingertips. 

One could lube the browns and this would decrease the grittiness but this is time consuming.  It doesn't bother me and I don't want to decrease the resistance of the switch or lost tactility.

Gaterons definitely cost less, but I don't know if there is any truth to the fact that there is poor QC or that they break easier.

Macpants, if you constantly slam the keys and bottom out, you should look into the MX Clears.  You can do plenty of research on this forum, and this may be just what the doctor ordered.

[HeeCh2ei]

A switch that felt super scratchy to me was the MX reds.  The best way to describe it is jumping on the bed and the springs make that grinding, squeaking sound; eee eerrr eee eerrr.  I felt that grinding/scratching feeling emulating through my fingertips. 

In your case reds are be that bad on the entire board? I have only 2-3 switches with that spring issue and a couple just not so smooth as the rest. Overall, in scratchiness they are nowhere near browns.
I have no problem in smoothness  to use it in rotation with my Topre board.

[Macpants]

I can kind of feel this "gritty" feeling with the MX browns.  Supposedly as the switches wear in the surfaces wear smoother and this decreases.  A switch that felt super scratchy to me was the MX reds.  The best way to describe it is jumping on the bed and the springs make that grinding, squeaking sound; eee eerrr eee eerrr.  I felt that grinding/scratching feeling emulating through my fingertips. 

One could lube the browns and this would decrease the grittiness but this is time consuming.  It doesn't bother me and I don't want to decrease the resistance of the switch or lost tactility.

Gaterons definitely cost less, but I don't know if there is any truth to the fact that there is poor QC or that they break easier.

Macpants, if you constantly slam the keys and bottom out, you should look into the MX Clears.  You can do plenty of research on this forum, and this may be just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks, jcoffin. I'll look into those and find what I find. Aren't they set at a lower actuation weight than browns though? 35g vs. 45g?

[saxophone]

My experiences overall:

Quality of Gaterons vary a lot. The more recent ones are better, if you buy lose switches from say taobao there's really no saying what you'll get. I ordered a bunch of Gateron reds from taobao at the end of 2015, and a preassembled magicforce with Gateron reds via massdrop during around feb 2016. The reds on the magicforce was much more consistent with both accutation distance as well as actual switch feel when you push it down.

In comparison to Cherry MX reds - The Gaterons are smoother however they also less consistent. Although it's very small and not really noticeable when typing I've noticed if you carefully press down on Gateron reds you'll get met with higher resistance when the slider is stationary and then much less resistance once it starts moving. While on Cherry MX reds the resistance is much more constant. The resistance will also vary much more if you push down the slider in directions other than straight downwards compared to the Cherry MX. So it's up to personal preference.

After mucking around a lot my personal preference is "dry" Gateron reds, so to say Gateron reds where I've removed all the initial lube from.

When it comes to brows I've tried both Gateron, recent Kailh and Cherry MX ones. Gaterons were loose switches from taobao. Kailh from the Tesoro Tizona, Cherry MX from the CM QFT.
Personally I rate the Cherry > Gateron > Kailh. Cherry isn't as smooth but the tactility feels more nice and crisp on the down stroke. Gateron is smooth but with less the tactility feels less. Kailh is  the worst with very little tactility on down stroke but a lot on the return stroke. I'm definitely valuing the tactility feel over other things because were we to disregard tactility then that defeats the entire point of browns.

[Hypersphere]

Cherry mx of any variety are my least favorite type of keyboard switch. However, recently I decided to try a custom keyboard with Gateron Yellow switches, and I like typing on this board very much.

I cannot make strict comparisons, because of differences in construction between the custom board and others I have tried, but I find the Gateron switches to be smoother than any Cherry switch I have tried.

The weighting of the current crop of Gateron Yellows also suits me quite well. They are reported to have an actuation at 50g and a bottom-out at 65g, so they are heavier than Gateron or Cherry Reds but lighter than Cherry Blacks. The Gateron Yellows have nearly the same weight as Gateron Blacks, but the bottom-out force is somewhat less.

After putting thick PBT keycaps on the Gateron Yellows, the switches feel just a tad light, so I am considering trying Gateron Blacks next. I've tried both contemporary and vintage Cherry Blacks and found them somewhat too heavy for sustained typing. Gateron Blacks are lighter than Cherry Blacks and slightly heavier than Gateron Yellows, so I am expecting Gateron Blacks to be close to what I am looking for, at least with respect to the weight of the switch.

[zephyr11]

I have Gateron browns, Cherry browns, Othemu browns.

Cherry browns; feel nice and solid, the tactile bump is superb, least wobbly. (on a VA87M)\

Gateron browns; smoother by a little bit (compared to Cherry), but the bump is less distinct. and is quite wobbly/ loose (on a Team Wolf Zhuque)

Othemu browns; least favorite, but they were the first ones I got, it came stock with the Team Wolf Zhuque, quite decent to start with (full working mech kb for about usd$40 shipped from tb).


I will have some zelios incoming, (thanks to a fellow geekhacker!) will update again once I have them installed. it will also be on the Team Wolf Zhuque, it is a hot swappable keyboard. one of the best ideas there I have seen. build quality is decent, albeit it does not have a removeable cable. might be a minus for some.

just ordered the novatouch, now can't decide which to use in the office and what to use at home. 

first world problems.   

[Aricil]

I'm a big advocate of Gateron. I highly recommend them and try to get most people to get them over cherry. I feel like cherry's had a monopoly for far too long and that have been surpassed. In my experience, every switch I've tried next to gateron, the latter has been better. Smoother, and they actuate higher up so certain switches feel lighter, which I like. Gateron blues have been my personal favorite switch so far.  They do have slightly more wobble than cherry, but I mean, it doesn't bother me and the pros far outweigh any cons.