Has anyone tried the Gateron silent black switches? I hate for someone to bother to put these cherry guts inside a gateron housing when you could get basically the same thing stock. I tried silent cherry reds in a zeal housing and felt like they lost some of the dampening. Also, I still think that the scratchy feeling comes largely from the spring and not the housing/slider. The spring rubbing against the cylinder is a significant source of friction. I've never heard other say it, but I suspect that stock Gaterons have more wobble not only from the stem design but partially b/c there is more space between the spring and the plastic cylinder on which it sits. Cherry and Zeal switches, in contrast, have a tighter fitting spring that rubs on the inner cylinder and needs lubricant to reduce friction/noise.
Okay, so I just went to double check myself and discovered something interesting that I don't understand fully.
Silent Cherry stem in a Zeal housing = pretty damn amazing silent switch (all of the scratchiness from the silent cherry switch is pretty much gone. It's a gateron-like smooth switch but very silent
Silent Cherry stem in a Gateron housing (gateron black with black bottom and clear top) = smooth but clacky? The dampening bumpers on the silent Cherry stem don't work in a stock Gateron housing. Now why is that? They're hitting something when they bottom out other than the white silencing mechanisms but I figure out why or what it is.
I mean, if you're hunting silent smooth switches and have a lot of money to blow, I would say go for the silent cherry stem in a zeal housing. However, I also am curious to try Gateron silent switches. Surely they are very similar and much cheaper.
