Hi! I have some tealios switches lying around, and I’ve been thinking of buying some MX silent switches and making some of the legendary MX Zilents. I don’t have any experience with silent switches, other than Zeal Zilents I have lubed for someone else’s build.
Edit: Just for clarification, this post was about the linear MX Zilent frankenswitch (Cherry silent stem + Tealios housing), not the Zeal Zilent (tactile silent switch).
Are linear silent switches still fun to type on? With this wave of Gazzew Boba, and many other interesting silent tactiles; are those more desirable? If they are, I could just eventually try those and keep my tealios.
Are MX Zilents still a great option for silent switches, or are there better frankenswitch combos out there? Are cherry silent stems still king?
This is kind of a side question. But how are tealios stems in cherry housing? Usable for fun? Should I save the tealios parts for another cool frankenswitch?
There hasn’t been a lot of discussion on the switch as of late, so it’s either solved (thanks to walkerstop ), usurped, or just… silent I guess lol.
I don’t really have any knowledge about mx zilents but here are a couple thoughts:
For 1: sakurios and roselios are some of my favorite switches to type on. you might hear some scratchiness due to how silent the bottom out and return are but after breaking in these have a bit of subdued thockiness that comes in and the scratchiness is much less noticeable. I have zeal zilents and thought they sounded very scratchy but apparently that goes away after some time as well with break in - just gotta be patient I guess.
Still waiting on my gazzew boba to come in but looking forward to trying them out.
For 3: there is an entire thread with linears and different combinations of stems/housings. I don’t think I have seen anyone putting tealios stems into other housings though, people seem to like them as is.
Thanks for your reply! That’s some pretty good info to note. I was kind of always wondering why walker’s silent sound tests sounded less scratchy than Taeha’s, and that’s probably due to the fact that Taeha’s tests are usually on fresh boards. Noted
I’ll check it out for sure! Yeah Tealios are generally kept as is. I wonder what everyone else did with their MX Zilent leftovers. I know some used Zealios housings in V1, but now Zealios/Zilent contact leaves are actually a bit different than Tealios, and don’t feel as smooth with a linear stem. I know, because I had to do a painstaking leaf swap Zilents and Tealios, as the person I was building for wanted half turquoise housings and half aqua for their Zilents haha.
Oh nice! That would make sense, because zeal silent stems are Gateron haha. Well cool then; that might be an interesting option. More expensive, but then I would have two sets of nice switches afterwards, instead of a bunch of leftover parts
Mx zilents still the best switch I’ve ever tried. Filmed and lubed with 205g0, 75g TX springs. TX springs are rated at bottom out, so they are similar to 65g sprit but with a better force curve for me.
My advice, don’t use tealios. Buy some aliaz switches and use those housings.
Tealios are great switches too. I’d hate to see them harvested for parts.
So far my favorite stock silent is the Silent Ink - much more smooth than the standard Gat silent black. The Gazzew linear stems probably make for the most quiet switch, with a soft bottom-out.
Linears are really nice to type on! I have a lot of topre boards so they really scratch the tactile side of switches.
I really like my MX Zilents. You can get the Aliaz housings instead of paying for that extra zeal tax. The bottom out sound on healios/sakurios/roselios isnt as satisfying as they are in the mx zilents.
My daily drivers are a board with Zilents and a board with Gateron Silent Blacks. Zilents are good, but not worth the price. Lubed Blacks are good, and well priced.
Side note: while soldering Zilents the bottom housing melted a little (causing issues that had to be fixed). Was my bad apparently, but I never had such issues before with other Gaterons and Kailhs.
I use zilents everyday and IMO they are really fun switch. I do agree that they take quite some time t break in though. I would say that it took probably 6 months for them to really smooth out, but I’m not a really super heavy typist since a lot of my time is spent programming and gaming. I still would recommend them if you really tactiles with a large bump.
I’m not a fan of small bump tactiles like aliaz and browns (I have a Nyquist with Aliaz that I don’t use that ofen), so I couldn’t recommend Aliaz since they feel like linears with grit in the sliders to me LOL. But again, it depends on your preference.
I also have a set of sakurios that I type on everyday as well, and if you are into linears the are pretty good but I personally don’t see a point in silent linears for me because I don’t really bottom out when type. If you don’t bottom out most linears are pretty quiet anyway.
Durock’s Daybreak/Dolphin silent liners aren’t too shabby. Filmed and lubed with Krytox 105 (bottom housing, spring) are surprisingly super skate and have a pleasantly higher pitched upstroke.
Thank you guys for your replies! I might hold on to the tealios a bit longer as everyone is suggesting haha. Price isn’t much of an issue, because I already have the tealios parts anyway, but thanks for all of your suggestions :).
Ever since I had kids I wanted to find a nice silent switch so that I could play games on my PC without waking my wife or kids. I have used the MX Silent Reds/Pinks and thought they were really good. Then I found out about the Zeal Zilents V2 and lubed them with 3204 and they are just amazing tactile silent switches. After a while I decided that maybe a linear switch would be better for gaming and so I ordered some Roselios because the Sakurios were sold out.
After trying the Roselios I liked them too but I prefered the 62g weight springs from the Zilents I ordered and so I switched out the springs and I did like them a little more and even though they were really smooth and really quiet, it just didn’t feel right to me. Well I never thought I would be one to make any frankenswitches but I had a whole bunch of MX pinks and a whole bunch of Zeal housings so I ended up making some MX Zilents with MX pink stems, Zeal housings, 62g Zeal springs, with 3204 to lube them all.
These are easily the quietest switches I have ever used compared to the Rosarios, Zilents, or stock MX Pinks. They are smooth like a Zeal switch after lubing and the travel seems slightly less with the Pink stems although I may be wrong about that. The bottom out doesn’t feel hard and it doesn’t feel mushy but just right for me. I put them in my Drop Alt with lubed MX Stabs, and foam padding behind the pcb. I also use the Zilents on my numbers, Caps lock, directions, windows, function, esc, and delete so I can still have silent but I can feel the tactile bump when I’m pressing one of those buttons.
Seriously I didn’t think a switch could get any more quiet than a stock MX Pink but these are amazing in sound and feel for me. If they got any quieter they wouldn’t make a sound and I think I would miss hearing just a little when I’m just typing something up.
I don’t have a lot of experience with other silent switches but I have used Pinks, Zilents, and Roselios pretty extensively and the MX Zilents are by FAR my favorite.
If I were in your shoes, I’d leave those Tealios as is, and pick up some Silent Gat Inks and a spring of your choosing (personal choice would be a 65/67g 14mm TX spring) or stick with the stock spring if you dig it. Lube and film to your tastes, and you would have two different and fantastic sets of linear switches. Okay, I lied, buy some 62g Bobas for the hat trick.
Zilent V2’s are honestly the best silent switches I’ve ever used. I currently have my board filled with Zilent V2 62g’s and Aliaz 60g’s for pinky keys. I did use Sakurios for a while but the travel distance on those linears made it weird to play fps games with.
Although if you’re on a budget check out Aliaz. They’re not as tactile as Zilents but are a tad quieter than Zilents.
I think one of the things I like so much about MX linear silent stems in a zeal housing is that you don’t feel the reduced travel as much as in other silent linears. It feels very close to a normal, full travel stem but with no clack.
), usurped, or just… silent I guess lol.