I wanted to do a quick review/comparison of Tribosys 3203 and 3204 so I figured I’d put together a video demonstrating how I lube switches while comparing the two lubricants. One thing I would caution is that I’d maybe use slightly less lube than I did in the video. I was a bit too focused on recording the video than doing the best job of lubing.
To briefly summarize my comparison between the two I’d say that they both do an excellent job of removing any grittiness from the switch and adding some silence.
Tribosys 3203 adds a decent amount of smoothness without rounding off too much of the stock key feel. I’d imagine it would be really great with tactile switches where you want to soften some of the imperfections of the switch without losing too much tactility. Sound dampening wise it’s a little less effective than 3204.
Tribosys 3204 adds more smoothness yet. The feeling is less plastic on plastic and the parts just seem to glide along each other. Tactility can definitely be dampened with this lube if not applied carefully and even then you’ll still lose some of it. However, on linear switches the feeling is fantastic. 3204 really helps with sound dampening too. On silent switches it really goes the extra mile and sound becomes almost imperceptible.
I’m looking forward to trying out the 3203 a bit more, especially on my next tactile switches where I think it will really shine.
Any updates on what you think about 3203?
I used 3203 on my holy pandas and it does add smoothness. Sound wise it doesn’t seem that different from the stock, just not spring sound. I also lubed the legs of the stem but it didn’t seem to affect the tactility. At least not to the point where it is noticeable.
Also want to hear everyone’s opinion
Nothing to report back yet. Been busy with other things and haven’t got a tactile build coming up to test it on. I’ll try and test it on some zealios and was thinking of rebuilding my Tada68 so I’ll try to update this post once I have!
I’ve joined the group buy for V2 Zilents and am planning to lube them with 3204 for a bit of extra smoothness.
I’m hoping due to the reported larger bump there’ll still be some good tactility there.
I’ll report back once I’ve got it all together!
With level of tactility trending up, I’ve started using 3203 just on stem legs and contact leaf bumps and rest of the stem and housing with 3204 for the smoothness with minimal tactility loss. With Gsus on the way, I plan to make Holy Gsus and Clear-minded Gsus switches with same dual lube treatment.
Just ordered up a couple 3ml jars of 3203 from Switchmod. I wanted to get one of each, but unfortunately he is out of 3204. Been really happy with using 3204 for sliders & housing, but being as tactile switches are my favorites & 3203 supposedly takes to tactile switches better than 3204 I bit the bullet on it. I got some YOK Red Pandas that should be coming around the same time as my 3203 so I’ll be sure to post my finding here!
Well, you could look at it two different ways. Like @donpark said 3204 gives awesome results pretty much a tried & true product (not that 3203 isn’t, I’ve just never personally used it yet), but since it is your first time lubing tactiles the 3203 may come in handy. From all I’ve heard 3203 is much more forgiving as far as losing tactility goes. I know if you go to heavy with 3204 you will lose a good bit of tactility, but it isn’t too hard to get a consistent layer using the paintbrush method either. If you haven’t bought the lube yet I would say 3203 is worth a look, but if you already have 3204 on hand just be sure to do a few test switches you can lose first.
I’ll be taking that into consideration. Something I learned when lubing my silent blacks was to put more emphasis on the housing than I first suspected, and I think that’ll probably be the secret sauce to making these work. Planning on slathering those rails and then playing with the slider first!
So I finally got around to using my batch of 3203 for the first time. I used it on YOK Red Pandas with Halo clear stems & 72g springs. I have to say I really like it compared to 3204 with tactile switches at least. It gives you the same smoothness that 3204 does but definitely affects tactilty much less!
However IME so far you do end up using a good bit more 3203 to achieve the same smoothness that 3204 gives in a light coating. It’s still a fine line between proper amounts & overlubing so you don’t want to slather it on. Although you should be a bit more liberal with 3203. As long as it holds up as well as 3204 I think I may switch fully to 3203 for tactile.
3203 worked real well for them IMO. I did the stem & housing with it then did the springs with Krytox VPF 1415. If you haven’t used 3203 do a few testers before you get into switches that’ll go on a board,you seem to use more of the 3203 vs 3204 or thick Krytox mix.
After building 2 60% Holy Panda boards lubed with 3204, I built a Holy Panda Planck lubed with 3203 and it didn’t feel that great. Then I wondered how over-lubing might feel like so added an extra thick second coat and result felt awesome, distinct from 3204 HP in a tight yet smooth feeling way. Not sure if over-lubing with 3204 will enhance the feel the same way though.
I doubt it, I think too much 3204 would be a bad thing making the switch feel sluggish. 3203 seems to be right at a very good viscosity for heavier lubing. It’s actually the first product I’ve ever used that benefits from going with a little more instead of wanting a very light coating. Although I’m sure there is a tipping point even with 3203 if you use too much.
Overlubed 3204 sucks. Like, big time sucks. That’s why I’m lubing only the housing and wiped the excess off on the side of the Halo sliders for my Red Holy Pandas. It also helps that whatever arcane mix the Halo sliders are made of is super slippery on it’s own, so really just adding a coat to the housing to gently cushion the slider is enough for me.
