Indeed. I do find it a little confusing they didn’t use the same leaf as the normal box browns, and the offer these higher tactility ones as another color, say clear.
Guess they’ll have to make a “Silent Light Brown!”
Hi there, first of all, thanks for providing all your test results, it is really helpful!
I am new to the hobby and I am experimenting with switches and looking for a silent linear switch for an office keyboard. I tried a sample of the silent Inks and REALLY loved them. I think they feel awesome and they are not even lubed/filmed yet. Regular Gat silents, not so much. I’d love to try silent alpacas, but they are pretty much impossible to find here. I am really intrigued with gazzew’s silent linears, but unfortunately I cannot give them a try unless I bought a set of switches. Now that you’ve tried the Silent inks, how would you compare the two? I know you’ve only tried the stem in a different housing then his, but still… Thanks!
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Greetings @stuk0v!
As far as the Outemu silent linears vs Gateron Silent Inks, here’s what I can tell you:
The Outemu’s are more quiet, but will have a less crisp, less stable feel, and will also have a softer-feeling bottom-out.
The Inks are more smooth and stable, and manage to retain a satsifyingly-crisp bottom-out. The trade-off is that the Inks make more noise when bottoming out.
On balance, I’d choose the Inks in most situations, and they’ve become one of my very favorite switches. I now use them in my office board and I haven’t gotten any complaints or comments, and I share a single office room with a few others, so I’d say they are safely quiet enough for work.
Aside: I’d also love to try Silent Alpacas - but alas - unobtanium! I finally managed to snag some Creams today - I wonder how fast they’ll sell out this time… ha! I got the Creams to put the stems in Black Ink housings; “Creamy Inks” are one of the most pleasant switches I have ever used - though of course they aren’t silent.
If somebody made a stem that was essentially identical to a Cream stem and with dampeners like Outemu silents or even the standard ones… we’ll that’d be really nice.
One more quick note - I just got some Outemu U4 silent tactile stems - newer versions of the ones I tested above - and they are significantly different. They appear to be specifically designed for housings like Pandas; they felt awful in Halo housings, but legit excellent in Red Panda housings. Once I properly have them in a board I’ll share some more info.
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Are the Inks better than Zeal’s Pink Rosélios & Sakurios?
TL;DR: Generally, I’d put Inks and Zeals on the same level of quality - but for reasons I’ll explain, I’d still recommend the Inks over the Zeals for now unless you prefer Zeal’s colors enough to spend more.
Gateron manufactures Zeal’s switches anyway, so it’s not too surprising to see them cater to the enthusiast community with their own products.
I have a few sample Zeal switches, but haven’t gotten to use them in a full board yet. Comparing individual ones, though, the smoothness is so close I can hardly tell a difference.
However - I’ll note that the example Helio (just like Sakurios, but 1.5g heaveir) switch I’m using has a flaw in common with all the other silent Zeals and normal Gateron silent switches I’ve seen - the top dampener pad is too short, allowing the stem to sit too high in relation to the housing and leaf, in turn negatively affecting the travel and feel of the switch. The Inks, however, do not appear to have this issue. (I imagine that subsequent runs of Zeal switches will have fixed this as well but that’s just speculation on my part.)
Most people don’t seem to notice or be bothered by this issue, but I’ve confirmed it with a few others and personally it drives me nuts - so just be aware of that possibility with Gateron-made silent switches excluding the Inks. (Gateron Silents, Aliaz, Zealios, Helios, Sakurios, Roselios)
One other note about the Helio that I have; the play is very minor, but there is a tiny bit of wiggle between the top and bottom housings. This can be fixed with switch films - but that’s more cost on top of the already expensive switches. The Inks that I have fit snugly together and don’t need films.
Even if they were identical, I’d go for the Inks because they’re at least ~20% cheaper. That said, we’re essentially talking about picking between two of the best possible options, so I don’t think you can go wrong here.
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I think the question we need an answer to is whether or not the Silent Box Brown switch will start to click like other tactile box switches. That sort of ruins the silence…
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I believe the click issue is only with the tactile box switches. I have some ancient greys and they dont click at all
Box Browns are tactile and my understanding is the click effects all of the tactile eventually (violet, brown, hako, orange) but it is also possible that they quietly fixed this issue after the fat stem issue.
I really like box switches, not trying to throw shade. Whenever I type on my wife’s box violets I enjoy it, I am just waiting for the clicks…
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I forgot they made a silent brown. You are right, it would be pointless to silence the stem if the actuating green nub makes a click.
I have noticed that some of mine do have a light clicking sound. It wouldn’t be enough to bug my coworkers (about as loud as a stock Gateron silent brown), but if you want a truly quiet board for yourself I don’t think I’d recommend them unless you’re okay with lubing the box parts / leaf, perhaps periodically.
That said I kind of like the sound they make, and they’re more satisfying in actual typing than under close analysis.
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That’s exactly right. My BOX Browns make what you could call a clicking noise in conjunction with other sounds while typing, but it isn’t nearly as loud as something like BOX Jades. So it’s a more muted click.
When you scrutinize the BOX Brown, you’ll find this problem and that. But the actual typing experience is fine, including the sound. It is as loud as other mechanical switches, but you knew that coming in. BOX Browns seem to have been made with the typing experience in mind, and not the individual performance of each switch.
Old post, but was wondering what the collective thinking is with silent linears that use gasket style dampers fitted on the stem sliders versus those that have them integrated instead. Is one design “better” than the other?
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Think it was @Deadeye 's serikos that the gasget could slip of if lubed on it.
My bad, it was @pixelpusher
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I personally don’t like the reduced travel and the fact that they come off fairly easily.
They’re decent silent switches, but I don’t think it would take much work to come up with a vastly superior implementation. It’s probably hard to r&d something that has to appease such a wide audience and then put it through millions of press tests. But even on paper, the design seems weak.
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Interesting info. I was just curious about the idea of being able to silent a non-silent switch, on demand. But if it’s more trouble than it’s worth, sounds like, I’ll just keep my distance from this rabbit hole. Thanks for sharing.
Why not qmx clips?
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trampoline mod - measure the distance from actuation to bottom out, fill the distance in between with rubber sheet discs cut via 2mm hole punch from hard rubber, epdm etc. 
(thats what I do because I like short travel switches and silencing the downstroke happens automatically, the upstroke can be silenced via QMX clips)
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I’m curious about this too. I can tell you that Silent Sky V2’s are very different from U4’s, but those are the only two I have personal experience with. Probably the best English-speaking person on Earth to ask about this is the man himself, Paul - or u/hbheroinbob on reddit.
Send him a PM with your question, and he can likely give you all the details. Paul (aka Gazzew) is the guy responsible for bringing Outemu’s boutique stuff state-side, and he’s also worked with them in terms of improving / designing switch components.