I saw Kailh announce a new switch today - Polia. Pretty expensive at USD$1 per switch, especially for Kailh, which usually produces economy switches.
Not much discussion on the web on this switch yet:
Any thoughts here?
weird tactile switch. That’s a 2mm bump, lol. Also not very strong. I have no idea what these would feel like.
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I agree with what one of the folks on reddit was saying - these look to be their take on strong “negative” tactility, à la Holy Pandas and the like.
- I love the color. Periwinkle?
- I’m curious about the switch
- Jeez that price tho
Part of me wonders if they’re just seeing how much they can charge. I have no idea what R&D, tooling, and other costs are associated with bringing out a new switch like this, but Kailh are pretty well-equipped for it.
“Polia” means different things in a few different languages. Maybe they’re going for the ancient Greek meaning “precious stone” or perhaps the Finnish “polish” or “luster” - or maybe even the Norman “smooth”. (Those made more sense than “stable of horses” to me, anyway.)
If the switch truly is smooth and polished like a precious stone when it comes to how it feels, maybe top-shelf prices are justified. Time will tell - I might grab a single set of 10 to see for myself.
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Am I missing something about the price? Pretty much all their choc switches are about $1 a piece, seems normal?
$1 each is on the very high end for mx-compatible switches. ZealPC switches and a few other premium ones are in that price range, but for the most part even pretty fancy ones are between 55 and 85 cents. Basic / standard Kailhs can be had for around 25 cents each.
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dang, i want to try so many tactile switches, but I really haven’t found one that I really like other than HP’s and browns
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So their Aliexpress prices are inflated? Is there a place where I could get their choc switches at such prices?
That I’m not sure about. I know next to nothing about choc switches and what their prices normally are. Just glancing around, it looks like 90 cents to $1 is pretty normal for those.
The only thing I know about them is that they’re an improved derivative of the older Cherry ML, which itself looks to cost about the same, but has a reputation for being awful.
Wth is “fourth feeling retro switch”? Every time I’m on aliex I wonder if it’s sacrilegious to use google translate in China? Jeez…
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They don’t really use google in china…
But I agree that they need better translation, seeing as a lot of people that shop there are probably foreign.
We will soon be stocking these. Samples are already in route to us. Should be a pretty great alternative to Holy Panda switches.
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I just need to know if this will give me a good feeling of oneness with the slider plastic.
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Thanks for ringing in, sir. I’ll order a set when they show up.
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Somebody in one of the discord communities I’m in managed to dig up this graphic associated with this switch:
It’s… mislabeled the bottom-right as a second “type 3” but contextually I think we can reasonably assume that it is in fact the “fourth feeling” being talked about. So: these should have a round tactility vs. a sharp tactility, I guess.
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Like the T1 kiwis? But longer?
edit: idk, I just know the stem legs are similarly rounded, I didn’t look at the force graphs .-.
Ordered a bunch, will share back once they arrive. I’m in Japan so usually comes pretty quick…
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Yeah I think both t1 and halo stem would be examples of the rounder tactility, whereas kailh box royals or zealios would be examples of the sharper tactility. Who knows, though? Everybody’s trying to make their own take on the halo stem right now.
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I think “fourth feeling” is meant to convey something like “you’ve heard of linear, clicky, and tactile - wait till you try this!” Personally that’s not how I’d describe it, but it’s probably true that the tactile profile itself is fairly novel - at least compared to the mass-market standards of red / blue / brown.
Aaand I couldn’t resist - though I might have held out to snag them from NovelKeys if I’d realized they’d be getting them. I’m a sucker for anything moderately obscure on my side of the pond.
Welp - when they get here in just over a month I’ll be sure to let you folks know my thoughts as well as post some sound tests and photos.
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Just curious, and apologies for my ignorance, but what’s the benefit of having 3-pin switches versus 5? My daily driver is a hot swap half plate and without the extra stability, yikes.
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Just a shedload of the market right now is folks with one of Drop’s hotswaps (or one of GMMK’s hotswaps), significantly more of the market than plateless/half-plate builds, and having to clip legs turns a pretty large number of folks off from 5-pin switches right now.
My best guess is that they’re seeing the current market for OEM boards that don’t support 5-pin and wanting as big a slice of that pie as they can get.
EDIT: I wish we could pressure Drop et al to just put the dang holes in their boards for the legs, but boy howdy that garbage decision seems like a gargantuan hurdle to overcome at this point.
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