Mine showed up today - well, at least 10 out of the 70 I ordered did. Box said “2/2” so hopefully “1/2” shows up Monday…
TL;DR: Still a first impression, but my initial thoughts are that Polias are pretty much just Halos with lighter springs and a different color.
Copypasta from the “mail today” thread:
First in-hand impressions are interesting. It reminds me of a more refined Halo in that I think the way it’s weighted would be helpful for someone who wants to avoid bottoming-out.
I wouldn’t say this switch is in it’s own category outside of “tactile” like Kailh implies in their marketing - but I would say that this style of tactility needs a name if it doesn’t already have one.
That is, a top-bump that drops-off into a cushion of rising spring weight. It’s as if the force has a “valley” in the middle where the actuation happens. I like it.
Of course I’ll be fiddling with these few I have here while waiting on the rest - I think they seem promising so far.
Edit; Comparisons:
Side-by-side with either Halo, Polias have a lighter weighting and with a curve closer to Clears than Trues. After some fiddling, I think that might be the biggest difference between the these new switches and Halos. At first glance the Polia’s tactility seems more pronounced, but I think that’s just down to the lighter spring.
Trying the stem in both a Red Panda and a Blue Ink housing and comparing them side by side to the same with Halo stems, I can hardly tell a difference. I’ve felt bigger differences between batches of the same switch - so it’s hard to say if the stems actually have small differences or if I’m just perceiving normal variance in the leaves / springs.
Putting a Halo Clear spring into the Polia and comparing them side-by-side, I couldn’t tell them apart with my eyes closed.
Having the stems out of the switches looking closely at them side-by-side… I cannot see a difference.
Gotta say - I do wonder if this “different” switch is just a re-color of the Halo parts and with a different name to sidestep any exclusivity agreements. On the one hand that doesn’t seem too on the up-and-up, and on the other, I wouldn’t mind being able to get “Halos” elsewhere.
(Would Kailh be in hot water for using the Halo stem molds? Last time I checked Drop is the only one with rights to sell it, and they pay royalties to Input Club when they do. Pretty sure that agreement was about the switch design, not its name.)
I’m definitely interested to see what some folks that are more familiar with the industry side / have more time in the hobby have to say after there’s been time to inspect these closely - I’d love to see some side-by-side force-curve averages…
Well. The Halo / Panda drama will probably still be going strong when the Jharia coal seam fire goes out - but hey, I like the color. 