So i saw this thread, and ordered some of each of these lubes from ringerkeys and waited till I got the alpacas from the lastest drop from primekb to test this out. I started with 3 switches, lubed one with krytox 205g0, one with tribosys 3203 and one with RO-59. The RO-59 took a few days since i waited 24 hours between coats, as I did 3 coats each on the sliders and stems. The springs for all 3 were bag lubed with krytox 105 oil and all 3 switches were filmed with deskeys switch films.
My findings. with Alpacas. Your mileage may vary, and everyone has their own preference
Krytox 205g0- very smooth, deep sound per usual and to be expected from this lube. I’d say a medium coat was applied, not too heavy or light. I’m gonna say something that might be an unpopular opinion, but this lube just takes all the personality out of a switch and makes linears feel the same to me. My least favorite of all 3 switches in this experiment
Tribosys 3203 - Slightly smoother than the 205g0, but really, its like splitting hairs trying differentiate. Sound was more higher pitched, as to be expected. A little bit of a thicker coat was applied, id say 6 or 7/10 on the thickness scale. Extremely buttery. But, alpacas being so smooth even out of the box, in my experience with this lube and this switch, to me it honestly feels JUST a tad scratchier than a stock switch, but smoother than the 205g0. Very good switch, but something felt off to me compared to stock.
RO-59kt - Oh man, now this switch/lube combo is something special. I actually liked this so much that i did the other 97 switches this way. In my opinion, I think alpacas have a lot of personality in the way they sound and feel, and this lube actually improved on the smoothness and sound for me. When comparing it to the krytox/tribosys lube’d switches in this experiment which made the sound deeper, RO-59 made them more high pitched and smoother. They feel almost as if they have no friction. Granted, you can still hear SOME when you press it right next to your ear, but when mounted, its such a small amount that you would never hear it unless your ear was like an inch away from the board.
Conclusion- I think theres a situation for each of these lubes, and in my conclusion, if you like the way a switch sounds stock but still want that improved feel, then RO-59 is the lube to use. In my experience, it accentuates the stock sound while also providing a suuuper slick like feel to it. After doing this to the rest of my alpacas, I am also currently in the process of lubing 90 gateron yellows with RO-59 as well. I have the first 30done with 3 coats, and the I think they corroborate my conclusions with the Alpacas.
I hope this helps anyone who is curious about using this lube, and I definitely think its worth a try if you’re interested in it
- all switch testing was done on my test board, KBDfans Tofu, brass plate, dz60hotswap pcb*