OK, I tried 55 gr Spirit springs with the stock Boba parts, and it worked out really well.
[I would have ordered the U4s with 55 gr springs, but that option wasn’t available to me as an international customer.]
What can I say? I’ve finally found a use for my 55 gr Spirit springs.
At first, it looked as if they weren’t going to be powerful enough to drive the stem. When I was assembling the 2 switches, the stem ‘hung’ or ‘caught’ in the housing while I was pressing it down.
But once I assembled the switch, the upstroke was fine. Almost as poppy as MX Brown (in which the upstroke is fairly strong for such a light switch.)
Using them side-by-side with the 62 G Bobas, I found that the contours of the tactility was more pronounced in the 55 gr version. Just as the lighter Zilents are said to be more tactile than the heavier ones, the 55 gr at the very least doesn’t lose any tactility.
I could feel the full tactile profile, which was more clearly ‘D’ shaped in the 55 than in the 62 G. And you will be able to trace out that stem shape when you release slowly, just as in Zilents. Slowly releasing the 55 G Boba reminded me closely of the same on the 62 gr Zilents.
There is a possibility of upstroke ‘catch’ with the 55 G that doesn’t exist with the 62 G. I actually managed to stop one for a moment by lifting my finger too slowly. This was a brand new, unlubed switch though. They don’t do that during normal typing. Kind of like you might experience with 55 G Ergo Clears in the same weight.
Anyway, both of these weights feel fairly bouncy and rubbery during normal typing, probably like they’re supposed to.
Their sound is a muffled ‘thunk.’ It’s lower pitched than the Golden Skies that I built with Silent Forest stems. Sounds kind of like a rubber-dome, like a cheap silent Topre clone. A better board than my hotswap would make it quieter. I’m pleased to report that it wasn’t difficult to silence the springs. Ping seems reduced compared with other switches. It’s harder to quiet the springs on my “Golden Skies.”
All-in-all, this seems to be a competent take on a Zilent / Tacit type switch, with a somewhat different tactile profile. That profile becomes more apparent, IMHO, with the lighter spring weights. But I’ve only tried 2 weights so far.
Personally, I think that these highly-tactile silenced switches offer more tactile feedback than I actually need in order to type, but for those who appreciate the higher tactility, this seems to be a higher-tactility silent switch that can be assembled in a variety of weights.