Alright - giving those Clickiez a shot. @leemu - this one’s for you!
Okay. I think I see what Thomas and other Alps enjoyers are on about when it comes to this click leaf business. I understand these aren’t the same as Alps, but give something of a window into their character through the lens of MX. This kind of click tactility is indeed wholly unlike anything else in the MX wheelhouse.
Click Mode:
Significantly more punchy than any click-jacket; like not even in the same universe. The only MX clicky that even gets close to these when it comes to that punchy feeling is the BOX Navy, but that’s decidedly more sharp and harsh.
This round of Clickiez are absolute tactility monsters. They make BOX Royals seem quaint - and that’s before you put them into tactile mode. More on that later.
Don’t get me wrong - this tactile event is like a cliff, and it’s very strong. As soon as you start pushing on the switch, you’re pushing against that tactile event - and when you break through it, you’re slamming the bottoms unless you’re trying very hard not to.
I think the harshness of the Navy really comes from the sound - while click-bar switches are much more clean and crisp than their click-jacket counterparts, neither produce the kind of chunky sound these leaves do. For an MX clicky, these are very deep sounding. It’s still a click, but it’s a different click.
Here’s a sound comparison between an NK_ BOX Midnight Jade (a switch using a thick click-bar like the Navy’s) and a Zeal Clickiez 100g:
Like the click-bar, the leaf makes an essentially rattle-free sound, but like a typical click-jacket, the noise it makes on the way up is much more quiet than on the way down.
Despite punching like Mike Tyson, I’m finding these surprisingly usable. I’m still getting used to them, only having a few hours with them so far, but the crisp and positive confirmation provided by the leaf makes breezing through words surprisingly smooth for me. They are a bit stronger than my preference, but a lot more usable for me than a great many other extra-strong tactiles (clicky or otherwise).
Compared with a Cream Tactile, for example - I believe the peak force on these is actually higher, but the broadness of the bump and weight of the spring on those tired me out and felt awkward to me in a way that these don’t. These are ultra-firm with the bump, but that crisp feedback makes it work for me.
I’ll see how I feel after a week or so, but these are impressing me so far. I’d really like to see something like this available with a variety of leaves to choose from - and of course maybe a price not quite so through the roof. As-is they are sort of in novelty territory - but you do get gobs of novelty for your dollar.
Linear Mode:
I have the least to say about this so far; feels like a polycarb Gateron Cap linear, which is to say good. If you've used any Cap linear before, try to imagine that with a harder housing.
Specifically, there’s a little texture you can hear and feel, but the travel is otherwise very smooth and stable. Spring wiggle is also easiest to hear in this mode, having much less competing sound to be drowned-out by.
As linears, these offer a very good experience - but you can get at least this good of one for a lot less money if you just want some nice linears.
Get these if you want linears that can transform into crunchy clickies and monster tactiles at-will, and don’t mind paying the highest stock switch price I can currently think of.
Tactile Mode:
So far I've only tried this with a few individual switches on a tester, but I can tell you a few things based on that.
The 60g in tactile mode is more aggressive-feeling than the 100g in clicky mode. Held in the hand, tactile mode is distinctly less loud - but in a tester, it’s only less sharp because of how hard a natural keystroke will bottom-out. It’s perhaps a less clean sound owing to all the vibration going on in there being vocalized by the spring, but you still have to listen for that - which considering the absurd tactility of this configuration, is pretty amazing.
The 100g in tactile mode might as well be a nuclear launch button, or one of a pair used to activate a massive industrial cutter. I personally can’t even imagine using it to type with - but maybe Chewwy and his space-bear kin would be right at home with them.
To borrow a phrase from aforementioned afficionado Thomas, the tactility on these things is
M a s t a d o n t i c
To borrow some content from my mail post, here’s some more Clickiez crunchiness:
A quick close-up video to show the click-leaf in action:
Don’t mind my yardwork hands and ZZ Top in the background…
The switches analogized to Dark Souls weapons:
Either weight in linear mode:
60g click mode:
100g click mode:
60g tactile mode:
100g tactile mode:
