I had Hako Trues that went into the whitefox kickstarter that I got into. Biggest keyboard regret of my life thus far. I got hooked by the whole Topre mimic lingo as well and from then on have been very wary of keyboard hype and the language used to describe new keyboard products.
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Otemu Sky Switches, i knew they were budget but even after switching springs and lubing then they still didn’t feel acceptable.
And their stem is kind of small so good thing my POM keycaps fit but everything else sometimes flies off. :(.
Still ordered Otemu U4s, after all the good reviews, just hoping to get an mx equivanlent of bke light domes.
Box royals, their bump is just wrong and does not feel good at all. 
Anything light linear makes me mistype to much…
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I’ve learned that if I want the topre experience, just buy the real thing lmao.
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I hate the zealios v2. And kailh box tactiles. Pandas are fine though (if you think panda are harsh it is your build not the switch).
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Silent switches of both the tactile and linear variety
Most box tactile switches
Most box linear switches
All speed switches
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Who the heck is using these “speed” switches anyway? I play a lot of overwatch and I kept using my shift ability accidentally because of those dumb switches.
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I am. I love speed navies. When the issues with kailh box switch stems was brought to light, I ended up getting rid of all of mine that I could. I was really missing that heavier click bar switch action so I decided to replace my box navies with speed navies to see if they were a decent replacement, and while they obviously feel a bit different, I ended up preferring the speed navies over the box variant, and still use them in a couple of boards.
I could see that since they have a stiff event at the top. But linear speed switches are a mess. It’s like having a touch screen keyboard. You can’t get near the keys without a press event.
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I have some speed silvers that are a lot of fun! I did put 150g springs in there though 
It’s actually a really interesting combo because even though they are super heavy the speed silvers actuate right at the top so if you use a super light touch you don’t have to push them very hard, but if you really push on them it’s fatiguing after like two words. If you were at the 2017 or 2018 Northern California meetup you might have seen it, it’s a fox orange tkl with a badge that says ‘swag’; that board always gets some interest.
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Box Navies
I liked them initially but ended up disliking the harshness and loudness.
MX Clears
I didn’t hate them but my fingers were always really fatigued after even short typing sessions. It’s odd considering I’ve been very happy with other heavy switches, like BKE Heavies.
MX Browns
My first mechanical switch. They were all right until I tried something else. I guess I don’t have to justify why… 
Buckling springs
Just not my cup of tea, I guess. I want to like them but I can’t. “Too mechanical” would be the best way to describe it. 
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I wonder if it has to do with how harsh the bottom out may or may not be.
Personally, I find that medium-weight switches with a harsh bottom-out are more fatiguing to me than heavy-weight switches with a normal or dampened one. Similarly, progressive spring linears that actuate normally but with very heavy bottom-out weights are less tiring to me than the medium weight harsh tactiles.
This Halo stem frankenswitch is one of my favorite switches ever in terms of being fun to use - but they wear me out and having them as my only switch wouldn’t be ideal, because they migh thave the harshest bottom-out of any switch I’ve tried so far.
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Ditto on the Whitefox Hako True switches. Really my first mechanical, but it took so long to arrive that I bought an Anne Pro. Still I keep coming back to the board wanting to like it, but the switches are too stiff. I’m still on the fence about desoldering the board or just selling it. Mostly because I’ve never desoldered.
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You know what’s hilarious - my whitefox is just sitting around half desoldered because halfway through desoldering I was like, what’s the point? I don’t think I would ever have the motivation to rebuild it now that I’ve been spoiled by some much nicer keyboards. I suppose I could sell it, though I’m not quite sure what the market would be on a whitefox these days.
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I built a 75% board with Zealios v2 Purple 78g and just swapped out the alphas for plain Gateron Browns - I thought I’d like the weight of the 78g - but it became fairly tiring.
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Zilents, both V1 and V2. They hissed like styrofoam would when brushed against a surface. Gave up on silents from there on.
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I felt the same about Zilents (and Helios, on close inspection); very underwhelmed especially since I liked Tealios and Zealios so much at the time. I have since found a few silents I really do like, though;
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Silent Box Browns for daily driving; good balance of tactility and reduced noise but can suffer from some inconsistency from switch to switch depending on how much lube is currently on the tactile cam - they can be made consistent with manual lubing but this actually makes them louder by encouraging the cam to click slightly.
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Silent Inks are so far my favorite on-balance; they retain just enough of a crisp bottom-out to be satisfying while being more hushed than the SBB’s.
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Gazzew Silents are kind of in a class of their own when it comes to how quiet they can be, though the bottom-out feel is also softer compared to most other dampened switches.
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In all honesty, anything linear I’ve tried sucked so far (Gat blacks, Cherry MX red, black, silent black).
On the clicky note, I’ve hated Gateron green and blue. I find Cherry MX Blues okayish, so it’s not the clickyness (I also love Kalih Box Jades, so obviosly I lean towards heavier switches).
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Linears. They just don’t really do it for me. I have tried to get into them a couple of different times because it seems like this is where a lot of new stuff is happening these days.
During COVID, I really tried to improve upon my Outemu Skies, but no matter what I did I could not get them to a place I liked. Ultimately, I think they have leaf noise like crazy. I hope to toss the stems in some Yok Panda housings to get some thing worth while.
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Probably gonna get flamed for this one, since it is kinda a hot take but here it goes. Model M membrane buckling spring (not too fond of Model F capacitive buckling spring either, but it is much more useable than Model M’s to me), as much as I’ve tried to get into them I just can’t do it. They feel clunky & loose to me, not the smoothest by any means, & all the rattle + ping just sound horrible to me. I just can’t hang for long when using one.
I’ve tried many & have a very clean one made in April 1990 so it’s not a case of just using a bad example of the board. I should also mention clicky switches are my least favorite type, but I do like click on certain switches so it’s not a switch type bias either. All that said I still respect the hell out Model Ms cause they brought us the standard layout we know today & I am more than glad to have a nice clean sample in my collection!
3 Likes
Alps Black
I like how it’s one of the most common Alps switches out there, but they’re easliy the worst of the SKCM lineup due to being scratchy and too heavy even at their cleanest condition.
NovelKeys Cream
C’mon guys, they aren’t even that smooth. Weren’t these touted to be the smoothest contact based MX switch? I did not feel that.
TTC Silent Red
Thought these were going to be the MX Silent Red killer for cheap. Nope nope nope. Avoid avoid avoid. I still like its unique silencing method though.
Mitsumi standard mechanical (Type 1)
Well, it didn’t come in the cleanest condition on the keyboard I have it on (Apple M0110A). It was a lot more scratchy than I anticipated, not worth the £65 I paid for it. I’d happily trade it for an SMK version so I can try that one out.
4 Likes