FFFF Tactile: too wobbly, dull sounding and scratchy despite the manufacture lubing.
Outemu Sky: too scratchy and dull sounding, but very good tactility.
MX Clear: too dull and scratchy.
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Reminds me of the original Invyr Panda before it found its new “purpose” - but in this case I’ve yet to find anything I prefer using the Cream housing for. 
Somehow they’ve remained very popular - and somehow the myth of smoothness has stuck around. I guess that’s the power of hype and influence.
I get the theory of “self lubricating” POM (i.e. microscopic bits rubbing off and effectively becoming dry lubricant) - but in practice it doesn’t equal smooth operation.
That’s cool - the experiment didn’t turn out as it might have been planned - but that would be the point at which I’d find something else to say about these when it comes time to sell them. Some folks genuinely like a consistently textured feel to the key-travel; I’d be letting them know I have a product right up their alley.
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Aliaz silent switches: I don’t know what kind of plastic was used in the housing but I broke the legs on 2 of them trying to get them open to lube, which has never happened with any other switch. The bump was so small that they also provided almost no feedback on actuation
Box Royal: The tactility was so binary that it felt like I had to slam my finger to bottom out the switch to get it to actuate. Lubing the bump helped with this but still was not a fan with how sharp the tactility is.
Kailh Speed Bronze: I really didn’t know what to make of this switch. The actuation point was above the click. So while typing sometimes i would see the key register but would not hear the click, which made it really odd to develop a consistence cadence when typing.
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Surprisingly I ended up not liking Brown Alps. Too tactile and too stiff. If I used them long enough my hands might strengthen and adapt, but it was not worth it for me.
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I have some in a board with the UPEEPEE stems in them and I very much enjoy the clacky sound it makes, I think to me at least I think the sound is why they are popular.
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As of right now, I’m kind of over clicky switches. I really only used them in the past for their clean tactile feeling, but I’ve adopted to using Zilent V2’s, which give me a similar feel, with out the noise.
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the power of tfue
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Alps … they died for a reason
Too bad too, since all alps seem to sound awesome
Might be because I had a horrible boss that used his at work … forever scarred.
I tend to prefer silents and linears over thocky tactiles as well
Most everything by Outemu. We’ll see if boba switches bucks the trend
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It’s funny - Outemu makes the worst MX switches I’ve ever used by a wide margin (their browns actually feel the way Chyrosran22 describes Cherry’s), but Holy Bobas are easily in my top three favorites.
Almost reminds me of Shimano, if there was nothing in-between the stamped steel garbage they make for Wally bikes and Ultegra components.
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Not quite switches, but for me the biggest surprise/disappointment was BKE domes.
Had a stock 87U that I converted (and imo, ruined the feel of) to BKE Heavies, and holy crap did they feel heavy. Swapped down to BKE Lights and even at 50g, its honestly heavier than I like. Tempted to still try BKE ultra lights or the Deskey domes at some point but I’ve caught the linear bug…
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Yeah my guess is that they’re mostly good designs (afaik Gazzew has designed most if not all of their switches, certainly in recent years) but made with poor manufacturing tolerances/QC (to hit a really low price point for OEM partnerships). The Bobas have such tight tolerances and are so consistent (at least as I’ve been opening them up) that it’s difficult to believe they come from the same manufacturing line unless they’re doing an incredible job of “buttoning-up” for their production compared to their other switches.
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A LIGHT lube application to the springs will take away the horrible rattle and ping. The spacebar is the hardest to tame, but doing so really improves the experience. Check out this link for a great comparison.
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Oh wow, yeah that does make a pretty noticeable difference! I’ve also tossed around the ideal of doing the floss mod on mine which supposedly quiets the switches down a good bit too. Although I hesitate to do too much to mine since it hasn’t been bolt modded & thus far has not needed to be. From what I understand the more you open Model Ms up the more likely you are to have some plastic rivets break off necessitating the bolt mod. Anyways good look on the heads ups for this video, I appreciate it man!
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I hear you. My model M needs to be bolt modded before I do anything else to it. But you can lube the springs in place (as in, just pop off the keycaps) – you don’t have to disassemble the board and remove them. I think a makeup applicator like many use to lube switches would be the best tool. I thought about the floss mod too, but the lube/grease mod sounds so damn good, lol.
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Typically the plastic rivets degrade and break off over time. I’d recommend opening your board first to see if it actually needs to be bolt-modded. If all the rivets are still in due to the board being stored in good condition, you don’t need to bolt mod (unless you want to do it now instead of later).
If you’re missing plastic rivets or some have degraded to the point that they’re not really doing their job, drill baby drill.
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This is interesting and perhaps something I should explore more with my Model F62 
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That would make for an interesting stream.
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