Boba U4 vs U4T (vs Holy Boba)

I think he should keep selling them adjacent to the U4’s, or maybe even do a revision of them just adjusting the tolerances.

I think Outemu continues to sell them in switches under the names “Silent Sky” and “Silent Forest” if Gazzew ever runs out.

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Wait, it was starting with the U4T’s? But it seems like the ‘first’ switch sounded ‘thockier’ or lower-pitched across the board. I thought the HB’s sounded positively ‘clacky’ ish in comparison. Just want to reconfirm the sounds?

That’s correct. It kind of depends on what you’re listening with; the recordings sound a bit different on headphones vs a phone speaker, for example.

Generally HB’s have a nice deep thocky sound, but striking them more heavily (harder than most people type) does bring out a higher-pitched clack like you hear in the recording. In my testing, that was not the case with the U4T’s - they just get proportionally loud to how hard you hit them rather than bringing out a different pitch.

I’m working on a more comprehensive comparison with better recordings and more information.

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Thank you for the useful information that came out of this thread.

In particular, putting U4 stems in Cherry Silent Red housings. I have 104 desoldered Cherry Silent Reds that were never used, and I might try building a couple.

And also the Silent Skies in the Halo housings. Could be a good use of leftover housings while building Holy Bobas!

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I’m in the process of breaking in some Cherry Black housings to eventually try the U4T on a full board. If you’re able to try this out first, you should report back with results :+1:

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I do have some Cherry (Silent) Black housings that saw a few months of daily use before being salvaged - I’ll add it to my list!

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Ooo I do have these laying around :thinking:

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Can confirm these are good. I’d suggest springs of 60g or higher; I had some 55’s in first and while they did work, they felt a little sluggish. After putting in the heavier ones, the switches really came alive for me, though.

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Yes. Over and over again, after testing dozens of switches, I have found that 60 G TX is a more reliable weight for the Silent Skies than 55 G, and you’ll want to go even higher in a highly-tactile housing like the Boba.

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This is embarrassing, but I’m currently trying the U4Ts in MX Brown housings, as I have some left over :sweat_smile:

However, I find that they are dubious housings but I will update more if my KBD67 Lite arrives next week!

I have try to put a U4T in a cherry housing. It works on its own but once you put keycaps on the switch suddenly become unusable. It seems like the leaf have hard interfere with the stems

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@kelvin0113 @HungerMechanic sorry for direct ping but do you know what’s making the switch feel off? I’m currently messing around with a lubed U4T stem in cherry black housings (all-black version) and don’t notice anything off even when using cherry profile caps. They just feel like a less tactile version of a Holy Boba and slightly less than a T1 as well. But no issues with the stems thus far. And I’m not sure why the leaf would interact differently with the stem when caps are on. Before I buy a bunch I’d love to get more info

I found out is not the leaf have problems but the cap is causing the problems. If the keycap stem is too thick it will interfere with the housing. I got this problems with GMK keycaps

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so it’s the cherry housing? could it be the north/south facing interference issue?

Is the cherry housing. I have just tested it, both north and south facing cause interference

that’s unfortunate but really interesting. you’d think cherry housings would be able to accommodate GMK keycaps but it sounds like any stem will have the same issue

I guess is the switch stem off-seted a bit causing the problem. If the switch is South facing the interference is a lot less noticeable. It only happens if you try push at the side of keycaps

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Gotcha. Well thanks for the 2 cents here, I’m just bummed I can’t replicate the issue

Had the chance to use the Boba Thocks. As a lazy person who doesn’t enjoy modding, I like this switch stock. My batch don’t have crunch or ping, and it’s fairly smooth. I like them.

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are you referring to U4T when you say Boba Thocks?
I really enjoy mine too but have experience quite a bit of crunch in mine…so will probably end up spring swapping them when i get around to getting more springs and desoldering the switches from my board xD

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