If Gateron stepping up their game means fixing their loose leaves, and not in the half assed effort they’ve been giving so far, I agree.
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With the recent success of Durock and C3 switches, I hope the solid competition drives down the price of boutique switches. 75¢ to $1 a switch seems like gouging, assuming that Durock switches are profitable at 55¢ a piece.
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Interesting. I’m going to fiddle with my acrylic Tofu to see if I can make it thocky.
Interesting. I’m basically in same place as you in terms of sound. Cherry black housings are just so good. In terms of smoothness, the best I’ve found so far are (amazingly) Greetech black housings with clear tops (black tops are scratchy).
I’m closing in on what I think might be a perfect linear switch with a recent purchase of an old WYSE keyboard. Vint blacks with TX 65g springs lubed with Krytox 105. If this works out, I might be on the hunt for more WYSE keyboards. Stock they’re very smooth and have that lovely cherry black sound.
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Does anyone have info on when Alpaca linears will be restocked?
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I asked PrimeKB and they replied:
I won’t have a good estimate until the factory gets back to work and I hear from them. But I am trying to get more ASAP
With Coronavirus epidemic still going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if manufacturing is delayed for 3-4 months.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HZX7Hntp6/
These look interesting. Basically an all nylon housing vs the alpacas PC top and nylon bottom. Probably the same thing as the marshmallow switches? Would be interesting to see a comparison between the two. I will probably pick up a batch and tune them and compare in my hotswap board vs alpacas.
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Mauve and Lilac pages at CannonKeys, marked Sold Out for now.
You know, in retrospect, I think that the sudden flood of medium-cost switches may be a boon to us in general. I think that there’s a reason that enough people are no longer chomping at the bit to destroy JWK/Durock, and they’re giving us a ton of stuff to practice with and explore to find the different properties of linear switches.
Also is it just me or does Novelkeys usually precipitate an explosion of switch types with what they introduce
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Just ordered some Mauves from ProjectKeyboard site:
Lilac is also available but linear is my thing now so…
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They’re being more switches, keycaps, PCBs, cases, and other assorted aspects to our hobby is a great thing. I remember trying to get into this hobby almost three years ago and finally to be incredibly overwhelming and finding the fact that gatekeeping was horrible. And here I am now able to work with teenagers and other individuals who are looking to get into this hobby and there are a lot of available products for really good prices.
Yes we have aspects of this community that are rather shady. when you have a community assurance ours with individuals who have been incredibly dedicated to ensuring that the level of care and quality has been amazing, unfortunately has had a rather gatekeeping effect of keeping prices too high. We see this with Zeal Switches. I’m glad to see that we have more switches available for those who are now getting into our hobby and those who have been in the hobby who are just looking to tinker around especially with hot swappable being available.
all in all with that being said, I am very curious to see how these are compared to alpaca.
The one thing I am concerned about. A lot of these which just seem to be just clones of each other with this different stem colors. I would love to see us get to a point in this community are able to just to build switches ourselves. Where we can pick out the top the bottom the spring and the leaf and the stem. And go from there.
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A lot of these which just seem to be just clones of each other with this different stem colors. I would love to see us get to a point in this community are able to just to build switches ourselves. Where we can pick out the top the bottom the spring and the leaf and the stem. And go from there.
Sorry, I don’t see how that could be made possible economically.
I fully agree. That part isn’t
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It would probably be too much if it the switches came assembled, but I could see it maybe being able to work within a few years if it just came as a kit and you did the Putting together yourself.
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I personally wouldn’t trust shipping exposed contact leaves in open housings or God forbid, loose leaves. If they were made down the street maybe, but with the state of many packages I receive from China, no thanks (think tossed about JTK caps in their half open trays as reference).
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Late to the discussion, but here’s my two cents:
I love linears. But let me tell you: stock linears and lubed linears are two entirely different beasts. Seriously. There are some pretty nice switches (NK Creams, Durock Alpacas) that are smooth right out of the box, but man– you add some Krytox 205g0 to those bad boys and you’ve got some of the smoothest switches on the market. I think “Frankenswitches” shine in linears the most as well, too: MX Zilents (Zealio housings + MX black stems) are up there on my favorite switches of all time. Linears are much easier to mod for reasons like being able to lube contact points (something you can’t do with clicky / linear switches) and there’s much less to worry about: you can’t destroy a click leaf with lube if there’s not one to begin with.
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Just got the Mavue switches. I haven’t tried it lubed nor a full board of it but, after trying one switch stock on a board, it’s already the best linear switch in my mind:
- smoother than Tealios and
- sound seems as delightful as Cream
- stock switch has a bit of upstroke rattle but lube should handle that
No more need to choose between sound and smoothness. Lube the housing and/or slider bottom surface to nerf the clack if you work in an office.
UPDATE: Note that the sound is, like Cream and Holy Panda, relatively higher pitched than other linear switches. If you’re into deep base sounding switches, Mauve may not be a good fit.
UPDATE2: Findings after lubing and filming.
- No problem filming the switch.
- Lube lowers pitch, lower than lubed Cream, so not as loud and delightful but more bassy.
- Lube reduced upstroke rattle after lubing just the stem but some rattle still remains. I’m going to try lubing the top housing.
UPDATE3: Lubing the top housing as well as 55g spring swap reduced the rattle to ignorable level. If you need heavy springs, this may become an issue. Since Alpaca uses polycarb for the top housing and I’ve not heard it has rattle issue, I’d tinker with different top housings if that’s the case.
UPDATE4: Mauve seems to feel smoother unlubed than lubed. It may be that the lube feel is interfering with the skating-like feel. Not sure. Maybe the lube needs to settle down. If not, I’m going to try a build that uses lube only to control noise if possible.
Final update for the day: Right after lubed, 3203 felt and sounded the best to me. 205g0 was the worst but bassy, buttery feel getting in the way of smoothness. 3204 was between and didn’t standout. Noisewise, 3203 was worst and 205g0 was the best. I’ll check back on them tomorrow to see if the feel changed. Oh, Cream is still the best soundwise. Mauve is great but not as great as Cream’s drumstick on hollow block of marble sound.
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I’m sold. I’ll have to pick some up and give them a try
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wow - that is some high praise coming from you. Will definitely have to check them out!
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@donpark I figured that you would like the Mauves since I assumed that they were almost Alpacas which are topping my linear list right now. I just finished my acrylic Alice build last night and the switches are a dream to type on (205g0, filmed, tx 70g springs). R2 Tangies are very slightly smoother, but the Alpacas sound better – I can fully compare the two when I throw those Tangies into a full build (whenever the heavens open up and deliver my Xeno).
I did want to comment on the skating feeling statement. From what I have recently experienced, the smoother the switch is stock (especially the new super smooth entries) the more lube seems to add drag to the feel of it. I don’t find that it makes the switch less smooth, but it definitely makes it feel not as fast if that makes any sense. That feeling is almost entirely ignorable on less smooth switches as the lube rids us of their scratch, but it’s noticable when the stock switch is slick. I wonder if lower viscosity greases or oils would be preferable on the stems with thicker lube applied to the housings to dampen sound – I’m not sure how long oils would stay in place though.