Easing Into Linears

TX themselves (on the springs product pages) said that they are not marketing any springs as progressive or slow curve but rather short and long. But the longer the spring, the more the preload, and the more slow curve it is.

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Try those springs in tactiles too. They made Bobas and Kiwis more tactile for me at the same spring weights as their 14mm counterparts.

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have you tried any other weights of those 16mm springs friend?

how are your impressions after these initial weeks have passed?

Tested 57g and 60g briefly but used only 62g on a board. They’re still better than shorter springs. I haven’t measured how long Tealios spring is but feels similar although it’s difficult to describe the feel. Gamey? Chewy? Hmm.

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What do you guys think is the best linear switch? Im planning my first build on the GMMK Pro. I was debating between alpacas, black inks, and tealios and after reading this thread im considering the nk dry yellows now. Any suggestions?

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All four are pretty much top-shelf linears when it comes to stock switches and any one of them are a solid choice for satisfying smoothness, so I’d say it comes down to preference in terms of sound and feel. Here are a few things I can tell you about each:

  • Alpacas and Silks will be the most similar to each-other, as they’re both made with the same tooling. I’d recommend films for both to get the most out of them. I’ve seen a lot more people mentioning they like the Alpaca’s spring weight than I have the Silk (Yellow), which is a hair light for my tastes. Silks have a higher quality lube applied reasonably well from the factory. All the JWK (manufacturer) switchess have a fairly high-pitched sound.

  • If you want a killer linear without having to think much about it, you could do much worse than Tealios. Ice-skate smooth, these are a real treat - if a very expensive one.

  • Inks are probably my fave out of these 4 very good switches. The smoothness is more about what the switch is made of than the lube on it, making it a little more consistent. I’ll also note I prefer the deeper sound of these when compared with the other three.

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oooh ok. Im looking for a smooth linear with a deep thock so Im guessing i should go with black inks?

From what I’ve tried personally, I think Inks strike a very good balance of thock and smooth - I’d recommend them. :+1:

Inks are pretty darn good out of the box but can also be tuned. If you find yourself wanting a little more “skate” smooth feeling like a Tealio, you might try a thinner oil lube (maybe 105) - and if you want more of a “butter” feeling that also cuts down on some of the higher frequency sounds, good ol’ 205g0 is a solid choice.

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I do gotta give some black Inks a try soon, as much as I have fell down the linear rabbit hole I still have yet to even try Inks. The price is what gets me more than anything, same with tealios although I have tried them & find them to be quite nice. I also worry about the loose leaves with Inks & have heard from quite a few people the V2s ar not nearly as smooth as the originals. Maybe when I start getting on my side jobs after the holidays & have some extra cash for keeb stuff I’ll order a batch of Inks to try out.

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So as I just received mine I can give you a little bit of feedback :wink:
I just had my Inks v2 and gats black milky top, and compared them stock.
Did that with rapidly and also slowly pressing the switches close to my ears, with the intent to hear and feel the possible scratchiness of these and compare them.

Gat Blacks:
Can feel a bit of resistance when pressing the key, also can hear plastic to plastic scratchiness.
Not by a lot, Cherry switches are far more scratchier than that.
With a correct amount of 205g0 lube you will hardly feel any scratchiness.

Inks v2:
I hardly feel any resistance when pressing the key, and can’t hear any plastic to plastic scratchiness (but my ears are not what they used to be :p).
I can now undersdand what is the 'skating feel that so much people are talking about.
They are so smooth that I’m thinking that heavy 205g0 would be overkill, maybe oil or Trybosis 303/304 grease would be better to not kill the skating feel.
I’m curious to know what other people are using for this particular switch.
Also this switch sounds definitely deeper than miky tops.

As for people giving different appreciation of smoothness there can be two reasons:

  1. This is a totally subjective thing :wink:

  2. Molds when used for long tend to deteriorate and as a result the last batches are not as great as the firsts.
    Molds as very costly to make so there is a balance to find for the manufacturer between consistent batches and return to investment.
    We can hope that for high price switches like inks or even Zeal ones they do an extra effort to redo them more often but nothing is sure.

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What are your favorite quiet linears? I had some freshly lubed tealios that were nice and quiet with a satisfying bottom out but now they’re loud and thocky.
So pretty much, what’s the quietest linear without the little dampening pads?

I am really not a switch expert, sorry.
But what I saw is that when lube sets up after some use, the switches tend to be a bit noisier.
So the solution I guess would be to relube them.

Your plate and keyboard case plays a big role in the sound, maybe the most inportant factor.
And also the keycaps …

My current favorite linears are Tealios+brass plate and polished Cherry blacks. The later is not as smooth as can be but sounds great in any type of build.

JTK linears like Mauve and NK Silk/Dry are fine too except sound is important to me and they are lacking in that area to varying degrees (NK Silk/Dry is best among them). That said, their sound improves a lot without the plate. They may sound better with softer plate material although I haven’t tested.

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I can confirm JWK with stock tops do sound a bit deeper on plastics & composites. Although I still recommend swapping Cherry tops onto JWK switches if you can. They really do not affect the smoothness & give a much better top out sound IME. Not sure if JWK’s V2 tops improve on their sound or not either as I haven’t tried any yet. I do have some NK Dry yellows & agree the top housings on those sound better (plus have much less wobble) than V1 Alpacas, tangies, etc. I believe further changes were made for the V2 molds though.

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So far the (non-dampened) linears I find it most easy to type quietly on are Unholy Pandas with Halo True springs; I think it’s mainly the springs.

I’m pretty sure it’s what would be called a “fast curve” spring on the aftermarket; it’s short and starts off light, but gets heavy pretty quick, making it easy for me to have a gentle bottom-out.

Is there a difference between turquoise tealios and tealios v2? If so which one is objectively better?

I haven’t seen this one mentioned so I thought I’d offer up a new frankenswitch I’m really liking:

  • MX black bottoms
  • Gateron ink tops and slider
  • TX 65g springs
  • Filmed and lubed

It sounds so good and is damn smooth. I just finished breaking in a set on a new TKL and methinks it’s a new favorite.

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Inks won’t disappoint IMO. Spring weighting is a little heavy but otherwise they’re great.

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I think they’re the same but the turquoise one offers different spring weights iirc? I’ve got both and am satisfied with both.

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Ordered myself a batch of 110 all black housing KS-3 Gateron Yellows to see if there really is any difference between these & other KS-3 variants (milky top/black bottom, all milky housing). I’ve stuck with the KS-8 (clear top/black bottom) series mostly when using Gats so curiosity got the best of me & at their price you can never really have enough Gat yellows, LOL! I’ll report back on them once I get them!

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