I picked up some Sherbets for cheap. It’s a very interesting switch to me! I understand why it’s polarizing – but I very much enjoy using them
If you’re testing an individual unmounted switch, it’s going to feel very weird and rather “off”. The linear pretravel feels needlessly long, and you can actually feel yourself stopping at the clickbar without actuating it. Then, it requires quite a good amount of force to overcome the clickbar which results in an immediate and sharp bottom out. Certainly doesn’t sound like a good time.
But mounting it on a full board and typing away - that’s a completely different story. It feels very good to type with. The linear pretravel gives an illusion of smoothness and the tactile event of overcoming the clickbar is very satisfying. A very sharp/crisp tactile event that gives a confident register of the keystroke. You’ll certainly bottom out after overcoming the clickbar, so the the actuation point feels like it occurs together with the tactile event (even if it might be after the tactile event). The full 4mm of travel makes typing much more enjoyable too – caveated with my dislike of shorter travel.
I’m rather accustomed to heavier switches, so I didn’t find it fatiguing to type with the Sherbets, despite their 83g peak. I think it has to do with the linear pretravel portion. That initial actuation at 45g lulls you into an illusion that the switch is light, and given that you’ve already applied >=45g, the resistance to 70g (bottom out) or 83g (peak) feels progressive. In my experience, it’s monumentally less fatiguing than Box Navy or Box Pale Blue, where the initial actuation is higher, thus requiring more effort for that initial push.
We can’t talk about clicky switches without talking about the sound… and the Sherbets are unapologetically LOUD. Typing quickly or slowly doesn’t mitigate the sound. I suppose that’s due to the force required to overcome the clickbar and how it bottoms out almost immediately after that. That said, I do enjoy the confident, unabashed sounds that the Sherbet produces. It’s not a wimpy or chattering click, but something more akin to the sound of a stapler.
The Sherbets work wonderfully with MT3 keycaps. The Sherbets do have some wobble and you’d feel it with taller MT3 keycaps when testing individually. But for actual typing, the aggressive scoops of MT3 means that you’ll be striking the keys dead center, which reduces any perceived wobble when typing. I’ve yet to try the Sherbets with other keycap profiles. As for MT3, I think they work better with clicky switches rather than linears (again, personal preference).
In summary, I think the Sherbets are a pretty underrated switch! They do make for a uniquely satisfying typing experience. It has to be mounted on a full board for typing, and not just evaluated as a single switch for the experience is vastly different. More so than any other switch I’ve experienced thus far