I just ordered 90 from the link here for ~22$.
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Ha. Must have been a glitch on my end. I was able to order some at $2.50. That’s great news, now I’ll be able to try them!
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nice write up and excellent GIF choice. Trigun is one of my all time favorites.
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I just got some.
Tested a couple in a hotswap polycarb MK870, the typing experience is phenomenal.
Well, most people wouldn’t say that, but as someone who appreciates light tactiles, these are good light tactiles. But they ‘tweet.’ That is, there is some ‘chirping’ sounds from them.
In particular, I am experiencing ‘scrunch,’ and some ‘tweets.’ Clearly, these need lube for aural reasons [not feel or operation].
@Deadeye and others who have used these, is there a minimum-viable lubing that will eliminate the noise while keeping the typing feel intact? I am seriously going to replace all the Gateron CAP Brown in my board with these as soon as I can get them to sound right.
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I haven’t experimented with tuning them yet, but I can confirm the scruches and tweets.
I believe I have some spares I can experiment with tonight. These noises in-particular are ones I’d like to better understand in terms of mitigating them specifically.
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Yeah, it’s hilarious. They are near-perfect light-tactiles, “mild tactiles” as I think you called them, but they scrunch and squeak.
They remind me of Meteor Orange, in that respect. Both have good typing feel [not quite identical, I think Meteor Orange may actuate lower], but both make extraneous noises that require tuning. [Solution for Meteor Orange seems to be films + 3204 + lubed spring + Cherry tops, ideally with a 57 G replacement spring as well].
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Okay, there are a few sound tests on the internet:
unlubed
lubed
lubed with 205g0
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/s1vk07/new_build/
The last video, 205g0, is from 10 days ago. Videos only started to become available around late December or so.
Anyone, I only know about 205g0 as a confirmed lube so far. Comments from users suggest that leaf ping is the culprit for some of the weird noises. So it’s looking like lubing around the leaf area. I don’t have experience with that, though. Are there any suggestions that can guide me?
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Yeah, I’m thinking lubing the leaf with 205g0 or something is the move for these switches.
Although I have been reading about more elaborate strategies on-line.
I have seen the leaf lube trick in this Walker video: How I make Everglide Jades sound good - YouTube
However I have yet to try it myself. It seems like a lot of lube, and I kind of feel like it would be hard to come back from.
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Indeed, the solution to Everglide Jades for me involved lots of 3204. Interesting how some of the best light tactiles need lots of lube there to shine.
I will review some methods, and maybe try some light lubing in the meantime.
I hear you, but I am also starting to have the opposite opinion as well. Is a 30 cent switch really a bargain if you have to put so much love and time into it to make it shine? I think it gets funky when the default is becoming lube and film every switch you get. Or at least that is becoming my method.
I just got my Mallos as well but haven’t tried them yet, I am almost hoping that the issues you mentioned are either not noticed by me or don’t effect me to much, as I would rather not really go beyond just lube and film.
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I agree that ‘cheap’ switches aren’t really a bargain if you have to put so much work into them. Many are starting to move past that point.
My situation is a little different though, as I didn’t approach this switch as a ‘bargain.’ The reason I got it was that it’s a light tactile, which we are short on.
Turns out, it’s an excellent light-tactile IMHO in terms of typing characteristics. But it does require work. So I’m approaching it from that angle, because in my position you sometimes have to do things to light tactiles that are worth building.
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BTW, checking around, 1-2 people used 205g0 on the leaf area.
Another person had a more elaborate method:
hello, i did really really thin coats on only the sides of the stems and bottom housing, 3 STROKES EACH SIDE ONLY. (on the side of the stem and the slots of where the stem sits when pushed down)
as a result of not having gpl 105, i idiotically used thin balisong (knife) lube, but it worked somewhat, but i still recommend getting 105 oil.
also, i dont know if this helps at all but i used the small thin brush from kebo that comes included in a lube pack.
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I agree, we’re in a point the MX form factor should have been mastered, if a switch requires mods to be decent it shouldn’t have a place in the market.
If the Boba line could achieve that quality so long ago, with a decent price, then other manufacturers can’t have any excuses especially after million switches in the market.
I don’t think I’ve posted it here yet; I realized a few days ago that these switches are almost certainly manufactured by the same folks making Akko’s wing-latch switches. The stems and housings alike appear to have come from related tooling.
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They seem to be Kailh-style housings. I had to use my Kailh opener to open them.
But you may know more specifics about them - I do know that my AKKO tactiles required the same opener.
I tried a few strategies, in successive levels of lubing.
First, I tried just lubing the spring. This actually produced some results, there was less metallic noise. [I paintbrush-lubed the spring with some kind of Gazzew spring lube, maybe #6]. I would say that almost half of the noise was removed.
However, there was still a metallic squeaking noise, which you could really hear closely if you slowly typed on the switches without bottoming-out [ie slow-motion].
Second, I tried two blobs of lube [205g0] at the back of the leaf, and lubing the central forward prong of the leaf. [Also lubed spring.] This led to a further reduction in noise, and a lower-pitch for the switch.
Finally, I tried the above, but with more lube, and also lubed the upper-housing stem rails and the void where the leaf fits in. This reduced the extraneous noises almost completely. However, it changed the feel of the switch somewhat [more waxy] and gave it a uniform 205g0 sound.
I would prefer to keep the feel and most of the sound of the stock switch, but without the extraneous noises. Anyway. I think that lubing the leaf-area and the spring will dispel most of the noise. [It’s not like there’s many light-tactiles that people use without modification.]
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According to Theremingoat the CS line is actually manufactured by KTT, I couldn’t find where he mentioned that in this articles but in his score sheets he mentions that.
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If KTT manufactures for AKKO, maybe they could produce these Mallos for the AKKO CS line as light tactiles. Lube the spring, do something about the noisy leaf, they would be killer budget tactiles.
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I was able to get these into a hot swap board and try them out today. They are a nice little light tactile! I definitely plan on using them.
I think they would sound a little better with films, so I plan on doing that. I think I am leaning toward using 3204 lube on them as the comments in this thread seem to talk about these switches being a little better with thicker lube. Based on feel, I think that is the case as well. They are so easy to press, that a thicker lube (applied light) shouldn’t really effect them much.
I do notice some leaf ping, but it is only when I press really slow. In normal typing, I don’t notice it. For this reason, I don’t think I am going to lube behind the leaf, but I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea. It just depends on how much you are affected by it. I think a lot of variables go into this as well. Anyone else notice it is easy to create the ping with your index finger vs. others?
I think my only pet peeve with these switches so far are the legs. The plastic 5 pin legs are skinny! They are also not completely round, but more triangle shaped. These leads to less points of contact when putting it into your PCB. I doubt others will have much issue, but my tester board is hot swap, top mount, and a POM plate. I have had to take my board apart a number of times already because it seems like the PCB falls down enough that the switches struggle to make contact. It is also a pain that my tester board is the old style Brutal60 with like 12 long screws on the bottom. 
I really enjoy these switches, but it seems like I might have to wait for a GB board to arrive before I can really get them in something to test.
Curious if any ones has Cotton Candy switches (basically Pewters in different materials form the looks of it) and can compare to the Mallos. I might get some of these since I enjoy Pewters so much, but the Mallos seem pretty similar and for 0.30 cents cheaper.
Cheers everyone!
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Thanks, I am very interested in your results. I considering filming them, but the housings seemed stable and sturdy enough. Maybe it would still help, though.
I am actually happy with the stock typing characteristics, except for the leaf noise. I would be happy with just lubing the leaf-area. Wouldn’t want to gum up this smooth switch with thick lube.
But I might try some experiments anyway.
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