KTT Mallos

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61

I’ve also got a Filco from around the same time with MX Browns - and while I’ve not tried DCS yet, it is the keeb that taught me there’s a time and place for thin-walled caps.

Fun fact - stock Filco caps aren’t black, but translucent smoky grey - shine your phone light close and you’ll see right through them.

It sounds and feels much better to me with the dainty stock caps than with the “Filco” SP SA caps I have on it now. The chonky caps look gorgeous, but all the nuance those browns have to offer is bowled right over by the mass of those lads.

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62

Haha, I know what you mean.

I tried a bunch of keycaps after my stock Filco legends started to wear away [that’s partly how I got into all this].

I didn’t listen to my instincts, and just bought what had been reviewed well on-line. Which led to those “Filco” SP SA keycaps. Spent money on stuff like that instead of getting into a 2018-19 GB for something like ePBT Slate [would have been my first GB].

So yeah, I got those SP SA. And they just drown the Browns just like you said. They are huge, they wobble, they reduce tactility, and I hate R3 profile. Almost put my off mechanical keyboards entirely. I guess they would be okay with Blues, though.

(At least they came with stabilizer inserts for CoStar stabilizers, making them fit their ‘Filco’ namesake.) Man, you would have had to mix and match brown, neon green, purple SA Filco or Varmilo keycap sets to get a variety of off-the-shelf colours. What a desert things were before the modding scene heated up.

Anyway, here’s what I think a good Filco looks like:

Interesting little time capsule back there.

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63

That’s cool! I’ve actually been planning to do an amber LED swap for mine (it’s got one of those classic brown cases - the Playstation 2 blue seems a little out of place) - do you know if any voltage adjustment was needed or if it was just physically swapping the diodes?

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64

Sadly, I don’t know. That photo is from a 2012 post by “DangWang,” and the modding was done by “MagicMeatball.”

I agree that the Playstation blue is out-of-place, so I hope you can get that amber mod done.

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65

I put purple LEDs in mine a few years back and just did an LED swap (didn’t change the resistors).

image
image1920×2560 299 KB

granted, this photo makes them look blue still, but it’s a much more pleasant and softer purple. Red would look a lot better with the current setup, but it is what it is.

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66

I still need to throw these in a real board, but I just finished lubing these KTT Mallos with 3204 and Superlube on the springs. These things are damn near linear! The bump seemed larger when they were stock.

I feel like they might even be lighter than Browns, they are definitely less tactile than my Pewters. @Pylon’s force graph appears to prove it as well - Open-Switch-Curve-Meter/KTT-Mallo.png at main · bluepylons/Open-Switch-Curve-Meter · GitHub

Tough to say though. I am starting to realize how much the last switch you typed on makes a difference. In past couple weeks I rotated out of my Pewter board to an Ergo Clear board. That seemed like such a huge jump in tactility. Now I have rotated in a Rara board, and compare to the Clears they feel so much more relaxed. It could just be that I am so much in “bigger bump mode” that it is hard to accurately gauge the Mallos.

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67

I also just recently filled a board with Mallos.

[It’s a stock MK870].

Yes, I was also surprised by how near-linear they feel. Maybe a little bit too far.

On mine, only the spring and leaf-area are lubed. So they’re almost stock except that the main sources of ping have been addressed.

On a metal plate with GMK, they’re fairly high in pitch, and they make an insectile sound somewhat reminiscent of early Zealio V1s.

It’s a little too easy to bottom-out with these, and I type on Browns.

I think maybe the bump should be a bit larger, almost MX Clear sized [but not that large], and the spring weight about 3 G higher.

Anyway, they’re a bit too easy-typing. It might help to have more spring resistance on the bottom, at least.

WRT Pewter weight, a test on Youtube demonstrated that Pewters are heavier than Naevy 1.5 switches. Which were modeled after Ergo Clears [albeit ~58 G weight]. This suggests that Pewters are on the upper end of light tactiles, maybe along with something like Gateron CAP Brown.

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68

Yeah I hear you. I am almost re-debating if I want to put these in a board. I liked them enough in my switch tester board stock, but now they feel almost too linear for me.

I have been having issues with them in my switch tester unfortunately. The plastic legs are so thin, the wouldn’t even hold up my PCB with a super flex-y plate. It is a little surprising since the same board is doing just fine with Cherry 3-pin Ergo Clears. Not sure what it is about these KTTs, but they either need to be solder or maybe need Kailh hot swap sockets (as compared to mill-max which I am using).

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69

I had the same experiences.

I tested KTT Mallo in an MK870 with polycarb plate, but it sounded and felt better in the stock metal plate. So I put it in a stock board.

In small tests, the switch seemed okay, but as you say it’s seemingly too linear to serve as a light-tactile board. OTOH I seem to be able to type fine with it, it’s actually the loud noise that bothers me.

Glad I put them in a hotswap board instead of soldering them to a GB board. I think SP Star Meteor Orange may be more suited as a light tactile for a soldered board.

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Stumbled across this old Ripster photo today. Not a lot of context, but I am assuming this is old mold Cherry Browns vs. newer mold Cherry Browns. The older mold definitely seems more in line with the KTT Mallos.

Imgur

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71

It will be interesting to try the Mallos when they finally arrive after listening to these replies.

I also got U4ts last week and put them in a board and the tactile bump on them feels light compared to my White Jades, so not sure how I am going to feel about the Mallos.

72

I picked up some U4T stems from Gazzew, and they are wonderful in Cherry Brown housings. I used some desoldered browns as well. It’s not a light tactile per se, but far from being heavy. I went with the 62g spring from Gazzew as well, but the brown spring provides even less tactility if needed. It’s the first tactile that I would consider medium with a bump that starts at the top (I hate the mid stroke bump of MC Clears or Zealios V1).

73

There is definitely something intriguing about them. I am 80% sure I am just going to solder them in to a board and commit.

74

I guess that’s why the Mallos seem so familiar to me…

I type frequently on pre-tooled Browns. If Mallos are using that stem, it would explain a lot.

Here’s the thing:

-Mallo is smoother than MX Brown. So the switch may seem even more linear, without all that grit and sand.

-That could be an issue, but it’s still fine. Switch still needs Cherry-like materials in order to get a better sound.

-They could also copy the Meteor Orange stem, which is a great tactility for a Brown. It would be smoother, and they could use a similar spring.

75

I have been using KTT Mallos a little bit, on-and-off, since May.

Have had the chance to compare them with other light tactiles on the same type of keyboard [MK870].

I have to say, after a few months of infrequent usage, testing really, the KTT Mallos are a very decent switch, let down only by their noisy leaves.

They are tight, low-wobble, and sturdy. They let RGB light through without too much distortion. They are very smooth, even without lube. Mine are lubed only in the leaf area.

They’ve been beside SP Star switches, like Meteor Orange 1.5 and lubed Ducks. The tactility of Mallo is the lowest, it’s almost a linear. I’m somewhat uncertain on them, when typing. But they’re great for gaming, at least, when I tried some classic FPS.

Like the SP Star switches, Mallo actuates a little lower on the stem than I’d like. It’s Gateron-esque. I would prefer a Cherry-positioned bump, or even something a little higher.

The Meteor Orange 1.5 is crisper than Mallo, and I think Duck has a slightly larger bump. Both of these wobble more than Mallo.

KTT doesn’t have to change much, if they want to make an improved Mallo. Just address sound somehow, either with better/more factory lube (+ unlubed version), better materials, and/or especially a better leaf. The bump could stand to be a little larger, maybe on the order of the SP Star Duck, but that’s just preference.

I will be gifting my Mallos to a relative, as they will prefer a lighter, softer keyboard. They are going on a custom-themed MK870. Even with only the spring + leaf-area lubed, they sound pretty decent with thick OEM-profile PBT keycaps.

[guess I should have taken a photo of the bare board, with all the Mallos on it!]

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