Flashquark has both Outemu Ice and Kailh Pro Purples in stock so I went ahead and ordered both (I chose the lightest Ice switch, the Light Purple).
After playing around with them I think the Outemu Ice switches were just the victim of bad timing.
- Nice and tight with little wobble
- Full Polycarbonate housing before that was a thing
- Relatively smooth feel
The Pro Purples brought back good memories, but they are a lot scratchier than the Outemu Ice switches. These Pro Purples have to be lubed before I would call them good.
But I continue to pleasantly surprised by the Outemu Ice switches, especially the full polycarbonate housing and tightness of them.
My guess is that Outemu brought these out around the time the community was going nuts over Zelios and Panda switches and the Ice switches were just dismissed out of hand as not being tactile enough.