I have been using stock. I have already ordered another bag of these switches potentially for a portable board, maybe I will lube those in the future.
On alibaba, it seems that you can ask Durock to make light tactile with 55g, 62g, 65g, 78g. So I guess these switches will work just fine with different spring weights. It also says they picked 67g as default because it gives closest experience to Cherry brown(?).
I don’t really like the deep sound of cap brown and haven’t put milky brown on a full board. But that’s something on my list to explore. Where was the discussion on milky brown vs CAP brown? Woud love to read it.
I was discussing buying and modding some Gateron Cap Browns with someone, and they recommended the milky/Golden housing over the clear housings.
The reason behind this is their own personal experience with the milky Gateron linear housings, which sounded better than the clear ones.
However, this was with the linear housings, so it may not apply to the tactile switches.
It could be a moot point, because I’m not sure where you get Gateron Cap Browns with the milky housings.
EDIT: This person may have been comparing Gateron Cap Brown to the older Gateron Milky Brown. The latter, I think, is a Gateron Brown with a milky housing. I’m more interested in the Cap Brown, which appears to be a more modern design.
I got the cap brown from here, they look like poop , and there’s a milky version if milky one sounds better.
The Cap brown has a different stem and internal design which is supposed to make them smoother. I think they are a bit smoother but they are also pre-lubed. To me, the bump in the cap brown is a bit more rounded when comparing it to milky brown but similar tactility. I would say a bit bigger than cherry brown but a lot smaller than ergo clear.
Looks like I may be picking up both regular Gateron Cap Brown and Gateron Milky Cap Brown. Of course, if Pewters had worked out for me, I wouldn’t be doing this at all. But Durock went crazy with the factory lube on both the early Pewters and Durock Light Tactile.
I can’t remember - did you lube your Gateron Cap Brown?
Larger than Cherry Brown but smaller than Ergo Clear is a good way to go. I’d say that Everglide Jade Green are like that. It’s also cool to go smaller and lighter but more distinct than MX Brown, which SP Star Meteor Orange might be said to do.
They were pre-lubed with factory oil, I did not mod them. They were quite generously lubed, perhaps even more so than the durock light tactile that I got. I may try Star Meteor Orange in the future, but right now, I am pretty happy with durock light.
That’s interesting. I can confirm that my v2 cap brown also leaks oil - much less severe than what you had. There was only some oil on the plate when I pull off the switches, PCB was clean, but I had only used them lightly for about a day.
I’m biased, because I had the early Pewter samples that were way factory-overlubed.
So to me, the tactile event seemed tiny and indistinct. But I thought that may have been a consequence of the factory lube. I am trying again with some Durock Light Tactiles.
But yes, my stock Pewters in some respects seemed less tactile than Meteor Orange.
Same, though I hated the pewters tactility. It was just a bunch of pre travel and a medium sharp bump with alot of pre travel. So like it’s linear (pre travel), then stops (bump), then linear again (post travel)(also the bump and bottom out felt very mushy, like mushier than a silent switch). And those things just felt really awkward, to me it felt like a confused mushy tactile. So i was really scared to try cherry browns cause i hated pewters and people said that they were alike. But then i went to BestBuy one day and there was a switch tester that had cherry browns and it took out everything i hated, it had a smaler bump and a not mushy feeling tactile bump and bottom out. And i loved them so much and it’s basically my favorite tactile now. But i’m so glad i went to bestbuy cause now i know browns are my favorite tactile and that pewters feel really different (atleast to my fingers)
Got some exciting things coming up in this category.
Going to be looking at some SP Star Meteor Orange rebuilds in September, looking at how to make the sound more ‘office-friendly.’
May have some Gateron Milky Cap Browns coming, to compare with Gateron Golden Cap Browns. Early reports are that the Milky Cap Browns are lubed more and sound better. Gold Cap Browns have leaf noise.
There hasn’t been much talk of the Cap Browns here, but apparently they are decently-lubed and have relatively stable housings by Gateron standards. Different spring weights from typical Browns. If they are indeed a decent stock switch [esp. the Milky Cap Browns], this could make them worth discussing in light tactiles.
Yes, there’s actually someone planning to lube and film the Cap Browns and send them to me. So far, he says there’s no point in doing anything to the Milky Browns as they’re fine. The Golden Cap Browns are going to have the leafs lubed.
I’ll compare the L + F samples to stock of each type and let you know how it goes.
I’ve been looking online and seen some good reviews on the cotton candy switches that came out recently. People saying they’re the ultimate cherry mx brown. Anyone have experience with them?
Bump this up, since pewter and sp star meteor orange are back in stock! Since I got some milky cap brown last week, I have been enjoying them. They made me want to try out more light tactile after almost a year of being on linear. I wonder how these comparisons stand after a year and what are your current favorite light tactile?
They seem to be a little more tactile than SP Star Meteor Orange. Like an Ergo Clear instead of a Brown. Actually, I would say that they are close to the AULA Matcha Axis light-tactile - feel like a ‘fuller’ Brown.
Seem to be good for sustained typing. Still a plasticy sound, not as bad as Meteor Orange but you’ll want to lube them, I imagine.
Where are Meteor Orange back in stock? [They were always kinda in-stock in China].
I just brought out a bunch of my keyboards for an impromptu ‘meetup’ and the CAP Milky Brown were fairly well-received by non-enthusiasts [with ABS MT3]. Ergo Clears were ‘too loud’ [on an NCR-80].
My experience after 1 year: CAP Browns have too little post-travel. They slam down, because once you clear the bump, there’s enough force to bottom-out. Spring needs to be heavier at the bottom, or there needs to be more post-travel. Factory lube is only 75% of the way there, and it whooshes.
On the plus side, they are cheap, they sound mostly-lubed, and they are good enough for gaming. I wrote about them here, recently:
Meteor Orange are still good. The factory sound is still terrible, at least for someone used to Cherry. Factory spring weight is just-right. They NEED lube and films. Meteor Orange is good enough to do a soldered build. They are going on an HMKB. They are equally at home on metal or polycarb plates. Seem to be designed for Cherry-profile. My Meteor Orange will use Cherry tops, which is just better according to testing 8 modifications.
I still don’t like any derivative of Durock Light Tactile. Not because they are bad - the switches are generally well-manufactured. However, they are more tactile than even some Ergo Clears according to tests on Youtube. I also have issues with how the stem engages with the leaf, and rebounds. It’s just not the right stem profile for me. But they are tight housings with low-wobble. Try the Cotton Candy, if you can.
The Youtube video mentioned above showed Naevy 1.5 switches vs. Cotton Candy. The Cotton Candy, when pushed against the Naevies, will actually depress that switch. So they resist more than an Ergo Clear. The Naevies themselves are excellent. Some say they don’t need lube. I have 70+ lubed Navies and they are going in a board with MT3. Fantastic Ergo Clears, and I’m saying that as someone with 5 batches of them.
, and there’s a