I think MX Browns can take the jokes and ridicules. It’s just a switch after all. 
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Thanks for the work you are doing on this. I am eager to find out if it’s possible to build an MX Brown “Done Right” keyboard.
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Adjacent; I bought some TTC Gold Brown V3s a couple years ago, and waited ages for them to arrive. I was severely disappointed by them when I first put them in a board - harsh and messy.
After a thorough tuning, though, they were so satisfying. It always makes a difference - but this was night and day.
This is in a fairly cheap utilitarian keyboard with a stamped steel plate screwed to a plastic tray, stuffed full of foam. The switches make it a joy to use - the same switches that were nearly untenable for me beforehand. It’s easy for me to imagine a better brown in a better keyboard being a pleasant experience.
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Love the tuned sound. It’s weird how light-tactiles sound low-pitched than linears.
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Incredible.
I, too, was severely disappointed by TTC Gold Brown V3, esp. for how much I paid and waited for the samples.
What did the tuning involve? This is a big difference from stock.
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That should be around here somewhere… there we go:
I think ensuring a film of fine grease on the top-out surface went a long way for these. I brushed the housings and stems, and bagged the springs.
Interesting. Reminds me of how some of my Ergo Clears were lubed.
Maybe I have to treat TTC Gold Brown V3 like Ergo Clears, instead of Browns.
You did a great job with these, in any event. Now I understand why they are recommended to newcomers as budget tactiles. You turned them into genuine high-end custom switches.
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Alright, after a bit of delay, I tried Browns on Top mount. Feels much better in a number of ways, namely:
- Less hollowness
- Less “thuddy-sounds”
- Higher pitched/more lively alphas
I had a POM plate and plate/case foam as well, so in total there were around 8 configs I tried. I settled with alu on top mount, no foam.
Also, for the switches, I think it’ll be worthwhile to double-check your springs or lube them again with a brush and some 3203. I used my method of tub lubing springs with TX Springs and the slight ping I get from them usually seemed amplified, probably due to the mounting method and plate.
For the plates, I think alu would be one of the best for MX Browns, but that might be because of the limited amount of plate materials for the Scarlet. I’ve seen people have lots of success with Polycarb and CF. Aluminium IME made the board sound less “thuddy” as said above. With a POM plate, it sounded as if the browns were making direct contact with the wood of the desk and made a sort of heavy-muted sound. Not something I enjoy much, but YMMV. I think I might try a CF plate next.
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Seems like there’s a new light tactile from aflion around the corner oO and from the spec sheet it seems very different from what we already have, notably, no pretravel and tactility at the top ??!! I might get in to try, but 3.5mm 
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SwitchOddities has samples of the Runner switch (but with Melody colors) if you’d like to try before buying:
Aflion’s recent switches have been killer, these are already on my list. :3
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Too bad body Melody switches lack key travel distance info. Meanwhile, I’m still enjoying Blue Chiffons. It’s bump feels just perfect, like walking on fresh powder.
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Not too excited for the runner honestly.
I think I’ll wait for feedback on melodies since I think my preference is mid stroke bumps but at the same time I might have to try since its kinda the first of this kind.
It is advertised with 3.5mm on the other proxies.
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Anyone with Hyperglide Browns and pre-Hyperglide Brown and notices a difference?
I’m considering getting light tactiles and thinking about getting the Hyperglide (for that Cherry sound and being smoother), but it seems like they’re heavier?
Taken from ThereminGoat’s Github page
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That’s one sample point, knowing how bad are cherry springs I would put the difference on the variance.
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Anyone give these a shot? KTT Monochrome - Marble
They say that they are a “moderate tactile” but it seems more like a light tactile but with a HP style bump.
Sorry to necro this old post, but I’ve been on the hunt for a light tactile coming off my old soldered Gateron Browns and you seem really knowledgeable on this. I have a new hotswap GMK67 so I’ve been expanding my horizons since there’s so many new switches now.
I started off with a small batch of Huano Bananas and knockoff pandas just to test the waters on what stronger tactility might feel like and to be honest I kind of hated them. The stronger tactility higher up top makes them feel heavier subjectively and the panda springs were definitely too heavy anyways. The bananas especially were pretty damn loud which I didn’t expect and feathering the switch around it’s tactile point felt kind of awkward compared to my old gateron browns. Not so much with the feker pandas. It’s almost like there’s a point of no return with the bananas like clicky switches.
Anyways… so I decided to go back to my comfort zone and got a batch of gateron G pro v3 brown switches that were on sale. They felt familiar and somewhat improved over my gat browns from 2017. I could call it a day with these, but they came with a spotty factory lube job and inconsistencies. I’ll probably tune them to my liking but I’d also like to try something similar in the meantime. After a lot of digging I came across the SP-Star Meteor Oranges as a suitable candidate for something with a tiny bit more tactility that will feel familiar. The Ducks also interest me as did the CAP browns, but after reading your thoughts on them I’m thinking of leaning more on the Meteor Oranges. I was also interested in pewters but they’re out of stock and a bit pricey.
How would you compare the Meteor oranges and Duck to Gateron Browns?
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That is a tough question!
Yes, I recently did receive some Gateron G Pro samples myself, back in the summer.
I agree with your assessment of them. They are better than previous Gateron Browns, but have spotty factory lube and inconsistencies.
It is the first time I have considered lubing Gateron Browns, though! In the sense that the effort would be worthwhile.
I have not contrasted them directly with SP Star Meteor Orange, but I can. I may be able to dig up some stock samples. I would venture in advance that they would likely be very close.
People already say that Meteor Orange stems resemble Gateron, even if they are not identical. So the difference with Gateron G Pro 3.0 would mainly be in the housing and spring. I really like the stock Meteor spring, which is probably better than (older) Gateron springs.
In a way, Gateron G Pro Brown 3.0 feels like Gateron catching up to SP Star Meteor Orange.
At least I know that Meteor Orange can be improved very nicely. Haven’t tried it with G Pro.
I’m going to be honest with you: the only things in the same league as G Pro 3.0 and Meteor Orange are KTT Mallo and maybe lightened Zealio V1 Redux. And both of those need work before they are usable. They are the only Cherry-like light-tactiles that are sufficiently smooth. [AKKO POM Brown is similar, but it’s a loud long-pole.]
SP Star Duck is made of worse materials than Meteor Orange. The latter is superior.
So Meteor Orange and Gateron G Pro 3.0 [and maybe Zealio V1R] are your best bets right now. You would be well-served by testing Meteor Orange [any version] side-by-side against G Pro. Because there are personal preferences in terms of sound, spring-weight, and so on.
The other things people will recommend to you aren’t the right ‘stem-shape.’ Durock Light Tactile variants are well-liked, but I think they’re a bit top-heavy [kind of like Huano Banana.] Invokeys / Aflion Blueberry Chiffon has the tactility at the top. Probably Corsas do, as well. Many light-tactiles are long-pole [the aforementioned Aflion switches, AKKO POM Brown, Geon Baby Blue slider].
So you improve the G Pro 3.0 or Meteor Orange.
If you are really, really picky, and want a ‘perfect’ light-tactile, I suppose you could take a light-tactile stem [Meteor Orange, Gateron G Pro 3.0, KTT Mallo, Zealio V1R] and put it in a nicer housing. The Boba [Gazzew] Linear housings will accommodate these stems, if you use loose RGB-slotted top housings. These switches will be stable, without much ping, requiring not-much lube, and you can use nice aftermarket springs in the 58-60 G range. With some minimal lube at key points, these could be premium light-tactiles with few compromises.
That would be a highly-customized switch, at any rate. I actually like the Cherry-topped Meteors.
I will see if I can get around to testing Meteor Orange vs Gateron G Pro 3.0 during a break. Shoutout goes to Naevy 1.5 as well. They actually are Cherry-shaped, and not much more tactile than a Brown. Factory-lube is decent, they improve with 3204. Don’t need films. They feel a little heavy for a Brown, but light for an Ergo Clear. If you can get a sample, they’re worth trying.
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Really appreciate all the information here. I’m thinking of waiting for 11.11 on Ali to see if I can snag a deal on a set of Meteor Oranges. It’s not that expensive for enough switches to fill this keyboard and at a further discount I’d forget about ordering a small batch. Being able to frankenswitch is also appealing no matter what my thoughts on the switch end up being initially.
That would be a highly-customized switch, at any rate. I actually like the Cherry-topped Meteors.
When you say cherry topped do you mean an actual Cherry switch top? I actually have a keyboard with ancient Cherry browns from 2015 still stored somewhere. I’d just have to desolder those since they have LEDs attached. Really enjoyed them back in the day but they were scratch city since I used them stock and didn’t know much about keyboards at that time.
Anyways, thank you so much for the thorough answer and even all the previous info you’ve posted along with others. These lighter tactiles don’t seem to get a lot of love nowadays it seems and it’s nice to see people going in-depth with them. Might also post an update myself eventually for anyone who might care in the future.
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Yes, heavy-tactiles were always favoured after Holy Pandas came out.
The first custom tactiles were medium-tactiles like Ergo Clears and Zealio V1, but it shifted over to a heavy-tactile emphasis.
Light-tactiles did enjoy somewhat of a resurgence around 2021, but this year the focus has been on long-poles.
I did test Gateron G Pro Brown 3.0 a little during a car trip today.
The tactile-bump seems to be a little higher than I remember Gaterons having. Less pre-travel, too. Maybe they have less pre-travel than Meteor Orange, but I will test later. Overall, seem to be more top-mounted when testing naked switches.
Also, the tactile bump seems firmer and a little more defined than older Gateron or Cherry switches. Larger, too, but there is still a lot of post-travel. Springs are strong on the upstroke.
The sound is plasticy, with lube. Lubed plastic. It could be a lot worse. At least I’m not hearing much ping.
I would guess, based upon memory, that Meteor Orange have a ‘thinner’ bump that seems to actuate lower, and maybe a softer spring. The housing will be scratchier, and there is less factory-lube.
Anyway, you will definitely want to test the two switches side-by-side if you are doing a serious build. You’re right, Meteor Orange will be cheap to test if you buy a sample pack of 10x switches during 11.11. They probably went down to about $56-57 CAD including shipping for 90x switches during good sales.
Yes, my Meteor Oranges literally have Cherry tops. They are from de-soldered MX Silent Reds from another project. But you can use any Cherry tops [not sure about MX Blue, avoid.] I am using a special recipe for Meteor Orange, which I can give to you. I think that, unlike Gateron G Pro Brown 3.0, that they probably require films.
Anyway, I will probably test them both tomorrow.
BTW machine-worn MX Browns may be an option for you. You can look up “Butter Browns.” Yes, they are expensive and uncertain. But MX Browns really aren’t so horrible once they are worn-in [and spring-swapped with lubed aftermarket springs], and in the right mounting system.
I’d rather just wear the switches in myself, though.
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