I am hoping to find some time for my hobbies again in the near future, so I am thinking about building another keyboard… suprised?
I am currently writing on Zilents 78g, Zealios 78g and Box Navies, and I am quite happy with these.
I like heavy and tactile switches, and I believe my job is one of the reasons why I have strong fingers/hands.
I am considering building another board with even heavier switches, and I am wondering which ones might be suitable.
There are Aliaz 100g around, but I am looking for some more input and recommendations.
Preferably switches with heavy stock springs, as I rather would like to avoid changing springs on 60+ switches.
I’m currently typing on Hako Royal Trues, and really like them, and they’re very heavy, and they’re currently on clearance over at Novelkeys, but they’re probably not what you’re thinking of.
They’re a combination of the strong tactile element from Box Royals with the short and heavy spring from Hako Trues. The result is a distinct tactile bump, then a short gap before hitting the spring. The idea is that you never bottom out with these, you use a light touch and bounce off of the spring rather than trying to force your way through it. It takes some time to get used to this, but after a few days I started to really like them.
So if you want to try something different then these are great, but it doesn’t sound like these are what you’re after.
The Aliaz will be heavy for sure - but the springs will really wash-out the already slight bump of the stem.
Question: Would you say you prioritize the strength of the bump, or weight of the bottom-out? (Or maybe a balance of the two?)
Halo Trues actually have a really heavy bottom-out, but the tactile event itself is pretty mild and actuation doesn’t take much pressure. Moyu Blacks aren’t super-heavy when it comes to the spring, but are extra-stout in the tactile bump department. They also have a sharp bottom-out.
I do work on switches as a service, and I do have on-hand some really heavy springs, ranging from those fast-curve Halo ones to slow-curve 150g tall bois. I could whip you up some monster Bobas, or even some of these things with custom 100g springs from Korea.
If I had to to describe my priorities between tactility and weight, I’d say 7/10 for tactility, and 3/10 for weight.
For example, I have a bag of Kailh Pro Plums.
Of course I can feel the tactile bump, but it’s so mild that it’s… how to express it… that it’s “not worth it”.
When going for tactile switches, I want a strong tactile feel.
If it’s rounded or sharp is not that important (both are fine), but I want strong bumps
Cool! Well in that case I do have a few recommendations;
Moyu Blacks / Dark Jades: Sharp, strong bump with a clacky long-pole bottom-out. These might have the strongest bump of any stock tactile switch I can think of - even moreso than Box Royals.
Ink Kangaroos: The bump isn’t super heavy, but it’s very crisp and clear. It’s short and starts right up top; you sort of “break through” it.
Box Royals: Heavy, sharp bump with a very “mechanical” sound due to a few more moving parts - including lots of spring ping before lubing those. These used to be the king of this category, but are starting to get overshadowed. All Box switches suffer from some degree of inconsistencies in sound, feel, and resting position - they do remain unique, though.
NK Blueberries: Honestly a pretty weird switch, but it does sport a unique, strong, sharp bump. Kind of scratchy and awkward, but snappy.
U4Ts: Not too dissimilar from the Moyus, but the bottom-out is less harsh in terms of sound and feel, and the sound is deeper. The bump strength is a bit less, but still quite a bit stronger than average.
Stock Holy Pandas: There are at least two companies that make their own version of a stock holy panda; Drop and Feker (a company that appears to specialize in clones). Strong and snappy - these are pretty much the inspiration for most of the other switches on this list, but at this point I do think they have been surpassed when it comes to sound and feel quality by other options like the U4T and Moyu Blacks. Still, the sound is pretty distinctive and they do feel great - I just recommend tuning them to clean up the rough edges.
These feel amazing to type on and much heavier than their supposedly “heavy” box switch cousins.
There are ancients grays and others that are 100g or over, but I have never tried them they seemed like meme switches, but who knows maybe they are what you need!
There’s always the old reliable Cherry MX Clears, which have a fairly normal ~65gf actuation weight but a ~90gf bottom out. You can paper mod the leaf, or use Cherry MX Blue bottom housings for a tactility bump. If you want a lot more tactility you can put the stems and springs into a Boba housing (with an Outemu Clear slotted top), or a JWK T1 housing.
I also personally find switches with sharp tactile bumps (such as MX Clears) tend to hold their tactility better at higher spring weights.
I think for very heavy silents Aliaz is your only current option. Maybe there is something on the Chinese market that hasn’t made its way over here yet.
By the way, here is a link to the Ancient Gray linears:
And also if you can find some MOD-SH (super heavy) switches they are pretty heavy as well. Originative hasn’t run the SH series in awhile.
Just a note on the link to Ancient Grays that I sent you before. They look expensive but they are priced by volume, so if you get 70 of them then the price goes down per switch and they are only $35.
I really enjoyed the H1 switches from JWK/Durock. They are 78 G linears, and were extremely smooth stock, with decent sound.
They only felt like 72 G, though.
If you like heavy tactiles, you are uniquely positioned to enjoy the OUTEMU Silent Sky stems in the Boba housing. They are said to need at least 68 G in order to function properly with full tactility, so you could run them at 72 or 78 G or something, should be about as tactile as MX Clear.
Bobas don’t need much lube, so you could just lube the springs. But the other suggestions here are great, so should be more than enough to fulfill your ambitions.
