Looks like Durock has a new class of switches, “Light Tactiles:”
Only available at Divinikey so far. Not sure if this is using a new stem design - is it the same as the Pewter, maybe?
Guess I’ll have to go on Discord as they are likely discussing it already. It will be interesting to know if they are using toned down leafs for their light tactiles, or if they will be putting Brown / Zealio V1 style stems in something like T1 housings, as we see with “Medium Tactile” stems in the Taro Ball and Twilight switches.
It’s the same as Pewters. These are just Pewters with the standard JWK/Durock PC-top nylon-bottom housing mix; a detail I somehow missed about Pewters is that they in fact have a nonstandard mix with UHMWPE in them.
Not sure where this info comes from; the Twilights are certainly an IC for this, but it’s my understanding that they are a first and that the Taro Ball is a straight-up Rara-variant and not what the Twilight are attempting. I should try to get some on hand to verify, I guess.
Woah woah no need to order so quickly! I don’t want to start a stampede.
I actually have the Pewter, so I can comment on them. [Later, I guess].
They have some advantages over MX Brown, but they are still essentially Browns. I guess if you ordered the standard “Light Tactile,” at least you’ll get the baseline switch that you can lube yourself.
The Durock Light Tactiles [Pewter and this, etc…] kind of snuck up on us as they weren’t hyped as much as the Medium Tactile derivatives [RARA V2 / Penguin / Dragonfruit].
Gonna have to grab some of these as I’ll bet they are very close to Pewters in feel. Sound couldn’t say as Pewters use a PE blend housing & these use PC top/Nylon bottom. Either way I really have been liking the Pewters, so if these are even similar I can see myself liking them!
I think the Oxbloods (still haven’t even started a GB) got a fair bit of hype over on GeekHack, but yeah the Pewters sort of just came out of nowhere and the Durock version of them did as well.
Makes me wonder if there’s a variant of these that predates the Pewters that only came out in China; it’d be really weird if JWK had started working on the molds for these to make the Oxbloods and then didn’t come out with any iterations of the switch until another party (Parallel Limited) ordered some… before Oxbloods ever went into GB.
Now, regarding the Taro Ball switches [medium-tactile stem supposedly in a T1 housing], one of the initial reviewers posted that he was basically told by Cannonkeys that the Taro Ball uses a T1 leaf:
“I asked Cannon Keys and they didn’t know precisely what leaf was used, but said that it was essentially a T1 leaf, thats why I used that description! I wish they had more info, so any info you guys have helps, lol.”
So I don’t know if that’s true or not, but apparently Cannonkeys thinks it is a T1 leaf.
Interesting! I’ll see what’s what, since I know a few folks who are interested in the Twilights who would love to already be able to get the kind of tactility they offer without having to frankenswitch.
Anyway, as luck may have it my order of Durock Light Tactiles (from Divinikey) arrived just now. Opening them up I can confirm that they use the same stem as Pewters.
Very initial impressions:
Don’t like the heavier weighting on these, but that’s just preference
Whether it’s the (somewhat) lighter lube application or the material difference in the housings, these feel a bit more frictional in their travel than Pewters
Shockingly, no housing play after closing it back up. Maybe I got a magic switch in the batch?
But anyway, I agree completely that 67 G is a bad weight for a Brown-style switch.
I don’t like to go above 62 G for those kind of switches.
I’ve noticed that the new Chinese switches modeled after Browns often use ~58 G weight, which seems a lot more sensible than 67 G. A weight like that would make more sense if it were a T1 housing, or something.
A bunch of comparison shots of the Durock Light tactiles (left) & Parallel Pewters (right). Form your own decisions from the pics, but the light tactiles really seem to me to be almost copy of the Pewters. Mold marks match up well & stems seems shaped the same. The only major differences beyond color I can notice is the Light Tactiles have different housing materials (nylon bottom, PC top. Pewters have a PE blend housing), the springs (67g for the Light Tactiles & 58.5g for Pewters), & the Light tactile stems seem to be polished while the Pewter stems do not seem to be. Both great switches IMO/IME & will get you a very similar typing experience regardless of which you use. The Pewters have a slightly higher pitched sound due to housing material differences which seems to be the biggest difference I’ve noticed between the two.
The only major complaint I have about both of these switches is that Durock/JWK went way heavy on the factory oil application on both. So they do need to be cleaned out before proper lubing. Whether that is a full ultrasonic clean or just wiping the parts off with dry lube applicators & tissues, it makes a big difference. While whatever oil they use at the factory mixes well with Krytox & Tribosys, there is so much on these switches it will significantly thin out whatever your lube of choice is. Anyways just wanted to post this for you guys interested if there is any differences between these two switches.
It’s interesting, I don’t see much of a difference in your pictures, however I just got mine and after trying them and opening a few, I definitely feel a see a difference between these and my pewters.
The light tactiles feel even less tactile, cannot even feel the bump while I can in the pewters. The bump in my pewters is very small but it looks pointier to the one in the light tactiles. The steem in my durock looks almost a linear with just a change in the angle, if that makes any sense… I’ll try to take some pictures later.
I’m quite surprised my durock seem to look different than yours…
Could it be they went heavier with the polishing and took out some of the bump?
No idea how that process works
