Keebwerk Tacit Review
Housing
The housing, like all Durock switches I’ve encountered, is loose, and the noise of the top housing moving against the bottom housing is quite noticeable. These switches benefit greatly from switch films and once filmed are on par with any other switch and all housing movement is eliminated along with any sound it produces. Once again, unless you’re going to go through the trouble of filming these switches, I can’t recommend them.
The Spring and Stem
The gold plated spring exhibits a lot of spring ping and I found it difficult to fully eliminate even once lubed. This louder spring ping might be more emphasized because the switch is tactile and the force curve is uneven. The stem provides a satisfying tactile event that is fairly similar to the Zeal Zilent switch. The bump on the Zilent switch is just slightly more rounded than the Tacit switch. In other words, the Tacit switch has a slightly sharper bump than the Zilents but is nowhere near as sharp as Blueberry switches or BOX Royals/Novelias. One thing that is interesting is that there’s no pre-travel of the stem before applying pressure to the spring which provides a very tight uniform feeling. The Zeal Zilent switches have a bit of stem wobble and looseness before you actually apply any pressure to the spring itself.
Sound
Unfilmed, these switches are not very quiet. The loose housing contributes a lot of extra noise and if not relubed, the springs are quite pingy as well. With that said, once filmed and lubed these switches are a bit quieter than Zilents. This echos the same results I found when comparing Silent Alpacas to Gateron Silent Inks. In this case I still find that spring ping can be hard to eliminate even when lubed so extra care has to be given to ensure a proper coating on the springs. Even out of the box the Tacits have a lower pitch than Zeal Zilents which continues to be the case even when they both have films and lube applied.
Switch Film Aside
In my testing I compared TX films to Thicc films and was unable to distinguish any difference in feel or sound. Perhaps I’m just not sensitive enough to notice the difference or there’s no real benefit to a thicker film. Either way, I’d probably say just get whichever one is easier to obtain but keep in mind that Thicc films aren’t as compatible with every switch whereas I’ve not come across any issues with TX films.
In Summary
The Tacit switch suffers the same ailments as other Durock switches and really need to be filmed. Once filmed they become as good as, if not better than, other options on the market. The tactile feel is a matter of preference but if you want something well rounded these offer a fairly smooth and round bump although not quite as smooth or round as Zeal Zilents. These switches are very responsive due to the fact that there is hardly any switch wobble or looseness when initially pressing down.
If you aren’t going to modify your switches, buy the Zilents. But if you’re willing to put in some time to film and lube your switches I’d opt for the Tacits.