Just the extra little nib at the bottom of the stem pole & I use flush cutters for it.
It’s like this with whisk(e)y, too. 
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So are the tactiles like T1s, Browns, or v1 Zeals? Everyone has a different answer ha.
The SP Star Purple, the heavy tactiles that are about 67 G, are very similar to T1s.
Some say they are a little better sounding / smoother than stock T1s.
The SP Star Meteor Orange is their light tactile. It is very similar to MX Brown.
Yes you guys are right, the switch is SP-STAR grey. I wasn’t very familiar with their grey/white/purple switches, but I have bought some linear switches from SP-STAR (green translucent housing, black stem).
I’m not sure whether if their is any official name for these switches. The name of the green one is roughly translated to “cyber” and the blue one is “starry night”. Both switches are linear and have the same force curve. These switches are a bit more scratchy than alpacas but totally serviceable right out of the box.
TBH I only got these due to the illumination material lol.
I can’t include links yet, I am referring to the switches SP-STAR released last year with housings that illuminates.
Update link:
Huge thanks for the info!
I finally stumbled across some from a Korean vendor. I wanted to make sure I got the real deal as I’ve seen these mislabeled on other sites.
https://swagkeys.com/collections/switches/products/sp-star-polaris-gray-switch
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Interesting find about the SP Star Meteor Orange switches.
First of all, they are definitely Browns, as mentioned above. Their force characteristics and weight very much fit that category.
But they lack the scratchiness/sandiness of many MX Brown switches, feeling as if they are pressed from relatively fresh molds.
What bothered me about the Meteor Orange is that they made a loud sound, reminiscent somewhat of Pandas and other long-stem switches.
I thought it might be the case that they had long stems, but the switches were loud even with shorter stems and other stems. Only when I replaced the top with a Gateron Orange did it start to sound more ‘normal.’
So I think the loud sound of the switch might be a result of the fit of the top housing to the bottom housing. Maybe with films [I have no experience with films] or different top housings, the sound could become more reasonable.
I tested Meteor Orange against many other tactiles on the same board, and I have to say that the stem has very good characteristics. There’s ample soft pre-travel, and a modest bump, the bottom-out isn’t harsh because of good spring weight. So it’s well-thought-out from a switch-feel standpoint. I just wish they sounded more moderate.
If Browns [and light tactiles generally] are becoming fashionable again, it’s surprising to see the lack of interest in SP Star Meteor Orange.
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Here’s someone who tried to improve SP Star Meteor Orange:
According to him, a main culprit of the questionable sound of stock Meteor Orange is leaf noise. This can be reduced by lubing near that area.
He also recommends aftermarket springs, saying that the stock springs contribute to the noise. Since Meteor Orange is listed as a stock 57 G spring [not 55, as in the video], then something like 14 or even 15mm 57 G TX might be appropriate.
What he didn’t try was filming them, even though wobble is present in these switches [something I didn’t mention in the previous post.]
I wish SP Star would build these with tight housings and nice-sounding springs. They are like MX Browns, without that scratchy chalkiness inherent to stock MX tactiles.
EDIT: He did film them with KBDFans films, but I guess that didn’t effect wobble much.
I’m not sure if you had the same problem but the only thing I dislike the most about the switch is their factory lube. It’s all over the legs, the sides and the stem pole. A few switches also had lube on the SP Stars logo for some reason. I pretty much wiped all the stems and replace the tops with cherry housings.
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Yes, indeed, I seriously considered replacing the tops with Cherry and now will have to try it.
Think MX Brown will work?
With regard to the factory lube, it isn’t the best, but as one person noted, the factory lube can easily be lubed over, and the presence of factory lube near the leaf probably reduces the leaf noise.
In this video, the Youtuber claims that lubing with 105 and filming led to improvement:
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Stock Meteor Orange actually sounded good on the KBD67 Lite:
I had an R1, and the polycarb plate really helps some tactiles. I dunno, maybe in the right setup stock Meteor Orange would sound good?
Yeah, that sounds nice with pc plate. What shines to me the most is browns on plateless/half-plate, so I might plan on lubing these with 205g0 and build it with half plate!
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How much pretravel do the SP Star Meteor Orange switches have? Am looking for a light-medium tactile switc with pretravel and these sound like they might be up my alley.
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@pylon has a nice force curve of the meteors on their github
In terms of subjective felt pre-travel it feels like about the same distance as gateron browns, which I suppose makes sense because both of their peak forces are supposed to be about 1.25mm into their travel (gat brown force curve). That is about the only part of their push feel that is similar though. As can be seen in their two graphs the ramp up to the peak feels quite different along with everything else.
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The Meteor Orange actually have substantial pre-travel, more than probably 75% of the tactile switches coming out these days. They are winners in that category.
What impressed me the most about the switch was the stem design, which follows a classic Cherry philosophy of pre-travel, and a short, somewhat sharp bump.
As Cynical_L indicated, the actuation is fairly low on the switch. Subjectively, to me it doesn’t feel quite as low as a Gateron Brown [or Aliaz], but it is fairly low. Could very well be the same as Gateron Brown.
Compared to Gateron Brown, these feel a little more ‘substantial’ during their travel, and the tactile bump is a little more definite to me. There’s more of a perceptible ‘ramp’ towards the bump. The Gateron tactility is kind of nebulous to me.
But make no mistake - these are Browns. If you are looking for a light-medium, this is more on the light side. Although I have seen people use 63.5 G springs to turn Meteor Orange into something that feels more like light-medium, so that’s an option.
For a true light-medium, there’s Everglide Jade Green with 60-62 G springs, and possibly TTC Watermelon Milkshake with 63.5 or 65 G Progressive springs.[You could also put Gateron Orange/Brown stems in a T1 housing, but those are bumpy.]
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