What is on your desk today?

Conversely, I wouldn’t want to work on a messy desk :slight_smile:

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Finally getting around to putting these in a keeb and typing with them - Akko POM Browns

I’m hekin’ impressed. This will be the next switch to get the full review treatment from me, but I can tell you now this is already one of my very favorite light tactiles. I’d call these uncommonly clean for the style, especially considering the POM housing - and this applies right from the package.

So far I’m getting the impression that most of the headlines / video titles I’ve seen about these are correct; “better brown” seems an apt description so far. When these first came out I really didn’t think I’d like them - but darn if they’re not a new favorite. I probably would have picked KTT Mallows as my favorite stock light tactile - but unless I find some unexpected deal-breaker about these, I think I’m going to have to give that honor to the POM Browns now.

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Nice ones ! What are some new and nice silent switches in your opinion?

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Love me some silents - searching for good ones is what got me into switches specifically.

  • TTC Silent Bluish White - still my fave. For me, these hit the sweet-spot in the trade-off between sounding quiet and feeling crisp. These are a smooth, big-bump tactile with relatively firm dampening pads. I don’t even think they need tuning at all. If everything about these sounds good except the “big bump” part, TTC Silent Brown V2s are worth a look - those, though, some folks might want to tune for ping. If you prefer linear switches, check out the TTC Silent Red V3 or Frozen Silent - both excellent - but neither fit caps as well as their siblings. The Red V3 stems could do with some shaving down, while the Frozens sometimes need PTFE tape to hold caps.

  • Kailh Deep Sea series - this is actually three different switches; two similar linears and a tactile. Depending on the region, the naming scheme will be different - but all of them have cobalt-blue tops and lighter blue bottoms. Think of these as third revisions of the Silent Box Pink and Brown; the white and clear stemmed are linear, the brown is tactile. The clear stem is meant to facilitate more light transmission; I’d otherwise go with the whites if you want linear. The design of these is more complex than most MX type switches so they will be more expensive - but these might have the best balance of firmness and silence - on-par with the TTCs at minimum.

  • Kailh Midnight Pro series - if one were to take the two previous switches and sort of mix their on-paper features, you’d get these. Also Kailh, but more close to a traditional MX switch than the BOX Master Series the Deep Seas are in while still having more parts than a typical Cherry. The above two were already more like each-other than just about anything else on the market, and now they have a third in the club. Less complicated than the Deep Seas but a bit moreso than the TTCs, the Midnight Pros have similar advantages to the previous ones - they strike what I think is an excellent balance between silence and definitive feel, and I find the sound they do make most pleasant. Like the TTC Silent Red V3s, I recommend trimming the stems of the Kailh Midnight Pro series.

  • Gazzew U4Tx - not really a silent switch at all, but it does feature and make good use of silicone dampeners to define its sound and feel. This is actually a long-pole tactile and you can expect a snappy clack from it - however, it does hit those pads before the pole, so a lot of the higher-frequency “noisy” vibrations get absorbed - and the top-out is fully dampened. I think this gives it a pretty unique sound signature - perhaps most like JWICK Semi-silents, but still distinct from them. What really sets these apart from those is how the dampeners refine the overall feel - definitely worth a look if you enjoy the thud of silicone dampening but also want some clack.

  • HaiMu stuff - mentioned more for novelty and innovation points than for effectiveness; HaiMu’s silents are showing up everywhere lately, and are notable for using plastic leaf-springs molded into the stems rather than separate or double-shot silicone material. The bottom dampeners are pretty much on-par with silicone in terms of their effectiveness, the top ones less-so. I won’t say they do nothing - but with caps on and in a board, the top-out makes more noise than the bottom-out does. Still - impressive performance considering there’s no softer stuff in these whatsoever, and their general performance in other areas is quite good.

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Back here regarding silent switch: given my Outemu Silent White, I’m really curious to try The Haimu clone (?) by Skyloong (not sure between Yellow or Silver), by taking a pack of 35 and try them only on alphabet keys: could they be worth, since I’ll be using some O-ring anyway as of now?

Thanks in advance ad usual :grin:

I may have to pick up some of those, as I LOVE me some Akko switches, and those specs look right up my alley…

I have been wading back into the Tactile pool myself. I am currently really enjoying Parallel’s Pewters. SUPER light tactile, but really comes into it’s own when lightly lubed with some 205g0 in the stem, and maybe let the legs of the stem look at your bottle of 105g0. I filmed mine, but honestly, they don’t need it. Spring feels perfectly weighted and the UHWPE housing make them sound interesting.

I’ve been enjoying them on my Alu plate Arc60 with just mid-plate foam, in the hotswap/gasket mount configuration, and GMK ABS keycaps. Honestly been enjoying them so much with this board, I am thinking of moving them over to the solder PCB for a plateless config.

While currently not in any of my boards, I have enjoyed using the Moondrop Tessence switches as well. They aren’t bad out of the box, but lubing them similarly to how you would lube U4T’s, they begin to sound softer and from what I remember, were a typing experience that I said could likely sway me to join the other Tactile Enjoyers out there.

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There’s supposed to be a new revision of these out. @SwitchCaptain said he’s sending me some to review, so I’ll let you know if I get them. It’s been a long time though… I’m afraid they were lost in transit.

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I think they might be worth a try. If you’re using o-rings on otherwise non-silent switches now, I don’t think the top-out of the Haimu silents will bug you.

At least comparing Epomaker / Amazon prices, the Heartbeats are cheaper (per-switch) at CannonKeys:

These are along the same lines as the Skyloong Glacier / Iceberg linears, but Nylon instead of polycarb. Looks like for $5 more than the 35-pack on Amazon you can get a 70-pack from CannonKeys.

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I liked Akko POM Brown too, enough to be interested in their POM Pink only to be turned-off by nutty shipping cost.

That was before Blueberry Chiffons’ lighter bump knocked it out of the daily rotation ring although I’m sure it’ll be back when I miss the POM tactile sound.

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Might try some Akko :poop: switches. I’m still absolutely shocked with how differently tactile switches can feel from board to board.

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True. Really didn’t like Silent Bluish Whites in a brass plate, but love them in a polycarb one - and that’s in the same board.

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I suspect it’s the extra force exerted over bump somehow bringing more out of each case’s natural sound.

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Would have been a nice catch but shipping costs are killing me: 28$, more than the switch themselves to Italy, too much :smiling_face_with_tear:

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What we need are travelling switch man. “Pssst. Are you into switches?”

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I’m convinced that half the keyboard shops started this way: “shipping is killing me… if I buy in bulk, I can sell to my neighbors and make back the shipping cost plus profit!”

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I’ve been wanting to get Unalice since it was in pre-order. Found someone selling at a criminally low price on mechmarket. So happy I snagged it!

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The legends have such a classy art deco vibe and look perfect on DSA. Very nice.

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I like the font on that one. Kind of a whimsical Gorton like font.

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It also shows off something we don’t see too often: SP’s awesome dye-sub chops. I remember Norbauer talking about it a few years ago but I hadn’t really seen much SP dye-sub (outside of SA-P) but since then I’ve come across this set and DCS Delftware and they do a really nice job.

Yes, they can’t do all-over (or reverse) dye-sub and yes, “they ship in bags” and yes, the SA queue is 2 years at this point but what they do do, they do really well.

edit: and yes, DCS PBT spacebars seem to have terrible warping problems.

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these were in very nice plastic trays. Similar to how Drop sends MT3 caps

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