hello, I’m sorry if this is something completely obvious, I’m new to modding keyboards. I’m only thinking of it because my W key is starting to wear out so I want to change the switches and decided to maybe do keycaps as well. Is this how it starts? Anyway. I have a Razer Huntsman V2 optical. I saw a video that it apparently has hot swappable switches so I’m curious if I can switch them to low profile because I found keycaps that are low-pro and say they are “Suitable for Gateron Cherry MX Switches Mechanical Keyboard”. It’s a set from amazon. I can’t really find razer branded switches for sale aside from sets of 4 and 10 that are resale on ebay and I want to redo the entire board. Most of the switches I find say mechanical so I’m worried they won’t work because as I stated, I’m a noob. Are there some kind of switches I can purchase that are basically a copy of the red linear low profile Razer ones and will work with that style keycap and my board? Thank you for any help. my first move is to just try and clean under the key to see if it’s dirty but I’m also thinking the actuator may be giving up and I’ve never liked how high these keys stand anyway. Thanks for your time!
So, the keycaps will probably work, though you might be a little underwhelmed with how far they go in making your overall keyboard more low profile. The Huntsman optical switches have an oddly large footprint on their stem, but they should fit fine, and it’s amazon, so you can always send them back.
The switches, I’m more concerned about. Those Razer Huntsman Optical are proprietary, or very close to it, and I don’t think the Gaterons will work. I’ve seen suggestions that there is one brand, “LK”, that seems to share an OEM with Razer for the optical switches, but similar to you, I can’t really find a board’s worth that is cost effective. Frankly, opticals are not really made for the enthusiast community, and you won’t find a lot of options, especially in that Razer format. By the time you’ve priced out the switches, you can get a board that most folks around here would prefer to the Huntsman.
I am contemplating also getting a different keyboard to try and start modding to learn! I might just replace the w switch with another from this same board I don’t use in the meantime. I’ll look into the LK brand as well but I don’t understand why razer doesn’t sell them aftermarket ): thank you so much for your reply!
Razer doesn’t really want to be a keyboard company, they want to be a gaming company that includes keyboards as a product. If your board is under warranty, I’m sure they’d happily send you a switch or two – eventually – but they want you take the Huntsman as a pre-built, complete board that happens to support some other keycaps. I would wonder if their regular optical and low-pro optical are even compatible with each other. Could be, I just don’t know.
Now, if you are thinking of getting a new keyboard, even if you don’t buy one, it’s always a good idea to look around Keychron’s website. They sell enthusiast-compatible boards and some parts (though the boards themselves are the main thing). The thing about Keychron is, they have a board (often several) in almost every key layout that’s even the tiniest bit popular. It’s a perfect newbie introduction to the type of options you have. Then, after you look around, you have the terminology to continue researching yourself, or the examples to use to ask on /r/mk or here or Discord: “I like the XYZ from Keychron, but does anyone sell the same thing but cheaper/nicer/louder/etc?”
Also consider your gaming needs. Only the most attuned high-end gamers are likely to benefit from 8000Hz polling, but I think many accomplished gamers (not me!) can tell the difference between 1000Hz and the 125 or 250 that most keyboards use. Some Wooting Hall-effect boards have a 1000Hz polling rate, IIRC, but newer ones do 8000 and the switch technology also allows skilled gamers to physically actuate the keys more quickly and to fine tune the actuation point. They are not cheap, though, and it seems we’re just now beginning to see the switches fine tuned for typing experience.