I’m a heavy tactile/clicky switch lover, so far tried a little under ~30 different MX-style tactile switches. Right now I’m settled on modded Gateron Melodics but always looking to try out new ones.
Recently I came across a switch that really opened my eyes in terms of my specific preferences for tactility, and that’s WS Heavy Tactile. What I love about it is:
a) how high up the tactile bump is (minimal pre-travel),
b) the heavy force needed to overcome the bump (~70 g according to the force curve diagram),
c) how sharp and “long/wide” the tactile bump is, I guess? It’s like once you overcome the bump you teleport to bottom-out, no linear travel remaining.
They remind me quite a bit of the BTC dome-with-slider switches which I really like - super strong tactility right at the top. I’ve never come across an MX-style switch that would feel like this and now I’m on a hunt for something with similar characteristics!
I’ve tried many of the heavy-ish tactiles that people usually recommend e.g. Boba U4(T) (seriously overrated IMHO), Gateron Greyish, Gateron Quinns, Tecsee Saphire,… none of them come close. In fact, the only switches I find at least a little bit similar are Durock Blue Lotus.
I’ve never tried e.g. Gateron Type R, MMD Princess Tactile Ultra, MMD Holy Panda, any HMX switches… and I’m wondering if any of these are of a similar type?
Also I couldn’t find many threads anywhere showing appreciation for this switch, are there any fellow WS Heavy Tactile enjoyers? can anyone here relate and throw out some recommendations and opinions?
Thanks for the recommendation! Yeah I defo want to try those out! I was just a little bit afraid I might find them too light? From what I’ve read they are rather low-to-medium. Maybe swapping the springs for some heavier ones would work?
This thread about “light switch” on/off-style switches may be helpful:
Gateron Type R or HMX Retro J may be of some interest, but they don’t feel quite like WS Heavy Tactiles to me, possibly due to the much shorter overall travel. Have you tried the heavier variety of Zeal Clickiez? That gets pretty close while still feeling different enough to not just use the WS Heavy Tactile itself.
Side note, but don’t rule out spring length when considering bottom out force. 22mm two-stage springs provide a lot more resistance than you’d expect and feel at least 5-10g heavier than their posted weights in my opinion.
Yup, that should work. Also definitely look at spring length and multi-staged springs, as @ListlessLlama suggested, depending on your preferences. They tend to “front-load” the force, so to speak.
Hot Take: So I’m big into silent switches but I cannot stand the Aliaz’s because they just feel like a box of nails in a paint-shaker–extremely rough/scratchy, a Cherry-brown level bump, with some of the cheapest springs I’ve run across in switches. Which you’d think you could fix with spring swap, but you’d then have to buy a bunch extra because the housings are extremely fragile. They really just seem like a switch out of time, from before far better switches, silent or otherwise, existed.
Aliaz have always been junk, really. I spring swap, 205g0 on everything, add film and a cherry silent stem. Wobbly but one of the best feeling linears I’ve ever used. You take two turds and turn them into a fairly unique and satisfying switch. Win-win.
Other than that, I don’t see a way to redeem aliaz other than the trash bin.
Glad to find another fan of this switch!
I’ve ordered 10 different tactile switches in a tester, including Gateron Type R and it’s “clones” (HMX Sandstorm, BSUN Ocean), so I’ll report in how they compare
I’ve seen this thread, the discussion went onto Alps/Topre and based on my past experience (I own a bunch of vintage boards; not Topre, though), I’ve decided to further pursue MX-style only boards. But I can agree the non-MX platform is kinda superior when it comes to the tactile realm
I’d LOVE to, I’ve been looking for them for a year+ now and unfortunately they seem currently unacquirable in Europe
Yup, can relate, I’ve modded my Gateron Melodics with 22mm 80g TX springs. Funnily enough, despite my preference towards heavy weight switches (I used to main Box Navies), I might’ve overdone it with the weight, not because of fatigue, but because I’ve noticed a downgrade in the tactile feeling between 70g and 80g. I never believed when people said there is a sweet spot in the difference between the force needed to overcome the tactile bump and to bottom-out, for me I thought heavier = better, but now I’ve experienced it first-hand
I haven’t tested the effect of multi-stage vs. single-stage springs on the tactility though, so I’ll have to look into that! Actually a few days ago I’ve tried putting Gateron Luciola springs (22mm two-stage 50g) into the Melodics and I liked the result, just a little bit too light for me.
UPDATE! Ten more tactiles came in my mail on Friday, and after some testing, I’ve found comparable (and even “better” to my liking!) switches to WS Heavy Tactiles
The switches I ordered were: Gateron Type R & Banana Smoothie; HMX Snowfall, Sandstorm & Ice Lotus; BSUN Ocean; Haimu Mulberry; MMD Holy Panda V3 & Princess Tactile Ultra and Cherry MX Falcon. To keep this short, I’m going to write only about the switches I find at least a little bit comparable to WS Heavy Tactiles or the ones I find interesting enough to talk about:
Gateron Type R - this one I was most hyped to test out. Indeed, the only thing to be felt when pressing this switch is the tactile feedback with little-to-no travel - however, this is achieved not through “widening” the tactile bump, but mostly by shortening the travel distance by a lot. Which is cool and doesn’t feel bad by any means, but in reality the tactile bump isn’t very sharp and not heavy at all. It’s similar to WS Heavy Tactile in that “tactile-only” sense, but other than that, the WS Heavy Tactile’s travel distance is longer and the tactility is much heavier and sharper, which personally feels better to me, so Type R was a bit of a dissapointment.
HMX Sandstorm - very similar to Type R, but the tactility at the top is sharper, more pronounced and a bit heavier. Also the travel distance is longer. Overall I enjoyed this one more than Type R, it’s basically moving towards WS Heavy Tactile, but still not quite there.
BSUN Ocean - this switch felt a little bit weird at first (still does tbh). Again, it’s similar to Type R, except it feels… slower? It’s probably because of the heavier spring, but even then, it’s almost as if the housing is too tight around the stem - hard to put into words. Also, compared to Type R, the tactility at the top is sharper but lighter at the same time. It’s very specific, still haven’t made up my mind about this one
HMX Snowfall - now we’re getting there! The travel distance of this switch is practically the same as the Type R, BUT the tactility at the top is MUCH sharper and heavier. It actually gets comparable to WS Heavy Tactile, although the latter is probably still a lil’ tiny bit heavier. I enjoy this switch a lot
Haimu Mulberry - the winner! The tactility at the top of this switch feels sharper AND heavier than WS Heavy Tactile, with (what it feels like) exactly the same travel distance. This is, personally, the best feeling switch I’ve ever tried for context, this switch has a little tiny bit of travel after the tactile bump, but it’s very minimal and doesn’t worsen the feel of the switch at all (for me). Interestingly, the spring is “only” 20 mm long, so there is some room to make it even more tactile by swapping it with 22 mm springs (I’ve already tried and it feels superb). The acoustic feedback produced by the metal piece inside the stem is an added benefit since I main clicky switches - or now I should say used to main, ‘cause I’ll be ordering a bunch of these for my main board next to this one, almost all of my other tactile switches feel closer to linears rather than tactiles!
Honorable mentions: MMD Holy Panda V3 feel very good, most tactile compared to my other “standard” tactile switches. HMX Ice Lotus are also pretty fine Cherry MX Falcon felt nostalgic - similar feel to MX Browns but better, more refined
Yeah, compared to the “modern” range of tactile switches, I find the tactile feedback of MX Falcon to be sort of “bumpier”, rounder, but still medium-to-heavy enough to be enjoyable. A little bit similar to Boba U4Ts. Definitely give them a shot
I’m a big fan of how the Type-R switches feel, but they seem to produce a lot of chatter on several of my keyboards which is killing the experience for me. I have to increase the debounce settings (on the keyboards where I can) to use them cleanly.
Becoming more fond of the HMX Firecracker and HMX Sandstorm, which don’t seem to have the same issues but feel kind of similar. I’ve got a set of HMX Black Cats that I just received… deciding which keyboard to put them in.
I’ve been trying the opposite grouping of HMX tactiles. Valerian, Longjing Tea, and also Wingtree Pure Tea. The latter is very light, almost linear, and very loud. It’s almost ‘clean,’ but there is some scratch or shuffling if you put them in a very resolving board.
The Valerian seem to be well-regarded in reviews. Good factory sound. They don’t need any work.
So those tactile HMX switches really caught my attention, so much in fact that I’ve decided to order and try out some more long story short none of them felt subjectively as good as the Snowfalls, but there is something about the super sharp tactility that nearly all HMX switches offer which I fell in love with.
HMX Puppy - from what I’ve seen, this one is being marketed as “the best sounding tactile switch on the market”. I guess I see where they’re coming from, the switch sounds really nice and deep, but it’s not like I care too much about the sound anyways it feels pretty good, again something trademark about that sharp HMX tactility, rather medium-weight, very wide tactile bump. Can recommend this switch if you really care about a nice deep and muted sound but still want a good tactile switch.
HMX Jade - supposed to deliver “exceptional smoothness and quiet sound”… honestly I don’t get why should I care about the smoothness of a switch with a such a wide tactile bump that I basically don’t experience any linearity when using it. Yeah, it feels a tiny bit smoother I guess, but definitely not something I can appreciate the switch for. Sound-wise, it’s the 2nd most muted and deep sounding after Puppy. Good switch, very sharp at-the-top tactility and everything, just doesn’t particularly stand out in anything for me.
HMX Hydra - I was super stoked on this switch because, according to some sources, these were supposed to be one of the most tactile HMX switches; it were probably my high expectations that left me a bit unimpressed with this switch. They are slightly heavier and the travel distance is a tiny bit longer, other than that it’s pretty similar to the switches discussed before. Noticebly louder though.
Might sound like a critique of these switches, but it’s not, they all feel very good and very tactile, I’m just trying to describe the small variances between them.
What makes Snowfall stand out among these is an exceptionally good balance of the big force required to overcome the tactile bump right at the top and then the lightness of the rest of the travel - it’s like the switch just catastrophically breaks and immediately teleports you to a very hard bottom-out right after you overcome the tactile force. I love it. It’s also obnoxiously loud
I’ve also spent some time modding the Mulberry switch which I praised previously. Swapping the spring for 22mm makes a big difference, currently experimenting with 3-stage springs as well. I have to admit I was maybe a little bit too excited about this switch because I’ve realized now the tactile bump is slightly rounder than the tactility found in HMX switches. On the other hand the travel distance is much longer. So currently it’s a tie between Haimu Mulberry and HMX Snowfall for my favorite tactile switch
Funny you’re saying this because I also tried out two Wingtree switches with my last batch, specifically BM11 and Pure Tea too. The BM11 felt pretty good, almost comparable to the HMX switches in terms of tactility but it is noticeably heavier. Pure Tea on the other hand feels borderline linear, not quite my thing, but good choice for anyone looking for very light tactile switches
Yeah, HMX Sandstorm left a good impression on me, definitely a solid choice. What do you think about the Black Cats? Heard only good things about that switch. How does the tactility compare to the Sandstorm?
Yes. I also felt that the Jade had a “wide” or extended tactile bump. So much so that the switch felt “slow.”
It also made smoothness seem less-relevant, since there was hardly any linear travel, as you say!
But I did appreciate it being relatively quiet. Perhaps, for light-tactile users, they should combine the almost-linear Wingtree Pure Tea with the quietness of the Jade and Puppy.
I dug even deeper down the rabbit hole. I ordered single pieces of ~50 different tactile switches from mechbox they arrived yesterday. I’ll thoroughly test them and then pick the ones that felt the best to me/caught my attention in some way, like I was doing until now my search for the perfect tactile switch continues!
So right now I’ve got around around ~80 different tactile switches in switch tester(s), I should probably make a list at this point I realized switches are, to me, the most interesting (and important!) thing about building custom keyboards
Cherry MX Falcon felt nostalgic - similar feel to MX Browns but better, more refined 
long story short none of them felt subjectively as good as the Snowfalls, but there is something about the super sharp tactility that nearly all HMX switches offer which I fell in love with.
I realized switches are, to me, the most interesting (and important!) thing about building custom keyboards