Submitted by Embers_of_Dawn t3_ydy3h0 in MechanicalKeyboards

I lubed and filmed these switches (TriboSys 3203, Krytox GLP 105 oil, and Deskey film)

TLDR: they’re tactile and smooth. But they have bad leaf ping and the top housing is too malleable. I'd only recommend these switches if you are after a tactile clacky keyboard with cherry profile keycaps.

The Good

  • The tactility is good, it’s a rounded bump
  • The long pole means the bottom out feels crisp
  • They’re relatively smooth with lube
  • Very little north/south and east/west stem wobble
  • I used these switches with Mill-Max sockets and found them easy to install with these switches

The Bad

  • The top housing material, whilst tight, doesn’t grip the bottom housing very well. When I was removing MT3 keycaps from these switches, the switch would pull apart before the keycap came off.
  • The ‘prongs’ on the top housing that secures it to the bottom housing, in some switches, stuck out a little too much so when installing them into the plate I ended up damaging the prongs. As the housing material is soft, I could bend them back down but it’s a thing to note.
  • The leaf can be easily bent to make the switches lose their tactility. When I lubed and filmed these switches, 3/70 lost their tactile bump. I used some tweezers to push the leaf contact points out again to regain their tactility. However, I noticed that they were less tactile than they were before I lubed and filmed them (I didn't lube the legs or leaf at this point).

The Ugly

The leaf ping is bad. I would say 80% of the switches I got (out of 70) had bad leaf ping.

I attempted to apply some lube to the leaf and legs to dampen this ping down but it didn’t help. So most of my key presses have a high pitched ting on each depression. This ping was made even louder and higher in pitch when I tried my MT3 profile keycaps on these switches.

The best thing I have found to try mitigate the leaf ping is to have cherry profile keycaps on them and aim for a more clacky build to hide the more obvious leaf ping than when I was aiming for thock.

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Comments

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mrkyleman t1_itx2q5f wrote

Funny how these were hyped as the best thing since sliced bread. Thank you for this review, it was extremely helpful info to have pre-purchase.

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NovaForceElite t1_itydnl7 wrote

Or you could be big brained like and search for reviews post purchase. Damnit.

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atyxiao t1_itustt3 wrote

Agreed. I personally wouldn't recommend them due to the leaf ping. You can try the shroud mod (https://m.imgur.com/a/8AMjWz9) which helps a bit.

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Embers_of_Dawn OP t1_itutifr wrote

I've never heard of the shroud mod, I'll give it a go. Thanks for the link!

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atyxiao t1_itw38d5 wrote

I'd trim them a bit so they're flush with the slot on the top housing. I didn't pay attention to that and had to reopen half of them because they were interfering with the contact points 🤦🏻‍♂️

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