They use markedly lower quality plastic than Cherry for their switch stems and some have reported inconsistent +/-5g actuation force between switches in the same batch. It is most commonly found in inexpensive mechanical keyboards costing less than $60 USD. Manufactured by Kaihua Electronics, they have reached market prominence by undercutting everyone else. Most clone switches are colored according to their corresponding Cherry MX counterpart, and while they're designed to imitate Cherry MX switch feel, they're not always weighted identically to their Cherry counterparts. Many switches aim to improve over the original MX designs by raising the actuation point to 25% of the downstroke instead of 50%. Since Cherry's patents on MX switches expired in 2014, the market has been flooded with inexpensive Chinese clones of Cherry MX switches, and many prominent companies such as Razer and Das Keyboard have quietly switched to clone switches to increase profits.
MECHANICAL KEYBOARD CLICKY SWITCHES UPGRADE
A common upgrade is replacing stock ABS keycaps with PBT variants which are made of more durable materials.Ī selection of Gateron branded MX clones. Many replacement keysets and novelty keys are available for Cherry MX Keyboards because of their popularity. The switch variant can be determined by looking at the colour of the stem. They offer a number of clicky/non-clicky and linear/non-linear variants of their switches to suit the needs of the typist. This is the only mechanical switch where the tactile and audible feedback correspond to the exact moment when the switch actuates.Ĭherry currently produces the most popular switches for mechanical keyboards. The buckling of the spring also provides tactile feedback and a satisfying click as it hits the shaft wall. This causes the hammer at the bottom to hit a membrane sheet and create an electrical contact. After pushing the key down a certain distance, the spring buckles under pressure. Key Travel: 2.3mm to actuation, 3.7mm to bottomīuckling springs are pretty straightforward once you have seen them in action. Some, like the SMK Monterey, are considered to be very pleasant to type on. There are also a variety of White Alps-like switches of varying quality. Complicated White switches were used on some well-made keyboards from the 1990s, such as the Northgate and Focus keyboards. It is used on some current production Alps keyboards, such as the Filco Zeros and Matias keyboards. The Fukka switch is quite popular, and some people prefer it over the Complicated switch. The XM, which was some older Filco Zero models and other vintage keyboards, is almost universally considered to be a terrible switch. The two most popular Simplified White switches are the Fukka and the XM. As with the Black switch, there are Complicated and Simplified White switches. Like the Black Alps, White Alps are much easier to bottom out on compared with other mechanical key-switch designs.
These are far more popular than the Black switches due to the more pronounced tactility, and the lower force requirements of some versions. White Alps are one of the two most common Alps switch types. The Fukka switch has less resistance, but many claim that it provides less solid tactility than the complicated switch. The most well-known Simplified Black switch is made by a company call Fukka, and was used in the ABS M1. Complicated switches are common in many older keyboards, particularly the Dell AT101W, which is a very common mechanical keyboard from the 1990s. There are two different types of Black Alps switch - an older type known as the "Complicated" due to the large number of parts in the switch, and a newer type known as the "Simplified", which was manufactured by Alps and several other companies. Nonetheless, they are an improvement over most rubber dome keyboards. Many people do not like these switches due to the fact that they are stiff, bottom out hard, and tend to develop friction in the travel as they wear. Actuation Force: Simple 60g, Complicated 70gīlack Alps are one of the two most common Alps switch types.