deskthority

Alright, guys. A few questions:

1) Is one of the following switches a clone?
2) Which one? (I have my suspicions.)
3) Has something like this been documented before?
4) Should I notify Cherry?

Note: I pulled up the shadows and exaggerated the contrast for higher visibility.




If there is an actual clone here, it means the Chinese manufacturers are reaching their typical levels of dishonesty. Clones of purses, watches, and other luxury items are common. But this is new to us.

Also, on a related note, these both came from the same keyboard. It could mean that some Chinese switch suppliers have polluted stock.

I don't know enough about Cherry switches to tell which is real or which one is fake. But thank you for bringing this to our attention. I'll keep this in mind if I go shopping for a new keyboard.

I would guess the bottom is a fake simply by the font used for the word "Cherry". It's does not have enough weight and the top logo looks right. The cherries in the logo should also maintain the texture. There certainly is more but I don't know enough myself.

Seemingly, both are real. This came up in discussion over at Geekhack after I made the discovery:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=88 ... msg2412842

So far, the existence of moulds with the wrong typeface resists explanation.

They could have at least done the courtesy of branding their knock-off as "CHEERY!"

Seriously, though, the bottom one looks dodgy for sure.

The mold for the upper shell is totally different, though.

Look at how the corners are rounded on one and not the other.

It seems curious that someone making fake switches would make so many mistakes. The corner inward projections are very different, but they're exactly the same as on my speed silver switch.

Cherry's official photo of speed silver shows the same inward projections as mine, the rounded corners, and a logo that's not a match for either:

http://cherry.de/cid/keymodules_CHERRY_ ... Silver.htm?

I guess Cherry just had a bunch of transitional top shells, then. I guess I'll desolder it at some point to take a peek inside.

Bottom one is a newer switch. I heard it's less scratchy than previous ones (top switch), but still more scratchy than vintage switches.