deskthority

I have here the Oriental Tech linear that Ascaii sent me. I only tried it briefly, and I've got it connected again now. Light linear is … actually a lot nicer than I imagined. I can see why people go in for Cherry MX red now. I don't like MX black-type linear (Futaba linear, seem to be around the same weight as MX black) but these lighter weight switches are really quite pleasant, and I am probably not even bottoming out on them as they actuate mid-travel a-s expected. That said, once I return to MX brown I can clearly tell that it's distinctly tactile in comparison to the equivalent weight of linear. Not even sure which I prefer now … probably brown. I feel a lot happier about trying a keyboard with reds now than I was before.

The keyboard itself is pretty dreadful. The variable weighting is OTT, there's no blocking (pressing a+s+d produces "as.d" and the light weight means that I trigger ghosting regularly) and some of the keys jam. However, the feel of the switches that do work is way better than I imagined, for the keyboard and for linear in general. I still don't get the feeling that I'm typing on human anatomy, though — I guess it might feel this way, but it's just not my instinctive reaction (maybe a-s I've never tried it). (Yeah "a-s"? How did that ghost happen?)

Also, there wa-s some (another one!) confusion between the two apprentices over pressing Win+Break — I looked at the Dell AT102W and Print Screen and Pause weren't where the other guy was saying that they should be. Then I realised when I swapped out the switches for hemiblue Alps, I got the keycaps reversed :-) Doh!!

I just had the opportunity to type on fullsize cherry mx red board (roccat ryos) last weekend and felt the same as you.
In contrast to my impression which I got from Mr Interfaces switch tester, I consider MX Reds now as a really nice switch to type on.

How did you get on with your Model M, Mr. Beardsmore? (Disambiguating Daniels… noted for my list of indie band names.) True linears are quite different from buckling spring, but that lightness of early keystroke is still there. I like it in both.

This actually happened to me too recently - I found a cheap Cherry G80-1600HAD with vintage blacks, and it was the first time I'd ever used a Cherry switch in an actual keyboard. The linear blacks were a bit weird at first (I'm using a Model F AT now and a Model M before that, for comparison!) but I found them surprisingly okay to type on after some time.

Still, I don't think I'll be replacing my Model F with some linear MX red super-1337 backlit gamer keyboard any time soon, but it was nice as a comparison if nothing else.

Welcome to the brigth side, Daniel
The thought of a linear switch was actually what made me consider mechanical keyboards in the first place, despite me buying MX Brown as my first switch. To me, it's one of the biggest benefits of a mech keyboard!

But to be honest MX Red is dreadful. They are heavenly light but scratchy as hell! So if you really want to try a real linear MX switch, try a red spring paired with black stem (they are somehow less scratchy maybe the dye alters the plastic? I don't know) and then add some Kryotox to lube it! it really makes a huge difference!

Would you say a lubed red stem is any different to a lubed black stem? I suspect a lot of things come down to lube.

[groucho]And don't even get me started about keyboards![/groucho]

I cannot fully answer your question, Mr. Marx, as I don't have both keyboards in one place. The Oriental Tech OK-100M is fairly light — guessing 50–55 cN actuation? I actually have the spec sheet in the box, which I was going to scan in for the wiki (our scanner sucks donkey balls though). You can tap on it fairly gently. It's hard to type on it properly, as shift, space and several other keys are weighted something like 80 cN (though the heavy shift and space really aren't as bad as they seem at first), several keys are severely sticky or jam, it ghosts like crazy, and the single unit backspace leads to a lot of ####### and frustration.

I've never used MX Black, but Futaba simplified linear seems to come out around the same weight. I just find heavier linear to be too "mushy", while this reduced weight is a significant improvement. It's not ultra smooth, but it's a sort of soft vibratey feel rather than scratchiness, a bit like the vibration you get from pressing an XM linear switch on the Tactile Pro 3.

Broadmonkey: That's why Matias quiet click switches are white instead of the intended orange¹: the dye was interfering with the properties of the plastic.

¹ Not sure what colour they should be: they're closer to the weight of orange, but the damped slider of ivory ("cream"), but while that would give you salmon, that colour has its own significance as a stiff, undamped switch ...

Muirium, I haven't tried to lube MX Reds. I have a fair few Black stems so I always use those, but I would still say a lubed Black is better than a lubed Red, since you can never get it 100% smooth, and I have felt that my lubed vintage Blacks is slightly more smooth than their newer counterparts, something which also holds true when they are not lubed, but I won't rule out it might be a placebo effect.
One thing I am certain of however is the fact that Reds is the scratchiest MX switch of them all, I have them on WASD on my keycool, so they have seen a lot of heavy use, yet they are still far worse than my new Blacks.

Daniel, thanks a bunch! I always had a strong hunch that it was down to the dye they used. I suspect this is also a factor in why some older switches feels better.