Cherry Blues

2021-03-15T20:35

I didn't bother to test if the Kailh switches register after the click — the problem I had with the Gateron Blues. I thought it unlikely that a different brand using an entirely different switch mechanism would suffer the same issues… but here we are.

Last night I updated the keymap to make the buttons all work correctly, then gave it a test drive. I really liked the feel and the sound of the Kailh Pink switches but it didn't take me long to notice that my keystrokes weren't always registering. My first inclination came when I was pressing `jjjjj` and finding that my cursor wasn't going down a line. I then typed a paragraph and my `O`s were also sometimes missing.

I checked my leftover switches to see how closely the switch actives compared to the click. About half of them were worse than instant. I swapped the switch under `J` key with one of the better Kailhs, but it still wasn't very good.

At the time I bought the Kailh switches, I also bought more Cherry Blues. Well, what really happened was I bought Cherry Blues, then I decided that actually I wanted Kailh Navy so I bought those. And then I decided that I actually wanted Kailh Pink, so I bought those too. Online shopping is too easy, but I digress. I put one of the Cherry's into the keyboard and it worked perfectly. The instant the switch snapped, the key registered. It didn't feel or sound quite as nice of the Kailh, but it worked which is far more important to me.

I've been using Cherry Blues for over ten years now and I guess I've developed a habit of pressing the key until it clicks and then releasing it — something I don't think is unreasonable. But the tolerances in other key switches aren't as tight. The alternative is mashing, and I find that tiring.

I think it's only fair that I update my position on the Gaterons. I think I said that they were bad, but they are not worse than Kailh. Lots of people sing the praises of Kailh clicky switches so they can't be bad. For me, only Cherry's work. Buckling springs would also work fine, but the Model M's I've owned didn't do it for me. An old house mate worked in a place that destroyed electronics for corporations. Mostly HDD, but they got all sorts of electronics. I got him to nab me a few Model M keyboards before they went through the smasher. It saddens me to think of the great stuff that is needlessly destroyed.

So far, I've swapped in about 8 Cherry Blues and they're all good. It looks like I have a few more nights of soldering ahead of me, but I feel confident I'll have a usable keyboard at the end of it.

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