The Mechanical
Switch Lab.
Linear, tactile, clicky, or silent. Compare real actuation grams, bottom-out weights, stem travel distances, and factory lubrication profiles across the most influential switches.
Gram-Exact Force
Know both actuation weight and bottom-out spring resistance before desoldering or buying a full board.
Pre-Travel & Distance
Speed switches vs standard 4.0mm stems: see exact millimeters to electrical contact.
Acoustic Profiles
Distinguish deep bassy thock from high-pitched clack and dampened silent pads.
Choose by Stem Feeling
The stem shape dictates whether your keypress is a clean fall, a tactile bump, or a loud acoustic click.
Linear Switches
Smooth travel, no bump — the gaming and lubing culture's favorites. Sound is modding, not the switch.
Tactile Switches
A felt bump mid-travel — the typists' class, from gentle Brown to brutal HD switches.
Clicky Switches
A click jacket or leaf — audible and proud. Office compatibility: none. Joy: complete.
Silent Switches
Dampened landing — the office-survivable line, trading feel for peace treaties.
Iconic Mechanical Switches
Cherry MX Red
Cherry's linear standard since 1984: 45 g actuation, no bump, and the switch every other linear is compared to.
Gateron Oil King
Gateron's pre-lubed heavy linear: 70 g bottom-out with factory lubing so thorough the DIY culture it replaced shrugs.
Cherry MX Speed Silver
Shortened actuation (1.2 mm) for speed: the gaming-optimized linear where registering early is the feature.
Gateron Brown
The bundled-switch classic: 55 g with a famously subtle bump — the tactile switch for people who have not tried real tactiles.
Holy Panda (Glorious)
The mod that launched a thousand imitations: Halo/YOK stems frankensteined into Panda housings for the definitive rounded tactile bump.
Cherry MX Clear
The heavy tactile: 65 g actuation with a firm bump — the switch light-typists fear and heavy-typists defend.
Mechanical Keyboard Science
Master spring swapping, Krytox 205g0 lube tuning, and housing materials.
Reading Force Curves: The Only Switch Graph That Matters
Force on Y, travel on X — the curve shows the bump, the spring, and the truth that adjectives cannot.
To Lube or Not to Lube: What the 3 Hours Actually Buys
Lubing switches transforms feel without changing specs. What it fixes, what it cannot, and whether your Saturday is worth it.