Gateron Box Ink Pink Switch Review

I can’t lie, I am the tiniest bit jealous right now. Part of the cool thing about following a bunch of keyboard people on various social media platforms is that you get to see all the cool boards they are designing, products they are selling, or streams they are having. Unfortunately, though, this also comes with the caveat of also seeing when they’re getting to go to all of the cool in-person keyboard meetups like Novelkeys’ ‘The Keyboard Meetup’ that happened yesterday. Meanwhile, I’m stuck here in this cold apartment writing page after page of homework answers, grant proposals, and switch reviews instead of getting to nerd about switches to people other than the voices in my head.

The Keyboard Meetup 2021 Logo

Figure 1: You should really check the photos of the event out though, it looked incredible.

Aside letting me vent my jealously just the tiniest bit, part of the reason I am bringing this up is because I know that not all of my readers are necessarily within the same ‘space’ in the hobby that I or people who would be going to this meetup are. Hell, there is someone out here reading this probably six months or even a year later feeling a little bit weird by the dated references that I make in all of my articles about stuff going on in my life, the keyboard world, or the intersection of the two. Regardless of if you’re the time traveler I’m referencing here or someone who caught this hot off the presses and aren’t really that deep into the hobby: keyboard meetups are a thing! While I can’t exactly promise the frequency nor proximity of you to a meetup as where, when, and how they are hosted is very much a regional thing, you should absolutely go exploring to see if you have one in your region. For example, I know that there are usually big meetups at least once a year in the Washington DC area, SoCal, Texas, Ohio, as well as ones in other countries like Japan, the UK, Australia, etc.

Figure 2: Even Minnesota has meetups as well!

Figure 2: Even Minnesota has meetups as well!

With all that in mind though, I know there are at least a few of you wondering what exactly the draw is of meetups or why I feel so compelled to mention their existence aside my rampant jealousy of the NK meetup I’m missing. Meetups of any scale, plain and simple, are a chance for you to get to try out keyboards, keycaps, switches, really everything you’ve never had a chance to buy in person while also getting to meet and interact with people you might see on Discord, Reddit, or the other various forums we all occupy. In addition to giveaways and free door stuff, which is always pretty nice as well, you’ll genuinely get to really go deep on keyboards with people who don’t just roll their eyes and ask why you’ve bought another keyboard even though its only your third. So, while I know that the pandemic is still present to various degrees depending on where you are in the world, you should really take some time to look into when and where the next in person keyboard meetup is around you or to simply get in contact with the people, forum, etc. that are responsible for planning it. Who knows, you may even get to meet cool animals like me there assuming I’m not shackled to my desk again at that time.

ThereminGoat Switch Collection Display

Figure 3: If I do show up and can drive there, though, I will always bring the testers with me for everyone to try!

Switch Background

In order to preface this ‘Switch Background’ section a little bit, I do want to remind you all that I’m not exactly eternal. While a lot of people have joined the hobby since I started reviews and thus do not know of a keyboard community without my reviews, I am still fairly new in the hobby relative to some of the people who have been around to see a lot of change over double or triple the amount of time that I have spent here thus far. Tangentially, this makes me feel rather weird when people do refer to me as an ‘OG’, as I hardly view myself as that relative to other vendors, content creators, and people that I remember interacting with when I first joined the hobby my self who are still active today. More directly on point, though, with switches that are as ubiquitous and as old as Gateron Black Inks, its not always the easiest to exactly pin down exact release dates and announcements. In order to supplement this, I will unfortunately have to be providing some of my own takes and recounting rather than the exact details, but I will try and be as cautious as possible in doing so and note it where I can.

The original Gateron Ink family of switches, to the best of what I could find online, first was released around January of 2019, consisting of 5 translucent, monocolored Gateron switches. The 5 switches in the initial release were the linear Black Ink, Red Ink, and Yellow Ink, the silent linear Silent Black Ink, and the clicky Blue Ink switch, all of which were sold at $0.75 per switch with the exception of the Silent Black Ink which were sold at $0.85 per switch. I should note here that I do believe the initial western sales of these switches on sites like Novelkeys featured a preorder with them for $0.65/$0.75 per switch for an initial sale before setting the price higher, which was and is still a decently popular practice, though I can’t seem to find any documentation in regards to this. It should also be noted here that all of the switches featured the normal, ‘MX mount’ style stem with the exception of the Yellow Ink switches, which instead featured a dustproof stem sans any explanation from Gateron. Aside the fancy new translucent, mono-colored scheme that the Ink switches featured, the price they commanded came directly marketed off the back of a ‘new’ proprietary plastic blend in the housings of these switches. Referred to on the spec sheets as ‘thermoplastic’ and broadly by Gateron sales representatives as ‘ink housing material’, the exact composition of these housings still remains a mystery as of the time of writing this.

Gateron Ink Switch Family

Figure 4: Gateron Ink Switch Family.

From what I can recall of the time around their release, the community at large generally thought well of them but were decently well put off by the high per-switch asking price. While the explosion in switch offerings since 2019 has placed a large amount of switches for sale within the $0.60 to $0.80 per switch pricing range, back then $0.75 per switch was a relatively steep asking price for something unproven. However, as time progressed through 2019 and more people began to enter the hobby, the Gateron Ink family of switches did seem to pick up a little bit of steam with respect to sales and general community acceptance, ultimately peaking in popularity around late 2019 and very early 2020.

However, in addition to the increasing popularity of the Gateron Ink line of switches, there was also an increasing subset of people who were having issues with the switches they were receiving. While everyone seems to have a very different memory of the exact issues of the Gateron Ink V1 switches from that time, the two biggest issues that I distinctly remember being discussed were general stem wobble issues, and more importantly issues with loose leaves in switches which would fall into the internals of the switch without much provocation. Even though the knee jerk answer from many of you who have never dealt with loose leaves before would be to just ‘push them back in’, this is a relatively catastrophic issue and often results in the entire switch becoming unusable due to the relatively fickle nature of resetting (or even transplanting) leaves in switches.

On January 24th of 2020, Novelkeys, who at the time was almost certainly the largest vendor of Gateron Ink V1 switches in the US, issued a Reddit post titled ‘Gateron Ink V2 Updates’ where they shared the announcement of new, updated Ink switches that would address the community wide issues of loose leaves first and foremost. In this announcement, they not only shared their results of testing of each of the colors of the Ink switches in that the new, updated V2 versions didn’t have the loose leaf issue as well as the fact that they would go up for sale on the website later that day. Since this late January day in 2020, nearly all Gateron Ink switches sold by vendors have consisted of the V2 variety which feature the updated molds to prevent leaves from falling out of bottom housings. In fact, I’d venture to say that if you have joined the hobby really at any point in 2020 or 2021 that you’ve likely not encountered Gateron Ink V1s given the widespread adoption of Gateron Ink V2 switches.

Beyond the initial family line of Gateron Ink V1 and Ink V2 switches, a few custom offshoots using the ‘ink material housings’ have also popped up over the last year and change since the release of the Gateron Ink V2 switches. The two entirely opaque switches to feature the ink type housings include the 8008 Inks released by Omnitype (then DixieMech) in tandem with the GMK 8008 keycap set and much less popular Gateron Baltic Inks. The custom translucent switches that were released were the Gateron Kangaroo Inks, which came in both Novelkeys (normal nameplate) and Monstargear (flipped nameplate) variants, both of which were noted in my review of them. Interestingly, the Kangaroo Inks were the first Ink switch, both custom or stock ordered to come as a tactile, with all other variants being linear with the exception of the Silent Black Inks and Blue Inks.

Gateron 8008 Ink and Gateron Kangaroo Ink

Figure 5: Gateron 8008 Ink (Left), Kangaroo Ink (Right), and Baltic Ink (In the mail).

The latest addition to the Gateron Ink family line of switches came about via an announcement on the Gatreron Alibaba page in August of 2021. Being less a sales pitch and more of a “Hey we’re going to kill your wallet here soon with this sale so be prepared” type posting, this announcement featured the release of the new “Gateron Ink V2 Box Switches”, which had both Black and Pink variants. These Black and Pink “Box” Ink switches were teased featuring the same dustproof style stems and supposedly the same molds as the Ink Yellow V2 switches, though featured slightly different stem travel distances and springs in addition to the pretty colored housings. Since this initial announcement in August of 2021, these switches have begun to be sold around September/October of 2021 for $0.75 per switch both in eastern and western vendors, though they’ve not nearly caught on with as much popularity as the original release of the Black Ink switches. At least not yet.

While compiling a list of points to make in this ‘Switch Background’ section as well as generally writing out my thoughts here on this document, I found that I wasn’t exactly able to well work in all of the minor details that I wanted to mention. So, instead, I’m just going to hit you with these extra points I’d like to make with a fourth wall break and scuffed ass delivery method:

-1. The naming convention of these switches is honestly one of the most annoying things I’ve seen in a long time. As I discussed in my From The Vault: Novelias Switch Review article, Box switches are not called ‘Box’ because of the difference in shape of their stem but rather an entirely different internal mechanism than the standard one that my last half dozen reviews feature. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be a point many people are aware of, and the naming of a dustproof stemmed switch (and not even something people think of when they think of ‘Boxed’ stems) with normal internals as a “Box” switch is only going to make this point more confusing.

-2. While the Gateron Ink Yellow V1 and V2 switches are the only one to feature dustproof stems, on the Gateron website they are actually rendered as not having dustproof stems and instead look the same as their other siblings in that family. Again, given no actual explanation of this by Gateron at all, I suspect that this was done because Gateron Yellow switches as a whole seem to be Gateron’s “testing” switch. With KS-1s, the Gateron Yellow was the only one to feature an ultra heavy spring well north of 100g at bottoming out force. As well, with respect to custom, KS-3 style switches, they’ve all historically been based off of KS-3 Gateron Yellow molds. So it’s not entirely out of bounds to think that if these are based on Gateron Ink Yellow switches that those are truly the ‘test switch’ for them.

-3. Interestingly, and much more tangentially, Gateron has also seemed rather dedicated to developing this Ink line of switches and branding further recently given that they’ve also released ‘Ink’ stabilizers which consist of stabilizer housings which also feature the same ‘ink housing material’ in them in addition to gold wires. To the best of my knowledge, these have only been done in black thus far though I would not be surprised to see them in red, blue, and yellow variants if they were to sell well.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Switch Performance

Note: While both Box Ink Black and Box Ink Pink switches will be mentioned here and have been mentioned above, this review will specifically focus on the Box Ink Pink switch as I’m simply more interested in these. These feature the same specifications as Box Ink Black switches, except for the spring weighting which is rated at 10 g. lesser at both actuation and bottoming out.

Appearance

At a high-level view, the Box Ink Pink switches come in the same mono-colored, translucent housing and opaque colored stem scheme as does the rest of the non-custom Gateron Ink line of switches. Featuring a dustproof stem like the Gateron Kangaroo Inks and Ink Yellow switches before it, the only unique points about these appearance wise come in the new, not offered prior Pink colorway. While the flipped nameplate and black spring that they come with may seem unique amongst the Gateron Ink switches that you may be more familiar with, it’s worth noting that the flipped nameplates have been seen prior in Kangaroo Inks and that the black springs are featured in other Ink switches as well. Interestingly, though, of the pair of Box Ink switches to be announced in August of 2021, only the Box Pink Inks have a flipped nameplate, whereas the Box Black Inks do not.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Switch and Components

Figure 6: Gateron Box Ink Pink components with black, stock springs.

Looking deeper into the molds of these Box Ink Pinks, it’s worth noting here that this actually has a purpose for once rather than the just the normal pedantism that is looking at all of the finer details of this switch. According to the marketing and many people’s initial thoughts of these switches, it is being said that these come from the same molds as Gateron Ink Yellow V2 switches. However, looking at the top housing it would definitely appear that this doesn’t hold true at all. Externally, the switches not only feature the flipped nameplate which is different, but they also have a bifurcated LED slot which is not something that Gateron Ink Yellows have either. This alone is enough to pretty definitively say that these are not copied from the Gateron Ink Yellow V1/V2 top housings at all. Internally, though, the top housings of the Box Ink Pinks not only appear to be consistent with Gateron Yellow Inks but consistent overall with other Gateron Ink releases with a pair of either single letter or single number mold markings being found in the upper corners of the top housing.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Top Housing Externals

Figure 7: Gateron Box Ink Pink top housing showing flipped nameplate as well as bifurcated LED slot.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Top Housing Internals

Figure 8: Gateron Box Ink Pink top housing internals showing mold markings in upper corners under the nameplate.

Moving onto the stems of the Box Ink Pinks, they do look rather similar to the Gateron Ink Yellow stems and as far as I can tell come from the same molds. The most indicative similarity between these two comes in the form of a large, single injection mold point on the backplate and two ejector circles centered above the stem legs on the front plate of the switch. Beyond this, the Box Ink Pink stems feature a very minorly stepped central pole of the stem in addition to non-tapered slider rails.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Stem Wide Shot

Figure 9: Box Ink Pink stem front side showing stem legs and ejector mold marks.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Stem Backside

Figure 10: Box Ink Pink stem back side showing mold injection point.

Reaching the final component of the Box Ink Pinks in the bottom housings, these yet again appear to differ ever so slightly from the Ink Yellow V2s within my collection. Internally, the bottom housings of both the Box Ink Pinks, as well as most other Ink switches for that matter, are fairly mundane. There are four ejector mold marks in the corners of the upper lip of the bottom housing, very minorly padded bottoming outs on the slider rails, no spring collar on either side, and nothing relatively noteworthy with respect to mold markings here. On the bottom side of the switch housing, though, we do see a slight difference. While the eye might immediately be attracted to the sideways ‘Gateron’ anticounterfeit marking between the leaf pins, or the relatively large diode symbol underneath the central pole that is on all switches, the most telling difference between these and the Ink Yellow housings are the mold markings between the LED/Diode pins. In both the Box Ink Black and Box Ink Pink switches, there are two, separate single letter mold markings on either end of this string of holes whereas the Ink Yellow V2 that I have in my collection only features a single letter mold marking on the bottom right-hand side.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Bottom Housing Internals

Figure 11: Box Ink Pink bottom housing internal design.

Gateron Box Ink Pink Bottom Housing Externals

Figure 12: Box Ink Pink bottom housing underside with emphasis on mold markings in the bottom corners of the LED slot holes.

I do want to caveat the last point I made though about the bottom housing molds being different between the Box Ink Pinks and Ink Yellow switches. The comparison I made in this instance is to the Ink Yellow V2 switch which I have in my collection. This Ink Yellow V2 came from one of the very first batches that were sold all the way back in 2020, and I wouldn’t put it past Gateron to have made ‘silent’ adjustments or shifts to different, identically made molds with different numbers on them in the past few years. So, if you happen to look at your Ink Yellow V2 switches and want to pitchfork me because there are actually two, single letter mold markings on the bottom of yours that you bought last week, understand that this is likely due to Gateron having made silent updates. Regardless of whether or not this in fact the case though, it would certainly appear we have enough differences in at least the top housing alone to say that these are not one-to-one clones or recolors of Gateron Ink Yellow V2s.

Push Feel

Just looking at the specs related to the push feeling of the Box Ink Pinks as well as ignoring all the aforementioned mold information, it’s pretty evident these are not ‘just a recolor’ of Ink Yellows. First of all, there is an ever so slightly reduced travel distance in the Box Ink Pinks (and Box Ink Blacks too) of 3.4 mm in travel rather than the 3.5 mm travel distance of the Ink Yellow switches. Additionally, the springs of the Box Pinks Inks are much lighter at 50g. of actuation force and 60g. of bottoming out force as opposed to the 60g./67g. split of the Ink Yellows. (The Box Ink Blacks have a 60g./70g. split.)

To this end, these switches are a little bit deceptive with respect to actual performance versus those numbers I listed just above. While the bottoming out is still fairly sharp and pointed as is expected in many reduced travel distance switches, these really don’t feel that short. It is a little more obvious that there is a reduced bottoming out when the stem sticks up above the rim of the top housing when you bottom out, sure, but with keycaps on you’d be decently surprised with just how long this 3.4mm travel distance feels. Unfortunately, though, the housing collisions are a little unbalanced with the topping out feeling a bit more firm and muted than the sharp, pointed bottoming out, though not to such a degree to cause any noticeable ‘what the hell is this?’ type reactions. With respect to smoothness of the Box Ink Pinks, they are also surprisingly smooth to me as well, even for not having factory lube at all. Even though there is some tiny variations between switches across a batch, as a collective they appear to be smoothly made with only the tiniest bit of scratch that more adds to the ‘character’ of the stroke than degrades from the overall push feeling.

Sound

The sound of these switches, as well as the Gateron Ink line in general might I add, tend to be the most polarizing aspect for many people. While I think that sound is altogether way overemphasized in this hobby right now with respect to switches, it can and likely will be the make-or-break point for a lot of people with respect to Box Ink Pinks. With respect to scratch, it definitely comes through more noticeably in the sound of the switches than the push feel, but again its not to any sort of degree that many people would likely notice nor care. As well, paralleling the push feel section as per usual, the housing collisions on these switches are a bit thin, and a lot more towards the high-pitched end of switches than not. While they certainly don’t have a cheap nor plasticky quality to them, they sound more like the expectation of polycarbonate housings than nylon, for those of you who understand that comparison. High pitched, with a pointed but not sharp pair of housing collisions is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea and even absent noise ‘issues’ like significant scratch noise of spring ping, this will be the most controversial point of these switches and I’d bet on it.

Wobble

Another firm reason I believe these are not manufactured from the same set of molds as Ink Yellow switches comes from the pretty impressive decrease in stem wobble of the Box Pink Inks relative to other Gateron switches. Broadly speaking, Gateron has notoriously been okay for stem wobble with it being pretty noticeable to noticeable in nearly all switches up until the introduction of better mold tolerances via the ‘flipped nameplate’ update to their molds that has been happening during mid to late 2021. With the flipped nameplates to back it up, the Box Ink Pinks definitely do have a pretty decent and consistent-across-batch stem wobble that is equally present in the N/S and E/W directions. Overall, unless you’re particularly aware of stem wobble or using tall profile keycaps, I sincerely doubt this will be that bothersome to you even though you likely would notice it here or there.

Measurements

If you’re into this level of detail about your switches, you should know that I have a switch measurement sheet that logs all of this data, as well as many other cool features, that can be found under the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking on the card above. This sheet typically gets updated weekly on mail days, and has been a subtle project I’ve been developing for some time now!

Comparison Notes to Other Notable Linear Switches

Note – These are not aimed at being comprehensive comparisons between all factors of these switches as this would simply be too long for this writeup. These are little notes of interest I generated when comparing these pieces to the Box Ink Pinks switches side by side.

Various Mechanical Keyboard Switches

Figure 14: Switches for comparison. (L-R, Top-Bot: Lavender, Raed, TTC Wild (55g), Novelkeys Silk Yellow V2, KTT Peach, Huano x Ajazz Peach)

If you would like to learn more about these switches, I’ve already completed reviews or scorecards for some of them. If the names below are highlighted in a grey color, click them to be taken to my other content or reviews on them!

Lavender

- Overall, the Lavender switches are noticeably smoother throughout the entirety of the stroke than the Box Ink Pinks, but they definitely do feel “hand lubed” compared next to the Box Ink Pinks. So, if you’re more a fan of the ‘character’ of the switch rather than just overbearing smoothness, in this comparison the Box Ink Pinks would likely be a better fit for you.

- The stem wobble in both the N/S and E/W directions is definitely better in the Lavenders than the Box Ink Pinks, both in terms of single switch comparisons as well as across a batch.

- The Lavenders are not only significantly quieter than the Box Ink Pinks with respect to sound, but feature a more bass-centered, thick sound than the relatively sharp housing collisions of the Box Ink Pinks.

Raed

- In terms of smoothness, the Box Ink Pinks are definitely better than the Raeds, which have a tiny much more noticeable amount of scratch when comparing the two switches together.

- Again, the Box Ink Pinks are both louder and slightly higher pitched than the Raeds comparing them one to one, but they also don’t feature any spring ping which is much more noticeable here in the Raed switches.

- The stem wobble between these two switches is fairly comparable, though the argument could be made that the Box Ink Pinks are perhaps a hair better here than the Raed switches.

TTC Wild (55g.)

- In terms of overall volume of sound, these are definitely the most comparable on this list, though the TTC Wild switches are a bit deeper and more dull sounding than the sharp, high pitched sounding housing collisions of the Box Pinks Inks.

- The stem wobble in both the N/S and E/W directions of these switches is fairly comparable, and I would say that they are probably the closest out of all of these on this list to my surprise.

- While the overall travel distance of the Box Ink Pinks didn’t really strike me as all that obvious on their own without comparison to other switches, it definitely did become noticeable when comparing them to the TTC Wild switches which have a full, ‘normal’ travel distance.

KTT Peach

- Overall, the KTT Peaches have a much more subtle, quiet, and deeper sound to them as compared to the Box Ink Pinks, which have that more sharp, high pitched set of housing collisions to them.

- While the stem wobble is perhaps just a hair worse in the KTT Peaches than the Box Ink Pinks, the bigger issue is that there is top housing wobble in the KTT Peach switches that simply is present in the Box Pink Inks.

- While these two switches are both generally speaking smooth, they both still have that switch ‘character’ that comes from a lack of factory lube. Comparing the amount of inherent scratch between the two though, the KTT Peaches definitely have the more noticeable, leathery scratch.

NK Silk Yellow V2

- Again, much like with many of the comparisons made on this list, the NK Silk Yellows are a significantly more quiet and deeper sounding switch the Box Ink Pinks.

- The stem wobble in both the N/S and E/W directions is definitely more present in the NK Silk Yellows than the Box Ink Pinks.

- In addition to just an overall difference in sound profile between the two, I do want to point out there is a slight presence of both scratch sound and spring ping in the Silk Yellows that isn’t present in the Box Ink Pinks.

Ajazz x Huano Peach

- While these switches are much more close to the Box Ink Pinks in terms of overall volume of sound, they are much more muted and rounded off in the housing collisions than the sharp, pointed collisions of the Box Ink Pinks.

- The average Ajazz x Huano Peach switch is comparable to the Box Ink Pinks in terms of both N/S and E/W stem wobble, though where the Box Ink Pinks edge them out is in the fact that they are much more consistent across a batch of switches than the Huanos.

- In addition to sounding more muted and deep, the actual physical bottoming and topping out of the Ajazz x Huano Peaches is much more firm and solid feeling than the Box Ink Pinks.

Bonus Round

Needless to say, I think it would be wrong of me to not do at least a few Gateron comparisons in this list as well.

Gateron Black Ink V2

- In terms of overall volume of sound, the Black Ink V2s are rather close to the Box Ink Pinks, though they are just the tiniest bit deeper and more bass heavy.

- Without a doubt, the stem wobble on the Box Inks Pinks is definitely improved in both N/S and E/W direction over that of the Black Ink V2 switches.

- While perhaps the most minor of notes and potentially in my head altogether, I definitely feel like the Box Ink Pinks are just a tiny bit smoother throughout the stroke than the Black Ink V2s.

Gateron Yellow Ink V2

- In terms of sound comparison, the Box Pink Inks feel like they have a more ‘clear’ sound to them without the same general fuzziness or interference from scratch noise that the Ink Yellow V2 switches have.

- Yet again, the Box Ink Pinks are leaps and bounds better than the Yellow Ink V2s with respect to stem wobble and truly make me believe that these are not the same molds at all.

- Overall, the minor travel distance difference between these two switches is almost impossible to notice comparing them, so if you’re a big fan of shortened travel distances or just Yellow Ink V2s in general (yes, they do exist), I think you’ll rather enjoy these.

Gateron Tangerine V2

- The Gateron Tangerine V2s are significantly quieter, firmer feeling, and altogether less in-your-face than the Box Ink Pink switches.

- That being said, though, the Tangerine V2s are significantly scratchier and have a noticeable amount of spring ping that hasn’t been seen in Gateron switches in a long time, much less ones as new as the Box Ink Pinks.

- Honestly, in a roundabout way comparing these two switches really has given me some perspective as to just how far Gateron has come with respect to switch manufacturing over the last handful of years.

Gateron CAP Milky Yellow V2

- The CAP Milky Yellow V2s are on the complete opposite end of the scale with respect to sound than Box Ink Pinks, coming with a significantly softer, more muted, and entirely bass driven set of housing collisions.

- While the stem wobble on the CAP Yellow V2s is by no means bad, it is just a tiny bit worse than the Box Ink Pinks in both the N/S and E/W directions.

- In terms of overall push feel, the CAP Yellow V2s have much more of that ‘hand lubed’ softness to them and general lack of character that I noted in the comparison between the Box Ink Pinks and Lavenders.

Scores and Statistics

Note – These scores are not necessarily completely indicative of the nuanced review above. If you’ve skipped straight to this section, I can only recommend that you at least glance at the other sections above in order to get a stronger idea of my opinion about these switches.

scorecard.PNG

Push Feel

Surprisingly smooth for being completely factory unlubed, these short travel distance Box Ink Pinks are effectively just souped up, better Gateron Ink Yellow V2 switches. Smooth with sharp but firm and clear housing collisions makes for a much more polycarbonate-esque experience without alienating too many people. One minor gripe worth mentioning though is that the topping and bottoming out are just a bit too unbalanced to make these truly ‘great’ feeling.

Wobble

Much like with the other Gateron switches that have seen the ‘flipped nameplate’ update of 2021, the Box Ink Pinks are a lot better in both the N/S and E/W directions with respect to stem wobble than those that came before them. While not perfect, it’s still a bit noticeable even though it wouldn’t be as problematic as some other switches.

Sound

The most polarizing feature of these switches, these Box Ink Pinks are loud, sharp, and very high-pitched sounding even relative to other Gateron Ink switches of the past. That being said, though, they really do not carry any plasticky or cheap tones to them and they are rather crystal clear with respect to that sound, making it easy to appreciate it for what it is.

Context

Coming out of left field as a ‘new’ update in line with all the recent releases from Gateron, these are a surprising improvement of one of the least favorite switches of the Gateron Ink family line of old. While the price is still just a touch high and the community adoption a bit low, they are a nice, subtle offering from Gateron that I think have potential to be remembered for a while.

Other

Again, while the improvements to stem wobble, molds, and general clarity of sound are all really well demonstrated here, the naming convention for these just really hurts me mentally and the community further which is, unfortunately, one of the worse contextual points about these.

Statistics

If you are looking at this statistics section for the first time and wondering where the hell are the other 123 switches that I’ve ranked are, or what ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ ranks refer to specifically, I’d encourage you to head on over to my GitHub linked in the table above or at the links in the top right hand of this website to check out my database of scorecards as well as the ‘Composite Score Sheet’ which has a full listing of the rankings for each and every switch I’ve ranked thus far.

Final Conclusions

While entirely a subtle point in the grand scheme of this review, the comparison between the Box Ink Pinks to the Gateron Tangerine V2s, which were one of the first custom switches they’ve done, honestly blows me away a bit. In a relatively short span of time over the past few years, Gateron (as well as the community as a whole for that matter) have really stepped up the quality of switches and their nailing of points of interest like stem wobble, smoothness, etc. Even further highlighted here are just how much the subtle upgrades that have been coming about from Gateron recently have even further elevated all of their offerings just that extra bit further. It is really neat to know that with switch offerings with such fine-tuned details as these that beginners could be entering in the hobby and having access to great, high-end switches near instantly as opposed to the days of old which required a lot more manual labor and effort to get switches to this kind of performance level.

Speaking more directly about the Box Ink Pinks, though, I think that they make a great addition to the Gateron Ink family line of switches even if they don’t get nearly as much attention. While the short throw stems as well as the relatively light weighting may initially scare many people away who are looking into these, I would honestly encourage you to give these a try and especially so if you were interested in and upset by the performance of Gateron Ink Yellow V1s or V2s. These definitely are not just ‘the same molds as’ or ‘recolors’ of the Ink Yellow V2 switches. Albeit subtle, these are a much more polished, well defined, and well-constructed addition to the Ink line of switches than I think many people will give them credit for as the community at large begins to try them out.

Sponsors/Affiliates

Mechbox UK

- A wonderful UK based operation which sells singles to switches that I’ve used above in my comparisons for collectors and the curious alike. Matt has gone out of his way to help me build out big parts of my collection, and buying something using this link supports him as well as my content!

KeebCats UK

- A switch peripheral company based out of the UK which sells everything switch adjacent you could ask for, they’ve been a huge help recently with my film and lube supply for personal builds, and they want to extend that help to you too. Use code ‘GOAT’ for 10% off your order when you check them out!

proto[Typist] Keyboards

- An all-things keyboard vendor based out of the UK, proto[Typist] is a regular stocker of everything from switches to the latest keyboard and keycap groupbuys. While I’ve bought things from the many times in the past, they also are a sponsor of my work and allow me to get some of the great switches I write about!

MKUltra Corporation

- We may have stolen a few government secrets to get this one together. MKUltra is a US vendor that truly fills all the gaps other vendors simply don’t offer and is continuing to expand their switch and switch related peripherals by the day. Use code ‘GOAT’ for 5% off your order when you check them out!

Further Reading

ThocKeys’ Box Ink V2 Sales Page

Wayback

Divinikeys’ Box Ink V2 Sales Page

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Novelkeys’ Gateron Ink V2 Sales Page

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Gateron Yellow Ink V2 spec Sheet

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Technology Brothers’ Gateron Box Ink Review

Manofinterests’ ‘Which Switch: Gateron Ink (V1)’

Chyrosran’s ‘Gateron Ink Switches Review’

Novelkeys’ Archived Gateron Ink Black V1 Sales Page

Novelkeys’ Gateron Ink V2 Udpates and Testing Reddit Post

Gateron Product Page Showing ‘Normal’ Ink Yellow

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Gateron CJ Switch Review