Gateron Deepping Switch Review

While I have always thought of myself as a fan of movies and cinema, I have to admit that I’ve not watched hardly any movies over the course of the last year. Part of this is because of the fact that streaming services seem to be sinking into their ‘enshitification’ phase that nearly all other products and services these days go through, but it is also largely due to me not stepping foot in a movie theatre at all over that span of time. Whereas during the pre-COVID times I used to go to the movies nearly every single weekend, which may or may not have been helped by the fact that I worked in those theatres for several years, I’m not sure that I’ve been to one since at least early to mid-2022. At least that was not the case until earlier this week. As I was browsing around for stuff to do on any given night, I randomly stumbled across a humble 1-screen art house movie theatre only a short drive away and decided to make my way out to it. Aside from it being incredibly cheap, the small, cozy aesthetic of the place matched with the concessions and local art and movie posters hung up all over the place really made for quite an enjoyable experience. For an even further added touch, the person who was selling the tickets at the front even came into the theatre before the trailers started to provide a brief introduction of the movie, its director, and some contextual relevance that helped set the premise of the movie a bit more. All of this is to say that if you happen to live near enough a big city to have an arthouse style movie theatre available to you, that you should seriously consider going out to support it yourself. I know that I will certainly be going back many times over in support of what has felt like the first great movie-going experience I’ve had in some time. You should even doubly consider going if your local theatre plans on showing A24’s latest in ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ in the coming few weeks. After having caught the trailer for it before my original movie that I went to see, I am pretty sure it’s going to be a damn good movie that quite a few too many people will skip over…

**Figure 1:** I'm seriously expecting this to be otherworldly good.

Switch Background

Over the full history of MX-style mechanical keyboard switches, it’s rather undeniable that there have been a lot of switch designs that are largely copied, for lack of better phrasing. Ever since Cherry’s patent on the MX-style switch design lapsed around 2014, dozens of companies have sprouted up producing switches in this style – often times after quite a few production runs that nearly one for one mimic Cherry’s design down to the smallest details except the nameplate. However, very few of the manufacturers that have remained successful to date kept up these production habits. As part of a striving for relevancy and market share, many of these places have gone on to give their best stabs at innovation within the MX footprint, which has given us dustproof stems, Box-style switches, click bars, long stem poles, multi-stage springs, and many more examples I don’t have the space for here. As I’m sure you probably have recognized, none of these innovations ever remained fully stuck to just one manufacturer. Shortly following their introduction, bits and pieces of each of these innovative designs have caught on and spread like wildfire amongst manufacturers, leading back to the aforementioned trend of copying. That isn’t to say that this ‘copying’ only happens at the broadest of scales either; there are numerous instances of singular switch design copying that come to mind including the Stealios Controversy, GSUS Pandas, and even most contemporarily the potential link between KTT and HMX I noted in the previous switch review. It seems as if, when laid out in this fashion, that the core essence of switch design starts with, is expanded by, and ends with copying of others’ designs. However, I’ve noticed this trend has also started growing in an interesting microcosm all on its own.

**Figure 2:** The more things change the more they stay the same.

Of all of the brands that I was implicitly referring to at the start of the last paragraph, I’m sure Gateron came to quite a few minds. Gateron has definitely made a lot of switches over the years, and there’s no doubt that some of their earliest attempts were heavily inspired by Cherry’s MX-style switches. Though, of course, Gateron has developed and expanded well beyond those earliest KS- switch attempts over the years. Most recently, their developments and improvements within the MX-style footprint have came in the form of noticeable mold upgrades with better tolerancing, improved factory lubing, and an increase in premium, out-of-box usable switches ala Oil Kings, Inks, etc. Gateron has also very recently begun doing more unique collaborations on switch designs with shared branding that includes the Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez, the Everfree budget sub-brand, and most recently here with the Swagkeys-stamped Deepping switches. All of this, of course, was surely built off of the progress that was first started with non-branded design collaborations with “designers” like RAMA Works via the Duck switches and designers like PunkShoo via their Root Beer Float switches. However, its probably worth noting that these switches were listed here in this fashion not accidentally nor as purely an exercise in historical storytelling. To connect the first and second paragraphs of this background together, these specific switches in Clickiez, Everfree Grayish Tactiles, and Deeppings were all listed here as they all seem to pretty closely mirror, if not altogether copy their main selling points from, the designs of the switches that came before them.

While a point is a point and two of those can connect a line, three is certainly enough to start generating a trend amongst them. In their respective reviews, I know that I’ve beaten to death the connection between ProWorld Clicky switches and Zeal 3-in-1 Clickiez as well as the link between the EverFree Grayish Tactiles and PunkShoo’s Root Beer Floats. However, the third point in space here is the obvious connection between the design of Swagkeys’ Gateron Deepping switches and the RAMA Works Ducks. First introduced at the end of July 2022, the Duck switches were Gateron-built linears which boasted a unique design feature in the form of silicone pads trapped in the upper edge of the bottom housing which were reported to both reduce housing wobble as well as alter the overall sound profile of this switches. These ‘MUTE’ pads, while quite peculiar as I broke down in my RAMA Works Duck Switch Review, largely fell out of community interest due to their high price point and association with the generally problematic figure in RAMA. Jump forward to March of 2024 and what is presented here in the Deepping switches seems… incredibly similar, though albeit with slight upgrades to the molds of surrounding parts and branding not dissimilar to the Clickiez switches or Everfree Grayish Tactiles before them. To put it more succinctly, the release of the Deepping switches seems to suggest that Gateron is recycling previous designs of their own switches that were successful in previous collaborations into new collaborations only a short while later. While it is certainly well within Gateron’s right to do so as they almost certainly did not give up mold rights to RAMA or PunkShoo in those aforementioned releases, I’ve yet to see any manufacturer so blatantly shuffle off designs from previous collaborations into new ones with brands.

**Figure 3:** RAMA Works Duck switch bottom housings with and without their MUTE pads.

Irrespective of their peculiar contextual backdrop, the Gateron Deepping switches were first debuted around March of 2024 as Swagkeys-made Gateron linears that featured plastic bottom housing rim inserts similar to RAMA Works’ Duck switches and claim to reduce housing wobble. Featuring a bottom housing mold that is owned by Swagkeys, the Deepping switches come in two different varieties that are able to be distinguished based on the color of the plastic inserts in the bottom housing. The 4.0 mm stem travel variant, which is being shown here in this review, features red inserts, whereas the 3.7 mm stem travel variant features silver inserts. Both variations of the Deepping switches are identical on all other fronts, including their reported 58 gram, 18 millimeter-long spring, milky nylon top housings, and opaque black nylon bottom housings. Priced at around $0.75 per switch depending on where they are purchased from, there are quite a few proxy vendors which sell the Deepping switches alongside Swagkeys, including LoobedSwitches, Divinikey, SoupKeys, QwertyQop, and AliExpress. As of the time of writing this review, no statements have been made by Swagkeys regarding the longevity of these switches or the expected timeframe that they will remain available for, however given the investment by Swagkeys into the molds it is expected that they will remain available and for sale for quite some time.

**Figure 4:** Gateron Deepping switches in 4.0 mm travel, red pad variant (Left) and 3.7 mm travel, silver pad variant (Right).

Deepping Performance

Note: This review is specifically discussing the performance of the 4.0 mm, red insert variant of the Deepping switches. Any and all references to the 3.7 mm variant with silver-colored inserts will be explicitly stated, irrespective of the expectation that these differences will not drastically alter the Deepping’s performance in any way.

Appearance

At the highest level, the Gateron Deepping switches appear quite similar to the Gateron KS-9 Black switches with a milky white top housing and opaque black stems and bottom housings. However, upon closer inspection the red (or silver) colored inserts on the upper rim of the bottom housing clearly denote these switches as being the Swagkeys-branded Deepping switches. Additionally, the inverted nameplate on the top housings also helps in differentiating these newer, premium-molded offerings from original KS-9 switch releases. As stated previously in the ‘Background’ portion of this review, the Gateron Deepping switches come in two variants – one with a 3.7 mm stem travel and silver inserts and one with a 4.0 mm stem travel and red inserts – that vary only on these two features. Otherwise, all Deepping switches come in 5-Pin/PCB-mount variety and with a 58 gram, 18 millimeter-long normally wound spring. All other details to be noted about the Deepping switches occur at the mold level details for each of its constituent parts and are noted in the following paragraphs.

**Figure 5:** Gateron Deepping switches and their components.

Looking first to the milky white nylon top housings of the Gateron Deepping switches, it’s worth mentioning that Swagkeys has specifically marketed these housings as using the same molds as that of the Gateron Oil King switches. Upon closer inspection both internally and externally, this certainly does appear to be true with these housings having identical details to those that I noted in my Gateron Oil King Switch Review. Externally, these features include a raised, inverted ‘GATERON’ nameplate as well as a bifurcated LED/diode slot with a centered circular indentation to support rounded through-switch LEDs. Internally, the housings also feature smooth rectangular pads on all four edges of the top housing as well as a pair of single, capital letter mold markings located in the upper left- and right-hand portions of the housing underneath the nameplate edge. With the exception of being milky white in color rather than black, there are no other differences that I can find between the Oil King and Gateron Deepping top housings.

**Figure 6:** Gateron Deepping top housing exterior featuring inverted 'GATERON' nameplate and bifurcated LED/diode slot with centered circular indentation.

**Figure 7:** Gateron Deepping top housing interior showing identical mold markings and functional details as Gateron Oil Kings.

Moving next to the black POM stems of the Gateron Deepping switches, these seem surprisingly light on noteworthy details for a premium-priced and designer Gateron offering. Unlike the Gateron Oil Kings referenced before in the top housing details, the Deepping switches feature a moderate amount of factory lubrication that is located on all four sides of the stem and is nowhere near as thick nor as viscous as that present on the Oil King switches. The stems have a very minor taper on the slider rail and the center pole has a pretty noticeable tiering off – both features which are different than previous premium Gateron offerings though not all that unique amongst the full catalogue of their offerings. As well, there are mold ejection circles located on the front plate of the stem just above each of the legs that interact with the leaves in the bottom housings. While different in their overall heights from one another, both the 3.7 and 4.0 mm variants of the Deepping switches are identical with respect to all of these details as well as their factory lubing amount and application.

**Figure 8:** Front and back side of Gateron Deepping stems showing mild factory lubrication, minor slider rail taper, and strong center pole tiering.

Finally arriving at the opaque black nylon bottom housings of the Deepping switches, it’s hard to ignore the similarities between their internal construction and that of that of the RAMA Works Duck switches. All the way inside the bottom housings of the switches, the Deeppings feature mold ejector circles on the base of the bottom housing, slightly padded bottom out points in the guider rails, and a sloped edge south side spring collar that is medium in size. Around the upper rim of the bottom housing interior there are ovular red plastic inserts in the four corners of the housing that are similar in size, shape, consistency, and difficulty to remove as the Duck switches. Externally, the Deepping switches also appear quite similar to the Ducks in that they come in 5-Pin/PCB mount variety, feature a ‘GATERON’ anticounterfeit mark in between their metal PCB pins, and a pair of capital letter mold markings on either side of the stem hole in the bottom housing. Where it becomes evident that the Deepping switch bottom housing molds are owned by Swagkeys, though, is at the very top of the bottom housing hole for the stem – where is can be seen that the abbreviated Swagkeys logo of ‘SW’ is embossed in the housing itself. While it’s rare to see the branding of any company other than Gateron on a Gateron-made switch, this specific design mark is even more interesting as it is only the second time in which any identifying mark has been intentionally placed there by a switch company – the first being that of an ‘X’ on the bottom housing of Gateron X switches.

**Figure 9:** Gateron Deepping bottom housing interior showing plastic dampening pads in corners of exterior rim, padding at the bottom of guider rails, and short, sloped south side spring collar.

**Figure 10:** Gateron Deepping bottom housing exterior showing 5-Pin construction, several variations of mold marks and stampings, and 'Swagkeys SW' branding on the bottom of the stem pole hole.

**Figure 11:** Alternative angle of 'Swagkeys SW' logo branding on the exterior of the Gateron Deepping bottom housings.

Push Feel

The Gateron Deepping switches are, quite frankly, about exactly what you would expect of medium weight linears with nylon housings made from Gateron’s premium molds. The pretty high bar and clear set expectations that I had for these switches because of these marketing points alone were consistently and cleanly hit in their performance when testing them out in hand. Chief among these met expectations was that of the factory lubing and overall smoothness of these switches. The Gateron Deepping switches have a smoothness that is not only consistent throughout the stroke of each switch, but is also consistent across the entire batch that I received as is common among Gateron’s more premium offerings. Unlike some other premium offerings, though, the lubing on the Deepping switches is a touch lighter, which allows them to still feel overall smooth in their stock form while sidestepping the gumminess or sluggishness that can arise when a heavier application of lube is used at the factory. As for the housing collisions of the Deepping switches, there is a bit left to be desired and especially so with the topping out. While both housing collisions are on the firmer side and free from sharpness or lube-based issues with their hits, the topping out is a bit thin and inconsistent with its return, causing some switches to both feel (and sound) as if they are striking different parts of the top housing even though that’s not a real possibility given their internal structuring. Even though this is a bit of a nitpicky point, the marketing of these switches as having top housings made of nylon using the same molds as Gateron Oil Kings projects a certain expectation of deep, rich, and firm feeling housing collisions that are a bit lacking in the execution here.

**Figure 12:** Force curve for stock Gateron Deepping switch.

As for the force curve of the Gateron Deepping switch shown above, I do want to point out that there is a bit of an odd curvature to the downstroke and upstroke force curves when engaged with the leaves of the switch that isn’t really seen in any other linear switches I can recall. While this certainly doesn’t impact the overall performance of the Deepping switches, as this curve in force is subtle enough as to not really be able to be felt in hand, it does noticeably show up on the linearity values that I calculated in the ‘Switch Comparisons’ section below. Additionally, there is nothing in the shape, size, nor winding of the springs that would suggest that they were intentionally produced to generate this sort of trend in force for the Deepping switches.

Sound

Further driving home the alignment between these switches’ performances and peoples’ likely expectations of them, the Deepping switches sound exactly like what you would expect of factory lubed premium Gateron switches with nylon housings. More subtle than a good number of linears out there, the Gateron Deeppings have a medium-quiet overall volume that is largely driven by the topping out of the switch as the factory lubing of the switch prevents any and all noise that would come from scratch or spring ping. In spite of the top and bottom housings both being made out of nylon, the bottom outs are almost non-existent in the sound profile of the switch and pretty seamlessly blend into the background unless the switches are typed on with some substantial force and/or at a pretty fast speed. The topping outs, though, match their notes on their push feeling rather well and have a medium volume, slightly thin and plasticky sound to them that is a bit inconsistent from stroke to stroke. Is this variation and the tone that it gives to the overall sound profile of the Deepping switches overwhelming? No, however, it is still noticeable enough to be one of the more prominent sounds picked up in an otherwise quiet, soft spoken linear switch.

In addition to the testing that I conducted on the stock Gateron Deepping switches, I gouged out the rubber dampening pads on the upper edge of the bottom housings in a similar fashion to that of the RAMA Works Duck switches and further tested their sound profile. In identical fashion as the Duck switches, the sound profile of the Deepping switches did not change one bit whether or not the dampening pads were present in the switch being tested.

Wobble

Much like with other Gateron offerings which ostensibly boast premium mold designs, there is a bit more N/S and E/W stem wobble in the Deepping switches than one would expect for a switch with this marketing point. While still lesser than most other switches and certainly not enough to bother the vast majority of users, it is present enough to warrant mentioning.

As for the top housing wobble of the Gateron Deepping switches, there is absolutely none. While many of you would likely immediately jump to the conclusion that this was due to the added rubber pads in the bottom housings as this was their main point of marketing for their inclusion (as well as their decently steep price point), the same testing I conducted for the sound profile of the Deeppings where I removed the rubber pads from some switches and tested them side by side with stock versions yielded absolutely zero differences between the two. There is no housing wobble in the switches with the pads nor without the pads in my testing and so I’m not sure what the point of them actually is. Furthermore, the purpose of these feels even more muted by the fact that not a single premium Gateron switch I’ve ever tried has had top housing looseness. In 2024 I have yet to encounter more than a very, very select few switches which even have this issue and all of them are from unknown manufacturers and of super low quality and pricing. It is as if Gateron is marketing these design features as fixes to a problem they not only don’t have but haven’t had in… I don’t even know how long.

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 which can be found under the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking on the card above. Known as the ‘Measurement Sheet’, this sheet typically gets updated weekly and aims to take physical measurements of various switch components to compare mold designs on a brand-by-brand basis as well as provide a rough frankenswitching estimation sheet for combining various stems and top housings.

**Figure 14:** Numerical details regarding the stock Gateron Deepping switch force curve diagram.

The latest in the content-adjacent work that I’ve picked up, the new ‘Force Curve Repository’ is now hosted on GitHub alongside the Scorecard Repository and contains all force curves that I make both within and outside of reviews. In addition to having these graphs above, I have various other versions of the graphs, raw data, and my processed data all available for each switch to use as you please. Check it out via the ‘Archive’ tab at the top of this page or by clicking any of the force curve cards above.

Break In

Break In Notes

17,000 Actuations

- At 17,000 actuations, the largest noticeable change in the performance of the Gateron Deepping switches comes in the form of N/S and E/W direction stem wobble increases. This is a pretty common thing to see in switches put through this break in testing, and more often than not they end up increasing on their stem wobble as they break in over time.

- While not significant enough to impact the scoring of the push feel for these switches, at 17,000 actuations you can somewhat tell that the factory lube in the switches is starting to migrate a bit. In addition to not feeling as uniform throughout the stroke as before, some switches do feel as if they have slightly less consistent housing collision noises as a result of this, though this could easily be chalked up to just sampling bias.

34,000 Actuations

- At 34,000 actuations, the stem wobble of the Gateron Deepping switches increases yet again, making these not only noticeably more wobbly than their stock comparisons, but also those Deepping switches broken in to 17,000 actuations.

- The noted shift in factory lubrication that came at 17,000 actuations has also begun to show up in the sound profile of the Gateron Deepping switches broken out to 34,000 actuations. The topping outs of these switches are noticeably more sticky in their tones and have a sort of “ploppiness” to their noise that just isn’t present in the stock switches.

51,000 Actuations

- The Gateron Deepping switches that I broke in to 51,000 actuations had what seems to be the greatest increase in stem wobble over their stock counterparts that I ever recall seeing in switches that I’ve put through break in testing. It’s honestly a bit shocking just how much the stems in these switches move around after being broken in to this point.

- While not enough to induce any significant amounts of scratch into the stroke feeling, the lube migration that I felt I had noticed at 17,000 actuations was not only real but continued to develop out to 51,000 actuations. There is a noticeable lack of consistency in the push feeling smoothness and topping out sound that has developed as a result of the breaking in process moving the factory lube around.

**Figure 16:** Comparative force curve diagram showing no distinctive trend in change of Gateron Deepping switch force curve diagrams throughout the break in process.

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 switches to the Deepping switches side by side.

Wuque Studio Morandi

- While both of these linears are definitely smooth, there is a bit more of an effortless, gliding feeling in the strokes of the Gateron Deepping switches than the Morandi. By comparison, the Morandi switches feel as if they are subtly more scratchy and have a bit more of a characteristic feel to than them rather than just being lubed.

- The Wuque Studio Morandi switches are a touch better than the Gateron Deepping switches when it comes to both N/S and E/W direction stem wobble. (As well, its worth noting that the Morandi break in significantly better on this metric than the Deepping too in my experience.)

- In terms of their overall sound profiles, both are fairly quiet linear switches though the main driving sound of the Deepping switches is from the thinner, slightly plasticky sounding topping out than the firm, resolute bottoming out onto the stem pole that the Morandi have.

Raptor MX Extreme

- In spite of what their comparative force curves below may suggest, the Raptor MX Extreme and Gateron Deepping switches hardly feel anything alike due to the differences in their overall travel and factory lubing. The Raptors, by comparison, feel as if they have a bit more resistance to be pushed through in their downstroke and have a sort of ‘momentum hill’ to climb that is just effortlessly breezed by in the Deepping switches.

- The Raptor MX Extreme switches are far and away the better of these two when it comes to stem wobble, with the Deepping switches having noticeably more N/S and E/W direction stem wobble.

- Much like with the Morandi switch comparison above, the sound profile of the Raptor MX Extremes is much more pronounced and driven by the bottoming out than the comparatively more subtle and inconsistent sounding Deepping switches.

Novelkeys Cream

- As you could almost certainly imagine, the Novelkeys Cream switches are the scratchier of these two switches as a result of their POM on POM construction and lack of factory lubing. While its certainly well known that the Creams lose this biting edge of scratch through use and breaking in, to begin approaching the smoothness feeling of the Deepping switches, the creams would certainly require aftermarket lube application.

- The Gateron Deepping and Novelkeys Cream switches are on opposite sides of the switch sound spectrum with the Creams being significantly louder, thinner, and more plasticky in their tone than the more subtle, softer Gateron Deepping switches.

- The stock Novelkeys Cream switches are a touch worse than the Deepping switches in terms of both their N/S and E/W direction stem wobble.

Cherry MX ‘New Nixie’

- In spite of the visual similarities between these two switches, the Cherry MX ‘New Nixie’ and Gateron Deepping switches hardly feel anything alike. In addition to differences in scratch with the New Nixies carrying more of a sandpaper like feeling to their downstrokes, the differences in the force rate increase of the New Nixies makes them feel like a much more sluggish, push-to-submission sort of linear as opposed to the lighter, effortless stumble to bottom out that is the Deepping switches.

- While it is uncommon for Cherry switches to come out on top in a head to head comparison of switch stem wobble, the New Nixies do beat out the Deepping switches in both N/S and E/W direction stem wobble.

- If you remove the differences caused by scratch and factory lubrication, the New Nixies and the Gateron Deepping switches are the most similar to each other in terms of their overall sound profile and presence of any of the switches on this comparison list.

Invokeys Black Sesame

- Even though the Invokeys Black Sesame switches have a stunted bottoming out that is engaged by the stem pole rather than the bottom of the slider rails of the stem, its bottoming out does feel a bit more deep and firm than that of the Gateron Deepping switches.

- Of all of the switches on this comparison list, the Black Sesames are the most diametrically opposed from the Deepping switches in terms of their tone of their housing collisions. The Black Sesame switches carry a deep, almost velvety sort of housing collision sound when compared next to the Deepping switches.

- In terms of stem wobble, there’s hardly any room for competition in the Invokeys Black Sesame switches and they easily edge out the Deeppings in both N/S and E/W direction stem wobble.

Husky

- Of all of the switches in this list, the Kinetic Labs Huskies and the Gateron Deepping switches are the most similar to each other in terms of stem wobble, though perhaps the Deepping have just a hair less wobble across their batch than the Husky switches.

- In terms of their overall push feeling, the Husky switches are similar to most other switches here in this list in that they have a bit more subtle scratchy character to their downstrokes than the smooth and really only smooth feeling that is present in the Gateron Deepping switches.

- These two switches do share similar enough feeling topping outs though, when it comes to their slightly thin and plasticky tones, though the Huskies are a bit less consistent from switch to switch than the Deeppings.

Linearity

If you are just now seeing this section for the first time and are a bit confused as to what I am talking about when discussing ‘Slope’ and ‘Linearity’, I highly suggest checking out my article titled ‘On Differences in Linear Switches’ where I explain what this section is for and how it came to be! For a bit of a shorter answer, know that this is part of my ongoing attempt to better quantify and articulate differences between linear switches which have historically not been captured in discussions about them.

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.