Invokeys Black Sesame Switch Review

While the majority of you are used to seeing the progress of my collection grow from weekly mailday posts and review-based content announcements, I have to admit that it is a much different perspective from behind the scenes. Whereas these posts on various social media platforms are the first time you all interact with new switches coming into my collection, by that point I’ve already purchased them, had them shipped to me, picked them up, and then made the decision as to whether or not I want to make content with them. As one could imagine, this creates a sort of backlog between when I first plan on adding a switch to my collection and when it finally arrives here. As well, given the fact that I don’t regularly include the number of switches that I have in my social media posts either, it’s bound to be the case that this seeming unending train of switches eventually catches up with me in the form of a milestone in the collection. As a result, earlier this week I crossed a minor milestone of 1,750 different unique switches in my collection.

**Figure 1:** This isn't even all four of them and you can see I'm running out of space…

The much bigger milestone, though, as you might be able to guess from the image above of some my current testers, is that I am having to order 2 more 500 slot testers to support my switch collection. It truly feels like just the other month I made plans to order my first 500 slot tester, knowing full well that “this will take so long to fill up I probably won’t need another one for a few years.” A few years down the road, and now I am up to 6 of these things. However, speaking of maildays previously, these do play a role as to why I’ve had to buy two new testers rather than one. Thanks in no small part to my supporters on Patreon, my wonderful list of sponsors, and that $20 bill I found on laundry day last week, I was recently able to pick up a surprising number of packs of both the Tecsee Ice Cream and Wuque MM switches. For those of you who don’t know, these two different sets of switches came in mix-and-match style compositions allowing for a wide range of switch options for users to test out. Or, if you’re me, more than 300 different switch combinations to make, which I fully intend to complete and add to one of my new incoming testers. While I don’t have a particular plan in mind quite yet as to what exactly I want to do with these mix-and-match switch combinations in terms of content, know that I definitely have the intent to make some awesome content with these!

Wuque MM Mechanical Keyboard Switch Components — **Figure 2:** Just a few of the many Wuque MM switch boxes I got in the mail the other day.

Switch Background

It feels as if anymore I have to start out these ‘Switch Background’ sections with meta-commentary in order to preface why I don’t have some super specific, start-to-finish style story associated with the switches on hand. Ironic introduction aside, this is due to quite a few factors in particular that have cropped up over the last handful of months of posting. First and foremost, I’ve been super lucky to be picking up tons of switches freshly released or even prior to release, effectively allowing me to post a take on them prior to there being really any history for them. Secondly, as well, when you get out to well over 80 long form articles on a website, you do begin to bump against switch histories and stories you’ve already told once, if not twice over. Thirdly, and much more relevantly to the review of these Invokeys Black Sesame switches, is that I tend to review many offerings from a vendor and/or manufacturer if I consistently like what they produce. In the narrow case of Aflion-made Invokeys offerings, having already covered the inception of Aflion in my Invokeys Matcha Latte Switch Review, and an accounting of the design process and prototyping in my Blueberry Chiffon Switch Review, that doesn’t leave me many stones unturned here for the Black Sesame switch review.

**Figure 3:** Honestly, the review catalog is starting to feel like the Vatican archives, or that warehouse scene in Indiana Jones.

Upon introspecting further about my narrow range of historical options to choose from in the background section of this review, I became a bit surprised at just how few switches I remember Aflion having produced and been sold in the past year. While they did have a fair amount of samples and pre-Matcha Latte offerings directly from their factory, I can only effectively think of five other offerings which have been sold to western audiences this year that were made by Aflion as of the time of writing this review. (Sue me if I’ve forgotten one; Once you get to 1,750 different switches you’ll be surprised to know it gets hard to remember each and every one.) So, I figured I might as well touch on these releases for the background section of the Black Sesame switches to perhaps provide some context as to why these switches, as well as Invokeys Matcha Latte and Blueberry Chiffon switches have been so personally interesting to me over the past year of reviews.

Aflion Mechanical Keyboard Switches — **Figure 4:** Family photo of vendor customized Aflion switches released in 2022.

Red Jackets

Aflion KNC Keys Red Jacket Mechanical Keyboard Switches — **Figure 5:** KNC Keys Red Jacket alternative color prototypes.

First released around March of 2022, the original Red Jacket switches were a KNC Keys switch project themed around the hugely successful Squid Games Netflix series. Being manufactured by Aflion with a 63.5g spring and a nylon over nylon housing construction, these were not only some of KNC Keys’ first custom switch releases, but some of the very first vendor-specific releases of Aflion switches since their debut with Invokeys in late 2021/early 2022. While fairly successful with quite a few restocks, continuation of the Squid Game-themed switches by KNC Keys saw prototyping and production of the subsequent Green Jackets with Tecsee. While it is uncertain when explicitly the decision was made to remake future Red Jacket releases with Tecsee (dubbed Red Jackets 2.0), as of the time of writing this these formerly Aflion-made switches were in the preorder phase for their Tecsee overhaul.

Aflion Blush

Designed by ‘^prince’, one of the team members of an OCE-based vendor by the name of ALLCAPS, the Aflion Blush switches made their debut around April of 2022. After reported multiple rounds of prototyping, the Blush switches were released in a polycarbonate over nylon housing scheme with 58g bottom out spring and a three-toned pink color combination. In addition to being run on ALLCAPS, the Blush switches saw a subsequent worldwide cooperative release through vendors such as Dangkeebs, AlphaKeys, Swagkeys, and a few others. While there is no real consensus that I can find regarding how popular these switches were with respect to sales, as of the time of writing this review the Blush switches remain in stock at the majority of aforementioned vendors between $0.60 and $0.70 per switch depending on the source of purchase.

Aflion Tropical Waters

Shortly following in the wake of the Aflion Blush switches, the Aflion Tropical Waters were designed and released by vendor Keebhut around June of 2022. The initial version of these switches came branded with an AFLION nameplate in a polycarbonate over nylon, factory lubed configuration similar to that of the Aflion Blushes with an exception of different weighting at 60g. of bottoming out force. Popular enough to see restocking, the initial as well as updated run of the Tropical Water switches saw cooperative international releases in addition to Keebhut’s US presence via Serpent Keys in the UK, Shibay Mech in Asia, and Candy Keys in Europe. While I am immediately uncertain as to if and/or when the second, updated version of the Tropical Water switches is to be released, the Keebhut sales page states the updated switches will be distinguishable from older releases by a slightly different color way, polished stem molds for smoothness, as well as a custom ‘KEEBHUT’ nameplate instead of the conventional ‘AFLION’ one.

Zepsody Bluebonnet

Debuted in June/July of 2022, the Zepsody Bluebonnets were the first vendor-specific dustproof switch manufactured by Aflion to be released. Going up for sale at a reasonable price of around $0.48-$0.50 per switch, the Bluebonnets saw little in the way of both advertising and fanfare and have arguably flown further under the radar than any of the other Aflion releases on this list. In addition to a unique design as compared to that of other vendor-specific Aflion switches, these switches also boasted an interesting sales tactic of having both ‘A stock’ and ‘B stock’ offerings on their website at varying price points. While not entirely unique given the prevalence of both regular (A stock) and decaf (B stock) Matcha Latte switches at the beginning of 2022, this is still a seldom used sales tactic among switch sellers to date. Due to website maintenance as of the time of writing this background section, I was unfortunately unable to confirm the price breaks of the A stock versus B stock Zepsody Bluebonnet switches.

KFA Pink Robins

KeebsForAll Lubed Pink Robin Mechanical Keyboard Switches — **Figure 9:** Lubed KFA Pink Robin switches sent to me from pre-production batch.

With a presale announced in September of 2022, the Aflion Pink Robin switches are the latest of the non-Invokeys Aflion-made switches to be released as of the time of writing this review. Coming as KeebsForAll’s first branded, customized switch release with a ‘KFA’ nameplate, the Pink Robin switches feature a polycarbonate over nylon housing design with a 63.5g actuation force and slightly shortened travel distance. Priced in packs of 40 at either $0.54 (unlubed) or $0.67 (factory lubed) per switch, the Pink Robins are the first non-Invokeys offerings on this list to come in either lubed or unlubed options. While the lubed KFA Pink Robins are set to deliver to customers who preordered them in late October of 2022, lack of community wide response to the switches yet has not dissuaded KFA from announcing the planned releases of future customized switches in the theme of different types of birds. Even though certainly a first for KFA and for Aflion, these will not be among the first set of bird-themed releases given the Crow and Nightingale releases by ThocKeys earlier this year.

Invokeys Black Sesame

With that slew of releases from Aflion over the past year out of the way, that brings us up-to-date to the latest releases as of the time of writing this review in the Invokeys Black Sesame switches. Inspired by black sesame deserts, these switches are the third food-themed switch in Invokeys “Artisanal Switch Series”, which all feature the same three-tone housing design. Priced at $0.65 per switch in packs of 70, 90, and 110, the Black Sesame switches were the first of the Invokeys/Aflion collaborations to be offered in only lubed releases as of the time of their debuted at the end of September of 2022. While no further indication has been made as to how these switches will continue to be stocked or altered in future iterations (e.g. the recently released Invokeys Matcha Latte V2 switches in September of 2022), it is assumed that the Black Sesames will see sustained support from Invokeys for the foreseeable future

Black Sesame Switch Performance

Appearance

At the highest level, the Black Sesame switches follow the same color pattern as the previous two Aflion/Invokeys switches with a dark grey stem, white top housing, and lighter grey bottom housing to match. The housings, much like that of the Blueberry Chiffons come in a polycarbonate over nylon design with the updated, raised text ‘INVOKEYS’ nameplates. Additionally, a similar dustproof stem with rounded corners is used here in the Black Sesame switches as well. Given the proximity of these two switch releases, the Black Sesames are nearly identical in terms of mold details as that of the Blueberry Chiffon switches, which I have previously covered in my Blueberry Chiffon Switch Review.

First stopping at the top housings of the Black Sesame switches, externally they boast a few details which have been seen in previous Invokeys/Aflion made switches. Consistent across all releases thus far is that of the wide, thin LED slot with additional circular indentation in the center to better accommodate common LEDs used in custom keyboard builds. Like that of more recent releases, as well, they feature the raised and slightly more stylized ‘INVOKEYS’ nameplate. Internally, the top housings feature 3 sets of 2 mold ejector circles present on all sides with the exception of the north-side nameplate region, which instead just features a slightly recessed rectangle. These too bare two distinctive features which were first noted in the Blueberry Chiffons in the form of the bulkier architecture around the nameplate region of the switch as well as an absence of internal mold markings. It is my best-informed guess that these are identical housings to those of the Blueberry Chiffon switches, and thus will likely be used in future Invokeys releases as well.

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Top Housing — **Figure 11:** Invokeys Black Sesame top housing externals showing stylized, raised INVOKEYS nameplate and wide LED slot with circular depression.

While the Black Sesames are linear switches and the Blueberry Chiffons are tactiles, they share mostly similar technical details between their stems. These include things such as the slight taper on the central pole as well as the slider rails, injection molding point in the center of the backplate, and factory lubrication out of the box. However, there are some finer details worth noting with respect to the measurements and lubrication process. First, the marketing of the Black Sesame switches discusses a “thick stem pole” which was stated as leading to a fuller and deeper sound. While not by all that much, it’s noticeable that the stem poles of the Black Sesames are a bit wider than that of either the Blueberry Chiffons or the Matcha Lattes at around 1.96 mm in diameter as opposed to a 1.90 mm diameter. As well, the factory lubrication on the dark grey stems is much more noticeable upon eye-level inspection and is present on all four sides of the stem. Interestingly, the marketing claims that the lubrication on these stems is done by hand, which I quite frankly find hard to believe. For one, the sheer consistency across the batch of switches I received, as noted below, is more than sufficient to put this into question. As well, the visual consistency in lube application to the stems as well as consistency with respect to the brush strokes makes me question the validity of this statement a bit further on top of the impressive level of consistency. (That is not to say that Invokeys is intentionally lying, either. It would not be the first time a manufacturer has lied to a vendor.)

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Stem — **Figure 13:** Backplate of Invokeys Black Sesame stem showing factory lubrication and tapered slider rail and center pole.

Finally arriving to the bottom housings of the Black Sesame switches, they too are identical in design to that of the Blueberry Chiffon switches. Large south side spring collars, thicker central stem pole hole, and completely wide-open LED slot region are all very evident in the bottom housings of the Sesames. Additionally, factory-applied grease is present on the leaves of the switch as advertised and there is some presence of lubrication in the interior base of the bottom housings due to the machine donut-dipped springs as also previously seen in the Blueberry Chiffons. Externally, these PCB-mountable switches also have a large, wide open LED slot and surprisingly boast absolutely no external mold markings.

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Bottom Housing — **Figure 15:** Invokeys Black Sesame bottom housing internals showing south side spring collar and factory greased leaf.

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Spring — **Figure 17:** Inverted Invokeys Black Sesame spring showing factory donut dipping with lubrication.

Push Feel

Fresh out of the box, I am yet again left incredibly impressed with how Invokeys has managed to squeeze out so much performance from a relatively new and upcoming manufacturer in Aflion. Sure, I shouldn’t be relatively surprised given my previous strong feelings about both the Matcha Lates as well as the Blueberry Chiffons, but the Black Sesames still push the bar just a little bit further. The factory lubrication is incredibly consistent across the batch of switches which I received, and almost so much so that I feel compelled to once more state how hard it is for me to believe that these are actually hand lubed. The only thing that does support this marketing claim, though, is that the lubrication amount is enough to feel more hand lubed than most factory-applied lubrication amounts, which also helps to dampen and mute this linear switch a bit. As for the housing collisions at either end of this smooth stroke, you’d be rather hard pressed to tell these were polycarbonate over nylon. Both housing collisions are muted, firm, and solid with only minor imbalance coming from a slightly extended central pole which leads to a pointed bottoming out rather than topping out. As actuation speeds pick up, as well, the difference between topping and bottoming out becomes a bit more noticeable.

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements — **Figure 18:** Invokeys Black Sesame force curve diagram.

While this performance, in and of itself, is enough to stand out amongst most linear switches released today, what really sets these apart is just how much each of the three main changes made by Invokeys between the Black Sesames and Matcha Lattes are able to be seen and felt explicitly. The first is that of the lengthened spring at 20mm in total distance, which does provide an ever so slightly more forceful return feeling than that of the 15 mm springs in the Matcha Latte switches. Secondly, these switches are marketed as having improved factory lubrication, and I think that the previous paragraph more than supports that claim. Finally, the thicker central pole in the bottoming out does actually seem to reduce the sharpness of the bottoming out onto the stem pole a bit, which helps to lead to a more deep and full sound as Invokeys directly stated they were shooting for. Even if this marketing is a post hoc rationalization of what they received from Aflion, the fact that each of those points is perceptible is simply downright excellent marketing if not intentional design choices.

Sound

On an objective level, the sound of the Black Sesame switches was specifically targeted for by Invokeys due to the community’s appreciation firm, no frills, deeper sounding linears. While certainly nowhere near close to the depth of sound enjoyed by way of the thick nylon of Cherry’s MX housings, the Black Sesames are definitely toward the deeper end of switch sounds with respect to bottoming and topping out. This is especially counterintuitive considering that these switches have polycarbonate tops and a bottoming out onto the stem pole – both things which historically don’t correlate well with deep housing collisions. That being said, there are still some imbalances between topping and bottoming sounds, with the sharper bottoming out onto the stem pole becoming more noticeable at higher actuation speeds. As is noted in the ‘Break In’ section below, the topping out does also become a bit more thin and higher pitched after breaking the Black Sesames in for a substantial amount of time, further exacerbating the difference between the housing collisions.

Wobble

There is very little stem wobble in the N/S direction of the Black Sesame switches and even less in the E/W direction as well. Also incredibly consistent across the batch that I received with no top housing wobble whatsoever, these are just the tiniest bit better than that of the first Invokeys linears in the Matcha Lattes, but very much on par with the similarly molded Blueberry Chiffon switches.

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.

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 Black Sesame switches feel ever so slightly different with respect to smoothness than their stock counterparts. While they don’t feel any more or less scratchy than the stock switches, the factory lubrication feels as if it has somewhat shifted and is a bit less well distributed after the break in period.

- As is very much par for the course of break in testing switches, the Invokeys Black Sesames increase their stem wobble by a marginal but not imperceptible amount at 17,000 actuations as compared to their stock forms.

34,000 Actuations

- At 34,000 actuations, there isn’t any real noticeable increase in the stem wobble nor lubrication migration beyond that of the 17,000-actuation set of switches. While I don’t think these are necessarily bad features in their own right, they are different than the stock Black Sesame switches.

- Another interesting point worth noting is that the topping out of the switches is noticeably louder at 34,000 actuations than the stock form. Again, while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing nor unexpected given other testing notes, I can imagine that the stock topping out sound is a big draw for these switches in the first place. Thus, any deviations from this likely are negative, if minor at that.

51,000 Actuations

- Interestingly, the issue previously noted at 34,000 actuations of the topping out sound of the Black Sesames is further increased here, but not uniformly. At 51,000 actuations, the switches lose a noticeable amount of their cross-batch consistency and have a much more diverse range of topping out sounds.

- The same points regarding stem wobble as well as the lubrication migration for each of the two previous break in stages only continues to hold true here without much deviation beyond that of what was previously noted.

Other

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Packaging — **Figure 23:** Front (Left) and Back (Right) sides of the Invokeys Black Sesame switch packaging.

As always, I am a bit of a sucker for fancy packaging of switches regardless in what form that it comes. While Invokeys has had some fun and playful packaging with their previous releases such as a black cake box for the Blueberry Chiffons and a to-go (Australians: takeaway) drink cup for the Matcha Lattes, this packaging for the Black Sesames is by far the most visually eye-catching to date. Coming in a clear cube with a textured, off-white base, the switches are very clearly labeled both front and back without a lot of extra, unused space to it. While I am uncertain if all of the future Invokeys releases will be shared in this packaging style, the very recently released Invokeys Matcha Latte V2s also feature this packaging in advertisement photos.

Invokeys Matcha Latte V2 Mechanical Keyboard Switch Packaging — **Figure 24:** Invokeys Matcha Latte V2 packaging sales photo from sales page.

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 Black Sesames switches side by side.

Mechanical Keyboard Switches — **Figure 25:** Switches for comparison. (L-R, Top-Bot: Gateron Oil King, Invokeys Matcha Latte, Ajazz x Huano Peach, Designer Studio Graphite Gold, Gateron Vermilion Bird, Ube Crinkle Cookie)

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 on them!

Gateron Oil King

- While Gateron Oil Kings have already been previously noted as having medium-high pitched, flat topping out sounds, this is on further accentuated when compared next to the quite deep, firm, and muted sound of the topping out of the Black Sesame switches.

- Even though both switches are rather minimal in both their N/S and E/W direction stem wobbles, much like with other Invokeys/Aflion combinations in switches the Black Sesames just have less wobble consistently across the batch of switches.

- Both the Oil Kings and Black Sesame switches are smooth, and there’s no doubt about it. However, the Black Sesames feel as if they have a slightly thicker lube application than the already substantial Oil Kings, lending to a more ‘hand lubed’ type feeling even though they are incredibly consistent. (I don’t know about you, but most times I hand lube switches there are still some inconsistencies…)

Invokeys Black Sesame and Gateron Oil King Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

Invokeys Matcha Latte

- In my original review of the Invokeys Matcha Latte switches, I had pretty strong praise for the factory lubrication that was already being improved upon by Invokeys at the time of publishing. Nearly a year later, they’ve definitely held up to their promise as the lube application on the Black Sesames is noticeably better and more consistent.

- Even with it being a slim margin at best, the Black Sesame switches edge out the Matcha Lattes in terms of stem wobble just the tiniest bit.

- The same comparison points noted above for the Oil Kings with respect to topping out sound also apply here between these two switches, though ultimately to a much lesser degree.

Invokeys Black Sesame and Invokeys Matcha Latte Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

Ajazz x Huano Peach

- Like all of the other switches on this comparison list, while the Ajazz x Huano Peach switches are smooth in their own right, they just don’t quite compare to the overall smoothness of the Black Sesame switches nor their cross-batch consistency with respect to such.

- Not to anyone’s surprise this far into the review, the Invokeys Black Sesame switches also have less N/S and E/W direction stem wobble than the Peach switches.

- The bottoming out of the Black Sesame switches is noticeably more pointed and singular in feeling than that of the bottoming out of the Peach switches.

Invokeys Black Sesame and Ajzz x Huano Peach Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

Designer Studio Graphite Gold

- Even though the Graphite Gold switches carry a noticeably greater amount of fine grain scratch to their stroke than the Black Sesame switches, the effective ‘resistance’, or fullness of the feeling, is the most similar between these two switches out of any on this list.

- The housing collisions, both at topping and bottoming out, in the Designer Studio Graphite Golds, is noticeably louder and thinner sounding than that of the Black Sesames.

- There is just simply less stem wobble in both directions in the Black Sesame switches than in the Graphite Golds.

Invokeys Black Sesame and Designer Studio Graphite Gold Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

Gateron Vermilion Bird

- Of all the switches on this list, the factory lubrication of the Gateron Vermilion Bird switches is the closest to that of the Invokeys Black Sesame switches. That being said, though, the Vermilion Birds are a bit less consistent across a batch than the Black Sesame switches are.

- While the stem wobble in the Black Sesames is only minorly better than that of the Vermilion Birds, the biggest comparison is in the lack of top housing wobble in the Black Sesames that was a clear and present issue in some early batches of Vermilion Bird switches.

- In terms of depth of feeling, the bottoming outs of these two switches are fairly similar, though again there is just a slight bit more pointedness in the bottoming out of the Black Sesames.

Invokeys Black Sesame and Gateron Vermilion Bird Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

Ube Crinkle Cookie

- The release Ube Crinkle Cookie switches have a significantly higher pitched and louder pair of housing collisions than that of the Black Sesame switches.

- As well, knowing that the Ube Crinkle Cookie switches were ultimately manufactured by SP Star, it is not entirely surprising to know that they have a bit more stem wobble than that of the Invokeys Black Sesame switches.

- Much like with the comparisons made to several other linear switches on this list, the Crinkle Cookie switches are smooth but have a noticeably thinner factory application of lube than that of the Black Sesames.

Invokeys Black Sesame and Ube Crinkle Cookie Mechanical Keyboard Switch Measurements

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.

Invokeys Black Sesame Mechanical Keyboard Switch Review Score