Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best switch?

Short Answer: There is no ‘best’ switch in any category; It is entirely about your own preferences.

Long Answer:

While this has very much turned into a meme question that my friends in the hobby like to poke fun of from time to time, I get this question a ton from newer people in the hobby. Unfortunately for those newer folks, I often refuse to answer this question purely on the basis that switches are entirely preferential based, and the few semi-objective metrics that I try and hinge my reviews on are not in any way indicative of what your experience will be like.

My best recommendation for this question every single time this gets asked is to suggest that you invest in a switch tester. Even though testing only one switch may not be indicative of your complete typing experience when you use a whole board of these switches, trying a variety of switches is the only way for you to figure out what you like best and gives you a great foundation to better understand my content about switches!

Which switches sound like x, y, or z?

Short Answer: Switch sound is only one small part of a keyboard. You should really be focused on other build aspects of your keyboard first before being concerned about the specific sound that a switch may have on your board.

Long Answer:

Quite literally everything in a keyboard build and the immediate area surrounding it affects the sound of your board. This includes the keyboard case material, structure of the keyboard internals, mounting style, plate style, plate material, keycaps used, stabs used, desk material/deskmats, size of room, and uncountable more things. While I will never suggest that switches don’t contribute to the final sound of a keyboard, there are many other factors that you should consider first and foremost as they play a bigger role.

With respect to switches, some of the biggest factors that I can tell influence sound are aftermarket modifications. While lube viscosity itself doesn’t quite matter so much, the amount of lube you add in your switches (if any) can drastically alter the sound of your switches. As well, the introduction of switch films of various materials and thicknesses can also play a large role in your sound profile of your keyboard, though the best way for you to figure out how these things affect sound is to try it out for yourself. Further modifications such as frankenswitching, manual retooling, etc. can also all cause major changes to the sound of switches.

When will you/Are you going to review < insert switch here > ?

Short Answer: I don’t know.

Long Answer:

I tend to make my full-length reviews on switches that I either feel are important to the community to know about and/or have interesting historical or performance notes that aren’t quite getting highlighted elsewhere. Scorecards, on the other hand, tend to be short one-page reviews of switches that don’t quite have that same depth that I like to explore in longform reviews. With new stuff coming in weekly and new IC’s coming up all of the time, my plans on a week-to-week basis for reviews changes all the time.

What switches/lubes/films do you use, Goat?

Short Answer: It changes all of the time and it’s still just all preference.

Long Answer:

With the position that I am in receiving what feels like an absolutely endless line of switches, my opinions and tastes for switches changes on a weekly basis. In builds I personally own and have done for friends I’ve used a handful of different films, different lubes, and different switch types varying from Alps SKCL Greens to stock Cherry MX Browns so I’ve quite literally used a bit of everything. Usually, this question is substituted to try and get around asking the obviously unanswerable question about what are the “best” switches and so I try and give it the same response as read above.

Another point worth making on this question that I don’t feel like is the clearest to newer readers is that this website and the rankings I’ve done on my scorecards on GitHub are not necessarily reflective of my personal opinions. While subjective opinion will always play a roll in my reviews, I try my hardest to remain objective about the things that I can measure and to not look over faults simply because I enjoy the switches. In fact, most of the time the switches that I do consider using to build with come from the middle of the pack of my rankings rather than the very top.

Do you get all of your switches for free?

Short Answer: No, most of them I don’t but I certainly wish I could.

Long Answer:

Having been collecting for several years now, I’ve been lucky to form relationships with a lot of vendors and companies that sell switches and thus usually get heads up or offered new switches coming to market to add to my collection. While some people are gracious enough to donate them, I still do offer to pay and quite regularly pay for the switches and/or for the shipping of them to me. Those vendors who do send stuff to me, though, are quite well aware that I have the final say in what I review and how I review such, so no deals are ever cut in which I get switches for free in exchange for a review, much less a positive one. Additionally, my lovely Patreon supporters help me afford some of the newer and more exciting stuff coming up that I can’t simply get ahold of easily from relationships formed.

Will you ever do video/audio content or will it only stay in writing?

Short Answer: I’m not entirely sure, but I would like to.

Long Answer:

Since the website has gone live in May of 2020, it has quite literally been the main focus of my content for the longest time. Sure, I’ve been getting a bit better with the usage of Instagram and Twitter over that timeframe, as well as introduced the scorecard GitHub, though it does require a lot of time and effort to introduce an entirely new form of content into the mix. That being said, I do think there are plenty of switch related stories, knowledge to pass on, and other things trapped in my head about keyboards that I want to get out that I think the audio format would be genuinely great for. So in as non-committal of a way of phrasing it as possible, I am strongly considering supplementary audio and/or visual content in addition to the writing on the website.