Welcome back to nearlucid.
Today we’ll be taking a look at the red jacket switches, a new linear by KNC keys
designed after the very popular, uh, game show.
These have been sent to us by KNC keys for review, but as always that will not affect
our opinion or statements in any way.
Before we start, this video is brought to you by flexispot.
Flexispot makes high quality ergonomic tables and chairs.
I personally love my comhar and still use it for building boards and soldering.
The built in height adjustments make it really easy to switch between tasks.
I can quickly go from lubing standing up to building a board sitting down.
Additionally, the comhar has usb outlets, so I can charge my phone or other devices
while recording.
It also has a built-in slide out cabinet, which I use to store tools and important items
I need to be able to reach quickly.
Right now, you can get the comhar for 120 dollars off, in your choice of black, white,
or maple.
Check the link in the description for more information.
We actually do have quite a nice unboxing experience for these switches.
They come in this coffin-like black box wrapped in a nice pink ribbon.
Inside, we have a recruitment card, a cute little sticker, and our switches.
Let's get into the specs.
Red jackets have a red top and bottom housing and black stem.
They come with a moderate 63.5 gram double stage spring.
The housing is nylon and the stem is POM.
they’re PCB mounted and do not require films.
They do come with quite a bit of factory lube, and are also long pole.
Factory lubed red jackets are 60 cents a piece at KNCkeys design, so they fall in the moderately
expensive switch category.
Let’s take a listen to factory lubed red jackets.
So they actually do sound really nice.
Their sound definitely leans towards the higher pitched and sharper side.
They are actually pretty loud, so if you have a board that is known to have a quieter overall
sound, these are a great choice.
Switches that are notably loud are not very common in my experience, so you should definitely
keep these in mind if you ever find yourself with a muted build.
If you listen closely, you can hear the scratchiness.
I'm personally impartial to audible scratch, but of course this is preferential.
Some of the switches do have some really loud leaf click, so it might be worth going through
each one and removing the bad units.
These switches are really tight, which means you won’t need to film them, but they are
also a little bit on the scratchier side.
Opening it up and taking a look inside, we can see that there is a lot of factory lube
already applied.
Originally, I was going to lube on top of the factory lube to help with the smoothness,
but there seems to be way too much lube already.
I found that it was actually fairly consistent, so I wouldn’t recommend taking them apart
and redoing the lube, because that would end up being more work for not that much of a
change in feel or sound.
There are a few that are underlubed or overlubed, but not enough to be a big deal.
I actually really do enjoy the feel of the included double stage springs, and there doesn’t
seem to be any spring ping whatsoever.
Overall, while they are a bit on the scratchier side, they do feel really solid and the stock
springs are great.
In terms of stem wobble, it’s fair.
I’ve definitely seen other non-filmed switches do better than this.
Even though it could be better, I still wouldn’t film the housings, as they are already really
tight.
I struggled putting these switches into my mode hotswap plate, and it was notably difficult
to open them up with my aluminum switch opener.
It’s not like this level of stem wobble is going to be something really noticeable
anyway.
These are also long stem switches with a pole bottom out, which means that you can use them
on a north facing PCB with cherry profile keycaps without interference.
Being a new switch from a new vendor, I really came into this with absolutely no expectations.
But these actually ended up being really nice.
They sound great, and despite the scratchiness, actually feel really good as well.
I would compare the feel to that of SOTC’s, but a little bit more sluggish.
The fair price also doesn’t leave much to be desired for the switch overall.
I think the red jackets are a great option for any linear enjoyers looking for a unique
sound and feel.
And that's all I have for you today.
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