The Cherry MX brand is pretty much synonymous with mechanical keyboards these days.
But this is a rapidly moving market, and naturally there’s more players in the game now, especially
after their patent expired.
One thing that’s always got me when just reading comments or threads all over the internet
is the mindset that the Cherry MX line is the be all and end all.
And that’s not really the fault of much of the consumers, because Cherry have such
a strong hold of the retail market.
Pretty much all available prebuilt mechs from big gaming brands have Cherry MX keyswitches,
and it’s pushed in marketing and elevated to be seen as a premium feature.
Therefore on the flip side, if people see Kailh, or Outemu which are more prevalent
on budget mechs, they kind of dismiss them.
And that’s where I see a big disconnect from consumer perception and reality.
Don’t get me wrong though.
Cherry MX keyswitches are still great, and we have to respect them with all that they’ve
done over a long period of time.
So please do understand that this is not a campaign against them.
Okay so let’s look at 3 main areas.
Feel.
Range.
And innovation.
First just a touch on durability.
I don’t have the numbers to back up anything, so we’ll just leave that.
And I mean, all of them claim like a 50 million to 100 million keypress lifespan, but yeh,
from my experience, I haven’t had issues with any.
Okay, feel.
As in, how a keyswitch feels when you press it.
Preference on feel is of course subjective, and everyone is different.
However, there are definitely traits that people favour over others.
So we have linear, clicky, and tactile.
For linear switches, typically smooth is better than scratchy.
Cherry haven’t been particularly great in this department, however some batches of retooled
blacks have been popular.
But overall, they are slightly scratchy.
This is where the likes of Gateron have been immensely popular, because they are that touch
smoother.
This is where the alternatives really do spoil you for choice with a range of weights, and
different force curves.
So for example if blacks are too heavy, and you don’t want to go as light as Reds, you
can pick up Gateron Yellows which are such a great budget option.
For clickies, there’s 2 main ways to generate the click.
There’s click jackets and click bars.
Cherry utilise click jackets, which produce 1 click.
The click is still prominent, but it is slightly dull in sound and feel, as there is also a
bit of rattle between the moving parts.
Click bars on the other hand which are seen with Kailh Box keyswitches for example, produce
2 clicks, and are sharper, crispier, and higher pitched.
For me, I prefer click bar.
However some can perceive this as too harsh, and therefore prefer the softer click of a
click jacket switch.
But if you ask which is clickier.
We would say click bar clickies from Kailh.
Probably the most common switch on budget mechs are Outemu Blues.
And are often looked down upon.
But you know what, they don’t feel too different to Cherry MX Blues.
Like they’re legitimately very similar.
Perhaps they’re even a tad more clicky and tactile.
So yeh, Outemu Blues, don’t disregard them.
And finally, tactile.
Cherry have the MX Brown, which is an unbelievably popular keyswitch.
But for most people, that’s the only tactile they’ve felt.
Browns are a light switch, and have quite a small bump, and therefore it’s tactility
is quite weak.
And it is also on the scratchy side.
The thing with tactiles, is once you try something with stronger tactility, you’ll know what
you’re missing out on.
And therefore greater tactility is often preferred later on.
You’ll find this with the Kailh Box Tactiles.
Gateron Browns are very similar, as well as Outemu Browns, but the Zealio’s are known
for their tactility, albeit expensive.
Then there’s a range of more exotic keyswitches, but at higher prices as well, but the main
point, is they’re not that tactile.
And this is where range and variety comes in.
Cherry MX has 8 main keyswitches.
Blue, Red, Brown, Black, Green, Speed Silver, Silent Red, and Silent Black.
And then on the side there’s the Low Profile Red.
They do have others, but they’re not seen as much.
As said they have a light and heavier linear, but nothing in between.
Only 1 tactile, which is light, and is hardly tactile in the first place.
They have the Cherry MX Blue and Green which use click jackets.
The silents are only available in linear form.
And the low profile is also just in linear form.
So the range is actually decent, and will cover most bases.
But you can see the gaps, and the alternatives fill these in nicely, as previously described.
As for the silents, there’s silent tactiles from Gateron, Zeal as an extension, Aliaz,
and probably more.
And for low profile, Kailh blows everyone away with the Choc switches that come in different
types and weights.
It’s not about whos range is better.
It’s more that Cherry’s range may not be the best fit for you.
Therefore a switch from another brand can potentially be better for you.
To be fair, Cherry didn’t need to do much because they were so dominant, and the market
wasn’t as big as it is today.
I’ve thought that they’ve been quite stale, but honestly actually looking at it, their
expansion has been quite decent, as I’ve listed.
It’s just that some of the competitors have done more.
This is where Kailh with Novelkeys really express themselves with releasing just a whole
load a different keyswitches.
And you see new switches even from the big gaming brands to try and gain an edge in the
market.
Logitech has the Romer G, Steelseries, Razer, and a whole lot of other brands have made
their own switches, so there is definitely a want to change things up a bit.
You can also understand that Cherry would like to keep it simple, as it is a product
range.
But you can’t just help and feel that they can do more.
They’ve just built or are building a new factory, so they probably aren’t in trouble,
but it would be nice if that was a sign of better things to come.
Again, I’m not saying that Cherry MX is bad at all.
Because that isn’t the case.
You’ll still enjoy that mechanical keyboard experience.
What I do want to address is that negative stigma that people seem to have against other
keyswitch brands.
When in reality, the alternatives can often be the more suitable choice.
The bigger issue though, is that it’s difficult to access all these alternatives, because
they’re just not in prebuilt keyboards.
It really is Cherry MX and Outemu on like 70% of the boards I review.
And that’s sad, because in the custom game, we all get to experience this.
And you have to remember, what makes a mechanical keyboard so great, is how they feel when you
use them.
Additionally, the keyboard itself makes a huge huge difference.
Plate, case, keycaps, table, everything makes a difference.
So like Outemu keyswitches will often be paired with a not so greatly built mechanical keyboard,
and you know that will always build that association factor, and that plays a part.
So quickly looking at the different types of switches.
Linear, you can do better.
Clicky, you can do better.
And tactile, you can do better.
And all don’t need to be more expensive.
And that sounds really harsh, and there is some play with personal preferences, but that
is actually the truth.
What needs to happen is for these to somehow get into prebuilt keyboards.
If you’ve been into keyboards for even just a bit, you already know a lot of this, and
I’m sure many of you would have had the same frustrations as me.
But hopefully there can be some change, but yeh, we’ll just have to see.