Mechanical Keyboards

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What switches and key caps should I get? (lemm.ee)

submitted 11 months ago by penquin@lemm.ee to c/mechanicalkeyboards@lemmy.ml

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Hi all, I have a quick and possibly very simple question. I have a keychron V6 with red switches being delivered to me tomorrow. I just want to know what switches and keycaps will fit this keyboard? This is my very first mechanical/swappable keyboard and I know nothing about it. I want to try other switches, mainly brown, blue and yellow. Also want to have a different look keycaps every now and then. I've searched on their site, but I had no idea which ones to choose. lol Thanks in advance.

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[–] asqapro@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Their website mentions that “both 3-pin and 5-pin MX mechanical switches” are supported. 3-pin switches are also known as “plate mount” switches and 5-pin are also known as “PCB mount”. I’d recommend getting a switch tester / sampler off Amazon to get an idea for what switches you want (linear vs tactile vs clicky). There’s a lot of switches out there and most of them will fit the keyboard because it supports 3 and 5-pin. I personally like Boba U4 silent tactile switches.

I’m not sure about the keycaps. Keychron’s website also mentioned that their RGB works with OEM or Cherry profile keycaps, but I’m not sure if they have a specific layout on the bottom row that you need to take into consideration.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh thank you so much. This is very helpful. I want to try all 3 types of switches. I think the red ones I have are linear, browns are tactile? Blues are clicky? Is there really a major difference between 3 and 5 pins? Does it matter which ones I get?

[–] asqapro@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That’s correct about the red / brown / blue.

For your keyboard there’s no major difference between 3-pin and 5-pin switches, but for other keyboards (or rather the PCBs within other keyboards) it does matter. You can use a 3-pin switch on a 5-pin PCB, but you can’t use a 5-pin switch on a 3-pin PCB (technically you can clip off 2 plastic pins on a 5-pin switch and it would work with a 3-pin PCB).

The 5-pin switches do offer extra stability versus 3-pin switches, but it’s not a big difference.

The most important part of picking a switch is deciding your favorite between linear vs tactile vs clicky, then narrowing down based on other factors like spring weight and mushiness. You can do that through trial and error or by looking up reviews / information about switches. I still recommend getting a switch tester / sampler, but you can also check out ThereminGoat’s reviews at: https://github.com/ThereminGoat/switch-scores.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

Awesome. Thank you so much for the details. I have tried the red linear switches at microcenter and I think they're too mushy for me. Then I tried the brown ones and I really liked them. I just couldn't find blue ones.