After the major keyboard factories launched their own innovative new mechanical keyboard switches
There are varies kinds of mechanical keyboard switches on the market
In addition to the fact that the Cherry switches remain in the strongest market position
We found that many gamers prefer some of the newer switches
After our survey and investigation
BOX switches and Prism switches are the preferred among them
So why are these switches preferred by gamers?
Let's do some comparisons.
The BOX switches everyone refers to are Kaihua BOX switches
We picked BOX white switches for comparison
For optical switches, we picked the 3rd generation Bloody LK Libra optical switches
And the Prism optical switches from Flaretech
We chose the models which feel similar to Cherry green switches.
Cherry green is used here as reference.
We are using 4 switches in this comparison.
BOX switches have brand-new structure designs
And has IP56 water-proofing and dust-proofing
The actuation point is formed by cross point contacts
Box separate the inner part into upper region, middle region and lower region
The upper region is the sound chamber
The sound is controlled by a torsion spring
The middle region is the switch stem
The lower region is the trigger recognition area
The default installation includes a dust-proof cover
And the trajectory and keystroke of the switches
Are controlled by the column and the green push rod
The optical switches basically have the same structure as the Cherry switches
However the spring plate and the contact point are both removed
And replaced by the through-hole column
The light sensor component in the PCB sends the signal when activated
We are now done with the basics
Let's have a look at the appearances and parameters
Cherry green switches and RGB green switches
Everyone is already familiar with them
So we will skip their introduction
Cherry green switch actuation is at 2.2mm
The total key travel is 4 mm
The peak force occurs at 1.8 mm
The pressure is 60 g
Life expectancy is 50 million keystrokes
BOX switches, like the name
Have a box shape.
The size is a bit bigger than the cherry switches
With a larger stem
And surrounded by dust-proof sides
Has an aggressive but calm look
BOX white's actuation point is 1.8mm
Total key travel is 3.6mm
The peak force occurs at 1.8mm
The pressure is 55g
The life expectancy is 80 million keystrokes
The appearance of Prism switches is basically the same as the cherry
Slim light conducting strips are on the right upper corner of the stem
Actuation point is 1.8, and total key travel is 4 mm
The Prism orange switches
Have an actuation point of 1.5mm
The pressure is 50g
And the life expectancy is 100 million keypresses
The libra switches have a quite exaggerated appearance
It's wide
And has a thick stem
Every switch has a stabilizing bar
Wide light stripes are on the top of the switches
The switch actuation point is 1.5mm
And the total key travel is 3.5mm
The tactile peak has a pressure of 50g
And the life expectancy is 100 million keystrokes
With respect to the appearances and designs
The BOX switches are the most innovative
The design to separate the switch housing is quite innovative
While being innovative in every area
It's still a normal size
So when adopted, there is no need to redesign the keyboard
Compared to it, the Libra switches have some innovative points
But it changed too much of the appearance and size
So it can't be used as a replacement when necessary
Which is limited
With respect to the parameters
All three of them have better click sense than the cherry
And longer life expectancy
The no-metal-contact structure of the optical stitches
Makes it has much longer life expectancy than Cherry Switches
But is less advantageous than the box switches which have metal contacts
The design of Cherry green has a rather long tactile length and actuation point
Which makes it not suitable for fast and continuous tapping
The other three switches
All make the tactile length shorter and the point a bit higher
Especially the BOX switches, the use of torsion spring
And the special design of the tactile point
Make the tactile length really short and the position higher
Continuous tapping is more efficient on BOX switches and produce beautiful sound
And has the highest efficiency
We are now done with the appearance and parameters
Now let's compare the stability, where the Cherry switches have advantage over
Which many of you are aware
That the cherry has small gaps between the switch shell and the stem
When compared to other switches
The stability has always be the Cherry switches' advantage
And the BOX switches are said to be the only switches that are more stable than Cherry.
There are no rumors around the optical switches in this area currently
So let's compare them now
After the installation of the key cap
Without pressing down
We tried to apply a slight pressure around the edge of the keycap
The shaking of the cherry is relatively small
The BOX switches have smaller gaps and larger stems
As well as the handles around the stem
So the amount of movement is less than the cherry
The amount of movement of the optical switches is larger
The Libra optical switches
Even though every switch has installed the balancing bar
The amount of shaking is still huge
Which is the most among all
Following is the stability comparison when pressing down
Due to the large tactile length of the cherry
There is some degree of shaking
And some degree of shaking when pressing down from the edge
The box switches stay very stable when testing
And stays stable when pressing from the edge
The optical switches are quite stable when pressing down
However there are some shaking when pressing from the edge
The Libra optical switches have obvious movement both pressing from the center and the edge
And there is some stickiness felt when pressing from the edge
To summarize the stability
The BOX switches have claimed the name
That they are more stable than the Cherry in every area
And the two Prism switches have no advantages over the Cherry
The stability of switches is very important when a applied to the larger keys
The stability of box switches give the box a lot of advantages when used on larger keys
Outstanding performance and feel can be seen from all keyboards that use BOX switches
At last, let's compare the tapping behaviors
The Cherry green is called the Spring of mechanical keyboards
It has beautiful sound
It's clicky
has a sharp bump
And is smooth
However its keystroke is quite long
With large tactile length
It performs well with small amount of tapping
However comes up a bit short with continuous tapping
The BOX switches apply the torsion spring to control the sound
Which is plucked like a string
and is beautiful and smooth
It is quite linear
And has an average tactile sense
However the tactile length is small and the position is a bit high
The tactile sense has no limitation on continuous tapping
The behaviors of continuous tapping are superior
In addition, Kaihua once mentioned a concept of CR scores
In the promotion materials of the box switches
With respect to the behavior adjustments
The box switches are aiming for a CR score of 25%-35%
If you are interested, you can take a look at the concepts and principles of CR scores
The Prism switches have similar tactile sense and sound to BOX switches
But the sound is more subtle
The tactile length is longer
It is very smooth
And has an average click
The length of the tactile point is also average
The position is a bit forward than Cherry
And perform better than Cherry in continuous tapping
But we can still feel a bit of resistance here
The Libra switches' tactile feeling
Is produced by the contact between the plastic shell and the switch center
The sound is produced by a special hit hammer
The sound is related to the keystroke speed
The faster the keystroke the bigger the sound
The slower the keystroke the lighter the sound
With respect to the linearity
The Libra switches is just so-so
The friction can be felt from the rattling and the edge contact
The click and tactile length are both average
The tactile position is basically the same as the prism switches
However because of the big gaps and instability
The click is greatly reduced during continuous tapping
There is little friction when tapping and is very smooth.
With all the comparisons finished
Based on the comparison results
We can see the reason why people like the BOX switches and the optical switches
The BOX switches are outstanding in stability and performance
Have interesting designs
And live longer than the Cherry switches
Even though the two optical switches have some instabiliy
And worse performance
But they are strong in linearity and continuous tapping respectively
Using optical sensors makes their life expectancy longer
And due to the fact that light travels faster
The reaction speed is also faster
Nevertheless, the market favorite Cherry Green switches
Except the fact the tactile length is too long for continuous tapping and short life expectancy
It has rather moderate and stable performance in other areas
Based on the comparisons
BOX switches are quite prominent
And outstanding in every area
The optical switches, even though they have some advantages in life expectancy
The use of infrared radiation
Increases the energy cost
Therefore a bigger current is needed
So from the perspective of energy saving
Is the life expectancy advantage of the optical switches still attractive?
We have reached the end of this video
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