ᐅ Guide switches mechanical keyboards cherry, gateron, outemu, kailh?

Mechanical keyboards can surprise with their complexity and variety. Contrary to what many people believe, there are dozens or hundreds of different mechanical switches with large differences in their feel to the touch (and therefore their comfort), quality, durability, and many other factors.

Do you want to meet them? Stay with us on this article. Let's go there!

Index of contents

What is a mechanical switch? Differences with membrane keyboards

Before starting it is necessary to explain what is a mechanical switch or suites in general. Well, as its name suggests, these are mechanisms that work like a normally open switch (it does not allow electric current to pass through) which, when pressed or actuated, closes (allowing current to pass through). In this way, if one of these switches is located under each key on a keyboard, it can be registered when each key is operated, achieving the desired effect.

Photo of “Fourohfour” - Wikipedia

The biggest difference at the operating level with a mechanical keyboard is that membrane keyboards do not have individual mechanisms for each key, but instead consist of a board with electrically conductive tracks, which are located between two layers called membranes, and the Keys are actuated by pressing on a rubber dome, which closes the circuit identifying that a certain key has been pressed.

Instead, mechanical keyboards make use of individual mechanisms soldered to an electronic board, acting exactly like a switch: when pressing the key, there is contact between the metallic plates of the switch, allowing the passage of current and "informing" that it is you have pressed the key.

As a general rule, mechanical keyboards are considered superior due to a series of advantages, the most important being:

• Greater durability. The fact that the switches are individual and the mechanism used is more durable than membrane keyboards. The latter usually have a durability of up to 10 million keystrokes, while mechanical ones are usually around 50 million. Better feeling when writing. Many are unhappy with membrane keyboards because of the feel of typing. For mechanical keyboards, there is a wide variety of switches with different characteristics, with at least one for each user. Mechanical keyboards have no problem typing multiple keys at once (N-key rollover)

Most common mechanical switches today

We call “common” those switches that use a mechanical structure similar to the Cherry MX that we will talk about next. It is used in the vast majority of mechanical keyboards.

Cherry MX

Cherry is a German company dedicated mainly to the manufacture of its Cherry MX mechanical switches, which were developed and patented in the early 1980s. They are the best known today and many others are based on them. They are also considered of high quality and reliability, and are made in Germany.

The colors of the switches: Red, Blue, Brown, Black…

Depending on their actuation force, travel characteristics, and more, Cherry's switches and their clones are classified into several "colors":

• RED switches: it is completely linear, with a medium actuation force. Its pulsation is quite light and, of the big 4, it is the one that feels most like a "feather".

• BLUE switches: it is the one that, for most people, characterizes mechanical keyboards, since it is clicky, that is, it has that click noise that everyone associates with a mechanical keyboard (and that in reality is only of this type switches). You can listen to it here. And yes, it is quite loud. "Clicky" also implies that it is tactile, and its actuation force is medium or medium-high.

• BROWN switches: They are tactile, fairly balanced in terms of actuation force and travel, and could be placed between the Reds and the Blues.

• BLACK switches: They were Cherry's first switch, known to be quite tough. They are linear.

There are also many others. From Cherry itself we must mention the Cherry MX Silent (intended to make as little noise as possible), Cherry MX Speed (with less travel and shorter actuation distance, to be faster in gaming), Cherry MX Clear (tactile with great actuation force), and even more: Silver, White, Clear, Tactile Gray, Green, etc.

Cherry's 'clones': Gateron, Outemu, Kailh…

The expiration of the Cherry MX switch patent in 2014 ( according to our sources ) spawned various Chinese clones that mimic their structure, function and features, but at much lower prices. With this, the German company ceased to have 'monopolized' the emerging market for mechanical gaming keyboards.

And, in fact, almost simultaneously with the expiration of said patent, Razer launched its clone mechanical switches, but we will detail it in another point. It's time to talk about those manufacturers that are basically dedicated to launching switches almost equivalent to Cherry ( Red of “Chinese brand” ≈ Red of Cherry …). The most important at present are Gateron, Outemu and Kailh, although there are some more.

To accompany our explanations, we are going to show some graphs of behavior of the switches that will allow us to compare the differences in points of action and necessary force compared to the Cherry MX. This data is extracted from input.club, which performs the tests.

• The Gaterons are considered the best clones, and they certainly hold high esteem from the community. Some even argue that they are better, which seems somewhat exaggerated but is not impossible. They do not have much presence in the market since they are hardly seen in enthusiastic options. The fact that most Chinese keyboards do not use it is surely an indicator that its price and quality are somewhat above the rest.The Outemu are probably the most widely used today, as they are found in almost all mechanical keyboards of 30-50 euros., especially in its Blue variant. The truth is that our references indicate that they work well without notable problems.The Kailh (also called Kaihua, although they are often misspelled: * Kaihl) were the first clones to become known from 2014, and were present in the vast majority of keyboards with chinese switches until a couple of years ago. Many maintain that they fail quickly and that they are inconsistent in typing (they say that there is a variation in necessary force and action points between switches of the same keyboard, which is subtly appreciated ). There are many more companies that make this type of switch, such as TTC (present on Xiaomi keyboards), Gaote, ALPS, Matias, etc., although they are quite a minority.

But these companies have done more than 'copy' Cherry. They also have models fully devised and conceptualized by them, although they escape quite a bit from what is seen in most keyboards on the market. Some examples:

The Kaihl Low Profile is one of the most famous options for low profile mechanical switches. As you can see in the images, corresponding to a Tesoro Gram XS, these switches look like a laptop membrane but are 100% mechanical. In addition, the company also has a variety with its Kailh Boxes, which have a great reputation.

We can also mention many other options such as the Gateron Clear, which are linear and ultra-light, only a 27gf actuation force is required, exactly 10gf less than the Cherry MX Red. And there are still many more examples, but they are practically invisible in the market for mechanical keyboards, except for certain enthusiasts.

Comparative table between Cherry and its clones

	BLUE switches	BROWN switches	RED switches	BLACK switches
Touch type	Touch (clicky)	Tactile (not clicky)	Linear	Linear
Actuation force (Cherry), gf	55	37	37	55
Actuation Force (Kailh / Outemu / Gateron), gf	50/46/58	42/40/36	50/47/43	NA / 65 / NA / NA
Maximum force (Cherry), gf	60 (touch peak 65)	55	54	75
Maximum force (Kailh / Outemu / Gateron), gf	60/60/62	60/60/52	65/61/55	NA / 84 / NA / NA
Journey to activation (Cherry)	2 mm	2 mm	1.5mm	2.1 mm
Maximum travel (Cherry)	4 mm	4 mm	4 mm	4 mm
Touch Point (Cherry)	1 mm	1 mm	Do not	Do not

Final words and conclusion about the different mechanical switches

Mechanical keyboards are a whole world. Not only is there a great variety among mainstream switches, but behind it there is an even greater number of models that only the most enthusiastic know and appreciate. In fact, in this article we have omitted iconic switches like the Bucking Spring from old IBM keyboards.

Whether you're looking to 'brag' about peripherals or value the typing experience a mechanic can bring you, there is bound to be one for you!

You may be interested in our guide to the best keyboards on the market

We will always insist that, if you are happy with your membrane keyboard, it is not excessively necessary that you change. Of course, if you are going to spend 50 or 60 euros on a membrane " gaming " option or one of the so-called " semi-mechanical ", perhaps you should keep an eye on the mechanical keyboards because for the same price as those options offer a greater probability and surely a superior experience.

We hope you liked this article, we already know that we have been left quite in the pipeline, but this is such a big and interesting world that it would give even to write a book. We invite you to ask questions, constructive criticism or suggestions in the comments!