Google broke the layout for Gboard without warning ►
◄ A catch up of the last fifteen years or so of The Wildhearts
Maybe I should have started here? Frequent advice for newbie mechanical keyboard buyers is to start with brown switches as a default: some tactile response, not too loud... or the other common ones, reds (lighter action) or blues (light and clicky). You generally have to look around for boards that come with other ones, or that let you swap them out, or that are bare for you to build up yourself.
What Cherry have done here is a tester pack of their main products, except without a tray to put them in and without key caps to test them with. Both things that are available inexpensively (eg AliExpress) but mean the box set is targeted less at new people. So maybe I'm going in the right order, working backwards and testing knowledge and assumptions. I'm perfectly happy with the boards I've customised so far, and have worked out that heavier keys tend to feel better and it's false economy to not buy double shot keys. The jury is out on ABS versus PBT, as a bit of surface shining isn't the end of the world.
The results are really quite fascinating. The only switch lighter to those I'm used to (red, brown, blue) is the silver, and that's more the fact it has less travel. The silent version of the red feels a bit spongy. Some people clearly like a lot of resistance with the black/clear/grey switches on offer, and the green is what I imagine IBM Model M keyboards feel like... although curiously because it's clicky the perceived resistance is less than the tactile grey or the black/clear ones. Overall I'd still pick red/brown/blue, and after trying this set I think I could identify any of those without looking if you ignore the fact the two blacks are basically the same.
I realise that's more a brief note to myself than a review, but felt it was worth doing as a coda to the dipping into mechanical keyboards I've been doing this year. My regular two, both TKL models, are a Logitech G413 SE with Asus RoG mid height caps for work and an LC-Power wireless one with a mix of caps. I don't think I'm hardcore enough about the hobby or dissatisfied enough with common offerings to buy a bare board or replace the switches in one, but do enjoy using more comfortable equipment and the range of options now.
In terms of what I'd like to put on my choice of switches, I've found a set that includes a full range of white on gray UK double shot caps. JTK seem to be a short run premium goods maker, hard to come by over here, and unfortunately the "404" clones (aka 404 error, aka simple grey and similar variations) that are around so far don't seem to include the UK keys or normal Enter key... but it's something to watch for. There is a set on AliExpress labeled "Minimalist Grey Cement Gray" which is black on gray, which I think suits a lighter board.
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