Anybody have problems with Cherry MX switches?

prime2515102

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I have a Corsair K70 with Cherry MX Blue switches that I had to send in because a few of the keys were double-clicking. I sent it in to Corsair and they sent a replacement (a month and a half later) and that one is better, but the L still double-clicks.

They did offer to pay the shipping this time to send it back, but I'm washing my hands of the whole thing. If it bothers me enough I'll pick up a switch on eBay and fix it myself.

Anybody have such bad luck with these switches? I'm guessing not since they're so popular, but damn...
 
Usually no, but there's a reason a lot of the Mech community avoids Corsair. Waiting a month and a half especially would piss me off beyond belief. Maybe next time pick up a modular board so you can plug & play your own switches? Or try a switch like Topre or Gateron instead.
 
Before I sent it in it was completely different keys doing it though (3 of them, I don't remember which ones). It's just the L now.
 
Seriously though, MX keys have different actuation points. Since it's the same letter you're having trouble with I wonder if your typing style presses it just hard enough to actuate it twice, rather than bottom it out and return.

http://www.wasdkeyboards.com/mechanical-keyboard-guide

Just a thought.

If it didn't use MX Blue switches it would be more plausible, but the hysteresis on Clicky switches usually (usually) prevents this. In this case I'd say it's a Corsair firmware issue with their debounce timing being too tight.
 
If it didn't use MX Blue switches it would be more plausible, but the hysteresis on Clicky switches usually (usually) prevents this. In this case I'd say it's a Corsair firmware issue with their debounce timing being too tight.
Well how do you like that...

When you mentioned that, the first thing I thought of was the polling rate. I changed it from 1000 to 500 and it's fine now. Ain't that a pisser...

Edit: I have updated the support ticket for this asked if they have firmware that doesn't come up when you check for updates through the software.
 
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Well how do you like that...

When you mentioned that, the first thing I thought of was the polling rate. I changed it from 1000 to 500 and it's fine now. Ain't that a pisser...

Edit: I have updated the support ticket for this asked if they have firmware that doesn't come up when you check for updates through the software.

Glad you found a work around! Debounce is the reason I keep hoping XMIT smooths out the QC issues with the Hall Effect board he's been helping to develop (no points of contact so no need for debounce and, in theory, key registration timing should really only be limited by firmware on the keyboard side).
 
My problem with MX switches is that everyone and their grandmother are using them, making it VERY hard distinguishing one from another beyond aesthetics.

This is why I avoid them, if I were to go for Cherry Switches, I'd go Cherry keyboard.
 
My problem with MX switches is that everyone and their grandmother are using them, making it VERY hard distinguishing one from another beyond aesthetics.

This is why I avoid them, if I were to go for Cherry Switches, I'd go Cherry keyboard.

The current generation of switches being produced by Cherry, Gateron, Greentech, even Kuliah and Otemu seem to all be reliable enough to push general-use hardware fears aside. The issues that arise with new boards from established manufacturers usually come from firmware implementations, like debounce timings being too tight (causing some keys to register multiple times).
 
I am not arguing against the quality of Cherry Switches, but I find the QUANTITY to be the annoying part. Every brandname mechanical keyboards are using Cherry MX key switches of one form or another, meaning no one from those are researching into new types of switches or even mechanical keyboards, they are just buying pre-existing tech, slap their label on and sell it. I don't know about most people, but I buy new things, I tend to buy the thing as different from my old one as possible, and my previous keyboard was Brown switches. Blue switches, for some strange reason, have much fewer models than either red or brown, limiting my choices severely. The blue switched keyboards came from companies I have never heard of before, so I wasn't going to blow that much money to just test the rep of that keyboard (our consumer laws suck ass, the general rule of thumb is that if someone is following the consumer laws, they are being charitable, your run of the mill shops classify themselves as shops that provide ordering services, therefore the 7 days trial period do not apply to them). I am sure a few of these have very good reputation though, but in general I find Corsair's offering to be excessively priced for what they are.

I haven't heard of Gateron, Greentech or the other switches, all the keyboards I am aware of that are mechanical are all Cherry's, but it could very well be that the lesser well known brands uses other switches I am not aware of and they don't advertise it.
 
Usually no, but there's a reason a lot of the Mech community avoids Corsair. Waiting a month and a half especially would piss me off beyond belief. Maybe next time pick up a modular board so you can plug & play your own switches? Or try a switch like Topre or Gateron instead.


My corsair had been awesome. The only keyboard I had that was junk wad a ducky shine (2 I believe) it would ghost keys like crazy.
 
I am not arguing against the quality of Cherry Switches, but I find the QUANTITY to be the annoying part. Every brandname mechanical keyboards are using Cherry MX key switches of one form or another, meaning no one from those are researching into new types of switches or even mechanical keyboards, they are just buying pre-existing tech, slap their label on and sell it. I don't know about most people, but I buy new things, I tend to buy the thing as different from my old one as possible, and my previous keyboard was Brown switches. Blue switches, for some strange reason, have much fewer models than either red or brown, limiting my choices severely. The blue switched keyboards came from companies I have never heard of before, so I wasn't going to blow that much money to just test the rep of that keyboard (our consumer laws suck ass, the general rule of thumb is that if someone is following the consumer laws, they are being charitable, your run of the mill shops classify themselves as shops that provide ordering services, therefore the 7 days trial period do not apply to them). I am sure a few of these have very good reputation though, but in general I find Corsair's offering to be excessively priced for what they are.

I haven't heard of Gateron, Greentech or the other switches, all the keyboards I am aware of that are mechanical are all Cherry's, but it could very well be that the lesser well known brands uses other switches I am not aware of and they don't advertise it.


Many of the clones are more popular in China and Asian regions, but it's been speculated that with the growing popularity of mechanical boards among the PC/Gaming enthusiast community and China's production/sales levels of decent/good clones for cheap was the major reason for Cherry Corp.'s recent innovations. Having corporate competition is always a good thing for the consumer.
 
Many of the clones are more popular in China and Asian regions, but it's been speculated that with the growing popularity of mechanical boards among the PC/Gaming enthusiast community and China's production/sales levels of decent/good clones for cheap was the major reason for Cherry Corp.'s recent innovations. Having corporate competition is always a good thing for the consumer.
Yes, but IMHO, once Chinese companies are involved, it usually don't end well, at all.
 
Yes, but IMHO, once Chinese companies are involved, it usually don't end well, at all.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. Many agree that specific clones "feel" better to type on than the previous generation of Cherry Corp.'s, this is without major QC issues as well (eg; early Kuliah stem breakage).

Rather than stating that "it's all bad", I'd suggest you research specific switch manufacturers' current lineup for consistent issues. You'll find that the well known clones are more than good enough if not better options, esp. if price is of concern.
 
Price is not an issue, especially if it gets me what I want. Ironically I actually am more cautious against stuff that's significantly cheaper than others, as that usually means they are getting cheap from somewhere.

I have my own reasons for saying what I have said, so let us leave it at that. Let's just say, if I can avoid Chinese companies products, I will do so at all costs.
 
Honestly though, the Gateron and such switches I only have heard about very recently, way past the time I got my G910. At the time, when I was buying the new keyboard, the only things I had on my radar were Cherry, Logi and razers, all mechanical keyboards that were on display were advertised as having Cherry barring G910 and Blackwidow, I didn't see any other mechanicals advertising any other type of switches.

A lot of these mechanicals were lacking macro keys though, which was something I was looking for, so I looked towards bigger brand names as they have those macro keys, the other lesser well known ones often do not, hence why I wasn't impressed with a lot of those keyboards: they are just reskined Cherries. I settled on G910 as I was already using and farmiliar with LGS.

Next time I'll take a closer look at these new switches, but most likely I will keep my choices to the big names if possible.
 
The letter "E" key in specific, keeps getting stuck when being pressed.I use to use Stelar Series with blue switch but now I changed it to A-Jazz AK60 RGB and I'm very happy with the new one. And I changed it to RED switches. I think its better.
 
Current Razer Blackwidows use Kuliah manufactured switches (Chinese MX clones) and I'm pretty sure Logitech's Romer-G switches are manufactured by Omron's Chinese factory (considering their price point). Chinese QC is really dependent on factory and clients'/contractors' QC standards; that's why I keep noting about doing in-depth research. This is aside the fact that the final construction is done in China for both these boards, it's just more cost effective for the companies. I'm not trying to defend Chinese factory QC, just tossing out info to point out flaws in your train of thought here and dispelling the stigma.

You can't really discount many products for price points either; considering the items in question, you always pay a premium for "gamer" oriented gear, despite the true quality. I'm about to drop a load for a custom kit myself; the reason why it's so expensive is that it's a small MOQ (limited low-quantity run), but I get to chose the parts and do final construction myself.
 
Next time I'll take a closer look at these new switches, but most likely I will keep my choices to the big names if possible.
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I'm not trying to bag on you here at all, but this statement made me REALLY curious. On another post it said you "threw out any consideration to Cherry switches" because they "weren't advancing the tech". Yet you gravitated to cheaper, lesser clones OF cherry, mainly the Razer Kailh-made clones, which are of low quality even for Kailh standards, and Romer-G, which is more of a membrane type feel. Cherry is the standard for a reason. And as for "not advancing the tech", there's a reason the industry is trying to get BACK to the old tech. It worked better, it was more reliable, and the fact that there was an industry standard (ie: cherry & clones) made costs go down significantly.

So if you want to keep your choices to the big names, Cherry IS the big name. Topre would be another. Kailh is starting to bring themselves up on their higher end lines, but not the razer stuff. Gaterons are insanely good. Romer-G though? There's a reason Romers are near universally hated on any mech KB based community. The ONLY reason to go with Logitech is the warranty. The build quality is suspect, the switches are suspect, the keycaps are suspect. The warranty though? OUTSTANDING. And I say this, typing on a G710+, and using a G700s.
 
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I'm not trying to bag on you here at all, but this statement made me REALLY curious. On another post it said you "threw out any consideration to Cherry switches" because they "weren't advancing the tech". Yet you gravitated to cheaper, lesser clones OF cherry, mainly the Razer Kailh-made clones, which are of low quality even for Kailh standards, and Romer-G, which is more of a membrane type feel. Cherry is the standard for a reason. And as for "not advancing the tech", there's a reason the industry is trying to get BACK to the old tech. It worked better, it was more reliable, and the fact that there was an industry standard (ie: cherry & clones) made costs go down significantly.

So if you want to keep your choices to the big names, Cherry IS the big name. Topre would be another. Kailh is starting to bring themselves up on their higher end lines, but not the razer stuff. Gaterons are insanely good. Romer-G though? There's a reason Romers are near universally hated on any mech KB based community. The ONLY reason to go with Logitech is the warranty. The build quality is suspect, the switches are suspect, the keycaps are suspect. The warranty though? OUTSTANDING. And I say this, typing on a G710+, and using a G700s.

The reason Romer-Gs are hated has nothing to do with the quality of them. It's purely personal preference on what the haters of them think feels better. Romer-Gs are technically better, they have faster actuation time and more durability.
 
I never made any mention to the quality of Romers, I was talking about the quality of the Razer switches. The feel of Romers to me, are awful (which is opinion). To consider them "better" by technical standards are a stretch.
 
Can't say I've experienced such issues, I've had my Corsair Strafe RGB with red switches for about a year now.
 
Never had any issues with the two linear Cherries I've repeatedly popped. Reds and blacks perform wonderfully. Granted these are Ducky and Deck boards, respectively.

Blues on the other hand.... meh. I'm just not a fan of that clicky, tactile switch. Perhaps it was the fact is was a Razer board, but I was not impressed with the Blues.
 
Always been happy with the cherry reds I've used. Just bought a K70 rapidfire, I tried out the cherry speed's at bestbuy and liked them well enough to give it a go this time around.
 
My problem with MX switches is that everyone and their grandmother are using them, making it VERY hard distinguishing one from another beyond aesthetics.

This is why I avoid them, if I were to go for Cherry Switches, I'd go Cherry keyboard.

That's not a good reason to avoid Cherry MX switches but a good reason to avoid the cheap mech keyboards from Corsair etc. They are pretty much all the same full size or TKL with shitty keycaps that have awful fonts and maybe RGB lighting to make them look fancier.
 
Hmm, interesting. I'll have to keep my eyes open on account I have the Corsair K65 with cherry mx keys. So far no issues tho.
 
That's not a good reason to avoid Cherry MX switches but a good reason to avoid the cheap mech keyboards from Corsair etc. They are pretty much all the same full size or TKL with shitty keycaps that have awful fonts and maybe RGB lighting to make them look fancier.
"pretty much all the same" is precisely why I avoided them, since if they are pretty much all the same, there is no distinguishing feature apart from a few macro keys and RGB lighting over a stock Cherry Keyboard. I have nothing against Cherry switches in general, only against models that ALL seem to use Cherry switches. My previous mechanical was a cherry, I wanted something different.
 
Not sure if that's the switches or the keyboard but my Corsair strafe just died. About a month ago it just started doing random keystrokes making it impossible to log in. Updating the firmware fixed that temporarily. Started doing it again a few days ago, after reflashing the firmware again I have 5 keys that won't register any key strokes. All right next to each other. Waiting on my rma decision now.
 
If 5 died at once, and it was hitting random strokes beforehand, it sounds like the board and not the switches.
 
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