For those who are happy with obsession mechanical keyboard Excited, no detail is too minor in the journey to the perfect Switch. The perfect feel of a switch is worth pondering over switch specifications or even connecting parts from one mechanical switch to another to create the perfect Frankenswitch, as it has been called. One particular model has attracted so much attention since participating in a forum 11 years ago that Cherry has even turned it into a real product.
Cherry, the inventor of mechanical switches, announced the Cherry MX Ergo Clear this week, describing it as lands between touch brouwn And the Clear keys. All three keys have 4mm of total action and operate at 2mm, but Ergo Clears require about 55g of force to operate, with this required force dropping to about 40g at the key’s actuation point. On the other hand, remover requires 65g before it decreases to 55g, while brown requires about 55g and 45g respectively.
-
Cherry’s clear MX Ergo power curve.
-
The original MX Clear (pictured) is more solid.
-
The Ergo Clear and Brown (pictured) requires the same amount of power to operate.
-
The original Ergo Clear mod enthusiast used the spring from a black key (pictured).
The idea for Ergo Clear came from a post on the Mechanical Keyboard Forum jicak. A user named “mtl” said that Clears felt too heavy for him “especially on the perimeter keys” of the keyboard. Mtl decided to prepare its own switch by combining a lighter linear switch spring (60g operating force), Chery MX Blackwith one clear stem, creating a “key easier to press than Cherry Clear, and more tactile than Cherry Brown,” mtl said at the time.
A Cherry spokesperson told Ars Technica that the spring on the MX Ergo Clears is similar to the MX Black’s Key Spring but has an “updated design.”
The Cherry ad didn’t say if the MX Ergo Clear used the same switch as Cherry’s Black switch (we’ve reached out for comment and will let you know if we hear back). However, the end result is supposed to be of the same spirit.
Cherry pre-lubricated the MX Ergo Clear keys in a reference to the PTFE sprayed dry lube that mtl said they dipped in the Frankens keyring springs and keys to reduce scratching.
However, Cherry chose a general-purpose lubricant from Krytox called GPL 205 GRADE 0 Grease, a popular mechanical switch lubricant, especially for linear switches. Cherry’s so-called “high precision automated process” is likely to be more efficient than the mtl dipping process used 11 years ago. On top of that, Cherry claims that the process helps ensure a durability claim of 50 million presses. The self-hacked Frankenswitches have no such durability claims.
The RGB color matching (front) version has a clear top housing with a darker bottom half.
Cherry announced RGB and non-RGB versions of the MX Ergo Clears 3- and 5-pin (four versions total).
The power of an enthusiastic community
Cherry said she launched the MX Ergo Clear primarily to “address the DIY community.” The German company has dubbed the new switches the “first special edition Cherry MX community switch,” leaving the door open to new designs born from the creative minds of the mechanical keyboard community.
As with products like Holy Panda, (the Frankens key was invented by a well-known enthusiast called Quakemz who Drops Now selling as a product and a glorious inspiration” panda keys), the launch of MX Ergo Clears underscores the strength of the community when it comes to launching products at the enthusiast level. One publication from years ago claims nearly 6000 reads and another Geekhack has produced threads with in thousands of posts, plus countless talks All over mechanical keyboard social communication And as of this week, an offer from the original mechanical switch maker.
The MX Ergo Clears has a gold junction point contact system that Cherry claims allows for a bounce time of less than 1 millisecond.
Cherry isn’t the first seller to make an “official” mtl design-inspired switch. as pointed out the edgeenthusiasm for the computer that Says Originating from Geekhack, the design was originally sold as Zealio V1 and now, as Zealio V1 Redux. And there are plenty of hobbyists who have made their way to Ergo Clear without the help of a company.
But with Cherry introducing the switch as an official design, we can expect to see it in pre-made consoles (Cherry didn’t specify models or brands) and in official distributors backed by Cherry’s level build quality and durability.