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Applehugger
27
Jan 15, 2018
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I installed my Pale Blues on my DasKeyboard yesterday. What a fantastic switch, especially for the price! They're extremely smooth, almost on the same level as ALPS SKCC switches, and the weighting is absolutely perfect. Of course, the sound is way, way nicer than the horrible rattly plasticy noise that MX Blues make, and although these Pale Blues aren't really much more tactile than standard MX Blues, the tactility is extremely clean and precise: a massive improvement over Cherry's click jacket design. The lack of keycap wobble is really nice too; the keys feel very solid with these switches installed. I think Kailh's click-bar switches are about as good as a clicky MX mount switch can get given the limitations of the MX design. ALPS tactile and clicky switches are still way more tactile, but these Pale Blues finally give me a clicky switch option for my Cherry MX compatible keyboards that isn't completely awful. In fact, I really enjoy typing on these things!
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Jan 15, 2018
user73
339
Jan 15, 2018
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ApplehuggerCool project. Are the switches on the DAS (intentionally) swappable, or did you have to desolder / de-plate?
Jan 15, 2018
Applehugger
27
Jan 15, 2018
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user73Thanks! They need to be desoldered, but the pins aren't bent, so it was much easier to replace these Cherry switches than any of the many (many) ALPS keyboards on which I have removed and replaced the switches. I'm very experienced with soldering, but if you've never done it before, it doesn't get much easier than soldering a switch onto a PCB. A vacuum desoldering tool will make your life much easier.
I'm really happy with the results. I love my DasKeyboard, but the switches were a huge letdown. Now it has cool stealth laser engraved PBT keycaps, awesome switches, and I love having a volume dial and USB 3.0 hub.
Jan 15, 2018
Macclack
383
Jan 17, 2018
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ApplehuggerThis is really cool. I've always wondered about the Pale blues. Comparing with Alps SKCC is a bold statement! I started desoldering switches on a Das Ultimate to replace with Zealios and ended up breaking the ribbon cable that connects the two PCBs :(
For those of you thinking about modding a Das, beware of the super fragile ribbon cable. After breaking mine I reached out to Das Keyboard and they were nice enough to actually mail me a replacement PCB at no charge. I guess they had a few spares in their parts department. Best of all it came with Greentech browns which I actually like very much so no need to do a desolder job.
Jan 17, 2018
Applehugger
27
Jan 17, 2018
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MacclackWow; that was really cool of Das to send you a new PCB for free! You are absolutely right about the ribbon cable; thank you for mentioning that. Ribbon cables have laughably low insertion ratings, making that probably the biggest weakness in the keyboard. For the price, I really would have appreciated a more robust connector. Nevertheless, I just took my time removing and installing it and it was fine.
The smoothest switches I have ever experienced are ALPS SCCC linear switches, followed closely by ALPS SKCL linear switches. These Box Pale Blues are a very close third; they are genuinely really smooth. As far as comparison to other switch types, I think they actually feel closest to the membrane buckling spring switches in Model M’s, but the Box Pale Blues are smoother and the tactility is sharper. I like the noise the Pale Blues make better than the Model M too, but that’s a completely subjective opinion of course.
Jan 17, 2018
Macclack
383
Jan 17, 2018
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ApplehuggerHow is the sound? They’re clicky, right?
Jan 17, 2018
Applehugger
27
Jan 17, 2018
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MacclackThat’s correct; here is a link to a short YouTube video of me typing on these switches: https://youtu.be/DQ8e7y3byC8
Jan 17, 2018
Macclack
383
Jan 17, 2018
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ApplehuggerThanks for sharing this. Are they high pitched like Cherry blues or do they have a deeper click like Alps blues? It's a little hard to tell from the video.
Jan 17, 2018
Applehugger
27
Jan 17, 2018
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MacclackActually, they’re even higher pitched than Cherry Blues. I only have experience with White ALPS, but these sound nothing like any ALPS switch I’ve tried and the click is totally different from White ALPS. However, I personally think these Box Pale Blues sounds really good; it’s a very crisp and clean click, and they click on both the downstroke and upstroke. For reasons I can’t explain, the sound just makes me smile :-) They aren’t as loud as ALPS click switches either.
Jan 17, 2018
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