deskthority

It's finally here! Purple (Tactile) & Clear (Linear) Zealio switch GB IS NOW LIVE! >> Order Here!

Geekhackers V3 Lube will also be offered with this GB! If you're an enthusiast that strives for 100% in everything, then I highly suggest you pick some lube with your switch order!

***Please order in multiples of 10 to make my life easier. Thank you!***

Zealio switches will come in 6 variants

62g - Linear (Clear stem)
65g - Linear (Clear stem)
67g - Linear (Clear stem)
62g - Tactile (Purple ergo-clear stem)
65g - Tactile (Purple ergo-clear stem)
67g - Tactile (Purple ergo-clear stem)

Price per switch is $0.75 USD.
4% "Tax" will be added to your order to cover PayPal & handling fees.



If you haven't been keeping up with the latest news, have a read about Zealios here and on KeyChatter!

Findecanor From DT/GH has written a small section on DT Wiki regarding these switches. You can read about it here

Reviews:
Review by livingspeedbump
Review by CPTBadAss
Review by jdcarpe
Personal review by me before shipping the switches out to testers
(more to come later)


As a thank you to the supporters of this project, I'll be giving away 1 Zealio themed BINGECAP (still in original bubble mailer!) to 10 lucky purchasers! Make sure to tick the check-box on the order form!




*If the site does not automatically provide you with shipping details at checkout, please send me an email and indicate where you're from and how many switches you'd like to purchase. (Mostly for orders outside of USA & Canada over 1kg).

Orders Close September 30, 2015 at 11:59:59pm PST!

Someone was waiting for this? I've honestly never heard of them. Make of that as you will.

Muirium wrote: ↑Someone was waiting for this? I've honestly never heard of them. Make of that as you will.

So if you haven't heard of it, it must not be worth supporting? Wow dude. Sucks I'll have to cancel my order...

If you're going to use DT to advertise your "group buy", you're going to have to put up with a little friendly pissing in your hair. It's how we say hi! Well, to those who show up like this.

Yup, once a certain someone get's a glimpse of this post...

Does that Hachi Roku have Irish plates? Also, these purple switches look interesting. I'll probably buy a bunch for a JD40 sized board so I can check them out. I just realized that this post contributes absolutely nothing. I am however posting it anyway.

Well, I've been out of the loop, because I didn't even know this was happening. I'm mostly a Matias man, anyways.

I've been disappointed with my Gateron (browns) so far so I'll probably give this a swerve but it's cool that they're willing to work with people for custom bits and pieces like this.

This is exactly what I want! Now if only they can come prelubed and stickered....... ~sigh~

What is the expected price range?

vvp wrote: ↑What is the expected price range?

they're 75c US each -- considering the springs (and i suppose the clear tops, which do nothing for me particularly) the cost is at least on par with modding stock MX clears.

this is one of the reasons i only use 60% - it costs less to build boards

Jersern wrote: ↑This is exactly what I want! Now if only they can come prelubed and stickered....... ~sigh~

I have a board with Gateron blues and a board with Gateron browns, both are stickered and the browns are lubed. If I had to do it all over again I wouldnt have stickered or lubed either of them. The factory tops are almost tight to begin with and the thickness of the sticker made them a little difficult to close in certain units, though I honestly wasn't very exact about sticker placement. Lube is a bit more subjective in general but people have reported that the castings of the stems are smoother than stock Cherries and that it might be unnecessary.

What are stickers?

sth wrote: ↑

vvp wrote: ↑What is the expected price range?

they're 75c US each -- considering the springs (and i suppose the clear tops, which do nothing for me particularly) the cost is at least on par with modding stock MX clears.

this is one of the reasons i only use 60% - it costs less to build boards

75¢ each is kind of pricey for some CC(cheap-chinese) MX clones, Ill stick with Cherry MX.

mj45 wrote: ↑

sth wrote: ↑

vvp wrote: ↑What is the expected price range?

they're 75c US each -- considering the springs (and i suppose the clear tops, which do nothing for me particularly) the cost is at least on par with modding stock MX clears.

this is one of the reasons i only use 60% - it costs less to build boards

75¢ each is kind of pricey for some CC(cheap-chinese) MX clones, Ill stick with Cherry MX.

it is kind of pricey. they are made in smaller quantities -- Zeal did talk about the crazy MOQs that gateron has.

that said, cherry is cheap, period... i don't know why you'd expect these to be noticeably worse than any cherry MX, especially considering the 'enthusiast' research and design that has gone into these and considering the community's general acceptance of gateron switches as being at least 'good enough'.

i do wish we could get the sliders/springs in a cheaper black housing though... LEDs aint for me.

To me Cherry MX is a time proven product, Gateron is a newcomer how well will they hold up to use etc.? Your right Cherry is cheap I can get them 50¢ or less each add a bag of custom springs for $10 per 100 and I'm good to go.

mj45 wrote: ↑To me Cherry MX is a time proven product, Gateron is a newcomer how well will they hold up to use etc.? Your right Cherry is cheap I can get them 50¢ or less each add a bag of custom springs for $10 per 100 and I'm good to go.

But you can't get clear switch housings and custom stems for 15c on top of that. Plus shipping from 3 people.

Shipping for 100 switches is only $10 to Europe. I think it's a great deal seeing as they have been tested by users over on GH and have been compared to ergo clears and are as good if not better than them.

I don't know, I would prefer used and filthy Cherry switches, clean and tune them if needed. The clear housings may have there advantage regarding lightning, but I can't understand why putting these in a $500 or more korean keyboard!

HoffmanMyster wrote: ↑

Muirium wrote: ↑Someone was waiting for this? I've honestly never heard of them. Make of that as you will.

So if you haven't heard of it, it must not be worth supporting? Wow dude. Sucks I'll have to cancel my order...

That's DT! We rather tend to say what we think, than to be fake friendly!

I've got a few Gateron switches, although I haven't put them in a keyboard yet, so it's hard to judge the tactile ones. However, it's quite easy to judge the linear ones..

They are superb. They are much smoother than any Cherry switch. In fact, I would put them down as the second smoothest linear MX switch right behind the legendary Nixdorf. If I were looking to fill a keyboard with linear switches I would no doubt choose Gaterons, unless I had some Nixdorfs to spare.

The Gateron browns I have are also very smooth, but I can't properly judge the tactile bump.

These might be Chinese clones, but they're not crappy or inferior. The only thing that possibly makes them objectively worse is the copper contact, rather than a gold plated one.

^incorrect. I've been told Gateron and Cherry use the same materials.

photekq wrote: ↑I've got a few Gateron switches, although I haven't put them in a keyboard yet, so it's hard to judge the tactile ones. However, it's quite easy to judge the linear ones..

They are superb. They are much smoother than any Cherry switch. In fact, I would put them down as the second smoothest linear MX switch right behind the legendary Nixdorf. If I were looking to fill a keyboard with linear switches I would no doubt choose Gaterons, unless I had some Nixdorfs to spare.

The Gateron browns I have are also very smooth, but I can't properly judge the tactile bump.

These might be Chinese clones, but they're not crappy or inferior. The only thing that possibly makes them objectively worse is the copper contact, rather than a gold plated one.

The switch contacts are the most important part of the Cherry design. That is why Nixdorf switches still work well some 20 years later.

photekq wrote: ↑These might be Chinese clones, but they're not crappy or inferior. The only thing that possibly makes them objectively worse is the copper contact, rather than a gold plated one.

The Gateron's cross-point is supposed to be gold-plated.

There may be different revisions of the metal leaves, however. Zeal's is going to be a different revision to the ones in Shadovved's group buy, for instance.

Redmaus wrote: ↑What are stickers?

Thanks for asking. Added to Wiki.

Nice AE86 Zeal, I miss mine which edition of speedhunters is it in?

So would there be a difference between the zealios linears and vintage mx blacks off a wyse?

Wondering if I should get some.

mj45 wrote: ↑ The switch contacts are the most important part of the Cherry design. That is why Nixdorf switches still work well some 20 years later.

Indeed, the Gold Crosspoint have allowed Cherry switches to last decades.

Findecanor wrote: ↑

photekq wrote: ↑These might be Chinese clones, but they're not crappy or inferior. The only thing that possibly makes them objectively worse is the copper contact, rather than a gold plated one.

The Gateron's cross-point is supposed to be gold-plated.

I'm not sure why everyone is saying the Gateron contacts are not gold plated. The leaf comes from a clear coated sheet of copper, and is then punched/bent into shape. Not too sure what Cherry uses for the leaf material, it surely doesn't have a fully gold plated leaf. Only the crosspoint contact is. Same goes for Gateron.
Cherry datasheet


I'm not trying to "sell" anyone here on why you should buy Zealios. I truly do think it's a greatly improved product, and I'm glad that the dream has finally come true. I just took these macro shots for comparison. I'd say the results were quite interesting.

Purple Zealio (Improved MX Clear stem w/o tight keycap issues, factory lubed legs) vs Brand new MX Brown I pulled out my Cherry bin. No lube whatsoever on the few Cherry MX Brown switches I opened in my bin. The leg is also quite rough. Would explain the sandy feel in brand new browns.


For reference, I've purposely wiped off the lube on the Purple Zealio


Let's talk gold crosspoints.
Cherry on left, Gateron on right. In case anyone was wondering, yes, those are pores in the Cherry leaf.


Other side of the leaf.
Cherry on left, Gateron on right.


Set my flash too strong for this shot, but the "pores" on the Cherry leaf is still visible.


I understand that people are hesitant to change, but if nothing changed, we'd all be stuck with outdated tech. The least I ask for is for members to try out any new product before judging "the book by its cover". Can we all be friends now?

SL89 wrote: ↑Nice AE86 Zeal, I miss mine which edition of speedhunters is it in?

Not too sure. LastPilot did the photoshoot of Zealios with the speedhunters book.

Redmaus wrote: ↑So would there be a difference between the zealios linears and vintage mx blacks off a wyse?

Wondering if I should get some.

Wyse boards tend to have a mix of "Vintage", "New" and in-between MX Black switches. The 67g linear will feel a bit lighter than stock MX Vintage Blacks and be consistently smooth throughout.

mj45 wrote: ↑

sth wrote: ↑

vvp wrote: ↑What is the expected price range?

they're 75c US each -- considering the springs (and i suppose the clear tops, which do nothing for me particularly) the cost is at least on par with modding stock MX clears.

this is one of the reasons i only use 60% - it costs less to build boards

75¢ each is kind of pricey for some CC(cheap-chinese) MX clones, Ill stick with Cherry MX.

the last time I tried to buy PCB mounted Cherry MX switches, I either had to wait for a few months (from 7bit) or pay 4 bucks/pc from eBay. And mechanicalkeyboards.com was either out of 100/pack or only had 5/pack for 5 bucks or something. Don't know what was up with the supply shortage, but I couldn't seem to source genuine Cherry MX switches. So I *had* to get Gaterons and am really happy with them.

I think I am gonna get a pack of these purple clears. Ya it's not cheap. And it's made in China. But it's still very interesting and what's not made in China these days anyways.

Zeal wrote: ↑ I'm not trying to "sell" anyone here on why you should buy Zealios. I truly do think it's a greatly improved product, and I'm glad that the dream has finally come true. I just took these macro shots for comparison. I'd say the results were quite interesting.
[...]
I understand that people are hesitant to change, but if nothing changed, we'd all be stuck with outdated tech. The least I ask for is for members to try out any new product before judging "the book by its cover". Can we all be friends now?

It would have been better if you would have explained the here not well known switches first, like you did now, than to start selling Geekhackers accessoires here firstly, then grumpy DT users (was it 3 or 4 here, including me?) would be maybe more interested.

Madhias wrote: ↑ It would have been better if you would have explained the here not well known switches first, like you did now, than to start selling Geekhackers accessoires here firstly, then grumpy DT users (was it 3 or 4 here, including me?) would be maybe more interested.

you're a sharp guy AND you're on geekhack, i trust your ability to find this information on your own
but it's pretty obvious that some people won't want these anyway (mr BS TOPRE )...

Of course, in the opening post are even links to reviews of the Gaterons, which I did not read. But I did not follow Gateron threads on GH in the last months! It is not the first time that someone pointing to my as I think very cool title, which you spelled wrong, sth! TORPE, not TOPRE. It is more badass!

my mistake!!!

Madhias wrote: ↑

Zeal wrote: ↑ I'm not trying to "sell" anyone here on why you should buy Zealios. I truly do think it's a greatly improved product, and I'm glad that the dream has finally come true. I just took these macro shots for comparison. I'd say the results were quite interesting.
[...]
I understand that people are hesitant to change, but if nothing changed, we'd all be stuck with outdated tech. The least I ask for is for members to try out any new product before judging "the book by its cover". Can we all be friends now?

It would have been better if you would have explained the here not well known switches first, like you did now, than to start selling Geekhackers accessoires here firstly, then grumpy DT users (was it 3 or 4 here, including me?) would be maybe more interested.

I fully understand. Though I'm not one to sweet talk people into buying stuff -- I'm more of a "to the point" kind of guy.

...67g Purple Zealio bump remind me of Topre