deskthority

Hey there,
recently I discovered that I have some spare switches, springs and stems.

Some months ago, I bought some R1 Zealio switches (tactile, 67gr) because I wasn't quite satisfied with the MX Brown and MX Clear switch. The brown one was too light and I had no "feeling" for the bump. The clear one was way too scratchy.

My Zealios had some problems with chattering and the stem seemed to be a bit smaller than the switch cover - the stem was a bit wobbly. This is why I haven't continued with my project.

As of now, I am using lubed vintage black switches with 62gr springs. The weighting is a tiny bit too light for my taste, so I am using 67gr for my next project.

So my next project is a 60% board with ISO DE - layout. My problem is that I don't know which switch I should use (typing 70%, gaming 30%).
I don't want to use Browns and Clears. I can't stand the cheap sound from Blues. Stock black is too heavy for me. Stock Red is too light for me.

So I had the fancy idea of joining vintage black switches with tactile Zealio switches:

Vintage black bottom cover
Vintage black leaf (no problem with chattering like the Zealios)
Tactile Zealio stem (for the tactile feeling)
67gr spring - seems to be my sweet spot
Vintage black top cover

So essentially, this is a black Zealio tactile switch - minus the chattering problems. I just don't know if the wobbly feeling will annoy me over time. Cherry stems are a bit wobbly, too. But the Zealio / Gateron-Stems seem to be wobblier...

What do you guys think?

I think it would look nice, but how do the tactile zealios compare to browns? I am typing on browns right now on my Orion and they feel quite nice. Granted these are apparently vintage browns from kinesis boards and not vintage ones.

The 67gr tactile Zealios are just so much better than MX Browns - it is really hard to compare them.

In my opinion, the browns feel dirt-cheap (just like most of the cherry switches). The bump is barely noticable, the switch feels a bit like there's sand in it. The Zealio switch is buttery smooth, the 67gr spring really helps to feel the actuation point.
The problem: There are some QA issues. On Geekhack, you can find quite some posts where the users mention problems with chattering switches. As far as I can tell, the problem lies within the switch, it's the leaf (But I am not an engineer).
The problem doesn't seem to be solved in Round 2, and Round 3 (which is live right now) is essentially Round 2 - no updates on the manufacturing process. As these switches are made in small batches (compared to the standard Gateron switches), I don't think the problem will be solved in the near future. But of course, it's possible that you receice perfect ones in terms of chattering.

Other than that, the stem is a tiny bit smaller than the MX pendant - or the cutout for the stem is bigger than it has to be. I can't measure that because I don't have precise tools. That leads to the stem being a bit wobbly because it has more room for travelling.

The problem with the wobbling stem is just a tiny one because the Cherry stems wobble, too.