deskthority

I'm not sure if this thread has been done before, but I felt like making this because I have tried possibly one of the worst switch designs of all time.

The worst switch I've ever tried is a no-name, but it's on an old word processor and it uses a leaf spring over a rubber sheet over a membrane. It should have a clean keyfeel as it is so simple, but it feels absolutely horrendous. Think of Cherry MY, but filled with sand and an even weirder force curve. It's linear in key-feel, but it's very exponential in terms of force. Stabilized keys literally stick and stay down, even when properly assembled; every single key binds (even when you hit them at the dead center at times!), and if you think MX Browns are scratchy, you need to try these. I'm not joking when I say that it literally feels like pencil on sandpaper. And all of the caps are pad-printed thin ABS. I think these leaf springs were used in the terminal keyboard that introduced inverted-T style arrow keys, but maybe the switches are marginally better on it. These switches makes those roll-up silicone keyboards seem like a revelation in comparison.

Post your worst experience with a certain key switch below!

Foam and foil.

It just gets harder as you press down. Really uncomfy. The board has the best keycaps ever though.

Key Tronic tactile foam and foil, Amstrad spring over membrane, and Futaba vintage linear (low-profile and simplified). So far nothing else has even come close to the horrible-ness of these switches.

Come on guys, Cherry MY White.

I usually find that you can make almost any technology work well, its all about the quality of the materials and the quality of the workmanship. I have felt rubber domes that feel better then some Cherry MX ( am looking at you browns) , some model M BS that feel like crap, some model M that feel amazing. I have used good foam and foil ( with trippleshots)! and some horrible foam and foil.

In general i would go with the worst technology is rubber dome or them chicklet metal keyboards you see in terminals and the likes. But there are good rubber domes.

Even MY in there original black form are not that bad, the modern ones are terrible however.

Yeah white MY's are pretty horrible. Really dirty simplified black Alps are nappy but I have tried worse that I can't remember right now.

ramnes wrote: Come on guys, Cherry MY White.

I'd take them over any of those three I mentioned any day, and be thankful for it.

I'd say in this order from worst to less worse:

1. Whatever crap this is: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/7/871612 ... 65.jpg?v=0
2. Cherry ML
3. Cherry MY
4. White Alps, I once owned a HighScreen FK-2002... they were terrible

Chyros wrote:

ramnes wrote: Come on guys, Cherry MY White.

I'd take them over any of those three I mentioned any day, and be thankful for it.

There is some truth to that. Some Mitsumi's are pretty crappy. Sorry to hear you don't like white Alps cookie, but hey like I always say it's all preference.

cookie wrote: 2. Cherry ML

Sacrilege , ML are loverly, the stabilized ones are not amazing but they are the best tactile Cherry IMO

Mitsumi miniature (yellow), the worst switch I ever tried.

They are very scratchy and also tend to stuck if you hit them off center it is very hard to remember switch which I found more difficult to type on

Cherry MY...

cookie wrote: They are very scratchy and also tend to stuck if you hit them off center it is very hard to remember switch which I found more difficult to type on

Were the White Alps in bad condition? Even a little bit of dust can mess up the switch. Blow dust out of the switch bottom, and don't forget to clean out the switch top. Make sure the metal leafs are clean, and definitely make sure that you reassemble them correctly. For whatever reason, the feeling of an Alps switch depends majorly upon how you clean and especially how you reassemble it. If the click leaf is positioned incorrectly or bent, the switch will feel terrible. And I guarantee that. Give White Alps another chance. I was in your boat a while back when I assumed that Alps were terrible just because the board I received was in poor shape. And now they're some of my favorite switches

Actually they were in a terrible condition they had dust everywhere the Caps had a massive amount of shine. The probably caused the terrible typing experience. Some years ago I have settled with my happy hacking keyboard therefore my quest for the ultimate switch stopped. I can only speak of Switches i've tried until then

The switch on the new MacBook

Brot wrote: The switch on the new MacBook

Everything about the new macbook.

Why would anyone ever buy one over an air .

andrewjoy wrote:

cookie wrote: 2. Cherry ML

Sacrilege , ML are loverly, the stabilized ones are not amazing but they are the best tactile Cherry IMO

Not that that's saying much xD .

Good point about the yellow Mitsumis. Although they're not on the same order of magnitude as KT F&F and Amstrad they're pretty horrible to type on xD .

Anything non-mechanical aside, probably a white alps clone board. super scratchy and the switches would bind if you hit anything off-center.

Brot wrote: The switch on the new MacBook

I tried one of those in a store. They felt like I was typing on these. Honestly I didn't think they're horrible, just excessively odd.

For me absolute winner would be whatever it was in Apple M0110A board. Scratchy like a chalkboard and pressing buttons gives me creeps.
Second worst? Either salmon alps in old Apple Extended (because it's pretty much definition of inconsistency, some of the keys click, some are quiet and dapened like quiet Matias, what da?) or White Alps in old Focus board (the switches are actually very, very nice when you press them directly in center, but I touch type, never look at the keyboard when I type and I mostly hit keys off center - that's not a problem on neither IBM, Topre, Cherry, Matias or even Dell AT101 with Black Alps...) Unfortunately when you hit those keys off center, they lock up. For me that makes this keyboard useless.
I must say a lot of rubber dome keyboards are better than those highly regarded (by some) mechanical keyboards I mentioned.

ZX Spectrum rubber keys were rather bad.

But there are probably no universally bad switches since it looks like some people consider Cherry MX brown to be rather bad and I think they are ones of the best.

cookie wrote: I'd say in this order from worst to less worse:

1. Whatever crap this is: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/7/871612 ... 65.jpg?v=0
2. Cherry ML
3. Cherry MY
4. White Alps, I once owned a HighScreen FK-2002... they were terrible

cherry ml are quite good for a compact switch
and wtf white alps are great

ramnes wrote: Come on guys, Cherry MY White.

Tried some white Cherry MY the other day. Definitely the worst switch I've ever experienced. The scratchiness. The binding. Horrible.

Scottex wrote: ...and wtf white alps are great

Alps SKCL/SKCM are on really good when clean and not too worn. I've experienced worlds apart with the same switch.

Seems like I didn't have the fun of trying anything worse than white MY. It was really funny because I felt the wet newspaper before knowing what switch it was.

derp

Cherry MY, inside of one of those plastic harsh-conditions condoms.

davkol wrote: On a different note, many older keyboards were nearly unusable, because of binding stabilizers, even though the switches themselves felt fine.

My Fujitsu keyboard comes to mind.

Non-clicky, tactile Hi-Tek Space Invaders.
I have one keyboard with them and it's atrocious. I'm not sure if it's just the particular example I have being old or something but the binding is just unbearable.