Kochiha Ichihara

The Sakurios is a silenced linear switch from ZealPC, the Sakurios is a re-colored Zeal Healios switch with a 62g spring, and comes in a light pink tone. The Sakurios' sister, the 67g Roselios, comes in a more saturated pink to the Sakurios.
 
These switches are costly at $1.20 a switch at the time of review, and I bought 70 of these for myself unsponsored using my own money. Due to this, I had high hopes for this particular switch due to its price as well as its hype, being a re-colored, 62g-weighted Healios. I'm personally fond of the 67g Tealios also by Zeal, and I have read online that the Healios are described as a re-colored & silenced Tealio switch.
 
Cracking open the switch, it's a nice, smoothly-crafted, pink linear stem with firm rubber dampeners on the stem sliders, the stem is also a nice pink too. The material is smooth to the touch, similar to that of a Tealio or Zealio switch, it's nice quality from Zeal, especially for that pricetag per switch.
The silencing rubbers aren't too hard nor too mushy, they're just right, and when bottoming out and returning, the rubbers feel pillowy and soft, it's a nice bottom-out experience compared to traditional MX switches where bottoming out can be quite harsh and sudden. I commend Zeal for this particular rubber, it's what silenced switches should strive to achieve.
 
To compare, I'd say the smoothness of the Sakurios versus something like an Ink Black or Tealios is about 8/10, the Sakurios are noticeably less smooth than Tealios. But I'll touch on this more a bit later.
 

 
Now where this gets interesting is that when I bought my Sakurios, I ran into quite a few problems...
 
I ordered my 70 Sakurios directly from ZealPC, and about 10 of my Sakurios had loose leaves in them, whereby if I opened up those particular switches, the leaves would fall out without any force. Add to this the leaves in question bent easily, and I wonder what happened to my particular batch.
 

 
I actually had emailed ZealPC in September regarding my issue, citing that my Sakurios are consistent on the keypress, which I assume this is due to the loose leaves.
 
The response I got was as follows:
 
Now, it's to be noted that I did use Krytox 205g0 lube to lube my Sakurios which are a particularly thick lube, so I can accept that it might have been my own mistake using thick lube on silenced switches, given that it was my first time with silenced switches and that I had been recommended thick lube to use due to my lubing technique.
 
This still does not excuse the poor quality control of my particular Sakurios batch, loose leaves destroyed my experience with the Sakurios and I am deeply disappointed with the switch as a whole, especially for the price I paid for it.
 
I paid about $80 to get switches that came with loose leaves.
 
I will give ZealPC the benefit of the doubt and say that I am probably part of the 1% that got a bad batch of Sakurios, however that stil does not excuse the quality of switches that I got, like I mentioned a multitude of times throughout this review.
 
That's not to disrepect the switch in any way, the switch is still fairly smooth to use and the bottom-out is soft & pillowy, but the leaf problem I had with my batch gave me an inconsistent typing experience, as well as a sticky feeling after lubing a majority with thick lube. For the record, I used a few unlubed and experienced the same probems minus the sticky feelings, so at stock, the Sakurios feel fine albeit inconsistent.
 
I do truly hope that I'm in the minority with my batch slipping the cracks and that everyone else who bought - or buys - Sakurios experiences a pleasant actuation and soft bottom-out omitting the loose leaf issue.
And word of advice, don't use thick lube with silenced linears. I learnt the hard way.

The Gateron Ink Black is essentially a Gateron Black with a transparent, smoky housing and a black stem, and is highly regarded as one of, if not the most smooth MX-style switch on the market, rivaling that of Zeal's Tealios V2, and the Vintage Black.
The Ink Black is a fairly medium-weighted switch, requiring 60g of force to actuate and 70g of force to completely bottom out. My personal preferred weight for linear switches is anywhere between 62g to 67g so the 60g of actuation force is very welcome.
 
I personally like to use my linear switches lubed, but the Gateron Ink Black is one of those switches that doesn't require that treatment to be a smooth switch. It's a fantastic switch at stock, and is probably one of three switches that I'd consider using stock, next to the Tealios V2 and the NovelKeys Cream. The Gateron Ink Black is super smooth even without lube.
With that being said, I still lubed my Gateron Ink Blacks with Tribosys 3204 as I felt that it didn't require thick lube like Krytox 205g0, and it made it even smoother. I did heavily lube my switch, but it did not interfere with the travel, actuation, upstroke, return, or keypress of the switch in any way, and I prefer heavily lubing my linears as it ensures 100% smoothness. Again, not that the Ink Black needed that in the first place, regardless.
 

 
In my time scouting the switch market, I can find Ink Blacks for around $0.75-$0.80 a switch, which is fairly expensive considering the other offerings on the market, such as regular Gaterons, which can retail for as low as $0.30 a switch. However, I am confident that expending a bit more for the Ink Blacks will work in everybody who is considering a linear switch's favor, as the smoothness - once again, even at stock and unlubed - is rivalled only by the most elite switches such as the Tealios V2 and the Vintage Black - and those go for $1+ per switch each for what I can perceive having using Tealios V2 extensively as minimal improvement.
 
In fact, since using the Ink Blacks, they've become my top 2 linear switch next to the Tealios who edges it out as a close winner. The Ink Black is smooth in every regard and the spring is really high quality. The spring feels robust and full which gives the Ink Black an ultra satisfying keypress travel. The Tealios on the other hand has a fairly hollow spring which is susceptible to pinging.
 
If you're in the market for one of, if not the smoothest, linear, MX-style switch on the market for under $1 per switch, you cannot go wrong with the Ink Black. Ultra smooth stem, silky smooth housing, satisfying spring sturdiness, and excellent lubing capability, making it a solid linear switch.