What so bad about Razer Green Switches?

[Ramen Man]

I have seen a lot of people saying that the new switches that Razer are using for their mechanical keyboards are bad, being made by Kailh but a lot of other sources say that NOW they are being made by Greetech.

If that's the case, then why are they still getting hate for it, even Razer Greens feel slightly better than Cherry Blues? Ik that a lot of people would prefer the mechanical keyboards from Corsair like the K70 due to Cherry switches are more popular and reliable.

Note: I have the K70 with Cherry Blues (Daily driver, I have noticed that K70 had decreased my carpal tunnel by a lot, a reason why I use it daily) and I have my old Blackwidow with Razer Greens (Pretty sure the switches are not manufactured by Kailh).

Lemme know what you think below!

[The Sloth]

quality issue mostly

[Ramen Man]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

quality issue mostly

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

[The Sloth]

Just now, Ramen Man said:

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

long term quality, i am not a keyboard expert but in my experience i seen a lot of people go full razer than go back to hating them for quality purpose. in my opinion/ preference, found the k70 to be more consistent in daily use. 

[Ramen Man]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

long term quality, i am not a keyboard expert but in my experience i seen a lot of people go full razer than go back to hating them for quality purpose. in my opinion/ preference, found the k70 to be more consistent in daily use. 

kk thanks

[Scionyde]

1 minute ago, Ramen Man said:

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

I don't know anything about Greetech, but I've heard people say that Kailh switches felt inconsistent. No idea if that's true or it's just some kind of placebo effect. (It'd be kind of interesting if a bunch of people did some kind of blind type-test on Cherry switches and Cherry-clones) I have a sneaking suspicion that the Razer-hating bandwagon and the belief that no Chinese-made switch could ever compare in quality to a German-made one plays into the negative perception.

 

I have a Blackwidow Chroma and I thought it was fine, but I ultimately decided I didn't care for the noise of clicky switches. Never owned a Cherry MX Blue switch keyboard, so I can't comment much about the comparison. At the end of the day, just type on whatever feels best to you.

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, Ramen Man said:

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

It's not just that - how they feel can be subjective. The important thing is how much of a quality control issue Razer has. I had one of their Blackwidow Chromas when it first came out and I compared it to my K65 - before someone asks, I got it cheap of off someone who didn't want it anymore and I decided to buy it to give to another friend. The Blackwidow felt more solid when typing, but the switches themselves weren't my cup of tea as I'm not a fan of Blues (or any equivalent) anymore. The lighting control in Synapse was also super easy compared to Corsair's CUE.

 

However, someone here pointed out to me that the switches would bend way more than a Cherry switch would if you type hard enough. I didn't believe him at first but I tried it, and sure enough the switches did bend. Though, I don't know if that would cause a problem down the road if it is even a problem.

 

Now I sound like I'm talking up the Blackwidow, and I am. I had a good unit. However, every single Razer mouse that has been in my house - two Nagas, and a couple Mambas - as well as my Sabertooth controller have all ended up having issues. The Deathadder had a mouse button go out, both of my Nagas just magically quit working outside of warranty, and my Sabertooth's trigger stopped working (shortly after I fixed it myself, but my fix was just a bandaid and the controller had cancer, so it eventually quit working).

 

Which leads me to this: there are more and more people with stories like this, and it only leads me to think that Razer's build quality is not everything that Min-Liang Tan and the "Cult of Razer" fanboys make Razer out to be. I'd stay away.

 

I also hate to admit this, but I tried a Razer Blade Stealth just this week and I sent it back to Amazon yesterday. I gave Razer a chance again and the laptop had thermals that I wasn't going to be comfortable with long-term, and the second day I had it the unit emitted a loud coil whine.

 

I just think people should stay away from Razer until something changes.

[manikyath]

i guess it's mostly that cherry switches are made to some of the most intense quality norms found in the computer world, and other companies dont go *that* far, mostly because it's probably not necessary.

[Falkentyne]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 3:36 PM, Ramen Man said:

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

Original batches of RGB blues were quite bad, mushy and inconsistent.    Recent batches that Ducky has gotten have been much better than before, and Ducky has been doing strict QA on the switches, as they had problems with the blues also.  The RGB Blues on my Shine 6 and also my YOTM are extremely nice and bouncy.  I had one weak switch key on my F on my YOTM which sort of bothered me (it was slightly weak when I first got it and I wound up making it worse, although it clicked...the bump was barely there), as an ESDF gamer and touch typer, so I desoldered it and put the volume up switch on it by swapping them.  Now it's awesome.  My Shine 6 is also just fine.  I definitely recommend the blues on the Shine 6 and Year of the Monkey.

[Kleever]

I'll be 100% honest regarding my experience with the 2014 Razer Green switch, the newer Greetech switch, MX Blues and RGB MX Blues. My favorite overall would have to be the one on the BlackWidow Ultimate 2016 with MX Blues, they feel great and consistent all around, pinging is kept to a minimum and not noticeable while typing.

 

Second I'd have to give to the Razer Greetech switch, it's crisp, the click is there but there's a few keys where the clicks are a different pitch and also the pinging noises are more noticeable on the Razer switches compared to my MX Blues, and I really dislike pinging keys so it's important to me the pinging is kept to a minimum.

 

Now regarding the RGB MX Blues and 2014 Razer Green switch, I'd rate them pretty even. My K70 LUX with MX Blues had some issues and overall they felt way too heavy to pass off as a traditional MX Blue switch, it's the first time typing on a keyboard was actually fatiguing for me, the click was also not as loud. Supposedly Cherry is working on improving the RGB variants of the MX Blues as mentioned above, but QA was definitely lacking on my unit and others on the Corsair forums. The 2014 Green switch was alright, but it definitely didn't feel as crisp as the other ones and it was a more quiet click overall.

 

To sum it up, no I don't think the switch is anywhere as bad as people would make you believe, the issue is the long term durability, with Razer switching manufacturers without ever announcing it, there's no way to tell how long the switches themselves will last. Also your mileage may vary as your experience can differ from others as there's been three Kailh revisions, the Greetech switch and lastly, on the V2, there's a newer Green switch that has a slightly different design than the Greetech ones, so it's not really clear whose making the newer V2 edition.

[Ramen Man]

11 hours ago, Falkentyne said:

Original batches of RGB blues were quite bad, mushy and inconsistent.    Recent batches that Ducky has gotten have been much better than before, and Ducky has been doing strict QA on the switches, as they had problems with the blues also.  The RGB Blues on my Shine 6 and also my YOTM are extremely nice and bouncy.  I had one weak switch key on my F on my YOTM which sort of bothered me (it was slightly weak when I first got it and I wound up making it worse, although it clicked...the bump was barely there), as an ESDF gamer and touch typer, so I desoldered it and put the volume up switch on it by swapping them.  Now it's awesome.  My Shine 6 is also just fine.  I definitely recommend the blues on the Shine 6 and Year of the Monkey.

I take it that the Non RGB versions for the K70 Lux, which I own, should be fine right?

[Falkentyne]

9 hours ago, Ramen Man said:

I take it that the Non RGB versions for the K70 Lux, which I own, should be fine right?

Hard to say.  There have been many cases of non RGB blues that have been scratchy as hell, as well as bad browns which felt more like sand than a tactile bump.

But Ducky said that Cherry has improved the quality of the most recent batches of RGB blues, and it definitely shows.  My Shine 6 has good blues on all of the switches and my YOTM had good blues except a rather weak tactile feel on the F key.  So I opened it up and desoldered (with a $300 Hakko) and swapped the switch with one from the number keypad.  Home row consistency is important.

[Jessop]

On ‎2017‎/‎03‎/‎03 at 1:36 AM, Ramen Man said:

Are they really that bad? I seen a lot of people say that they find Cherry MX Blues to be mushy compared the Razer Greens.

Quality control - Key stems are loose inside the housing causing TERRIBLE key wobble - after a few months the click disappears on some switches making them sound and feel like cherry browns - the keycaps don't fit snugly on the stems causing further key wobble.

I've had a Razer Blackwidow Chroma with Razer Greens for about 2 years and although I love it I cannot use it due to the Key Wobble and inconsistent feel amongst the switches - a

[Jessop]

On 3/5/2017 at 11:33 AM, georgevar59 said:

Quality control - Key stems are loose inside the housing causing TERRIBLE key wobble - after a few months the click disappears on some switches making them sound and feel like cherry browns - the keycaps don't fit snugly on the stems causing further key wobble.

I've had a Razer Blackwidow Chroma with Razer Greens for about 2 years and although I love it I cannot use it due to the Key Wobble and inconsistent feel amongst the switches - a

 

The Blackwidow Chroma V2 switches are made by Greetech - the pre 2016 BW Chroma switches are made by Khail to the best of my knowledge

Most of the bad press is because the older khail Razer switches were very unreliable and inconsistent

The new Razer switches - 2016 onwards are made by Greetech and are as good as cherry MX switches

 

 

[katoptrys]

I personally bought a used Blackwidow TE, with razer greens, and so far no issues

[Ominous]

Quite the Necro of a thread going here.  I managed to have a good run with my Razer products.  My Blackwidow and Deathadder served me well but I was in search of a newer mouse and the Blackwidow just wasn't for me anymore.  The Razer Green switches on the old Blackwidow (manufactured by Kailh) were awful.  At the time of purchase, I had never had the chance to try a really MX Blue keyboard so I just assumed that the Razer switches were pretty much exact replicas but I was pretty damn wrong.

 

Their newer manufacturer, Greetech, have much better switches than Kailh.  Even with that, Razer still have terrible QC so bad boards still make it through.  There is always one lucky person (like myself) that never has problems with them.

 

I'd advise everyone that finds this thread in search of an answer to just stay away from Razers keyboards unless they are using MX Blue switches.

 

On 15/12/2017 at 2:43 PM, georgevar59 said:

- Snip -

 

 

lmao, did you realise you have responded to your own post?  It takes just a few seconds to look at the age of a thread and who you are replying to.

[Jessop]

to sum it up - I LOVE the design of the Razer blackwidow Chroma V2 - its the quality of the switches and in Particular the loose stem fitting in the sleeve of the switches that causes terrible key wobble - 

Everyone that re posts keeps talking about everything BUT THE KEY WOBBLE - 

I'm not criticizing  ANYTHING about the board ONLY THE KEY WOBBLE 

If Razer ever decide to start using cherry MX switches again I'll buy one in a heartbeat - until then - I'm on the fence .

all I can say is - Put a K70 Rapidfire next to a BW V1 or V2 and mess around - SIDE BY SIDE - Feel the wobble of the Razer switches  compared to the rigidity of the Rapidfire -

NO CONTEST !

[Ramen Man]

Would like to point out there is no need to keep on posting on this thread. I have already decided that i wouldn't go out of my way to buy Razer products. I now have a Cooler Master Masterkey PBT S with Cherry MX Brown switches.

[Jessop]

Good choice 

[Not_Sean]

On 12/16/2017 at 1:28 PM, katoptrys said:

I personally bought a used Blackwidow TE, with razer greens, and so far no issues

I'm on my second one upgraded from the normal TE to Chroma, and zero issues. already got a year and a half use out of it, if it makes it another year then completely craps out i'm happy. that's good use out of an item we beat on every day. 

 

Before that had the normal one with MX blues and the G key would double press, and two LED's died. 

 

typing right now on a CMStorm with MX Reds and its also going great. 

 

Funny enough the only keyboard I ever had shit with was the Corsair with MX blues and it was awful, so many issues with LEDs and keys double-pressing or the click would go but the key wouldn't register. I love corsair but yeah I personally won't buy another of their keyboards. 

[Ominous]

17 hours ago, georgevar59 said:

to sum it up - I LOVE the design of the Razer blackwidow Chroma V2 - its the quality of the switches and in Particular the loose stem fitting in the sleeve of the switches that causes terrible key wobble - 

Everyone that re posts keeps talking about everything BUT THE KEY WOBBLE - 

I'm not criticizing  ANYTHING about the board ONLY THE KEY WOBBLE 

If Razer ever decide to start using cherry MX switches again I'll buy one in a heartbeat - until then - I'm on the fence .

all I can say is - Put a K70 Rapidfire next to a BW V1 or V2 and mess around - SIDE BY SIDE - Feel the wobble of the Razer switches  compared to the rigidity of the Rapidfire -

NO CONTEST !

Razer are offering some keyboards with MX Blues.

[Ominous]

2 hours ago, Not_Sean said:

I'm on my second one upgraded from the normal TE to Chroma, and zero issues. already got a year and a half use out of it, if it makes it another year then completely craps out i'm happy. that's good use out of an item we beat on every day. 

 

Before that had the normal one with MX blues and the G key would double press, and two LED's died. 

 

typing right now on a CMStorm with MX Reds and its also going great. 

 

Funny enough the only keyboard I ever had shit with was the Corsair with MX blues and it was awful, so many issues with LEDs and keys double-pressing or the click would go but the key wouldn't register. I love corsair but yeah I personally won't buy another of their keyboards. 

All Corsair keyboards with MX Blues with their clear housing had problems.  It’s why they stopped manufacturing them.

[Syntaxvgm]

On 3/2/2017 at 6:48 PM, Guest Kloaked said:

 

However, someone here pointed out to me that the switches would bend way more than a Cherry switch would if you type hard enough. I didn't believe him at first but I tried it, and sure enough the switches did bend. Though, I don't know if that would cause a problem down the road if it is even a problem.

 

 

That was me =)

Related, friend bout a newer chroma, newer than the chroma I own and the BWU I gave him. Much better feeling I noticed. 

 

@Ramen Man

I'm the original resident razer hater here. The best way to describe my problem with them is the fact that they've always had trash build quality, the pastic, the PCB itself is flakey and hard to solder to. They charge a high price but offered a keyboard with cherry mx switches. 

When kailh switches came out after they cherry patent expired, they changed to the much cheaper switches and didn't change their price while claiming to provide a better keyboard for customers. 

Now here's the thing about their kailh switches- I own multiple knockoff cherry mx keyboards. I don't own any kailh ones, but i"ve used plenty and they're just fine most of the time. 

Somehow, razer takes the same goddamn switches, makes them feel worse (my opinion) and has LESS quality control. LESS. How the fuck do you manage that while claiming you have a special QC process? On the original BWU I complained about, almost no 2 switches feel the same. It's even worse on my chroma, though to be fair I think by chroma is just a bad board. It's not like "oh, these cheaper switches are somewhat less consistent." I can deal with that. In fact, I really don't think chery switches are as consistent as people give them credit for. But this? It was like some keys clicked waaay louder than others, and some didn't even have a audible click. I went to best buy after noticning this and tested out all the ones they have in the boxes (where you can touch the arrow keys) and they were all different, some even had difference on the 4 arrow keys on the same kb. 

How the fuck they manage this when no other knockoffs are this bad is beyond me, especially since the very brand they contract to make them is just fine. My bet is they tell them to actually accept a larger range to reduce costs, or don't do a good job of making keyboard from the same batch. 

So to be clear, I'm not a cherry mx elitist. Just know I hated it for a reason.

Fuck I have some chinese keyboard I got year or two ago that was dirt cheap (before cheap MKBs were as common as they are now). I got it because it has swappable solderless switches, which I planned to replace...and I didn't. Favorite switches I've ever typed on. My perfect spot.  This keyboard is beat up now and you can hear plastic rattle in it when you move it, but I use it every day. Got with stuck my chroma one day for some work and I almost threw it in the trash, replaced it with a membrane. It's that bad. (Again my chroma is potentially a bad unit. The BWU from the complaint was normal). Great lighting effects though. Smooth. 

 

I like the ornata though. Might get one. 75$ is fair. 

[Jessop]

On 12/18/2017 at 2:04 AM, Qyndryx said:

Razer are offering some keyboards with MX Blues.

it looks like they are offer the blues in the plain non RGB version - so no deal - I'm looking for a Cherry mx RGB version of the BW CHroma V2

and to the best of my knowledge - the Cherry mx blues with the clear housing have had many problems

[Hiya!]

1 hour ago, georgevar59 said:

 the Cherry mx blues with the clear housing have had many problems

U meant to say cherry mx Blue RGB? why?

Its the same switch with Clear housing to illuminate the RGB light