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Cherry MX Browns or Reds?

azize
By azize
in Peripherals
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Good day!

I've been watching reviews about mechanical keyboards with Red switches. I had my eyes on the Red switches at first, but some people say that Brown switches are better. I'm kinda confused.

I usually do gaming (sometimes competitive gaming when I play with my friends) and I also do coding for my projects, and I want to know which is better for these activities based on your experiences.

Thank you. :)

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Reds lack the tactile bump of browns, which makes typing with them more difficult as it's easier to not trigger the switches when typing fast.

 

Brown seems to be better for you, as Reds are mainly for gamers with multiple keyboards. Though I strongly suggest you go to a physical store and try different switch types, even those from brands other than Cherry, with your own hands. Only your hands can tell you which one's the best.

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Peripherals, looks and feels, are all personal preference. What one person likes for these uses, another might feel the opposite. Do you have any stores nearby that you’d be able to test the switches for yourself? 

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4 minutes ago, azize said:

Good day!

I've been watching reviews about mechanical keyboards with Red switches. I had my eyes on the Red switches at first, but some people say that Brown switches are better. I'm kinda confused.

I usually do gaming (sometimes competitive gaming when I play with my friends) and I also do coding for my projects, and I want to know which is better for these activities based on your experiences.

Thank you. :)

Do yourself a favor: get one of these first

 

https://www.amazon.com/WASD-6-Key-Cherry-Switch-Tester/dp/B00AZQKCD4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525358177&sr=8-1&keywords=mechanical+key+switch+tester

 

The "best" is extremely subjective, and in the case the only opinion that matters is your own. I personally like browns, but I have friends that LOVE blues.

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1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

Do yourself a favor: get one of these first

 

https://www.amazon.com/WASD-6-Key-Cherry-Switch-Tester/dp/B00AZQKCD4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525358177&sr=8-1&keywords=mechanical+key+switch+tester

 

The "best" is extremely subjective, and in the case the only opinion that matters is your own. I personally like browns, but I have friends that LOVE blues.

Agreed, or if you live in the US or Canada, go to your local pc parts store they will have keyboards out to try.

 

i like my browns but I use it for work and gaming

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I have a smiliar use case to you and I mainly am a Brown guy. I do have a partial for blues tho

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To me personally I'd go Browns... but that's the thing, switches are 100% personal preference there is no such thing as "the best".

 

Browns are indeed the "best" one for gaming in a way because while they are still tactile with satisfying click sound and all much in the blue fashion they are lighter and easier to press making them more spammable if needed in a game...

 

Talk about some shitty quick time event that tells you to press F repeatedly or some thing...

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id go for browns, i cant handle perfectly liniar switches tbh. go to a store and feel them yourself though

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I think there's one store here that lets people test switches, but it's far from my place. I'll still give it a try to be sure and finally decide on what to buy. :) 

Thank you guys for responding! 


 

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Blues are useless for gaming because the actuation and release points are at different points of the stroke, making spamming much slower. Reds are bad for gaming because there's no feed back so you have to guess where it activates, also linear switches feel bad to type on. 100% mushy, so much worse than even a rubber dome. Brown switches are meh. The tactile bump is so small it may as well be linear. Also they're far from the smoothest switch out there. Of all the Cherry MX switches, Clears are the best. But you have to mod them. Lube is a must because all Cherry switches are scratchy. And a spring swap is needed because Clears are much too heavy. Even then they're less than ideal. I'd go with something like Kailh box switches or, if you don't care about money, Zealios. 

 

Take all that with a grain of salt though. Switches preference is highly subjective. Id buy a switch tester online to help you decide. 

Mechanical Keyboard Switch Lubing Guide

 

 

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