A Brief Overview of “Speed” Switches

One of the first modifications to come around to the MX switch was the creation of the so-called “Speed Switches”. Typically, colored silver for linear variants, there are also more niche options that are tactile and clicky. They are quite like other, lighter linear switches except they have been modified to have a higher actuation point, under 1.5mm and sometimes as low as 1mm, and to have a shorter bottom out distance, somewhere between 3mm and 3.5mm. They’re often marketed as “speed” or “gaming” switches.

Initially produced by Cherry, their Silver switches are a distinctly different feel from their other linear switch offerings. While Red switches offer a 1.5mm actuation point and 4mm bottom out, with a 37g actuation force and 54g to bottom out their Silver switches are shorter and heavier. In this case they actuate at 1.2mm and bottom out at 3.4mm. They actuate at a similar 40g but a much heavier 80g bottom out force. That design is to ostensibly train the user into not bottoming out their keys to reduce return travel and increase the ability to actuate more quickly. That’s why they are typically marketed for gaming peripherals rather than for typists. The combination of lighter actuation force and higher actuation position means they are easier to make speedy inputs. But that also increases the potential risk to accidental actuations, something that may be more forgivable in gaming but less so in typing.

Kailh quickly marketed multiple speed variants beyond linear options, offering two clicky and a tactile switch. They continued the metal color theming and offer Speed Silver (linear), Speed Copper (tactile), and Speed Gold and Speed Bronze (clicky). They would later release another option, Speed Navy, which is an unusual design in its own right. Their Speed Silver is slightly different from the Cherry version. It has a 1.1mm actuation point and 3.5mm bottom out distance. It also features a 50g actuation, making it require 25% more force over the Cherry, but bottom out at 70g a 12.5% reduction in force. The Copper tactile switches have identical actuation point and bottom out distance but are a lighter switch, 50g peak force, 40g for the actuation point, and 60g bottom out.

Their clicky variants are more interesting from a mechanical and engineering standpoint however. Speed Bronze share the same actuation characteristics but instead use Kailh’s click-bar design for both the tactile event and the clicking sound. This gives them a sharp, and fast, tactility and a metallic pinging from the small bar of metal in the switch snapping when the tactile bump on the stem forces the bar to move. Once the bar overcomes the bump it snaps back into place producing the clicking sound. This is different to Cherry’s click-jacket design which uses a separate hood on the stem to produce the click from the jacket snapping onto the stem producing the click entirely from plastic materials. That’s where Kailh’s Speed Gold switch comes in. It uses that older click-jacket design meaning the actuation point is lowered slightly to 1.4mm while the bottom out distance remains at 3.5mm. It also changes the peak force to 60g, the actuation to 50g, and the bottom out force to 60g. The Speed Navy is based on their Box Navy clicky switch, making another click-bar option. However, the actuation point changes to 1.2mm while retaining the 3.5mm bottom out. Where they are a large departure from other speed switches however is how heavy they are. They carry a 100g peak force, 70g actuation, and 100g for bottom out. This makes them by far the heaviest speed switch. Interestingly, they also reuse the Speed Bronze stem, meaning they are not a box stem like the original Navy.

Gateron has more recently introduced their own Pro Silver switch which continues the tradition of Silver switches being linear. In their case they use their own partially open box design stem, a 1.2mm actuation and 3.4mm bottom out. They are lighter than either Kailh or Cherry however at 35g actuation and 45g to bottom out. The other differentiating factor is that the Silver Pro switches are the first speed switches to come factory lubricated. This would make them the smoothest speed switches, something that I would like to test out myself at some point.

There are other switches with similar specifications that aren’t marketed as speed switches, such as JWK’s Splash Brothers switches. These offer the highest actuation point at a mere 1.0mm with a 3.5mm bottom out. Like the Gateron switch, they are also lighter at 48g for bottom out. They are occasionally marketed as the Durok/JWK Speed Silver with a different colorway, blue and gold. They also have a longer stem and spring making their feel slightly different from other Silver switches. Also, like the Gateron Pro Silver switches they have JWK’s box design and are factory lubricated. 

Ultimately, there hasn’t been a large push to Speed switches in comparison to other innovations in MX switches. Some of that is from the more finnicky nature of having lighter switches with very short actuation points. Part of that is how, Kailh’s Speed Bronze for instance, have an actuation point that is below the tactile and click event. That means it is possible for the switch to both feel and sound as if it had actuated but hadn’t reached that point yet. I will eventually do an in-depth review of them as they were my first switches, I bought along with my Glorious GMMK when I got back into the hobby. That behavior though is one reason why I don’t use them. That mismatch of feedback to actuation makes them very frustrating to use as a touch-typist.

Having said that, however, doesn’t mean there hasn’t been continued experimentation within the switch makers and designers for variances in switch weight and actuation points. Kailh’s Pro lineup for instance offers heavier switches with slightly higher actuation points and bottom out distances. What I have noticed is that there’s less push towards changing the actuation point more than 0.5mm+/- from the typical 2mm position, making something like the Splash Brothers a strong outlier at 1.0mm. Another outlier is one I’ve used, NovelKey’s Blueberry switches which push the actuation point down to 3mm with bottom out at 4mm. That is also far out from the average as very few switches opt to change the actuation point to being lower. In the case of the Blueberry switches that is because of the complex and long tactile event.

Ultimately, speed switches are more of a niche choice when it comes to keyboards. In theory they are an interesting choice with short throws and interesting force curves. In practice they can be frustrating, especially for more heavy-handed typists or typists who rest their hands on the keys with a greater number of mistypes and accidental actuations. I am glad to see there is still movement with them though, even if it is slow and infrequent. Experimentation is important to continue making the keyboard world fresh and interesting. And learning from mistakes and failures is as important as learning from successes.