Thoughts on switches Part 13: Akko Jelly Blue switches

Akko Jelly Blue switches are a mid-weight tactile switch with moderate tactility. They feature a two-stage spring to offer a different feel to many other tactile switches. In addition, they utilize the strongest resistance at the start of the key press with a smooth decrease in force until actuation where the resistance increases again similarly to a linear switch until bottoming out. I decided I wanted to try these out because I wanted a heavier tactile switch than my Gateron Brown and Cherry MX Clear switches but that isn’t as pronounced as TKC Kiwis or NovelKeys Blueberries. And these switches fall squarely in that middle region while offering a unique design at a more budget-friendly price.

I’ve mentioned how I’ve come to enjoy linear switches most recently. But I also enjoy trying out switches to see what other options are available in the mechanical keyboard world. I especially enjoy finding switches that offer something that I haven’t tried yet in a switch. For Akko’s Jelly Blue switches that is the two-stage spring that they utilize in these switches. Generally, a tactile switch has a distinct force profile that has the pre-tactile start, rise to tactile event peak, then a drop down after the bump followed by a gradual increase in resistance until they bottom out. Changing from a traditional single-stage spring to one where there are two points where the springs compress changes that slightly. In the case of Jelly Blue switches that is seen as a very slight increase in resistance midway through the stroke following the tactile peak. In practice, that feels like the switch gets heavier midway through the downstroke and then decreases again until the bottom of the resistance.

To me, this dynamic change in resistance somewhat reminds me of the feeling of the NovelKeys Blueberry switches, in a manner of speaking. Now, with Blueberry switches there is a distinct, physical trough towards the end of pressing the switch where it feels balanced between the force of returning to the neutral position and continuing to bottom out. But while that feeling is strong due to it being due to the physical shape of the stems in Blueberries, in Jelly Blues it is more nuanced and much more subtle. Instead of it being a property of the switch stems it is due to that second stage of the spring requiring additional force to continue. So, even though in principle it is similar, in usage it is a more subtle approach. I like this as I liked Blueberry switches in the feel of how they actuate but found them too heavy in practice most of the time. Again, sometimes I enjoy changing things up and going with a heavier switch but that combined with the massive tactile bump of Blueberries make them tedious to use for me.

To compare in the opposite direction, I find Brown switches lacking tactility leaving me wanting more feedback from the switches. In that, Jelly Blue switches offer a nice middle between heavy or sharp tactile switches and the subtle, and often scratchy, feel of Browns. Jelly Blues aren’t factory lubricated like some of Akko’s other switches (such as the Jelly Blacks that I have tried and enjoyed). Even so, they are a relatively smooth switch. They aren’t nearly as scratchy as either Cherry Browns or Gateron Browns making them more pleasant to type on in that regard. They also offer that nice, moderate tactility I’ve been wanting to try for some time now. I also appreciate that they don’t feature a sharp tactility, instead a smooth rise and fall with a rounded bump. The actuation point is immediately after the end of the tactile drop and at the very start of the rise in resistance towards the bottom of the switch. As such it is possible, though difficult to complete the tactile event without actuating the switch. In practice however, during typing or gaming, the switches are light enough and the tactile event is strong enough to have you press through the actuation point even if you do not end up bottoming out the switches.

In my opinion that is what makes for a great tactile switch. They should be strong enough to be felt and to lead your fingers to actuate the switch but also have enough force left over to make bottoming out less likely. For that, these switches are well designed for both of those aspects. Akko has used these two-stage springs in two other switches, their Sponge and Starfish switches. The Sponge switches are a recolor of the Jelly Blue switches while the Starfish is a linear switch. I’m curious to see how a two-stage spring would affect the feeling of a linear switch but right now they’ve disappeared from their Amazon listing for some reason. They can be purchased directly from Akko but that will add shipping costs and a longer wait time than Amazon. I find Akko often has variants like that, where the difference is simply coloring and unless you are targeting a specific aesthetic you can simply go with the easier to buy option between them.

Back to construction, Jelly Blue switches feature Akko’s entirely polycarbonate housing, hence the name. The stem is POM with the dust jacket around the stem cross in attempt at making them dustproof. The polycarbonate housing is a transparent pale blue with the POM stem being a matching opaque blue. There is a light channel for LED backlighting but combined with the transparent housing they do tend to tint the color a bit blue making yellows greener and reds more purple. They also are a three-leg design making them compatible with both three-hole and five-hole mounts. 

Of course, the star of the design is the spring. It’s a steel spring that measures 22mm tall and has two actuation zones. That makes it a taller spring than is found in most switches and gives it the distinct two-stage actuation. In practice, that makes the switches have a 40g actuation point, with 60g of peak tactile pressure, and a bottom out of 55g of force. They also have the typical 2mm actuation point and 4mm of total travel. For this they have a middle-to-high tactility and a middle-weighting. Akko describes them as a “toy” for the mechanical keyboard enthusiasts and I think that’s a safe description but might also result in people passing them up thinking they might be too esoteric for daily usage.

And for that I think people would be remiss to ignore these switches based upon that description. They’re an affordable, middle-tactility switch with quality construction and design. At $16.99 for 45 switches via Amazon that’s under $0.38 a switch making them a good option for the price. Additionally, they often go on sale such as right now as I am writing this, they are down to $15.29 for 45 or just under $0.34 a switch. At Akko’s website their price is $11.99 for 45 or just under $0.27 a switch. However, shipping to where I am on the West Coast would be $10.27 for 90 switches, almost as much as buying another 45 switches and more expensive than Amazon, albeit less than a dollar more for the standard price but around $3 more with the sale price.

The Jelly Blue switches also have tight tolerances, with little stem wobble or housing rattle. There’s very little east-west wobble and a touch more in the north-south direction but still easily under most other switches I’ve used. Additionally, I find the longer spring has the additional benefit of reducing the pinging sounds from the springs. And though they aren’t factory lubricated, they are also smoother than most stock switches I’ve used and distinctly less scratchy as well. For tactile switches I think they are a good choice to use and just drop into a keyboard and go but I think they would also even out the sound and feeling even more with a light lubrication of the spring, stem pole, and stem sides while keeping the stem legs dry to preserve tactility or lightly lubricated to reduce tactility.

Combined with double-shot ABS Cherry profile keycaps they have a higher, clackier sound on my Keychron Q7. I think it’s a pleasant sound, albeit not my favorite. In particular, the spacebar sounds hollower than most other switches I’ve used this same keycap set with and that’s not as pleasant compared to the rest of the keys that aren’t as large. I think I would need to experiment with other profiles and keycap materials to find a better combination for sound with these switches. Polycarbonate has a different resonance to it than nylon or POM for instance and I think both of those provide a nicer sound to my ears but that’s also entirely subjective as everyone has different ideas of what sounds best to them.

And that’s why I feel these are an interesting switch that is worth a look for people who either enjoy tactile switches already, or who want to experiment with different switch designs to see how they affect sound and feel. So, in a way, they are a bit of a “toy” switch for me. I like using them, and will do so in the future, but I also see them as being not quite what I am looking for in tactile switches. I think for myself I’d prefer a mid-press tactile bump rather than having no pretravel like these do by having the tactile bump start immediately with pressing the key. I also would likely like different material to polycarbonate to change the sound profile. But, again, I still recommend them as a budget-friendly tactile switch with a unique feel and look to them. They are also consistently in stock making them easy to buy and not wait for them to return to stock. As my second Akko switches that I’ve tried I’ve come to view them very differently than I did before using them and am delighted in what I’ve found as far as quality and price.