Not All Linears Are The Same!
Figure 1: Not even all of these (mostly) KTT-made linears are the same! After all of my years of collecting, reviewing, and obsessing over switches, I can say with certainty that linear switches are the most misunderstood of all of the switch types. No, I’m not talking about mechanically either, as all of the claims of them “just going straight up and down” are somewhat kind of true. (Not too much though, don’t get that excited.) The part that is often misunderstood, though, is usually in what is being implied when people say that these switches just go straight up and down – “All linears might as well be the same.” If the title of this article didn’t make that obvious enough to you, I find that sort of idea to be completely and utterly wrong. The people who make these implications wouldn’t say that a Cherry MX Black is the same as a Novelkeys Cream switch? They also certainly wouldn’t ever claim that every Gateron-made linear is the same as every fancy TTC one out there...
May 29, 2024
A side comment - function keys do stink. Pretend they are not there, that is it, and if you are heavy user of ESC key just use programmable nature of keyboard to remap ESC to some other key.
Bottom line - if you work with computer to earn a living, and suffer from wrist pain (even if it is minor), do yourself a favor and get this keyboard. Or 2, like I did. And those were best spent $500 in my whole life (and so much cheaper that surgery alternative!).
Here is one bad news associated with this keyboard. It is true end-game. If you switch to it successfully, there is NO upgrade path. If it breaks, you will want to replace it with another one just like it. I know I will.
In case somebody from Kinesis is reading this - THANK YOU!
The amazing thing about these keyboards is I find they get better with age