Great tool to get a practical feel for switches. Switch reviews are like reading perfume reviews, more of a poem. It's hard to get a sense of what 'tactile' and 'clicky' means to different people.
The product really should come with just a cheap printed map of which switch is which; referring back to the image here works but shouldn't be necessary.
Admittedly, the first thing I did was mash this tester against my face. And yes, it was satisfying.
I really appreciate the sheer number of switch options. You can really get a feel for the variance of similar switches (ie the milky vs the standard gaterons), plus you get to see a lot of switches you have never heard of before (ie the aliaz switches). Highly recommended.
They appear to be fully functional switches with the connections on the back. I don't have a hot swappable board to test it out with to get you a definite answer. It would be nice to test the actuation points... they could be hooked up to a simple LED that lights up the clear base-but this switch tester is expensive enough as it is. This is good for feeling the actuation weights, there's a lot of variation in this set. Some feel like they'd be tiring to type on, and some (clears) like there's barely any weight and i'd mistype on them - but I've no idea really. End of the day you'll still need to type with a full set of switches for a while to see how you like it, but this switch tester helps narrow things down and give you a view of the overall switch landscape.
I wish this came with at least a paper copy of all of the switch names.
Otherwise, it's a useful way to get a feel for a bunch of different switches (and it's a lot of fun to play with)
Very well made and useful.
The problem I have with these switch testers is that it doesn't really give you a good idea of what it will feel like on a keyboard. You really have to use your imagination.
I got it as a gift for a friend's birthday and he was extremely happy with it.
It's sturdy and has good build quality all around. It's easy to replace the switches also in case you want to replace some of the switches, very modular.
A wide variety of switches that definitely helped me decide what switches I wanted. I went into this expecting to confirm that I wanted the Kailh Box Jades or Navies, but they were simply too loud. Instead I ended up going with the 67g Zealios tactile switches which I hadn't considered before. Only complaint is that it could be priced slightly better.