Feedback on the BOX Ocean Whale Silent Linear switches

Typing & Ergonomics
1

I’m a big fan of linear switches for typing. I was a little disappointed when the Model 100 came with these … colorfully named switches (seriously, "BOX Ocean Whale Silent Linear? lol) instead of the BOX Reds found in the Atreus, but I was happy to give them a try.

One of my frequent thumb keys came squeaky out of the box, but swapping it out was no problem. Other than that, I’ve really enjoyed them—more, even, than the reds.

However …

Maybe I got a bad batch, but it seems as though the reliability is lower on these than the reds. Multiple keys are now doing the squeaky routine. It’s a sort of squeak followed by a faint click, even though there’s no discernible tactitlity to using the switch. Now, I don’t hate clicky switches, but I do hate inconsistency. I unfortunately found it annoying enough that I boxed up my Model 100 for now (in favor of my Model F; like I said, I’m not a hater of clicky switches).

So the feedback is: They’re great switches … albeit inconsistent ones. I’ll probably swap them out for reds in the future and resume using my Model 100. (Question: Why were these chosen instead of reds?)

For reference: I’m a developer by profession and have been using the Model 100 as a daily driver since I got it. My work machine is also my home machine, so it sees > 8 hours of use each day. If you type less than me, you may go a long while without developing the problem (assuming my experience is typical). If you type more than me, then I’m sure you can extrapolate :wink:

2

Interesting, I thought that the Box click only develops on Box tactile switches when the lube wears off. Multiple of the Box Silent Ocean Islet (tactile) switches that were in my Model 100 developed click even though they were barely used. They are not great switches anyway, so I replaced them pretty much immediately, but the quality control of Kailh Box switches seems pretty bad?

3

The name is actually Ocean Whale tactile and Ocean Islet linear – I think keyboardio got the names mixed up.

I think the Ocean Whale tactile (“brownish”) switches are actually very good from the typing feel as well really low noise, but I find them not consistent as well. Quite a few make a squeaking sound or are sounding scratchy.

What I also do not find good is that the model 100 case seems to resonate and amplify the sound of the switches. The Whale tactile are way more silent, when you put them in another keyboard. Interestingly silent tactile (Kailh) sound a tad louder than the Ocean Whale tactile in general, but not in the model 100. I find the silent brown tactile a better fit for the the model 100 – except for the palm keys, where the Whale sound more silent. At least that was my experience.