Cherry MX Browns Are Terrible!

Why I think the most popular mechanical keyboard switch is actually the worst

Photo by Padraig Treanor on Unsplash

I am really into mechanical keyboards and urge everyone to at least give it a try. I keep exploring more and more switches as I delve deeper into the wonderful world of mechanical keyboards. Maybe I am obsessing over it, who knows. Anyways, while I think that Cherry MX mechanical keyboard switches offer a great “allround” selection of capable switches and a solid entrypoint for anyone interested, I absolutely don’t get why the Cherry MX Brown switches are so popular.

Unpopular opinion

They are supposed to be tactile switches. That means, somewhere halfway down when pressing the key on your mechanical keyboard, you’re supposed to feel a little “bump” or some kind of resistance you push through, when you reach the activationpoint. That’s supposedly “tactile”.

But in reality the Cherry MX Brown mechanical switches just feel like “broken” or “scratchy” linears, like Cherry MX Red switches that got sand into them. They’re way too light and don’t offer much of a resistance, the tactile bump is just too subtle.

They are truly so awful, I even prefer (well done) rubber domes over them.

Why even use tactile mechanical keyboard switches?

Tactile mechanical keyboard switches are supposed to make good allrounders and offer a not-so-annoyingly-loud alternative to clicky switches for typists. The whole thing about a clean, neat and precise typist’s switch is the tactility. The ability to feel with your fingers when the keypress was registered. For that reason the activation point and the “bump” should be as close together as possible and the “bump” should be really pronounced. Cherry MX Browns fail at both these features.

Valid alternative options to Cherry MX Brown switches

The sole problem with alternatives to Cherry MX Browns is not choice but rather availability. There are a few switches that do “tactile” right, but they usually don’t make their way into mainstream pre-built keyboards. Thus they’re mostly hidden behind the…