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RSS FeedsTECSEE Purple Panda Switch Review
Introduction
It has been a couple months, but I am happy to say I am back with another mechanical keyboard switch review. Though there are many aspects that determine the experience of using a keyboard, the switches are obviously critical and more nuanced than simply being linear, tactile, or clicky. These new switches I purchased from 1Up Keyboards at a much appreciated discount, to help me be able to review them. Of the previous batch of switches I have worked with, my favorite were definitely the Gazzew Boba U4 Silent Tactile, which 1Up Keyboards provided, as I enjoyed the tactility of their action and the very quiet typing experience. Though I suspect it will be difficult for another switch to compete with those for me, it will be very interesting to see how close some may come.
This first switch type is the TECSEE Purple Panda, which is also a tactile switch and features a large, round bump on its legs. Mechanical keyboard switches contain two metal leaves that complete a circuit when they come into contact, registering a keypress. Separating them is a pair of legs on the stem, the part that moves up and down in the switch until enough pressure is applied. In a linear switch, the edge of these legs is straight while a tactile switch, like these, has a curve or bump on them, which alters the amount of force it takes to move the stem and allow the leaves to touch. The size, shape, and placement of the bump all contributes to the exact feel of pressing the switch, with this large, round bump being something quite popular since the creation of the Holy Panda franken-switch. Fortunately these Purple Panda switches do not require combining parts from multiple switches to build, as those once did.
While the shape of the bump is certainly critical to the experience of typing with a switch, there are other important characteristics as well, such as the stem and housing materials, and spring weight. In this case a 68 g spring is used (coincidentally the same as the Boba U4 switches I have), the stem is made of POM, and the top and bottom housing are both made of PME, a proprietary material that is meant to provide a smooth feel while also giving a pleasant sound. The Purple Pandas come "very lightly lubed" but you can certainly open them up to lubricate them more.
At the time I am writing this, 1Up Keyboards has the Purple Pandas listed at $0.55 a switch. As I test switches in the NK65 – Entry Edition NovelKeys was kind enough to provide when I started into custom mechanical keyboards, I ordered a 70 pack, which left two spares.
In the last switch review I did, the Kailh Box Jade Switch Review, I changed the way I recorded sound tests, taking advantage of OBS Studio to record from multiple devices at the same time, and with the RNNoise filter enabled and disabled. As these are not clicky switches, I will not be concerning myself with the impact RNNoise, but will still use this method. It is a bit easier as I can record with my recording microphone and headset at the same time. I should also mention that after the last review I also lubricated the stabilizers on the NK65, and while I still have a ping on the long Space Bar stabilizer, the other stabilizers sound and feel better to type on. Technically that makes these recordings and results not perfectly comparable to those of the other reviews, but they should still be close enough. (By the way, I am confident I can resolve the ping I mentioned with better lubricant application, I just have not done so yet.)
I believe that covers enough, so we can get into the actual switch review.
Review:
As I have been using the Boba U4s in the 1Up Keyboards 1up60hse build for months before I started with these, they were my frame of reference and definitely impacted my first impression. To put it simply, these almost felt linear to me, but the context of coming from the Boba U4 switches is very important here. I took some pictures to be certain, and will share them later, but the tactile bump on the Boba U4 legs is larger than on the Purple Panda. I had grown so comfortable with the stronger tactility of the other switches that I was easily pushing right through it on these. It is also worth noting both use 68 g springs, so it will be the differences between the bumps that most impact the feeling of a keypress.
While it is true that, at first, the tactile bump was not very noticeable for me, I could still recognize they were tactile switches, because of something I enjoy about tactile switches; where the peak force is. For a linear switch, the peak force is at the bottom of the keypress, as the compressed spring pushes against you the strongest there, but for a tactile switch it can be in other locations. It does come down to the design of the bump, but my preference is for the peak force to be at the top, almost like a check on if I mean to press the switch. Once I overcome that peak force, the keystroke will continue all the way down.
Even though the tactile bump was weaker, compared to what I was used to, it was still strong enough to give me that feeling of the peak force being at the top. After having spent a few weeks with these switches, getting used to them, I do now notice the bump far better than I did. I can also still tell it is weaker than the Boba U4s, but it is there, and that weakness might make these better for you, depending on your use cases.
There is a trend to say that linear switches are the best for gaming. Given the great variety of tactile switches, and the importance of personal preference, that trend has limited strength behind it. Some tactile switches have such weak tactility to not interfere with or slow down your fingers pressing a key. While it has rarely been an issue, there have been times the Boba U4s were difficult to rapidly press a key for, such as when having to spam-click the Space Bar. That has not been the case with the Purple Pandas. Even now, when I can better feel the tactile bump, my ability to rapidly press a key is not impacted.
Of course it should be noted that I am a somewhat heavy typist, as I almost always bottom out while typing, no matter the switch. Pushing through this bump for rapid-clicking is far from an issue for me, but if you have a lighter touch, then this might prove an issue. For me, these Purple Panda switches are in a nice middle ground of giving me the tactility I want, especially when writing something, as I am now, without interfering with my gaming experience in any way. (To be clear, the Boba U4s do not interfere with my gaming except when rapidly pressing a key, especially the Space Bar with its large size.)
As you can see in this picture, I have the stems of an NK Blueberry and a Boba U4, with the profiles of the bumps then placed on the bottom. While it is true I had to trace these from the image, and so they might not be very accurate, the Purple Pandas' bump also felt smaller than that of the Boba U4, so this makes sense to me. I aligned the profiles by the point where the leg comes out of the main body of the stem, which is the rightmost point of the profiles, as I assume these are consistent across the stems. Comparing with the Blueberry bump is somewhat difficult, I believe, because of it being at more of an angle in the picture, potentially distorting it. Still, it is evident the bump is quite flat, which I noticed when I reviewed that switch type, and while typing on it.
In addition to talking about the tactile bump, I should also spend some time with the smoothness of the action. According to the product page, the Purple Pandas are very lightly lubed, and I can believe it, though my experience with lubed switches is still limited. When using the Silk Yellow switches that came lubricated, or when I experimented with lubricating the other switches, the feeling was different than I get from these. Lubrication works by replacing the solid-on-solid movement, in the case of keyboard switches it is plastic-on-plastic, with lubricant-on-lubricant movement, which can be much smoother and easier. Though my sense of this is not refined yet, the action does not feel like lubricant-on-lubricant, but more like plastic-on-plastic. That does not bother me in the least, as the action does still feel quite smooth. Perhaps I can believe a stronger application of lubricant would make it smoother, but I am completely satisfied with this feeling and experience.
Having covered the mechanical action of the switch, I should get to talking about the sound of typing on these. I will give the measurements shortly, but I first want to say I do enjoy the sound these make while typing. My general preference still is for a quieter typing experience, but the sound of these is quite nice, with a pitch on the lower side. I do not know if it qualifies as the "thock" some keyboard enthusiasts search for, but it is quite satisfying to me. It might not be silent, but I have no complaints about this either.
Here is the first recording I made with these switches, shortly after installing them in the NK65. Just looking at the image we can see the sound of typing on these at speed is enough for both my MXL 990 recording microphone and Arctis 7 headset to pick it up, confirming these are not silent. Looking at the statistics, my voice peaked at -12.422 dB on the recording mic while typing peaked at -25.777 dB. (Amplified so my voice is at -3 dB, typing was at -16.352 dB.) Audacity's Contrast tool indicates my voice averaged -35.66 RMS dB with my typing averaging -56.72 RMS dB, for a difference of 21.06 RMS dB. While it is possible for a greater difference, this is still respectable.
For the headset, where my voice did clip, typing had a peak at -17.229 dB. With the Contrast tool, my voice averaged -19.19 RMS dB and my typing was at -47.71 RMS dB, giving a difference of 28.52 RMS dB. Having that microphone so much closer to my mouth definitely helps, but the difference is enough for a simple noise gate to work with the recording microphone. Though I am not sharing the results, looking at the RNNoise recordings the typing does not appear, but I did not test both recording and speaking at the same time.
With the passage of a few weeks, I have gotten used to these switches and the layout of the NK65 (the 1up60hse build uses the quite different standard 60% ANSI layout), and the switches have had time to break in.
Aside from talking for less time at the start of this recording, this looks quite similar to what I captured a few weeks ago, so time to look at the statistics. For the recording mic, my voice peaked at -14.302 dB while my typing was at -27.245 dB. With the Contrast tool, my voice averaged -36.61 RMS dB with my typing at -56.50 RMS dB, producing a difference of 19.89 RMS dB. For the headset, my voice clipped while my typing peaked at -15.774 dB. The Contrast tool reports my voice having an average of -19.08 RMS dB and my typing an average of -49.18 RMS dB, for a difference of 30.10 RMS dB.
As usual, the recordings are uploaded to a GitHub repository for anyone to review: Custom-Keyboard-Files/@Switches/TECSEE-Purple-Panda.
Overall, it looks like the sound has not changed too much over the course of these weeks, even as I remembered the 65% layout. While the microphone showed a smaller difference between my voice and typing, the headset shows a greater difference. Of course the specific placement of either microphone is important here, but both should have been in approximately the same position as weeks ago. If we look at just the average amplitude for the typing, the recording mic had an almost identical value (-56.72 RMS dB and -56.50 RMS dB) while the headset had a lower average the second time (-47.71 RMS dB initially, and -49.18 RMS dB later). For either device, the change has not been too much and I would not consider these loud switches.
Before wrapping up this part of the review, I have checked for stem and housing wobble with the one spare Purple Panda I have assembled. (Two spares with one taken apart for pictures.) The switch housing feels very secure, not budging at all in either direction as I try to shift them in my fingers. The stem does move some, but not a significant amount for concerns of wobble. The stem needs some freedom for normal operation and it does not seem to move much more than that. This seems to be a rather tightly designed and built switch. Checking the stem wobble of one of the currently installed switches, it does not appear any different than this spare, and while I cannot check housing wobble, the spare feels tight enough that I am not concerned.
Conclusion:
Can I recommend the Tecsee Purple Panda tactile switch for a mechanical keyboard build? Definitely. I am so satisfied with these that I could definitely see myself making these the permanent switch in the NK65 (after checking out the other switches I have, of course) or using them in a future build. I do still like the Gazzew Boba U4 Silent Tactile switches better, but these are a very solid tactile switch as well and very near those for me, making them an easy recommendation. You may need to be someone that likes a larger tactile bump to enjoy these, but they are definitely enjoyable. It is also a round bump, which is important especially when comparing to the NK Blueberry bump, that is quite flat and feels like it while typing.
The action feels nice and smooth, and while it might not be as good as well-lubricated smooth, I can offer no complaint there. The tactile bump is noticeable, though coming from a strong tactile switch, I did need to get used to these to notice it. It definitely satisfies my preference of having the peak force for the switch press at the top of the action, rather than the bottom. Though my general preference is for a silent typing experience, the sound of the down-stroke, bottoming out, and up-stroke all sound good to me. A dampened version of these would be awesome, but are not necessary to make me happy.
The next switch reviews will be somewhat more interesting, at least to me. The two switch types are identical but one features dampeners on the stem. Further increasing my interest in them, these come specifically dry, without lubrication so the user may apply that themselves. While that will be a time-consuming exercise, I am looking forward to it, to see just how great an impact it can have.
