The Cherry MX Brown Paradox 

The real brown paradox is how youll run through 50+ switches/frankenswitches just to end up using cherry switches in your "endgame"

man really be like woken up and then chose to make a video essay about browns 💀

i've been maining browns for over 7 months. Now my browns are broken in 1.2mil times, the tactility is just perfect for me as to not be fatigue after 3 hours of typing, the sound of cherry switches are too good. And I think one of the reason that mx browns are coming back is because it's really cheap (27 cents per switch) and it's old and reliable (mx blacks)

Fantastic video. I love the history and analysis, great format!

Cool editing, pacing, story telling and history lesson. All around high quality video content on an interesting topic. Thanks a lot!

I have cherry brown switches, and I LOOOVE them. the feeling and sound is addicting

15 years ago I bought my first Gaming keyboard, also happened to be a Mechanical keyboard with Cherry Brown. De-soldered it and have it on my new boards, I'm in love aging

"Old and stagnant with a boring black housing and a dull brown stem." I think everyone would agree that the color of the switch housing is the most important part of a keyboard. If one doesn't have the right color (that one can't see) under the key cap then how is one expected to feel good about one's keyboard experience? Isn't typing all about the switch colors hidden under opaque key caps? I feel good knowing that my switches are creamy white (I can see them).

i enjoy these switch or keyboard history videos finding out origins of things. Deepdives are very cool!

Awesome video mate thank you for the hard work

Awesome video, and love the editing! Been thinking about trying out MX browns myself for a while, they were universally hated when I first got into the hobby but like you said in the video, I've seen more and more people use browns in their "endgame" builds, so I'd love to see whats up with that myself

The first step: polish the molds so they don't sound so sandy that they resemble dirty vintage switches.

Cool video, just my 2c but i think some of the desire for more texture feels like a reaction to the ever-increasing smoothness race of switches like tangies / inks that were very hyped up when the hobby was exploding in the pandemic. I bought into the zeal hype a few years back and bounced off it hard, so im glad we have so many nice options for lighter tactiles now. I've been really liking the blueberry chiffons recently!

As someone who uses a model m at work everyday. It baffles me to hear that people call mx brown tactile

In my opinion, MX Brown is not that bad, especially with the new "Hyperglide" batch. Not everyone can type for 2 hours straight with a sharp tactility like Dark Jade or Durock Sunflower

This was such an interesting video as someone that left the hobby when cherry blues and browns were the kings. But coming back is really cool i just picked up malodics, box jades, pro purples and baby kangaroos... They are all so nice compared to the mx greens that i loved before

Man ur content just always hits. Very very unique chanel, stands out from the saturated content that doesnt do anything new, hope u get more recognition man :) I hope I find my own niche like u did in keyboard content

I think I’m gonna lube up my mx brown stems and legs and put em in a frog tkl. I’m a linear guy but sometimes I wish I had just a *tiny* bit of tactility and the sound of the tactile bump is nice. Also wanted to say great job on the video. The storytelling and editing were top notch!

the butter browns are bussin 🔥🔥🔥 the secret blend of cherry tops give them a very poppy sound or known in the community as the "cherry sound" lots of people in the community enjoys the sound so many people use switches with a cherry top. also the stock springs in the cherry switches are very bad and give the switch a very muted sound, many people remiedy this issue by spring swapping the switches with longer and better manufactered springs ex: sprits springs, tx springs and kelowna springs. The stem wobble is very prominent if you opened the switch many times to lube and spring swap the switches for people would use flims like the tx 0.15 mm films to mitigate the stem and housing wobble and also not effecting the sound by using a thin film the strachy feeling and the chalky sound is a very big problem with the mx switches so people in the community use machine named " breaking machine" to use down by the machine pushing/acuating the switches to make the inside of the switch less matte and more polished to make it feel more smooth. The vintage mx switches. Cherry back then (1980s) had better mold then they do now which created a better sound and feeling mx switches. They were used in many atari and vintage keyboards so after many years of used their housings and stems of the " vintage" switches was a lot smoother than a normal broken in mx blacks or brown today. This lead to them being very imfamous and wanted in the community. In 2022 people started "diamond polishing" their mx blacks and mx browns switches to make them buttery smooth. This just shows how much people are willing to do to make their mx blacks feel decent to type on 💀

A rare time when youtube recommends a video that's actually interesting. Great thumbnail too! Got me to click on it

Got my brown keyboard long time ago... never ever needed even to think in changing them, typing/maming in them has come second nature to me and when I'm looking for a new keyboard I'm always looking for brown as I would not like to change the feeling of my typing;

For me it was the sound that made me want to try Cherry. My first linears were pretooled Blacks in an MX Board 3.0, then I got my first hotswap board where I did the full circle of many many different amazingly smooth full travel and long pole switches. Eventually I did a cheapo build that I purchased cheap broken in and lubed blacks that were from a smooth batch. I liked the sound of this crappy 50€ board more than what I gathered before together. So I splurged and bought MX Browns that were polished and I lubed filmed and spring swapped them. I love them and they will stay in my possession as long as they or I live. I might change the springs tho, I haven’t found the perfect spring for me yet

Nice rep for the Meteor Oranges. They're a great switch if you like light tactiles. I've seen some refer to them as medium tactiles, but I wouldn't go that far. They have more in common with Browns than they do with say Ergo Clears or Jwick T1s. Ever since I ordered some, I pretty much fell in love with those. Used some 800k actuation Browns with TX springs as well but I think Meteors are still my favourite after trying so many hyper-tactiles in the past and then eventually realising just how nice that category of light crisp tactile feedback is. Great video man

KTT Matchas are the zoomer mx brown. I love them

I can see the contrarian argument for why some people are rounding the circle, but for some, these new breeds of switches are a godsend. As a person with meat hooks for hands, I love having a heavier switch with a strong tactile bump otherwise I end up with errant key presses. I was using Novel Keys Box Navies for that reason but they're just too loud and ever so slightly too heavy for protracted typing.

All I know is that I have Cherry MX Browns on my keyboard (had it since 2021) and I absolutely love them. Maybe I'm weird. They give, to me, the perfect feeling response, I feel like like I'm actually pushing the key, they are clicky but not absolutely obnoxious.

I'm still using my Filco with MX Browns i've had for the last 12 years I've washed the keyboard in the bathtub with dishwashing liquid dozens of times and it still works 100%

I think the hate was blown out of proportion from people that just like to echo what "x person" said. It is objectively bad when pitted against other tactile switches in terms of tactility, but you can't deny that they cater to a certain niche. I use stronger tactiles now, but I still think MX Browns are the best switch despite the glaring imperfections. I'll try out other light tactiles like the Pewter to see if they can match the feel without the flaws.

I was first exposed to the “cherry mx brown bad” idea from Chyrosran22 lol. I personally don’t think I dislike the size of the tactile bump but where in the travel it is, since I really like Hako Violets.

There is something cozy about the brown switch I can't put my finger on. Well, I mean obviously I can put my finger on it, but I'm speaking figuratively.

The average cherry brown hater hasn't tried spring swapped browns and it shows

looking forward to your vid tutorial about how to lube cherry brown (yes I know there are some vids out there but I'd love to see yours).

My first mechanical keyboard was a 2016 cooler master with cherry mx browns and was my main for 4 years. Desoldered all of them, lubed, and filmed in 2022. These switches are tried and true, and will always be the best switch in my heart. IMO, it's best to break them in naturally. Never got in the Holy Panda hype, especially with those stupid prices. Great video!

For me, lubed switches usually feel like there’s syrup in my switch, it just adds resistance even if it’s technically smoother. Ultra tactile switches are exhausting to me, so I get the return to browns. The whole notched slider method is probably not capable of making a switch to my liking, there’s just too much friction involved in creating the bump, hopefully more Alps-inspired switches will make it to market since their tactility is much sharper, clickiez are much too tactile to use for long unfortunately.

I personally dont like the feel of browns, however the sound is too good to ignore, plus it being a light tactile is good as if you dont care for them they can be a psuedo linear

I just got hyper glide browns broken in and lubed from loobedswitches and man I really love these switches. I think they are a little too light I accidentally hit keys sometimes but I’m coming from dark jades and heavier linears so I think I’ll just have to get used to them. I actually really love the sound of these browns and the feel so far I don’t understand the memed hate

ah yes, the mx brown, the smoothest linear switch on the market

Brown style "barely tactile" switches are endgame to me, linear switches are too ambiguous to get the feel of and anything more tactile or clicky is unnecessary. Browns are the pragmatist's dream. Brown switches are soulless by design. They are the keyboard switch analog of brutalist/social modernist architecture and I find them beautiful. Plain genuine MX Browns are not ideal in my opinion because they wobble a bit too much and are too scratchy out of the box, even if we're talking binned.

i started the hobby with mx browns, and they were fine. i appreciate the clone manufacturers because it allows for innovation. i think that on their own, mx browns are fine. i think the problem stems that they were considered the default for a long time. as someone who owns a board with salmon alps, the tactility on those blows mx browns out of the water, and it's not something that's too fatiguing to type on or too tactile. with the zeal clickiez that brought back a leaf spring for a clicky sound and tactility, i really hope we see a not-uber tactile version of clickiez with a tactile leaf spring, because that will almost certainly take the hobby by storm if they drop.

I sympathize with people who like browns. I've always been a clicky guy, and while I love Kailh's clickbar switches, I've always had a soft spot for cherry greens. Yeah, it's a rattly noise, but when typing at speed, it sound pretty nice, and while I wouldn't call it tactile (Cherry switches simply aren't in my opinion), cherry greens (and blues to a lesser extent) offer a good weight so that you aren't actuating just by breathing, while still being fairly comfortable to type on.

Holy Pandas or other super tactile switches are like that shiny new toy. There's a type of thrill to initially trying out something so tactile and satisfying. But that doesn't mean that they're the best idea for long term daily driver use. If you type fast and long enough, there is definitely a such thing as too tactile. As for myself, I consider a medium tactile, like Zealios or Ergo Clears the best balance. These are about as tactile as I can get not to get sick of my own tactile keyboard. But if I had to pick between Browns and Holy Pandas for my daily driver, browns win for the sake of practicality. I would lube and film and use quality springs if I had to use browns, there is a way to make them feel more refined. They're not exciting, but I know that they will also never cause me physical discomfort no matter how much I type on them. Maybe others are also catching on.

Never liked tactile switches for typing experience, but I mix them with linear switches for function keys like ESC, backspace, enter just to get feedback whenever I'm touch typing. Always felt like they're too fatiguing when you're doing long documents

my first mechanical keyboard had cherry browns and i loved it. now im not a fan of the sound. currently rocking some gateron oil kings

i disliked mx browns before i even got into the keyboard hobby it almost made me completely dismiss tactile switches but i got some nice haimu switches im happy with

my first switches are gateron yellow, but it feel kinda off, so i tried boba u4t with those rounded tactile, its feel great but still its tiring to type on those humongous bump, then i buy a 40% keyboard with cherry mx brown soldered, unlube, its felt like it have a worst switches of all time, its scratchy, doesn't have a nice bump, just a small bump, its worse than gateron brown that more tactile and smoother, but when i type on mx brown, its feel like it have a character, yeah its worse but it feel nice even though it scartchy asf, i don't think my daily will be cherry mx brown with those cons, but i feel happy when i type. overall my taste is trash just like mx brown, if you want to try a light tactile just choose another switches, its better in every aspect, or just linear LOL.

It's got nothing to do with nostalgia for me, since I've never used or heard of mx browns before joining the hobby. It's not the cherry sound either, otherwise I'd like ergo clears more. I just like the tactility and stock spring weight.

so funny, I used to get flamed back in the day when all the new culture vultures jumped on the generic fad hyper tactile nonsense only for people to type on browns and realize, oh wait, I actually love these and the sound they make.

I have switches very similar to mx browns and they're not that bad

So returning to mx browns is like the rise of normcore?

After using MX Browns for 6 months, got Boba U4s and loved them. However, these started dying even before completing 3 years. Now, I am trying stock MX Browns and they are not that bad at all. Spending quite a bit of money on just switches and then have them dying on you is just annoying. With these esoteric manufacturers/switches, there are no rated specs, at least Cherry has them.

I dont think mx browns are that hated tho

I feel most of the hate comes from people growing up with cheap/laptop linear keyboards. Put browns in a cheap 'gaming' keyboard and it's still just mediocre. Blues are more forgiving in that aspect; browns / silent tactiles really need a very good keyboard design + caps to not be wobbly and noisy. I do appreciate more tactile switches like Holy Panda's, but for long sessions, I feel the classic - lubed - MX browns are still the sweet-spot for me (6"4, so I pound keys anyway).

i switched from mx brown to gateron milky yellow pro and now the mx browns are literally unusable theyre so bad

The video is very well written and edited, but the narration is not that good. You aren't projecting your voice fully out, and it's like you're chewing some words, in an effort not to make noise. I'd advise you to record the narration in a more isolated place where you can speak loud and clear, and not to have to control your voice volume

I'm not even a tactile enjoyer and mx browns are in my endgame build. Legit something special about those switches. The cherry sound with the unique feel is really something else. The feel part could be because it's a plateless build though 🤷‍♀

Even though cherry Is the OG I really dislike most of their switches. It feels like i dug my keyboard out from the sand. Akko and Gateron switches feel so much better to me In that regard

Browns are the best. Red and blues are garbage.

Your audio is too low.

MX Browns are not nearly as bad as people like to meme on them for, Glarses included. That being said, the alternatives are not the second coming of christ either. At the end of the day you're all insane for choosing a tactile switch over linear. Not as insane as clicky switches, but still.