I’m still pretty new to the hobby, but recently sampled a few switches to find one for my work keyboard. This writeup is about the silent tactiles.

I am amazed to find that silent switches can feel so good these days. Of course these are just my own feelings based on my preferences so take this with a grain of salt. All switches are stock, no additional lube.

The switches:

• Boba U4 62/68g
• Wuque Studio Silent Tactile
• TTC Silent Bluish White
• Durock Shrimp

Silence (quietest first): U4, Shrimp, Bluish White, WS

Smoothness (smoothest first): WS, U4, Bluish White, Shrimp

Tactile bump (biggest first): U4, Shrimp, WS, Bluish White

Bottom out feel (crispest first): WS, Bluish White, Shrimp, U4

Tactile Feedback (most first): WS, Bluish White, Shrimp, U4

Overall ranking (favorite first):

• TTC Silent Bluish Whites - These were not the top in any one category, yet I liked them the most overall. They’re silent enough for most purposes. They give a good amount of feedback, and don’t suffer from as much vagueness as most silent switches. If the U4s feel like popping bubble wrap, these feel like sticking a chopstick through a grape. There is a round-shaped initial resistance, and then it gives way with a slightly squishy feel on the way down before a soft but crisp thump at the bottom
• Durock Shrimp - Most reviews I read seemed to think the U4s were superior to these. Indeed these weren’t as smooth, made a bit more noise during travel and didn’t have quite as much of a bump, but they also had a significantly more definite bottom out feel compared to the U4, which makes them nicer to use in my books.
• Wuque Studio Silent Tactile - They were the best in many categories, but I ranked them low in the context of silent switches because of their loud sound when topping out. I wouldn’t consider these silent at all. If the top was also dampened, these would likely be my favorite as they feel just a bit smoother and more refined than the Silent Bluish Whites.
• Boba U4 - I really wanted to like these switches. I was convinced that I would love them after reading all the reviews, so much so that I bought quite a few up front. Perhaps those high expecations led to greater disappointment. Despite having the biggest tactile bump out of these, they felt the most vague, especially when bottoming out. Like popping bubble wrap sitting on top of more bubble wrap. There’s feedback from when you initially press to the middle of the bump, but once it gets past the middle, it just feels like there’s nothing. The 62g and 68g felt really similar to me - one is of course just slightly heavier. That’s not to say these switches are terrible in the grand scheme of things. The few sets of switches I bought were all recommended by others as the best. That makes these the worst of the best in my eyes, I suppose.