Short, snappy tactile with a harsh, loud bottom-out; the one who knocks.

TL;DR: These little blue crystals basically feel like extra-smooth, shortened T1’s.

That is, with a shorter travel because of the Halo stem, but with a similar smooth bump that encompasses most of the travel. Very satisfying.

I tend to fidget with my switch testers when I watch stuff. While clacking away on Creams, Inks, Creamy Inks, T1’s, and Holy Pandas, I had the thought to put a Halo stem into an Ink housing since the Cream and T1 stems do so well in them. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

This is definitely a switch meant to be bottomed-out; the bump essentially ends right as the stem hits the housing, giving for a very clean, snappy feel.

[ Is the danger ]

The sound and feel from that bottom-out is a little less distinct than that of a Holy Panda, also a bit less loud and piercing, as if the plastic is less dry, or more dense - I actually prefer this sound. The only caveat here is some amount of spring ping if they haven't been lubed. I do generally find the switch plenty smooth without lubing, but I still encourage it for the sound improvement.

Here's a quick and dirty sound test of these switches unlubed; you can hear how deep and clacky they are - but also how much the unlubed springs ping as a consequence:

I’ve got to hand it to Gateron - they’ve got some good secret sauce in those Ink housings - I really don't feel the need to lube these at all, and I'm sure they'd only be all the smoother if someone did.

For its short travel, the bump is wide and smooth - very clear and noticeable, yet much more subtle and clean than the Box silent browns I’m typing on now (which themselves are much more snappy than other “browns”).

If you like the loudness and tactility of Holy Pandas but find them a little too high-maintenance or rough-around-the-edges, this frankenswitch might be worth a try for you.

Conclusion: I'd reccomend this switch for those that like an extra snappy, smooth “D-shaped” tactile bump. It’s not necessarily heavy like the bump on a Box Royal, but since it all but demands a hard bottom-out, they can be a little tiring - I suppose that’s the price of admission for what is to me one of the most fun switches in my collection.

As a closing note, this applies to pretty much any switch with a total throw less than 4mm: If you’re interested in doing a build with these, I recommend you check out the video below by Walker's Keyboard Science - it will save you some headache when it comes to the stabs. Basically, you'll want a certain size of washer that fits around the cross-mounts and acts as a raised floor to prevent the cap from teeter-tottering one way or another on the stab mounts. This is also helpful for stabs where clipping significantly reduces the normal resting height of the mounts.

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