Luxia Le

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I recently got a chance to try the RK-S98 outfitted with Royal Kludge Viridian Switches. So, let’s talk about the switches. I’ll be talking about the whole keyboard this week, but I want to take the time to talk about just the switches too. My goal is to turn this blog into haven for geeks who love keyboards and building computers, and that means talking about more than just full-fledged keyboards.

Switch Type

The Royal Kludge Viridian Switches are type of linear switch, meaning they do not provide haptic feedback while typing. They’re designed to be quiet and travel smoothly and quickly from the upright position to the actuation point. They have a cross axis and use an MX cross-stem to interface with the keycaps. The switches are 5-pin switches. So, they won’t fit in 3-pin socket unless you cut the plastic legs off.

Royal Kludge Viridian Switches: My Thoughts

Price

You can buy packs of Viridian Switches from Royal Kludge. However, I got mine from a pre-built keyboard. The keyboard was $105.99 and had several premium features as well as the Viridian switches. A pack of Viridian switches starts at around $19.90 from Royal Kludge’s website.

Packaging

I got the switches from a pre-built keyboard. So I am unfamiliar with Royal Kludge’s switch packaging.

Ease of Installation

The switches fit in the board very smoothly and easily. They’re very easy to install.

Sound Profile

The Viridian switches have a very subtle and soft “creamy” sound to them. This could be in part due to the sound dampening foam in the keyboard, but the switches made a very light thumping noise when actuated that was not quite thocky, but very satisfying.

Ease of Use

The switches felt very good under my fingers. They were smooth and easy to press and felt as good as they sounded. I had no trouble at all adjusting to the feel of these switches, but that could be partially because of how many different keyboards I try every month. I’m just used to switching keyboards in a way that others are not.