Man I appreciate this video a lot! As a university student that joined the hobby around the height of the alpacas, I never really gotten the time nor opportunity to mess around with them and even look into JWK switches because of the price. I eventually got too confused with all the recolors and variants that it got too overwhelming. Love how simple and concise the video is as it cleared up a lot of confusions, cheers!
Yeah the popularity of JWK switches has been a blessing and a curse. From my POV as a creator I feel like a lot of creators are doing switch reviews at every drop to catch the hype.. but personally if I'm not buying and using these switches I can't recommend them. Honestly I still have mauves today and use them lol. Still a great all around switch. Glad you the content could help! It's time for me to start dumping the information I've retained over the years so people can learn also
3:10 this is why I prefer christolube 129 to krytox 205 because christolube improves the smoothness still while still keeping more of the switches original sound.
@@zivens.2407 to be fair mcg 129 does change the sound still like all lubes will. I think it deepens the sound without cutting out the other frequencies as much
Wow, Thank You for this video! I was super confused on the whole history of JWK and this really cleared it up, also thank you for being real about the green snake switches!
As a hardcore switch enthusiast I can confirm everything Andy said here is true. Mx blacks although a little scratchy still sound the best to me for my preference.
JWICKs are literally the same mould, materials (and spring depending on which one you get) as the Alpacas but for Gateron Yellow money. And some versions support SMD lighting. They should be the gold standard for budget.
@@AndyVNguyen I have talked to people that AB tested the clear top ones and Alpacas, they say it's the same. Those black ones might be using a different top housing material, since it appears to have a texture that other JWK switches like Alpacas don't have. It's still rather interesting
Just upgraded to Alpaca v2s from Akko CS Rose Reds, and man, the ammount of smothness is immeasurable. I cleaned off the factory lube and lubed it myself and i honestly couldn't tell the difference between the feel of stock and re-lubed, the sound is quite cleaner though. They have been my dream switches when i first discovered this hobby, finally got my hands on them
I have had some jwk recolors but my favorite one is relubed and filmed Gat golden cap yellow. I like them more than black inks, Lavs, Banana split, etc. It's pretty underrated imo I joined this hobby in 2021 so thank you for the history lesson. Very interesting about v1 vs v2 mold
7:55 "I know it sounds crazy that people care about the color of their switch" My with my Trueno livery Tofu65 which was built around the release both ePBT Kuro/Shiro and the Moyu Blacks (Dark Jades) in early 2020. Even worse, I waited so long for a matching stabilizer, and only when C3 Equalz V3 came out did I get two stabs to mix & match, just to match my Moyu's haha. All in a CF plate ofc to match. COLOR MATTERS MAN!! haha
Jwick blacks are actually so goated. Sound and feel great stock, and have a similar “scratchy” sound that cherries have. Not the same sound profile of course, but they’re smoother and kind of remind me of cherries.
jus that spring ping man, if only they factory lubed the springs too! I want a good stock switch. I know it's possible, too. the green snakes were factory lubed and sound great. but they're selling in unlubed in production run
In my opinion, after all those custom swithes experience. The god tier of the linear switch that hold both smooth and sound is UPE stem and POM bottom or another way is fine. And PA66 top is presenting the best thocky sound, especially the Cherry's black top has a secret materail come with the PA66 causing a very good top out sound. Pls try C3 tangerine with a Cherry black top, no shit.
UPE = uhmwpe? pom bottom = pom stem? Yeah cherry top frankenswitches are surprisingly good. It just hurts to pay a premium for "hyperglide" mx blacks just to take the tops off. It gets expensive. I miss the cheaper mx blacks I've been told PA66 is just a nylon so I get confused when it's being listed as material
Try vermillion birds, they’re a top 3 stock switch for me as well as ice candies. I’d say the vermillion birds do benefit from hand lubing tho in terms of sound, smoothness is moot.
@@AndyVNguyen I thought the same when I first heard of them, and bought them solely because of the name alone. I was surprised to find out they’re a pretty great switch that gives me Tealios vibes. They’re available from Elboard tho, if you wanna check them out.
i found green snakes for £3.60 (for 10) in stock and jwk blacks for £2.80 can any of you recommend one over the other? im a beginner so i would really appreciate advice
Will the 20mm spring length make you feel that the bottom out is heavier? I am comfortable with 62g tungsten switches but im not sure if the 65g with 20mm will make it feel really heavy for me. Planning to put it on Hex4b and expecting it to sound poppy :)
There's a new jwick switch again, it's ''JWK Ultimate Black '' the specifications is almost the same as Alpacas, the price is shocking cheap only $ 0.24 per switch. Any thoughts ?
I'm new in this hobby and hella confused about the switches, if i want a thocky tactile switches, what are you recommending the most (?) My eyes are on purple panda right now, but I'm still confused by how many switches there are
@@AndyVNguyen I will say that I recently bought and lubed/filmed a new batch of OP Blacks from Divinikey, and only one or two of them had any issues with stickiness or binding. The rest are smooth as butter! Guess I got lucky lol
@@AndyVNguyen What I found are JWK/JWICK Lagoons. Is that one of those? They are really cheap, maybe just two dollars more expensive than Akko CS Switches
To be honest I don't really get choosing a switch based on looks. It's not like you see much of them if anything at all once you've put keycaps on the board.
they're sold under different names but some people are saying they're basically the same thing. the full nylon wick I tried are a bit diff from full nylon jwk but it's pretty close
Lol I bought clear films to make sure my switches coordinated.. but clear = invisible which means I kept losing it when I dropped it.. would just disappear..
they aren't issues, they're traits of the switch cream stem = adds scratch, but long pole changes the sound (it bottoms out on the pole rather than stem sliders). to make that cleaner bottom out sound it has to reduce travel. cherry top = adds scratch cuz cherry material is less smooth, but also changes sound of upstroke clack like sp stars are clacky and smooth but the sound of that switch (regular length pole) won't have the same kind of clack as it is a regular stem, ie stem sliders bottom out on the bottom housing rails. so if you like BCP sound you just gotta deal w it. cuz the C, aka the cream stem, is key in making that sound but also key in making it feel weird for me personally
Man I appreciate this video a lot! As a university student that joined the hobby around the height of the alpacas, I never really gotten the time nor opportunity to mess around with them and even look into JWK switches because of the price. I eventually got too confused with all the recolors and variants that it got too overwhelming. Love how simple and concise the video is as it cleared up a lot of confusions, cheers!
Yeah the popularity of JWK switches has been a blessing and a curse. From my POV as a creator I feel like a lot of creators are doing switch reviews at every drop to catch the hype.. but personally if I'm not buying and using these switches I can't recommend them.
Honestly I still have mauves today and use them lol. Still a great all around switch.
Glad you the content could help! It's time for me to start dumping the information I've retained over the years so people can learn also
This video has needed to been made for a long time 🙏
Happy to be of service
One of the most interesting videos you've ever done here. Very informative. Please do more.
Glad you like them! I have a lot more in the brain I just have to structure into videos.
3:10 this is why I prefer christolube 129 to krytox 205 because christolube improves the smoothness still while still keeping more of the switches original sound.
*takes notes*
@@zivens.2407 to be fair mcg 129 does change the sound still like all lubes will. I think it deepens the sound without cutting out the other frequencies as much
@@ethanoux10 I'm new to the hobby so I'm soaking up all the info I can get. I'll have to try it and see what I like.
Wow, Thank You for this video! I was super confused on the whole history of JWK and this really cleared it up, also thank you for being real about the green snake switches!
Glad it was helpful!
Very informative! Everyone can benefit from these types of videos. Appreciate the effort!
Great video as usual! Really like the deepness you talk into these
Now I've finally decided that I'll collect switches more that the keebs, LOL! Would love to include this in my collection! Appreciate this review!
video long overdue, thanks for clearing the matter up! as always top notch content!
I'm glad I could help! also it's too soon to use notch terms... I have a notchbook 14 2021.. LOL
As a hardcore switch enthusiast I can confirm everything Andy said here is true. Mx blacks although a little scratchy still sound the best to me for my preference.
JWICKs are literally the same mould, materials (and spring depending on which one you get) as the Alpacas but for Gateron Yellow money.
And some versions support SMD lighting.
They should be the gold standard for budget.
Jwicks are kind of GOATed. It's the same mold? Is it just a diff material? The sound is a bit diff from regular alpaca IMO
@@AndyVNguyen from what I read they should be on the V2 mould and they say they are nylon and PC (the milky bottom and clear top ones at least)
It isn't as perfectly smooth to my ears. I have the full nylon all black
@@AndyVNguyen I have talked to people that AB tested the clear top ones and Alpacas, they say it's the same.
Those black ones might be using a different top housing material, since it appears to have a texture that other JWK switches like Alpacas don't have.
It's still rather interesting
Just upgraded to Alpaca v2s from Akko CS Rose Reds, and man, the ammount of smothness is immeasurable. I cleaned off the factory lube and lubed it myself and i honestly couldn't tell the difference between the feel of stock and re-lubed, the sound is quite cleaner though. They have been my dream switches when i first discovered this hobby, finally got my hands on them
You’ve reached the promised land
I have had some jwk recolors but my favorite one is relubed and filmed Gat golden cap yellow. I like them more than black inks, Lavs, Banana split, etc. It's pretty underrated imo
I joined this hobby in 2021 so thank you for the history lesson. Very interesting about v1 vs v2 mold
i'm hearing a lot of hype around golden cap yellows. i have some milkys here and they're solid too
7:55 "I know it sounds crazy that people care about the color of their switch"
My with my Trueno livery Tofu65 which was built around the release both ePBT Kuro/Shiro and the Moyu Blacks (Dark Jades) in early 2020. Even worse, I waited so long for a matching stabilizer, and only when C3 Equalz V3 came out did I get two stabs to mix & match, just to match my Moyu's haha. All in a CF plate ofc to match.
COLOR MATTERS MAN!! haha
hahah yeah definitely! freaking tangerines (and the latest epsilon) are so ugly it's hard for me to forgive even if the sound/feel is good
@@AndyVNguyen its for people making Halloween builds /s
@@SLiX-thatguy11m- dishonor on my birthday
strong boy heavier springs only
Thank you for the banger video, Andy!
my arms strong my fingers kinda weak tho tbh LOL
@@AndyVNguyen pullups with fingers wrapped on the bar instead of palms and you'll need heavier springs in no time
ok bruce lee workout style let's go
I picked up a set of JWICK yellows and holy crap they blow tealios out of the water and these things were only 21 cents/ea!!
yeah who's using tealios these days tbh
Thank you for this precise video I needed this!
Glad I could help!
Jwick blacks are actually so goated. Sound and feel great stock, and have a similar “scratchy” sound that cherries have. Not the same sound profile of course, but they’re smoother and kind of remind me of cherries.
jus that spring ping man, if only they factory lubed the springs too! I want a good stock switch. I know it's possible, too. the green snakes were factory lubed and sound great. but they're selling in unlubed in production run
Does it feel lighter than jwk red? (58.5g vs 60g) because i used the red ones and its too light for me
Thanks for another amazing video Andy 🔥
My pleasure!
I heard these jwk switches sound good on fr4
Great video!
I never understood the Alpaca hype. I have +30 different switches - and it's not in my 10.
The main thing was that it was very smooth. Beyond that, it's not anything that special these days
Crazy man great video, I recently made a video about recoloring my own switches i wish i watched this first
lol DIY dyeing plastics, interesting
@@AndyVNguyen 😂 yeah was super fun mixed results tho
I'm holding onto this vid for future reference.
I'm watching this while spring swapping my Alpacas to 67g for the very reason he stated in the video. 😂
lmao! 62g is way too light fr fr
@@AndyVNguyen Agreed! I thought it was just me. Anyways, I love your videos man. Keep up the great work!
Referring to scalpers: "those people are utter trash" *hits the like button*
down with the flippers
Knowledge bomb! I have UHMWPE stems unopened. What housing would you recommend I try them in?
People liked trying them in mx blacks iirc
Color coordination is important for me.
Legend! What a fantastic video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
AND THE BACKGROUND HAS GREEN ACCENTS cmon man 💚
my shirt is also olive green kek
Good vid! I’m always down for some keyboard history 🙌
Taeha says "it's the future" about almost anything that comes into his hands lol.
LUL not wrong
Love the honesty
it's the only way I know how to do it
In my opinion, after all those custom swithes experience. The god tier of the linear switch that hold both smooth and sound is UPE stem and POM bottom or another way is fine. And PA66 top is presenting the best thocky sound, especially the Cherry's black top has a secret materail come with the PA66 causing a very good top out sound. Pls try C3 tangerine with a Cherry black top, no shit.
UPE = uhmwpe?
pom bottom = pom stem?
Yeah cherry top frankenswitches are surprisingly good. It just hurts to pay a premium for "hyperglide" mx blacks just to take the tops off. It gets expensive. I miss the cheaper mx blacks
I've been told PA66 is just a nylon so I get confused when it's being listed as material
Love the video Andy!
How would you say JWK quartz compare to alpacas? I'm trying to decide switches for my next jelly build!
they look to be fine, long pole uhmwpe is not something i've tried before though. like i said probably muted upstroke but interesting bottom out sound
“Dude, I like inks” 😂
switches that have pink parts are just better for some magical reason alpacas, ktt strawberry, akko rose red
kinda tru tho
Try vermillion birds, they’re a top 3 stock switch for me as well as ice candies. I’d say the vermillion birds do benefit from hand lubing tho in terms of sound, smoothness is moot.
I swear to god that name sounds made up LMAO
@@AndyVNguyen I thought the same when I first heard of them, and bought them solely because of the name alone. I was surprised to find out they’re a pretty great switch that gives me Tealios vibes. They’re available from Elboard tho, if you wanna check them out.
my friend just said that he used the same switches stock and they were pretty solid!
i found green snakes for £3.60 (for 10) in stock and jwk blacks for £2.80 can any of you recommend one over the other? im a beginner so i would really appreciate advice
Alpaca is smooth but too clacky for me, can you recommend some deep thockier switches?
Gateron ink black, gateron cap v2, lavender, Poseidon
@@AndyVNguyen I'll check them out, thanks
Will the 20mm spring length make you feel that the bottom out is heavier? I am comfortable with 62g tungsten switches but im not sure if the 65g with 20mm will make it feel really heavy for me. Planning to put it on Hex4b and expecting it to sound poppy :)
Longer spring feels heavier at top
imagine if that fam saw you sniff the switches LOL
There's a new jwick switch again,
it's ''JWK Ultimate Black '' the specifications is almost the same as Alpacas,
the price is shocking cheap only $ 0.24 per switch. Any thoughts ?
i feel like jwicks were said to be the same as alpacas so i'm sure these new ones are good too
how does the tungsten switches compare to the poseidens?
Poseidons seemed less noisy. I feel like the leaf or spring in Poseidons isn't great.
Do you have any thoughts on Lumia switches?
Have actually never heard of them. Looks like a Panda alternative?
So will jwk differ if tribosys 3203 instead kytrox205g0 since you keep specify that 205g0 makes them all sound deeper making them too similar
3203 doesn’t smoothen it out as much but it will be clackier
I'm new in this hobby and hella confused about the switches, if i want a thocky tactile switches, what are you recommending the most (?) My eyes are on purple panda right now, but I'm still confused by how many switches there are
Tactiles have a ton of variety in feel. Boba U4T are very popular for a deeper sound and a massive tactile bump.
What's the difference between the green snake and moss? I thought they were both copies of the alpaca?
Green moss hasn’t been confirmed as 100% recolor. Like I said in the video, the material percentage on top/bottom varies from switch to switch
How are the new tungsten switches by owlabs? Are they similar to Poseidon switches?
yeah definitely similar
Oiled OP Blacks are goated for me
dude i love op blacks too but after the first batch they've had a bunch of binding issues
Really? Mine were r2 and haven’t experienced any issues, maybe I just got lucky?
@@AndyVNguyen I will say that I recently bought and lubed/filmed a new batch of OP Blacks from Divinikey, and only one or two of them had any issues with stickiness or binding. The rest are smooth as butter! Guess I got lucky lol
JWK Quartz is the true JWK gold standard…. Alpaca is better stock tho, but quartz is superior when both are lubed
What are good budget JWK Tactiles?
jwicks have tactile variants too
@@AndyVNguyen What I found are JWK/JWICK Lagoons. Is that one of those? They are really cheap, maybe just two dollars more expensive than Akko CS Switches
I care about my switches look lol I got Ev 02s and I want to get Sa Berserk so it matches
Ooh nice match
10 minutes of andy talking about green
while making that green
To be honest I don't really get choosing a switch based on looks. It's not like you see much of them if anything at all once you've put keycaps on the board.
Some people do care about the little things, me included
Wait, Jwick and JWK is different?!
they're sold under different names but some people are saying they're basically the same thing. the full nylon wick I tried are a bit diff from full nylon jwk but it's pretty close
JWICK T1 (teal stem) FACTORY LUBE, NO MODS, AMAZING!!!
jwick are kinda goated
I keep hearing that long pole switches "feel" different is that true?
Yes. Reduced travel.
@@AndyVNguyen Ah thats all lol. I hate that, thanks for clarifying.
Lol I hate it too which is why I don’t daily them!
Nice vid
Thank you!
what switch goes well with brass plate?
any will sound fine, nothing particularly sounds bad if you like brass plates
any chance of a box ink video?
I don’t like short travel switches
I bought white film just for my switches that I will not see once when typing...
Lol I bought clear films to make sure my switches coordinated.. but clear = invisible which means I kept losing it when I dropped it.. would just disappear..
Hey Andy, thoughts on the BCP?
Sold mine. Short travel is meh. I didn’t love the sound either. I’d rather just keep the original h1
@@AndyVNguyen Any recommendations for a switch that sounds like a BCP without all the issues?
they aren't issues, they're traits of the switch
cream stem = adds scratch, but long pole changes the sound (it bottoms out on the pole rather than stem sliders). to make that cleaner bottom out sound it has to reduce travel.
cherry top = adds scratch cuz cherry material is less smooth, but also changes sound of upstroke clack
like sp stars are clacky and smooth but the sound of that switch (regular length pole) won't have the same kind of clack as it is a regular stem, ie stem sliders bottom out on the bottom housing rails.
so if you like BCP sound you just gotta deal w it. cuz the C, aka the cream stem, is key in making that sound but also key in making it feel weird for me personally
Nice
Thanks !
where can i get my hands on some posidion switches
moyustudio.cn/products/poseidon-switch
Thanks for your honesty Andy. We can always count on you for a non-politically correct review ( ;
LOL WYM NON POLITICALLY CORRECT
@@AndyVNguyen I meaaan, you talk about options and share honest opinions instead of describing something as simply "good". It's a compliment haha
Imagine how we sound to outsiders.
completely insane
how are these jwk switches in the kbd67lite?
Thock
go plateless on the kdb lite :D
STOPPP lol
I work out, I'm pretty strong xD
Ez true
Here we go again lol
we've always been here
@@AndyVNguyen unfortunately
tbf the original jwk is still solid and I still use mauves in boards lol
Andy!!!
hello!
Hi im new!
Hi new I’m Andy
I run alpacas stock
that you can def do. do you hear any spring ping?
Vid good make mor plz
hi
Hello
@@AndyVNguyen what switches would you recommend for a mr suit with a pom plate
@@toxxic7476 deez nutz
@@yangzheng8291 haha
I liked mauves on it.