Tecsee Purple Panda PME Material Tactile Keyboard Switches | Cherry-Style | Mechanical Gaming Keyboards | Long Stem | Plate Mounted | SMD 5 Pin RGB Switches for Backlit Keyboard (Purple Panda 70)

UPDATE 1: The leaves of these switches are pre-lubed, and in my opinion with way too much lube, which indeed will reduce tactility for the sake of some smoothness. I took the time to remove the lube from all the leaves with clean cotton swabs, and re-lubbed everything in the switches except for the leaves and the legs of the stems, for a better sound and feel. I highly suggest doing this as otherwise the true tactility of the switches is completely lost, and without lube is already very round.I added a video to show the resulting sound once they're all lubed in this way. I also slightly edited the review I did to include my observations on the lubing, marked with brackets [...].-------These are genuinely some of the best switches I have ever tried. Now very important: The Purple Pandas are the tactile ones and the Carrots are the linears, don't get them confused like other reviewers did haha. I got these after reading TherminGoat's review of the Sapphires and these as well, and was remarkably impressed of how close they got to the Holy Pandas. They will not sound nor feel like a HP, but they do have a very enjoyable tactile feel that can be increased with the 2 stage springs, and if [re-]lubed well in a keyboard with foam, they produce a very pleasant thonk, as we all want.The switches come with o-rings for more thonk, and Tecsee also slightly pre-lubed [the leaves, which significantly reduced tactility], which means you [will have to unlube every single switch with cotton swabs and re-lube everything except the leaves and legs of the stems.]Now as others have mentioned, if you really care about the color of the LEDs in your keyboard (if applicable), especially if they're RGBs, then you shouldn't get either of these as they're quite opaque and will drastically alter the color [see video] I have white LEDs and they look purple. If LEDs are a concern, check out the Ice Candies from Tecsee, they're clear and also offered in either tactile or linear.Finally, these switches already have a very short actuation distance, so use o-rings only if you want them to feel like low profile switches. [I did add some with my XDA Keycaps and have a fantastic thonk.]

TLDR: I like these switches, imo pretty good but I don't have much experience with tactile switches so take this however you will.I unfortunately don't have any experience with any other kind of tactile switches (other than cherry browns) so I cannot compare these to the other panda switches or other large bump tactiles for that matter so my comments I make are going to be more general when it comes to the switch.The PME top and bottom housing is interesting, it is really smooth in comparison to like a cherry or even gateron housing but I would say its not as smooth or maybe equal to like a durock housing and the overall typing experience imo is really nice. I did spring swap the switches with the included gold 58g two stage springs as I felt they were a bit nicer than the stock 67g springs. The sound of the switch is pretty clacky and poppy even after lubing it. I did lube the legs as I prefer smoothness over strong tactility but these switches still felt pretty tactile to me even after I lubed them. I might have overlubed the mods because they do feel not as tactile as the alphas which is my mistake. Smoothness in comparison to other switches I've tried, like I said I would put them above any cherry gateron or even Kailh switch in smoothness but they're not as smooth or perhaps equal in smoothness to the Durock L series of switches.I did attempt to swap out the stems in order to see how a linear version of this switch would feel and the tldr of it for me is just to not do it. I swapped a durock L7 switch stem and spring into the full PME housing and the smoothness was equal to the L7's polycarb and nylon housing. The sound was different however, the PME housing did make the topout sound of the switch more clacky and while I do personally enjoy the sound of the PME housing I ran into a weird issue with the switch. When I put the switch up to my ear to listen more closely idk if I hear spring or leaf noise while pressing on the switch. I made sure to lube the spring well and to lube the stem and leaf contacts but the sound was just, really weird? it didnt fully sound like spring ping but it also did not fully sound like leaf noise, it was just weird. It was also not something you can hear when installed into your board unless you're just super sensative to the noise which personally I was not, it was only something I could hear when put up close to my ear so I guess its not a big deal. Still not worth it to stem swap them though, cus they just felt like maybe louder durock L7s. Final note, the weird spring/leaf noise I mentioned earlier was also not present when I lubed the tactile stem just used the switch regularly so I don't think its an issue for most people, just something to be aware of.

I was looking for a good affordable tactile switch, and the Purple Pandas are just that. Mine did not come with factory lube, so I lubed them myself, swapped in the two stage spring, and now they feel and sound great. Would recommend for anyone looking to get into the hobby and want's to keep it budget friendly (relatively speaking).

If I've learned anything about Pandas is that you are either going to adore or despise them. I personally am in the adore category. They make a great sound. I built my own DIY keyboard, and sometimes (maybe 1% of the time) a key won't register when I press it. This is likely just something I messed up somewhere and not a fault of the switches, but thought I should mention nonetheless.They have a pretty deep sound, but I purchased these more for the feeling. They aren't "wow," but they are pretty good and solid. The tactile bump is noticeable but not overwhelming. I have big ogre hands so I bottom out every key on every press, probably with excess force than what is required, and I still notice the bump.The sound does have a slight 'ping' which some people despise, but I actually quite like it.For my personal taste, these are perfect. Tactile enough without being loud. They are probably in the middle of the pack of Tactile switches. They don't stand out in any category, but they are good at everything in my opinion. Half the price of the Holy Pandas by Drop, and don't feel substantially worse.

These have the perfect amount of tactility for me, they're very smooth even if you leave them unlubed. The switches come in a box that includes a bag of two-stage gold plated springs, o-rings and a puller for switches and keycaps. Overall they're great value switches that don't skimp on quality and accesories, they're my favorite tactile switches by far.