Switches
Light switches, under 40 gf
Everything here registers below 40 grams-force. For comparison, the weight most people settle on without thinking about it is somewhere between 45 and 55 gf, and a Cherry MX Red is 45.
Light switches ask less of your fingers over a long day, which is the reason people move to them, and they are quick, because less force means less time. The threshold worth knowing is around 40 gf: below it, resting your hands on the board can be enough to trigger a key, and below about 35 gf that stops being a theoretical risk.
If you have never used anything light, this is a group to try before committing a full board to. Preference here is unusually strong in both directions.
7 of the 48 switches indexed here, from 32 gf to 39 gf. 2 have at least one force figure left blank, because the sources disagreed or published something impossible.
Keygeek
Linear32 gfFactory-lubed
At 32 gf this is the lightest switch in the index, light enough that resting your hands on the board can press a key. Factory lubed, 2.0 mm to actuation, 3.8 mm total, with a spherical stem tip. Bottom-out force is blank because both shops print 32 gf for it as well, and a spring cannot weigh the same at the top of its travel as at the floor.
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HMX
Tactile35 gf
A very light tactile at 35 gf that still bottoms out around 52, and that wide gap is the whole point: the bump arrives early and gently, then the press firms up underneath it. Unusually forgiving for a tactile, where the common complaint is that the bump costs too much effort. HMX's material choices give it a dry, sharp sound rather than a muted one.
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Wingtree
Linear35 gfSilentFactory-lubed
A silent linear at 35 gf actuation and 45 gf bottom-out, factory lubed, 3.8 mm of travel. Silencing is done with silicone on the stem, so both the bottom-out and the return are damped, and the switch gives up some of the crispness a non-silent linear has in exchange. Light and quiet is a shared office combination rather than a sound-test one.
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HMX
Tactile36 gf
The tactile of the Retro set and the odd one out: 36 gf to actuate but 55 gf at the bottom, a 19 gf climb that is the steepest in this batch, over only 3.0 mm of travel. A light bump followed by a firm floor. Pre-travel is 2.5 mm, deeper than the 2.0 mm its linear siblings use.
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HMX
Linear37 gf
A light linear at 37 gf actuation and 42 gf bottom-out, so only 5 gf separates the two: the press stays close to the same weight all the way down, which is what people mean when they call an HMX switch flat. PA12 nylon on both halves is denser than the PA66 HMX uses elsewhere. Travel is 2.0 mm and 3.5 mm.
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Keygeek
Linear37 gfFactory-lubed
A 37 gf linear bottoming out at 42 gf, factory lubed, with a nylon stem rather than the usual POM. The bottom housing carries 50 percent fibreglass, the highest fill in this batch. Total travel is left out: one shop says 3.8 mm and the other 3.4 mm, and a 0.4 mm disagreement is too large to average.
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TTC
Linear39 gf
Very light at 39 gf, which puts it in the territory where typing feels almost weightless and accidental presses become a genuine consideration. TTC's P3 stem in a polycarbonate top and PA66 nylon bottom gives a softer, rounder sound than an all-PC switch. A good match for long typing sessions and a poor one for gaming, where a light linear rewards precision you may not have.
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