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Background:
In late 2022 Durock released the Black Lotus switches, which became fairly popular among people. With the success of said switch, Durock then released two more Lotus switches somewhere between Q1 - Q2 of 2023 - The Blue Lotus and White Lotus switches.
Around May of 2023 a member of my local community ran a ‘pasabuy’ for these switches. Up until that point, I’ve heard nothing about them and I don’t think any PH vendor was selling these switches at the time. Not knowing anything about them, I joined regardless.
Pricing & Availability:
From the looks of it, these switches are staying in-stock for a long time. Pricing typically hovers around $0.56 per switch or converting that to Philippine pesos, around ₱32, but Philippine vendors have these switches at around ₱28-29 as the cheapest option.
Package:
I received both switches in a plastic tupperware, with both the Blue and White lotus switches in sealed bags. The sticker label has a lotus logo and Durock’s logo.
Appearance & Materials:
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JWICK is using a 4-latch housing with a 5-pin bottom. Using a new optimized mold to reduce possible housing and stem wobble. The spring is 18mm in length and is gold-plated. It features a removable LED diffuser.
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Top housing is made from a custom polycarbonate and UPE blend that’s a dark blue translucent, but opaque enough that you can almost see the insides. No nameplate or branding anywhere. Mine arrived with a lot of micro-scratches, and fingerprints can be seen at certain angles. Notably there are hollow cut-outs in the interior, behind the railings.
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Bottom housing is solid colored, and is made from nylon. I’d like to point out that the center mass of the bottom housing is flat compared to other switches like White Jades that have a rounded indent instead.
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The stem is made from POM and is a slightly lighter color of blue than the bottom housing. Its total length is 13.4mm, and is 1.8mm thick. The only notable part of the stem other than its smooth and rounded legs, the end of the pole looks like a nub with a flat end.
Tactility & Feel:
The tactility on these switches are strong and have a rounded P-shaped bump. It feels exaggerated and a lot bigger when compared to other similar tactiles. It’s also a long pole switch, but has an almost full bottom out at 3.7mm. Little to no pre-travel and the 65g spring feels weighty but not too heavy for me. There’s little to no scratchy feeling to the switch, it’s decently smooth at stock.
The tolerance of the switch is pretty good. Little to no housing wobble. The LED diffuser also helps with minimzing the housing wobble. There’s some minor stem wobble from all directions, but this isn’t an issue when keycaps are on.
Sound:
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These are long pole switches, so they’re definitely loud. They can have a neutral signature if the configuration of the board is tuned, but are generally higher pitched. The bottom out isn’t too harsh, but definitely sound stronger compared to the White Lotus.
For noises, leaf ticking isn’t as prominent when compared to its lighter counterpart. You can definitely hear it, it’s just masked by the stronger sound these switches make. Spring ping and some scratchy noise are also present but aren’t too noticeable or loud.
Mods:
The stem and portions of the housing are lightly lubed from the factory. Some parts of the top housing are also lubed a bit. Despite that, they can benefit from manual lubing. A not so major downside is it does reduce tactility a little bit in comparison to stock (as is for lubing any tactile), the benefit of it is mostly sounding better.
Adding films to the switch isn’t really necessary as they’re really stable. Even with films on, I can’t tell if there’s a difference in sound, feel, or wobble.
Applying leaf shroud to the switch does help the switch in reducing the ticking significantly. Even more than lubing. I’d say it’s an important mod to do if you want a tick free sound.
I recently bought a break-in machine and these were one of the switches I tested it on. With 93k actuations, breaking them in is literally unnecessary, but I did it for curiosity’s sake. The only difference that I observed was that the leaf ticking is more prominent.
Durability & Quirks:
They’ve held up pretty good actually. None of the switches have had any problems so far like leaf ticking, actuation issues, and chattering.
The factory lubing for each of them haven’t dried up as of writing in March. The copper pins have started to patina or age though.
My only concern is that the latches that attach to the plate are weak. The latching strength varies per switch, but slightly stronger compared to ones on the White Lotus. They easily pop out of my portal keyboard, that has a solid blocker.
My Thoughts:
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They’re decent switches and all. But it’s hard to say whether I like them or not.
The build quality is good. But the overall quality of the switch leaves much to be desired. The factory lubing is eh at best, but at least the smoothness is decent at stock, It can be so much better though. If anything, I’d probably say they’re good for people who’re looking for strong tactiles that they can tinker with. Otherwise, there are better options out on the market.
I like that they’re cheaper than a few of the quality strong tactiles out right now, and that the factory lubing allows it to be smooth enough at stock. And again, they’re one of the few long pole switches with a 3.7mm travel distance. It might make a difference for someone else, but for me it doesn’t really affect anything, it just feels like an average long pole. Ticking is one of the major issues I have with the lotus switches.
Again, there’s a lot left to be desired at stock. Modding is a must in my opinion, unless you’re someone like me who wears headphones all the time. But regardless, I still think lubing and leaf shroud are needed for these switches.
Quick Comparison:
Comparisons aren’t in-depth and are just quick observations.
- T1
- Tactility is similar but less defined in comparison
- Housing and stem wobble are more noticeable
- Leaf ticking is louder
- Purple Potato
- A lot louder and spring is noisier
- Stock sounds and feels hollow
- Tactility feels less defined
- Slightly less stem wobble
- Boba U4T v1
- Pressing on it feels chunkier
- Has a shorter bump
- Baby Kangaroo
- A bit louder
- Barely any leaf ticking
- Creamier bottom out sound
- Root Beet Float
- Tactility is stronger, but less defined
- Harder to pull off of plate
- Little to no leaf ticking
- Quicker bottom out
- Green Jacket
- Bump feels larger
- Stock is scratchy
- Higher pitched
- Is snappier
More Information:
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More Sound Tests:
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