We will describe the CHERRY MX switches, from the German brand of the same name, and the Romer-G switches used by the Swiss Logitech. In the comparison, we can see how the business model of each of the peripheral companies has affected the specifications and features of their respective switches or keypad switches.
CHERRY MX
The most used in high-end keyboards are the switches of the German brand CHERRY, more precisely the so-called MX, a name that is a shortening of Mechanical X-Point. However, there is not just one type of CHERRY MX switch, but several different types that can be identified by color. Below you have a small table that indicates the type of use, displacement and force.
| change | actuation force | Road | Apps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry MX Red | 45 grams | 2 millimeters | eSports, Gaming in general. |
| Cherry MX Brown | 55 grams | 2 millimeters | Office, casual games. |
| Cherry MX Blue | 60 grams | 2.2mm | writers and bloggers |
| Cherry MX Black | 60 grams | 2 millimeters | Real-time strategy games. |
| Cherry MX Silver | 45 grams | 1.2mm | professional writers |
Many may sound similar, but for example the CHERRY MX Blue is much louder than the CHERRY MX Brown, but keyboards that use such a switch are much cheaper. In terms of gaming, it may seem that the Silver switches are better, but due to their short actuation distance, you may find many errors, similar to how you may press keys unconsciously while typing which may become inadvertent errors that later need to be corrected.
The most popular and widely used are the CHERRY MX Red, due to the fact that they have the exact specifications for the game and they are the ones that have been copied the most, especially by Chinese manufacturers and other brands, since they have become the reference in the sector. However, Logitech with its Romer-G seems to have gone another way.
Logitech Romer-G
On the other side of the ring we have Logitech’s Romer-G switches, also known as Omron, which we will only find in almost all the brand’s keyboards, being used exclusively in these . We have two different versions of this switch.
- The Romer-G Touch They have one 1.5mm actuation stroketo require 45 grams of strength for the keystroke to register, but 55 grams of strength so that it transmits feedback to the user’s fingers.
- Instead, the Romer-G LineaThey do not provide a tactile response and are simply activated with a force of 45 grams and the same route 1.5mm.
From Logitech they argue that having a 0.5mm shorter stroke means the keys are 25% faster and this is beneficial for gaming.
Romer-G Linear, more brown than red
With this data on the board, the first thing that would come to mind is a direct comparison where the Romer-G Tactile would be the equivalent of the CHERRY MX Brown, while the Romer-G Lineal would be those of the CHERRY MX Red, because neither of them have a tactile response when pressed. However, the differences in the use of the two switches of the Swiss brand are less than those of the German brand, due to the fact that the feeling when interacting with a Romer-G Linear is more similar to that of a CHERRY MX Brown. .
It is for this reason that the CHERRY MX Red continues to dominate the gaming keyboard market, not only because of what has been explained above, but also because Logitech has managed to ensure that its products have less the impression of interacting with a mechanical keyboard. This put off potential buyers who needed a keyboard to play with and got used to the feel of the CHERRY MX Red.
All this has a very clear explanation, Logitech’s business model is to sell complete units and not just their switches. In their vertical integration, the various products are more alike which, added to the fact that they don’t use third-party parts in manufacturing, ends up affecting the performance of their gaming keyboards, especially those that use switches. Romer-G. , which are better for work and have been refurbished have eliminated Feedback for gaming.
Replacement of switches
In a mechanical keyboard it should be easy to change the switches for others more suited to our needs or because one of them has stopped working. In the case of the Romer-G they cannot be replaced by any CHERRY MX for the simple fact that the pins of the PCB of the keyboard to which they are connected have a different organization and location. And that’s not the only problem, even replacing our Romer-Gs with new ones, we have to desolder and resolder again.
While it is true that we can buy switches compatible with Romer-G keyboards so that we can carry out replacements and repairs ourselves, we must bear in mind that Logitech does not sell Romer-Gs alone. The reason is clear, to make it difficult to repair the keyboard and force you to buy a new one, since Logitech’s product is the keyboard. Instead, we can find the CHERRY MX for sale so that we can repair our keyboard quickly and replace the switches that no longer work without having to change the keyboard.
This brings us to the last point, which is the duration of each of the keys and, therefore, the life of our keyboard. Logitech promised a few years ago that its Romer-G gave more value to support up to 70 million keystrokes, at the time a figure higher than the 50 million keystrokes of the CHERRY MX according to the official specifications. However, both types of switches last nearly 100 million keystrokes, with some downside in terms of duration in terms of Logitech keyboards.
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