Stock Experience:

The Keygeek Purple Dawns utilize Keygeek's usual pre-lubrication method which is a very light application of lubricant on the stem legs, and mostly on the leaf. The springs do seem to be coated in lubricant as well, but sometimes it doesn't seem to be enough.

Overall, one of Keygeek's better releases for stock experience as some of them do have noticeable leaf tick or stem wobble. 

As mentioned above, the tolerances for some of the batches were extremely tight in the top housing, which can cause the stem to not travel smoothly when pressing down. Combined with the already heavy spring weight, this can make some of your Purple Dawns seem very sluggish or very heavy. (This has been fixed already for most recent batches of Keygeek switches, they changed the top housing mold.)

Would I modify them? 
Personally yes, I have spring swapped all of my Purple Dawns as they were too heavy for my tastes. I wouldn't add more lubricant as I am satisfied with their current sound profile, however you may add more lube on the stem faces if you wish to deepen the pitch.

Films are unnecessary as the housing tolerances are already at the limit.

PBT + 30% Fiberglass Bottom:

The Keygeek Purple Dawns utilize a bottom housing which sounds like it would be very sharp on paper.

PBT itself is a material you don't see often in switches due to the difficulties of managing the shrinkage issue. (I go over this topic in my Y1 review!)

That being said, PBT + fiberglass is often used outside of the keyboard hobby due to having very good impact strength and also being quite cheap to use. That means that if you can use it correctly, it can lead to a very useful material to have in your repertoire.

The Purple Dawn combines the L4 POM stem with this material to create an extremely resonant bottom-out that leans towards a midrange pitch due to the traits of the POM blend. Fiberglass often alters the sound of switches to sound more shrill or thin, but PBT generally sounds louder/fuller because of its stiffness and lower pitched thanks to its density. If they used a UPE stem instead, you can probably expect a thinner and higher pitched sound.

Overall Design:

I can appreciate these switches since Dashan told me he had way more samples of the Keygeek Purple Dawns made compared to the other Unikeys exclusives since there were so many issues before a satisfactory result was created. Technically these were in development since early 2023.

The material combination and the new mold that Keygeek created for their newer generation of switches (2024 and onwards) earns this switch a spot as one of my personal favorite switches. I always use this switch as a benchmark for other Keygeek switches, and even other loud switches in general.

You could say that this switch (and its new generation) was the release that sparked Keygeek's comeback(re-entry?) in the mechanical switch market that was recently swarmed with HMX and occasionally BSUN. Most new Keygeek switches do follow a similar vibe to the Purple Dawn but are simply less intense. They are usually moderate in pitch, but full and varying in volume, I think it's a good thing if you can recognize traits in a manufacturer.

Smoothness and typing experience:

Keygeek's smoothness is competitive with other manufacturers despite the extremely minimal amounts of lubricant on the switch. Their new molds really play a big part and obviously the proprietary POM stem as well as the PBT bottom housing also help increase smoothness in the travel. I won't say that they are the smoothest around, but they are smooth enough that you won't worry about it.

In regards to typing experience, they do feel slightly firm in the bottom-out because of the PBT + Fiberglass combination. Since their travel is 3.6mm, it isn't a soft long-pole travel either, I can say that it's probably fine if you use them on a board with a softer feel, but perhaps it'll be a bit intense on something like Aluminum Top Mount. 

Lastly, the typing experience may suffer if your switches have the tolerance issue, however it just makes your switches feel heavier than normal so if you are a fan of heavier switches then these probably won't be bad for you at all.

Sound Profile:

The Keygeek Purple Dawns are the epitome of a long-pole linear that just hits different.

Their bottom-out is quite resonant and full, most switches will have a hard time competing with them if they aren't on the highest end of the spectrum.

Due to the bottom housing having the most important components of this switch, the bottom-out completely overshadows the top-out sound and creates a sound profile that is very one-note.  There is barely any transient sound, and you probably wouldn't even hear it anyways through the impact.

Since the pitch is mostly medium to medium-high, you won't experience much of a piercing sound as opposed to a loud impact, however as I mentioned near the start of the review, you might be able to create more of a clack depending on the build.

The Keygeek Purple Dawns are a powerful long-pole linear with a resonant bottom-out that still has a balanced pitch. The overall sound profile is very clean and full, meaning that you will definitely be able to appreciate each keypress and impact without any additional distractions in the sound.

Clean refers to a sound profile that is mostly one-note or consolidated, lacking excess noise from factors like scratch, or having a top-out that is much quieter than the bottom-out.

Resonant refers to having a sound that almost reverberates outwards while typing, the type of sound that can be heard when the bottom-out's impact is too strong to be kept within the confines of your board.

Full refers to a sound profile that doesn't sound shallow to our ears, or isn't dull and empty. (To be more specific, it has all kinds of frequencies in the sound, lows, mids, and highs.)

Comparative Notes:

Here is a new section that will replace the old comparison portion of my older reviews. I found that only comparing against a handful of switches was redundant, as not everyone will own the switches I am comparing it to, and many newcomers won't even own any switches at all. 
I also have no plans to create any charts like the esteemed Keeb Taro.

I will break down the comparative strength of this switch when compared to other manufacturers and their average switch releases.

Compared to HMX switches on average:
1. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is likely more full in sound.
2. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is likely lower pitched than a majority of HMX.
3. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is louder or only slightly louder than most HMX.
4. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is heavier than a majority of HMX switches.
5. The Keygeek Purple Dawn has a competitive or slightly worse stock experience.
6. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is of similar smoothness, but likely to be slightly worse.

Compared to BSUN switches on average:
1. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is likely to be slightly fuller in sound.
2. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is slightly lower pitched or similar to most BSUN.
3. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is louder or only slightly louder than most BSUN.
4. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is heavier than a fair amount of BSUN switches.
5. The Keygeek Purple Dawn has a competitive or slightly better stock experience.
6. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is of similar smoothness, but not exceeding BSUN.

Compared to Keygeek switches on average:
1. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is one of the most full-sounding Keygeek Switches.
2. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is lower pitched or similar to most other Keygeek switches.
3. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is likely to be the loudest Keygeek switch so far.
4. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is slightly heavier than the other Keygeek switches.
5. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is similar stock to the other Keygeek switches.
6. The Keygeek Purple Dawn is similar in smoothness to most Keygeek switches. The Keygeek Cyan is likely the smoothest Keygeek out there.

Flaws and things I didn't like:

The main flaw I would consider would be the overly tight tolerance which would cause some of my switches to feel even heavier than they should. (This is no longer an issue for the newer batches.)

This led to me spring swapping to a lighter spring to compensate for the heavy feeling. They were heavier than my preferences anyway.

The only thing I don't particularly like about Keygeek switches is that they are nearly dry stock. This can be a good thing for some people but I do like to have a slight amount of lubricant for a slightly less sharp sound profile, but this is just preference.

My only preferential change I would wish for would be slightly more pre-lube in general.

PERSONAL BUILD RECOMMENDATIONS: (PREFERENCE/OPINION BASED)

I have used the Purple Dawns on many different builds since their release and I've actually settled on using them for a foam build.

I am currently using them on a gasket mounted build with a FR4 plate and some foam. I wanted to go with this setup because of the raw strength of the Purple Dawn being able to counteract the condensing properties of foam and also to revive the sound of the board I'm using. (It's slightly older and has flex cuts)

Otherwise, I actually also love using them on plateless or half-plate builds to accentuate the clean and pure sound profile, though I ended up changing from these builds because they were a bit too loud for constant use.

For the average user, I recommend balanced or deeper builds using FR4, or any plastic plate besides Polycarbonate and ABS.

Closing Summary:

The Keygeek Purple Dawn is a standout release in the linear switch space as a heavy-hitter that most other switches cannot compete with in terms of impact.

The main takeaway is that these switches are loud, lower pitched, and have a great bottom-out when typing. The sound profile is clean, powerful, and iconic when referring to Keygeek switches. Generally whenever I recommend Keygeek switches, I automatically choose the Purple Dawns as a great first experience and also a great reference point for other Keygeek switches.

They took a long time to cook in the oven, but the end result came out just right, they still remain as one of my personal favorite releases of all time even after a year. You can throw them into any build and not be disappointed by their quality.

If you're in the market for a long-pole linear that's built different and hits different, look no further than the exclusive Unikeys release: The Keygeek Purple Dawns.

FINAL SCORING: 9.6/10