Keygeek Y3: Review by Vere

Opening Words:

I apologize for the sudden gap in releases as I was focusing a lot on my personal life and work, it was difficult to find time to sit down and write up a review. We've got quite the batch of switches to review in August so you can look forward to those.

This time we've got the deeper side of Keygeek switches today, the Y3 linear, which hits a completely different spectrum compared to the PBT based switches we've seen from Keygeek. 

 

Switch Introduction:

The Keygeek Y3 is a long-pole linear with a full PA66 housing and a proprietary stem material called M3. 

They carry a 20mm KOS single-stage extended spring with an operating force of 48g and bottoming out at 53g. They have a variance of 5g among them.

They have a travel of 3.8mm which is longer than average for long-poles.

These are among the batch of newer molds together with the Keygeek Y1X, Purple Dawn, and Briny.

(Corporate needs you to find the difference between these two pictures)

Short Summary

 

Stock Experience:

These Keygeek Y3 seem to have the same pre-lube job as the other Keygeeks in that they have a very minimalistic method of choice.

Utilizing an extremely thin oil on the rails and then a thicker application of grease over the leaf which would apply some lube on the stem legs during travel. There is also a coating of grease over the spring.

 

(Identical to Keygeek's other stock experiences)

(Solid grease over the springs instead of oil)

As mentioned above, these switches still have great smoothness and sound clean even with a small amount of lube, though you may want to add some more lubricant to the ones that exhibit some minor leaf noise.

 

(Pretty solid coating of lube over leaf, not as overdone as the Mirror Lakes)

My only concern regarding the stock experience is that my batch of Y3s all had minor oil leakage from the housing. I was only able to learn just how much oil was actually in these switches because of the leakage. It was noticeable when I took them out of plates as the leftover oil would be visible over plates. 

 

(Oil all over the housing, though most of it didn't leave the switch)

Would I re-lube them? Probably not, my batch sounds quite decent and I don't want to remove the minor amount of scratch they currently have, though if you're looking for a perfectly clean sound then you might want to add more lubricant.

 

Keygeek's Progress and M3 Material:

I've been a fan of Keygeek ever since they released the Keygeek Raw from early 2023 on Geon's store. The most notable thing would be that they were able to produce switches with full sound profiles despite having minor issues and quirks.

Before going into the M3 material, I want to quickly go over the pre-existing codenames for Keygeek's switches.

L2/L3/L4 is their custom blend of POM material.

U2/U3 is their custom blend of UPE material.

R1 is their custom blend of PC material.

P7 is a custom blend of PBT material.

Keygeek has been playing around with various plastics for a long time, they've used POK, Silicon, PBT, PA6, PA66, Fiberglass nylons, UPE, and presumably have been experimenting a lot over the past year and a half. 

I can only assume that L4 is the 4th iteration of their POM blend which means that they've been working to perfect it as much as possible. HMX as a manufacturer is also doing something similar with their P and T materials, but technically those are more like different versions rather than newer iterations. For example, the newer T5 material sounds completely different compared to the original T2 material. One is not better than the other, they simply perform differently.

So what is M3? To be honest there isn't enough data for me to make a clear educated guess this time around simply due to the fact that the material doesn't have any stand-out traits so far. It's smooth, has a moderate tone, exhibits minor scratch, and isn't too firm or soft. Most plastics can tick off any of the above traits, so the blend itself could be anything.

However, if we use the process of elimination, I can say it isn't based on POM, UPE, PC, or PBT. The other notable options that are left over are actually POK or Nylon, both of which do match the above mentioned traits quite well.

POK does tend to exhibit some audible scratch when paired against certain plastics due to the coefficient of friction being too similar to one another. PA66 or PA6 would also cause a similar reaction due to the matching coefficient of friction.

Lastly, as to what may have gone into the "M" blend, it is possible that they added a small amount of MoS2 which is a compound that is commonly used as a solid lubricant. It is often used to help reduce wear and also reduce the coefficient of friction in industrial scenarios.

This material has been used previously in the JWK Cupid and Grain Gold QK01 switches, however this is mostly a shot in the dark as I cannot say for certain what kind of effect this material has on sound.

 

Interesting Stem Design:

Upon inspecting the stem, the most eye-catching part would be the extremely small nub at the stem pole. When it comes to long-poles, you would definitely assume the pole shape to play a large part in the sound of the bottom-out.

Keygeek has previously made attempts to play around with the stem pole design in order to optimize the sound profile. This can be seen in the unique stem pole design of the Y1X. I compared it to the sound profile of the extremely rounded Vertex V1 stem and the bottom-out of the Y3 still has some crispness to it, since the tip is small but still "sharper" than a flat end.

 

(With a slight nub, it won't be sharp but at the same time not quiet.)

My take is that these switches could actually be louder or harsher if the stem pole was utilizing a more aggressive design, however it seems that they opted to subdue the bottom out and lean more towards a deeper sound. Perhaps the M3 material actually has the potential for a brighter/clackier sound profile?

 

Overall Design:

As I mentioned above, this switch is oddly similar to the BCP but I have no idea if Keygeek was intentionally designing this switch with that in mind.

The reason why I compare this switch to the BCP is simply because the Keygeek Y3 has a very traditional composition which results in a deeper and marble-y sound profile. This also comes with the added bonus of having light scratch due to the mystery stem material and lower amounts of lubricant. Lastly, the appearance is nearly identical with a cream-colored stem and black housing.

Besides appearances, this switch is vastly deeper than the other recent releases that Keygeek has been working on. That being said, most of Keygeek's early releases were on the "thocky" side of the spectrum in the first place. So perhaps they are actually inclined towards producing deeper sounding switches? 

I'm particularly appreciative of the fact that this isn't just a PA66 nylon + POM stem switch, the M3 material is a mystery but it still remains to be very effective at what it does, combined with the interesting nub design, it provides a BCP-like sound profile that is toned down a notch. (Not to mention the considerably softer feel!)

Ultimately the Keygeek Y3 is a smooth, deep, slightly scratchy, and full sounding long-pole linear. You can attribute the softer feel and sound from the 3.8mm travel and the stem pole design. Keygeek has proven that they can produce switches with vastly different sound profiles and type-feels, plus it's always refreshing to get some switches that contrast what is currently trending on the market.

 

Smoothness: Phenomenal

These switches are incredibly smooth, but I think that the stem will take up most of the credit here.

Thanks to the mold quality and also the stem material, these switches are as smooth as other UPE based switches despite the minimal amount of lube.

Nothing much to say here about smoothness since nearly all switches these days are great stock.

 

Sound Profile: 

The Keygeek Y3 has a marble-y and full sound profile which is a bit closer to the sound profile of older switches.

I can describe it as a BCP that has been clipped of its edge, still having a deep and full sound but losing all harshness.

With a standard composition of PA66 with no fiberglass, the sound profile is as one would expect in that it has a full and rich tone which leans towards the midrange.

When the sound of a switch is filled with many mid tones, it will sound just like the tone of PE foam, which is commonly referred to as marble-y or even just foamy. As such, I actually prefer to use these types of switches for foam builds as they synergize so well. It doesn't have to be a fully foamed up build though, just tuned with some foam to help accentuate the deeper tone.

There's nothing wrong with using this switch without foam though, as it has a very "traditional" and standard sound profile, almost cherry-like.

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.)

Crisp refers to having a solid bottom out that is clear and easy to hear, doesn't necessarily mean loud and bright.

Scratch refers to the scraping sound that is audible during the switch travel when the stem is moving inside the housing. This sound is somewhat similar to using chalk on a blackboard, or perhaps scraping some paper with your nails.

Marble-like or marble-y sounds refer to when switches have mostly mid tones that are similar to the sound effect of PE foam.

When I compare this to the other Keygeeks, it is definitely the deepest option among the recent releases of Keygeek Y1X, Mirror Lake, Purple Dawn, and probably deeper than the Briny.

 

 

Direct Comparisons to other linears:

JWK Vertex V1 (PA66/PA66/POM Stem) 3.8mm Travel

• These switches share a similar composition and sound profile.
• The Y3 is louder.
• The Y3 has a slightly better stock experience. (Less leaf noise)
• The V1 is slightly lower pitch.
• The V1 has slightly more wobble in all directions.
• They share similar smoothness stock.
• The Y3 is slightly fuller in sound.
• The Y3 has a firmer bottom-out.

Aflion Tropical Waters v2 (PC/Nylon/POM Stem) 3.5mm Travel

• These switches do not share many similarities besides sound.
• The Tropical Waters is slightly louder.
• They share similar stock forms.
• The Y3 is slightly lower pitched.
• The Tropical Waters have slightly more horizontal wobble.
• The Y3 is slightly smoother stock.
• They share similar fullness.
• The Y3 has a slightly firmer bottom-out.

Gateron Summertime V2 (POM/Milky/Ink Stem) 3.8mm Travel

• These switches share almost no similarities besides travel distance and sound profile.
• The Y3 is slightly louder.
• The Summertime has a slightly better stock experience. (No leaf noise)
• The Summertime has a lower pitch.
• They both have excellent wobble control.
• They share similar smoothness stock.
• The Summertime is more muted in sound.
• The Y3 has a slightly firmer bottom-out.

 

Flaws:

So far the only notable flaw would be the oil leakage. This happens pretty often depending on the lubricant used but ultimately it comes down to certain issues with the housing.

Thankfully the total amount of oil used isn't particularly high so it won't dampen your plates entirely.

The other minor flaw would be the slight leaf noise which can probably be fixed up by spreading the lubricant properly on the leaf, but it isn't on all of the switches and its also not on every keypress.

I'll have to keep an eye out for future Keygeek releases in case they have similar issues.

 

PERSONAL BUILD RECOMMENDATIONS: (PREFERENCE/OPINION BASED)

Whenever it comes to medium tone or marble-y switches I always like to experiment with foams, my plate of choice this time was the FR4 plate.

FR4 does a good job at bringing out the little notes of sound that are hard to pick up normally, it actually meshes very well with foams and you will often hear that FR4 foam builds sound more marble-y than POM or PC actually.

I was extremely satisfied with the results and wanted to test out a non-foam build as well, I decided to experiment with the Carbon Fiber plate instead and found that this switch can still sound fine with brighter plates but I wouldn't intentionally go for that sound when other switches can better suit the job.

In the end I would recommend playing around with any plate of your choice while utilizing foams, but if you were to go foamless then I would say to stick with FR4 or deeper sounding plate materials as I wouldn't intentionally use this switch with something like Aluminum or Carbon Fiber.

 

Closing Summary:

Keygeek brings us a new BCP-like... by accident? I think they probably weren't going for that in the first place but the switch is great so it doesn't matter.

For $0.23 per switch, the Keygeek Y3 joins the team of naturally marble-y switches whilst having a slight amount of scratch as well.

The Keygeek Y3 has a rich sound profile with a decent amount of character, they feel pleasant to type on and provide a nice overall experience for a very competitive price. They scratch an itch that most manufacturers these days don't reach for as I know that there are still a lot of people out there on the lookout for "thocky" switches.

They do have minor quirks with oil leakage and light leaf noise, but the leaf noise is not on the level of HMX and the total amount of oil inside the switch is quite negligible. 

If you're interested in a deeper switch or perhaps you just want to grab a high quality option for a killer price, these Keygeek Y3 switches will definitely not disappoint you with their full sound profile and smooth typing experience. These have become my most favorite switch to use with some foam and it's not even a competition.

 

FINAL SCORING: 8.4/10