Gateron Silent Black vs Gateron Silent Red

Gateron Silent Black or Gateron Silent Red: the long answer

Take the mechanical side first, since that is where this pair separates. The springs are a long way apart: 60 g against 45 g at actuation, so the Gateron Silent Black asks noticeably more of your fingers across a long session. The stroke itself is shared: neither one puts a bump or a click in the way of the press. The two stroke depths are identical, 2.0 mm to actuation inside 4.0 mm of total travel. Everything else about them is close enough that the spring is the honest tiebreak.

Now the part spec sheets cannot carry: the voice. Through the A/B player above, the Gateron Silent Black comes through as muffled, deeper press; quiet with substance, while the Gateron Silent Red reads as soft dampened patter, both strokes cushioned. Both carry factory dampening, so this is a contest between two of the quieter switches you can buy rather than a loud one against a quiet one. As everywhere on the site, these are simulations built from published specifications and documented character. Accurate enough to compare, not a recording.

On price and practicality, both are mid priced. Both come factory lubed, so neither needs work out of the box.

This one genuinely splits. The Gateron Silent Red for games, because the scoring hands it a lighter spring at actuation. The Gateron Silent Black for writing, since it holds the same feel from the first hour of writing to the last. The Gateron Silent Black for an office, as the pads stop the bottom-out from traveling past your own desk. None of this beats hearing them yourself, which the player above lets you do in about a minute.

There is more on both than a head-to-head can carry. Start with the Gateron Silent Black page and the Gateron Silent Red page. If you are here to check the board you already own, use our free keyboard tester.

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