Kailh BOX Jade vs Kailh BOX Navy
Weight is the real gap here: 10 g between the Kailh BOX Navy and the Kailh BOX Jade at actuation, which is enough to change how a long session ends. Our switch library cross-links them because this matchup keeps coming up. Start with the A/B bursts below, then take the spec table and the picks in order.
Hear them back to back
simulated from real specssound loads on your first tapShortcuts: press A or B anywhere outside a text box to fire that burst. Use the volume trims to loudness-match the pair before judging which sounds better.
Spec by spec
| Spec | Kailh BOX Jade | Kailh BOX Navy |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Clicky | Clicky |
| Brand rates force at | actuation | actuation |
| Actuation force | 50 g | 60 g |
| Bottom-out force | 65 g (our estimate) | not published |
| Pre-travel | 1.8 mm | 1.8 mm |
| Total travel | 3.6 mm | 3.6 mm |
| Silent (dampened) | No | No |
| Factory lubed | No | No |
| MX-compatible stem | Yes | Yes |
| Price tier | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Street price | varies | varies |
Kailh advertises an actuation force for both of these, so the two headline figures in this table are measured at the same point and can be read against each other. The figure marked "our estimate" is our own derivation and not a manufacturer number, because Kailh publishes no bottom-out figure for the Kailh BOX Jade. How we derive a bottom-out figure .
Verdict
Kailh is on both sides of this one and both are clickies, so the question is which of its own clickies suits you. 10 g at actuation is a bracket apart, not a shade, and it is the Kailh BOX Navy carrying the heavier end at 60 g. With the numbers this close, the honest tiebreak is the voice: loud, crunchy, metallic double click; unapologetic on the Kailh BOX Jade, the deepest, loudest, most forceful click in production on the Kailh BOX Navy. Nothing here separates by use case: the Kailh BOX Jade is our pick for gaming and for typing, and it is the one a shared room would forgive first, which is faint praise for two clickies. Take the Kailh BOX Navy only if you specifically want the deepest, loudest, most forceful click in production.
- Overall pick
- Kailh BOX Jade
Gaming, typing and a shared office all point at the Kailh BOX Jade, so printing the same name three times would tell you nothing. One pick it is.
Force curves
Kailh BOX Jade
Kailh publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the 65 g at the end of the stroke is our estimate and the run into it is dashed. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers. How we derive it.
Kailh BOX Navy
Kailh publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the dashed end of the curve is an estimate, not a spec. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers.
Kailh BOX Jade or Kailh BOX Navy: the long answer
Read the spec sheet once, carefully, and most of this decision makes itself. The Kailh BOX Navy carries the heavier spring at actuation, 60 g to 50 g. That is a real 10 g without being a change of bracket. The stroke itself is shared: both stack a click mechanism on a bump you already feel. Distance is not the difference: both register at 1.8 mm and stop at 3.6 mm. With the stroke shared, that spring gap does most of the deciding here.
What the table cannot tell you is how either one lands in a room. Played back to back, the Kailh BOX Jade is loud, crunchy, metallic double click; unapologetic against the deepest, loudest, most forceful click in production from the Kailh BOX Navy. Either way, both of these are heard by everyone in the room, so the choice between them is a choice of tone and not of volume. These demos are synthesized from published specs and documented character rather than studio recordings, which every player on the site says plainly.
On what they cost to fill a board, both are mid priced. Lube is on you with both of these, which is a real cost in time whichever one you order.
This one does not split. Every axis we score points the same direction: the Kailh BOX Jade is our pick for gaming and for typing, and the quieter of two switches that both announce themselves. On speed, the two are close enough here that either works, and our scoring gives it the nod by a hair. On typing feel, the click keeps a long session in rhythm, assuming nobody nearby objects. On noise, neither of these belongs in a quiet shared room, and this is only the less punishing of the two clicks. That leaves the Kailh BOX Navy to anyone who preferred its voice in the player above, which is a good enough reason on its own. None of this beats hearing them yourself, which the player above lets you do in about a minute.
For either one on its own terms, read the Kailh BOX Jade page and the Kailh BOX Navy page. Or leave switches aside for a minute and run your current keyboard through the free keyboard tester.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Kailh BOX Jade or the Kailh BOX Navy the better gaming switch?
We pick the Kailh BOX Jade for gaming. This is close to a coin toss. The scoring hands it over by a margin you would not feel in a match.
Kailh BOX Jade or Kailh BOX Navy: which one is quieter?
Neither is quiet. Two click mechanisms means two switches that broadcast every press, and picking between them will not save your colleagues. If noise decides this, look at a silent tactile instead.
Is the Kailh BOX Jade heavier than the Kailh BOX Navy?
The Kailh BOX Navy, and the comparison is clean: actuation on both sides, 60 g to 50 g.
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