Switch: Kailh BOX Red

Epomaker sells all of the switches sent to me, even as spare switches to try out before going with a full keyboard with the switch of your choice. The switch kits are sold in packs of 15, definitely not the much larger quantity I needed. As such, packing the switches in bubble-wrap envelopes is all function over form, and even so not necessarily the best way to go about it as a few inside the package had tears due to sharp metal contacts poking through the envelope. Regardless, in the absence of a note stating which is which, I opened all the envelopes in advance this time to go through them in a cohesive manner, from linear to tactile to clicky switches.

We begin with the Kailh BOX Red characterized by the red stem/slider and Kailh name etched into the translucent top. You might be thinking the BOX in the name refers to the square box structure around the cross-point stem, but that is just a coincidence. This support structure was made purely to reduce keycap wobble and went too far at launch with some keycaps getting damaged owing to how thick the columns were. That's a thing of the past now, however, with all BOX switches you can buy from retailers working great with all keycaps as far as I know. Nay, the reason behind the development of the BOX switches was Kailh recognizing the potential for the typical MX-style switch to be adversely affected by dust and liquid spills courtesy their up to IP40 rating. These BOX switches ramp things up to an IP56 rating, and we will soon see how that is achieved. The exterior design is otherwise fairly straightforward with a similar footprint as the Cherry MX switch design and it needing 3-pin switch sockets only. The switch is also compatible with 2-pin, 4-pin, and SMD RGB LEDs, and we see a large cutout in the housing and top for light to pass through, with diffuser action in the top to spread the light more uniformly.


Disassembling the BOX Red reveals more about the BOX design, as well as the uniquely decoupled actuation mechanism employed here. Two sets of interlocking tabs keep the switch together. The Kailh BOX Red is a linear switch adopting the Cherry MX cross-point stem design with a clear top, red stem, metal spring, and base housing that also houses the metal leaf contact. Now, a typical mechanical switch has the stem travel down and touch one side of the metal leaf, which is in turn pushed towards the other side. This metal contact then triggers the actuation of the keystroke on the PCB, and off it goes to your computer to be reflected as an action. With the BOX series, Kailh added an intermediate plastic nib (called the Active Block) that is lubed well too. The plastic of the stem thus only touches this green plastic nib, which in turn pushes the moving metal plate onto the stationary metal plate for actuation. Thus the metal contacts remain isolated and covered, which is how these switches got the IP56 rating. The linear BOX switches are the simplest to understand, which is why I started with the BOX Red.


Using the Kailh BOX Red switches with the Epomaker GK61XS is quite simple, especially considering the socket is compatible with 5-pin switches out of the box and these are 3-pin mechanical switches. All you have to do is ensure the metal pins are straight before orientating the pins based on the openings in the switch socket and pressing vertically down until you hit a solid wall. If you go at an angle or the pins are slightly off-center/angled, you might encounter resistance sooner or even hear the scrunching of the pins being bent or crumpled further. Once done, the switches look imposing up against the white plate and wood case. As mentioned before, my issue is with the flex of the plate itself, wherein you sometimes just don't have enough resistance for the switches to be pressed in completely. I had to use a flat metal object to prop the plate from a neighboring switch slot more often than not, which makes this a less-than-enjoyable experience.


Seen above is what in my opinion is the default fit with the Akko keycaps for this configuration. I used the carbon black and off-white keycaps with the modifier keys getting the darker black set. The legends contrast well against the base and are very well injected with no bad implementations. The color combination also works nicely with the wood case, and the side profile show the ASA profile, which actually results in floating keycaps. I should mention that the pins on these Kailh BOX switches are very thick and sturdy. These in fact are two-ply in that each pin has two metal sheets come together, making bending it very hard.


This is the force-travel curve for the Kailh BOX Red switches courtesy Kailh. These are medium-force linear switches with a total travel of 3.6 mm instead of the usual 4.0 mm and a rated actuation distance of 1.8 +/-0.3 mm as opposed to the average switch at 2.0 mm. Rated actuation force is 45 +/-10 gf, which is slightly better than the average +/-15 gf error bar, but still not optimal for what is supposed to be a high-end switch. Peak force is rated at 60 gf, which you will hit when bottoming out and letting go in practice. As far as the rated specifications go, this switch is quite similar to the Cherry MX Red with shorter overall travel, and a random set of twenty switches tested well within rated specifications, with measured actuation at ~1.9 mm. Key travel is quite smooth with only plastic on lubed plastic contact, and you would be hard-pressed to make out an actuation difference even with the slightly lower travel distance. If you bottom out, the total time between keystrokes is also shorter owing to the appreciably shorter travel distance. These are really good linear switches, just not necessarily the best implementation of the BOX design itself.


Here is what this specific combination sounds like, and keep in mind that the sound profile is heavily influenced by everything. Even the wood case matters a lot, with acrylic/ABS/aluminium cases changing things drastically. The presence or absence of sound-dampening foam is also quite the factor, which is why it's best to compare switches with the same case, plate, and keycap set combination. I can tell you right away that these switches sound alright, but really not that different from other such Cherry MX Red switches or clones. The plate especially does make the sound more bassy, with a "thock" rather than a "clack" for linear switches. Light reverberation off the relatively empty case does occur, but there is minimal pinging courtesy the polycarbonate plate. The sound is consistent across the board, which is more than I can say for a few other switches tested recently. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with linear switches.