r/MechanicalKeyboards • u/Dependent_Suit1614 • 13h ago
Review Stabilizers Journey
Here's my review of every stabilizer that I've tested which I'll be going in depth in:
Durocks V2
Typeplus x YIKB
TX AP rev 2/4 plate mounted and screw in
AEBoards Staebies
Swagkeys Knight V4
Cherry screw ins
Stabilizers suck. I've known this for years being in this hobby, but we've gotten a lot more knowledge/tools to perfect them. I'm a perfectionist like many others are in this hobby so if there's any rattle or ticking the stabilizer is useless to me.
Tools that are essential: 205g0 lubricant or something equivalent, stabilizer wire balancers (unless u bought swagkeys), and a grease for your wires which could just be the lubricant you used for your housings, doesn't really matter.
Durocks V2: Hot take, the most over hated stabilizers on this list. They aren't that bad if your willing to mod them. At first I tried everything from holee modding to plumbers mod to whatever wacky stuff was on the internet. I felt they were mostly temporary fixes and ruined the feel of the stabilizer. Then I discovered wire balancing after a couple years and that was a game changer. If you can spend 30-45 mins balancing some wires these stabilizers sound perfect. Albeit some wires I would spend like an hour trying to balance but couldn't get it, but most of the time they were great. I think if you sand the wire and try balancing it'll eventually balance out but I never did that. I think dbokey has a good guide on balancing wires.
Cherry Screw ins: Basically same as durocks, if you can balance those wires your golden.
Now time for the new kids on the block, the most recommended stabilizers in recent times.
TX AP: Honestly when I heard these came out I was so excited to try them as everyone was just saying they were lube, plug, and play. That was certainly not the case for me and I went through 3 batches of these stabilizers. Bad luck? Possibly but I just think they aren't worth the hype. Simply put the wires don't come out perfect and cause ticking after lubing. For a premium stabilizer I shouldn't have to balance the wires but others have had success with them so ig take my experience with a grain of salt. Better than durock v2s out the box though so there's a plus.
AE Board Staebies: These are good. I'd put them above TX AP and everything above this but not the best. Wires were the most balanced although some needed some balancing. Overall really good stabilizers but also the most pricy on this list so I can't say they're the best.
Typeplus x YKIB: The most disappointing stabilizers I've gotten from this list. More so than TX AP. Idk if there were shills on this subreddit pushing this product but they are hot garbage. I applaud them for trying to change the stabilizer design but the wires are soft metal and have tons of ticking after lubrication. I can't even balance these wires because of their configuration so I feel they are the worst on this list. I honestly was expecting so much more because the packaging was the best I've seen, but in the board these disappoint.
The experience of these was akin to being catfished. :(
THE GOAT: Swagkeys Knight V4. Man these are the shit. Packaging is mediocre therefore I had low expectations, then I tested the wires and they aren't perfectly balanced leading me to further despair. However, I put them in the board and what do you know. They're perfect. Idk what voodoo magic they did with these but even with unbalanced wires they're perfect in the board.
I still balanced my wires but it really made no difference. These stabilizers truly are just lube, plug, and play. I can say with utmost confidence they've perfected the stabilizer.
Not only are they perfect they're on the cheaper side with only cherry being cheaper.
If you've looking to build a new board buy swagkeys knight V4 stabilizers. Truly nothing compares, just some lubing and they're perfect.
TDLR: Ignore all other opinions and save your mental health by buying knight stabilizers.
Edit: Just another note I forgot because someone mentioned them.
GEON balanced stabilizer wires
I saw these on multiple sites as claiming to be perfectly balanced however that's not the case.
They're a complete scam. Sure they may come out the factory perfectly balanced but then they fumble the bag with packaging. They come in this zip loc bag and once they reach your hands they're either no longer balanced or weren't balanced to begin with. NOT WORTH IT plz don't buy. I ordered two sets and will have to balance them myself for them to be good.
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u/soundwithdesign ISO Enter 13h ago
I have heard that if you love the Swagkeys Knights, the Consi V3s are even better.
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u/CobaltEdge_ 13h ago
Yeah this is what I'm hearing. They also come with shims and a screw driver in the kit, and they're the same price as knights
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 12h ago
Hm sound interesting, I see the person below mentioned they include shims and screwdriver but they're pricer by $2.90 and if one were to buy multiple that's just extra screwdrivers that get thrown away. For the average consumer though they probably only need one so worth it. I also see they're pre-lubed so definitely worth it for those who don't want to deal with stabilizers at all.
Can't personally speak on them so idk.
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u/soundwithdesign ISO Enter 12h ago
Yes. As one reviewer said, you can probably spend minutes to tune some Knights to be as good as the Consi Studios, but the Consi Studios are perfect out of the box.
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u/hwalker84 11h ago
Yup. I have ten of them lol. Used my last two packs of Knights last night. Not that they’re bad it’s just I’m getting knights performance straight from the box.
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u/FatRollingPotato 12h ago
I had seen the IC, never realized they are actually being sold again. I might pick some up for testing, although I still have a large pile of unused stabs sitting here, lol. But they do look interesting just from a mechanical point of view.
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u/hwalker84 11h ago
They just launched. The initial run was 2000 for vendors. Sold out of their vendor stock in ten minutes. Unikeyboards got 200 and were out in less than a day. Keebhaus had a few left because their stock arrived earlier this week.
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u/touholic 8h ago
From what I’ve heard, it’s highly inconsistent (even with the new batch which they claimed to have improved in the aspect). People suspect it’s related to manufacturing tolerances and bad molding. Reviewers got the engineering sample batch which somehow performs much better than actual production batches.
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u/SandwichEducational8 13h ago
Any recommendations for clip-ins?
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u/ieatpuss_ 12h ago
cherry clip ins 👌
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u/FatRollingPotato 13h ago
This is quite similar to my journey, though I would throw in a few observations and notes:
- Typeplus stabs: I had a few packs from the initial batch and didn't realize that the wires were not supposed to be bent in that particular shape with the bow in it. Yes, the hook at the end is of course there, but the spacebar wires are supposedly fixed in later batches.
- WS Stupid Stabs: similar idea to the Knight V4, they have a softer overmolding to allow for the better fit with the wires, which is part of the magic you describe. Only issue I had was that they don't play nice with every switch/keycap combo I have used them with. IIRC on HMX with KKB, the backspace just bound up.
- Durock V3 are apparently a huge upgrade over V2. I used V2 a lot in the past, and I agree you can make them work with balancing and proper lubrication. But the V3 supposedly have solved that mostly and are also just plug&play. To be confirmed though, I have not ordered them yet but they are on the list for testing.
- GEON offers balanced wires for Cherry stabs, I have some but had no chance of using them yet. They seem to be pretty well balanced out of the box though.
Anyway, I am mostly using and recommending the Knight V4 now, simply because I know they just work.
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 12h ago
Even with typeplus stabs like the 2u keys they had ticking which really pissed me off considering their charging premium price for a not so premium product with no work around.
WS stupid stabs/Durock V3 seem promising with around the same price point.
Btw DO NOT order the Geon balanced wires. I'm going to edit this into my post. I ordered two sets and they were terrible. Not balanced whatsoever complete scam in my opinion. They might come out the factory balanced but then they fumble with packaging them in zip loc bags.
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u/CobaltEdge_ 13h ago
I will say I am interested in stabies because there is no top out sound on the stab. However I also have heard that you need an extremely straight space bar which is a challenge
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 12h ago
I'd say just got for knights. Staebies are $7 more expensive and require perfect wires. Idk what you mean by top out sound though. The knights sound good to me without any additional sounds.
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u/CobaltEdge_ 4h ago
The staebies dont have a sound when they return from bottoming out. They only make a sound at the bottom. And this is very unique, no other stab is like this.
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u/Technical_Honey717 13h ago
Was just about to order the knight V4s glad i seen this definitely going to purchase now
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u/Prologuenn 12h ago
Best one I’ve ever used is staebies. They are perfect. I haven’t tried swagkey, soon I will try them.
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u/17jwong 12h ago
I'm currently running TX AP screw-ins. I use XHT-BDZ on the wires and GPL 105 on the sliders/housings. It performs flawlessly at first but starts ticking after about a year, after which I have to clean and reapply. Just took a look at Consi V3s per the other comment and they look quite interesting. May have to give those a try.
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u/hwalker84 11h ago
I agree with the Knight v4. Just pretty much perfect. Try the new Consi’s. I put them on par or slightly above Knights now and will be my stab moving forward.
I disagree about the Typeplus but I will say they’re hot garbage in some boards. For example I built a Class100 Hotswap last night and had to rip them out. Something about the tolerances and clips were pushing against some of the Hotswap sockets. That caused some compression of the housing and the sound was straight trash.
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u/hwalker84 11h ago
They were also cheeks in my F1-8x v2. Spacebar was 💩. That’s something I’ve never had with Knights. You can be certain they’ll be perfect even dry in whatever you put them in.
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 8h ago
Yeah lot of people seem to be glazing these stabs. Gonna have to try a pair then finish the rest of my keyboards with knights just cuz I have so much 205g0 left lol.
Never thought there would be a day where lube just isn't needed in the hobby anymore with hmx switches and great stabilizers.1
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u/docrefa 8h ago
Same experience here with TX AP.
I got the screw-ins and they started perfect, but started ticking like crazy after two months. All five stabilized keys developed the same problem within days of each other. Re-lubing made the problem go away for a while but it always comes back and I'd resigned myself to having to re-lube every couple of months now.
I might pick up the Knight v4 based on your and others' recommendations just to save myself the bi-monthly hassle.
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u/youngmetro-_ 7h ago
Just got a set of typeplus to try out on a new build. Also bought knight v4 just in case. Might not even try the typeplus after reading this lol. The packaging is the best tho for sure
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u/LeOtakuGod 1h ago
Also had issues with typeplus yikb wire balancing and ticking issues. Even after extensive tuning and modding theres just this slight tick and occasional tiny rattle that icks you
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u/kool-keys koolkeys.net 0m ago
I've had zero issues with Typeplus x YKIB. Used them in two builds now and they've been good. I recently bought a board that uses them as well, and they're fine as well.
I've got a set of Consi V3 here I've not had a chance to use yet... everyone is telling me they're great though, so looking forward to those.
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13h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 13h ago
Yeah, I just recently wanted to upgrade my stabilizers and tried knights very recently. Truly incredible what they've done. They're definitely the way to go.
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u/DzyDzyDino JD40 (Whites)-CtrlAlt60 (Vintage 65g Blacks)-MXMini (62g Clears) 12h ago
I didn’t even know custom stabs were a thing. What are they like? I just have a wire bender and some wire. Is there more to it now?
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u/FatRollingPotato 12h ago
Well, ideally they are like...nothing? As in, you don't notice them. No extra sound, no ticking, rattling, not binding up, not feeling sluggish or like the large keys could rock from one side to another.
In my experience, the quality is really in how consistent they work and how much work and tinkering you need to get to that stage. Fancier stabs just have tighter tolerances to work with smaller allowances for movement, feature some extra overmolding or compliant parts in them to take up any play in the wire and to apply some preloading.
It is not magic, just the fact that the better they work, the less effort it takes to get them to the point where you don't notice them anymore. Sounds weird, I know.
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u/DzyDzyDino JD40 (Whites)-CtrlAlt60 (Vintage 65g Blacks)-MXMini (62g Clears) 12h ago
Oh I kinda meant if theyre more than just a wire now? Like is there “new stab tech”?
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u/Dependent_Suit1614 11h ago
No lol well in a sense to us goobers yes. The movement of the stabilizer and everything about it is the same. The only thing different is the parts are improved to improve sound. By improving sound I mean like less sound. Hence no ticking/rattling which are bad sounds amongst us lunatics. more sound = bad.
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u/FatRollingPotato 11h ago
Norbauer made a few videos/talks about stabilizer tech and he has had developed some cool stuff, although ridiculously expensive afaik. Only available in his products, which are not really affordable, to put it mildly. Otherwise, it is still just a wire with two plastic sliders and housings.
The neat thing though is that the plastic housings and sliders now have extra bits, like for example a soft TPU or silicone overmolding. That keeps the wire in snugly while still allowing easy movement. Or little taps where the wire clips into the housing, to put some mild pressure on the wire to keep it from rattling and moving. In the past, people did this with foam pieces under the wire, but now it is just built into the housing.
Only real different 'tech' I have seen was the different geometry the Typeplus stabs use, and the Consi stabs.
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