Interest CheckSwitches

Gateron Summertime Switch

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Description

On the most beautiful of days, you’ve gathered together with your closest friends and family for a delightful summer picnic. The air is filled with the sweet scent of freshly cut grass and blooming flowers as you spread out your picnic blankets and set up a colorful array of food and drinks. Laughter and lively conversations filled the air as you played games like frisbee and cornhole, with the sounds of friendly competition adding to the joyful ambiance. You indulged in an assortment of delicious homemade dishes, from refreshing fruits to mouthwatering grilled burgers, and washed down with your favorite summer beverages. As the sun begins to set, you huddle around a crackling bonfire, sharing stories and toasting marshmallows for gooey s'mores. It was a carefree day of laughter, good food, and cherished moments with friends, leaving all of you with memories that would be treasured for years to come.

Heya! PuNkShoO here again with my final design of the year. If you’re unfamiliar, I am the designer of the Cream Soda, Root Beer Float, Melody, and Runner switches. Today I would like to introduce you to Summertime, a switch premise heavily built around community input and designed to capture a special spot in the hobby which I have not been able to in my journey thus far.

Summertime is inspired by fond memories growing up spending time on my Memaw's farm in the summers with my cousins and extended family. Every year we'd have a big get together with lots of good grub, fireworks, farm chores, and plenty of wild shenanigans. One of my favorite things about those summers was picking fresh watermelon from the garden, sitting on the back porch on a hot summer day with a nice breeze and enjoying a well-deserved slice while surrounded by family.

The colorway is not meant to precisely represent a watermelon but takes inspiration from the color palette and combines it with other fond summer memories such as Koolaid, picnics, grapefruit, strawberry shortcake, and more.

Summertime features a full polished rail Milky top and bottom with molds being custom polished just for this project. The switch also brings the Ink material in the form of a lightly lubricated and polished 3.8mm travel linear stem paired with a dual stage 63g long spring. The goal is to provide a nostalgic feeling and sounding quality linear with a bright sound profile akin to BCPs (black cherry pies) and a crisp bottom out at a mid-tier price point.

Switch Specs:

Linear
Polished Milky Top Housing
Polished Gateron Long Pole Ink Material Stem
Polished Milky Bottom Housing
63g Dual-stage Long Spring
3.8mm Travel

Expected Price: 50-55c

Interest Check Form

Available for pre-purchase in August 2023

Expected fulfillment by late Q3 2023

Vendor List:

US: Keebhut
CA: RNDKBD
EU: Keygem
UK: SerpentKeys
CN: MoYu.studio
VN: Shibay Mech
SG: Qwertyqop
PH: Squishy Types
AUS: KeebzNCables
...more to come

Renders

Photos

Force Curve

Coming Soon!

FAQ

Will you offer these unlubed?
No. The intention of these switches is to be amazing out of the box/bag and require no extra work to enjoy much like the Cream Sodas. The factory lubrication is fairly consistent and is only lightly applied on the rails to deliver a smooth experience without feeling overlubricated.

Is there going to be fancy collector packaging?
That is entirely up to vendors. At the moment there is no plan for packaging but, as with all my designs, I am having a sticker design commissioned so that if vendors opt to purchase and distribute them they can.

Is this a group buy or in-stock?
These will be in-stock just like my other switches. So long as these are received well Gateron and I will make sure that all our will have better availability to vendors to reduce gaps in stock availability.

Addressing product delivery delays:

tl;dr: There was an error at the Gateron factory severely affecting the quality of the end product. QC fell short and a subpar product was delivered to vendors. Gateron owned the mistake thoroughly and promptly. They are in-process of making it right. Timelines have been extended 5-6 weeks and we are working internally to discuss preorder handling, vendor QC, and more. Additional discussions related to these events can be found in my Discord server.

What happened?

Several of our vendors and I received our Summertime switch orders yesterday. It goes without saying that we were all very excited, and some of us even shared photos of the deliveries with all of you, anticipating that you would have them in your hands this week and the next. However, last night, one of our vendors discovered something troubling during the quality control process, which sparked a surge of coordination among all of us to ensure that we weren't delivering a subpar product. As we went through our switches, it became evident that a significant percentage of the Summertime switches exhibited varying degrees of tolerance issues in the top housing. This, in turn, led to a less than desirable keypress experience. Consequently, the overall product delivery fell significantly short of the original design intentions, except for a few outliers which could be seen as "unusable".

Gateron's Response:

I promptly reached out to Gateron, and their response was swift. They advised us to halt the delivery process and assured us that they would identify and rectify the error. Replacement switches, which adhere to my standards, will be sent. Their exact words were, "...we can't give the bad switch to the customer..." and I must commend them for upholding this principle. In a hobby where accountability is sometimes overlooked, it's refreshing to see a manufacturer that has consistently maintained high standards of quality and consistency take responsibility for their oversight. Following this incident, Gateron proactively contacted all the affected vendors, without requiring my direct involvement, to notify them of the issue. I am personally impressed by this demonstration of their integrity.

Resolution and Timeline Adjustments:

Now, what implications does this have for our delivery timelines? During the initial interest check (IC) phase, our goal was to ensure that these switches would be in your hands by late August or early September at the latest. The IC explicitly mentioned "late Q3". Our progress was on track until these recent developments came to light. While it remains plausible that replacement switches could be dispatched to the vendors by the end of September, I would estimate that the likelier timeline for receiving them would be early Q4. Thankfully, Gateron employs mold markings on their molds, enabling them to accurately identify problematic molds, address the issue, and provide us all with the expected high-quality product. Given this context, I believe it's imperative to afford them ample time to rectify the situation. The rough production timeline encompasses a minimum of three weeks, followed by shipping times to the vendors and subsequently to you, the customers. Please rest assured that we will diligently monitor the corrected production process and any associated fixes. As soon as we receive updates, we will ensure that you are kept informed.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your patience and understanding in this matter. While I acknowledge that this situation is less than ideal, I can unequivocally assure you that the design's worthiness is underlined by the positive coverage we have garnered so far from our esteemed partner creators.

Reviews and Coverage

Alexotos
Captain Sterling
Georen
Maker Mods
Nainaigogo
Staceysmash
Xinxinwong

...more to come!

Typing Sound Demos

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Zonex75 w/ FR4 Plate

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