June 5, 2025 - Analog Optical switches detect this by measuring the amount of infra-red light beamed to the phototransistor on the printed circuit board (PCB) and the switch’s stem acts as a gate to control the amount of light being passed through. Hall Effect switches on the other hand, use a magnet housed within the stem of the switch and a Hall sensor on the PCB, and measure the difference in output changes based on the distance between the two.

June 5, 2025 - For a simple analogy, take a ruler to represent both switch types. A Hall Effect switch will have wider and more inconsistent spacing between each millimeter, whereas an Analog Optical switch will have almost proper consistency between each millimeter through the range and are spaced apart as what a millimeter should be.

September 27, 2024 - The Huntsman V3 Pro line advances ... the entire key travel of 0.1mm – 4.0mm, surpassing traditional Hall-Effect Magnetic Switches in both precision and reliability....

August 14, 2025 - Razer's testing claims to show that this bears out in practice, with optical switches measuring the travel distance more accurately throughout the entire key press. You can see the straighter line in the graph belongs to the optical switch, ...

May 12, 2023 - Regardless, hall effect switches are closer in terms of feel and feedback to the traditional mechanical switch, while optical switches feel like slicing a sword through the air. By that analogy, a Hall effect switch would feel more like slicing ...

December 17, 2024 - Magnetic and optical switches come in to sidestep the natural limitations of mechanical switches as far as gaming is concerned. Hall effect switches do not suffer from debounce delay, as they use a completely different actuation method.

At Razer, the evolution of esports gear is extremely important for competitive gaming. Central to any player’s setup is their keyboard, and with that in mind, our Analog Optical Switches Gen-2 are designed to unlock every competitive gamer’s full potential by providing unmatched performance, ...

It's a joy to type on. im sure he would like that, while it was fresh at least, however the reason he is looking at other keyboards now is because he wants to trust the keypresses, which is why hall effect or optical are what he is looking at, with a possible how swap switch keyboard so when a problem switch happens he can easily take it out and repair, or just replace entirely without soldering.

September 17, 2025 - With a Hall Effect keyboard, you are not stuck with one spot where the key works. You can use software to pick exactly how far you want to press the key for it to work. You can set it to a very light 0.2mm for gaming, so you just have to touch it. Then, when you are typing, you can change it to a deeper 1.8mm so you don't make mistakes. This is the most important feature for fast games. On a normal or optical switch, you have to let the key come back up past a certain spot before you can press it again.

August 15, 2025 - Optical, on the other hand, uses light which always travels the speed of light. You don't calibrate light as it tends to always travel at the same speed through air. Although I suppose you could get dirt in the sensor and foul things up ... These new fangled keyboards have advanced switches ...

Early adopters in the mechanical keyboard community experimented with integrating Hall Effect switches into custom builds, often sharing their experiences on niche forums. However, these keyboards were typically DIY projects, not mass-produced products. ... This changed in 2018 when Wooting sought to improve analog input for their products. Initially, Wooting experimented with Flaretech optical switches but found Hall Effect technology offered greater potential.

September 5, 2024 - When it comes to price, rubber dome is utilized for key press confirmation by membrane keyboards, but they do not provide the user with a tactile feedback or long-life features like hall effect switches. Despite their high cost, hall-effect keyboards are superior in terms of typing precision and uniformity. Hall Effect and optical switches differ in their mechanisms though both provide contactless key actuation.

August 14, 2025 - The company contends that optical switches offer enhanced precision because they are less influenced by environmental factors. This discussion is pivotal for gamers seeking optimal performance, especially in fast-paced gaming environments where every millisecond counts. Optical and Hall effect technologies both facilitate analogue input in keyboards, allowing for variable keypress depths that can mimic the subtlety of a joystick.