Let’s talk about the Gateron Ink Black switches!
I’m a keyboard nerd who’s built dozens of boards and swapped switches more times than I can count.
I’ve put these things through the wringer for you.
This Gateron Ink Black review breaks down their specs, performance, and whether they’re worth your hard-earned cash.
Stick around to see if these switches deserve a spot in your next build!
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Switch Snapshot
Gateron was founded in 2000 and is a manufacturer of mechanical keyboard switches and related components. The company has become a prominent player in the mechanical keyboard market and is known for producing high-quality switches.
The Ink Blacks have consistently been recommended on Reddit in various “best of” lists. There seems to be a consensus on the forums that these are one of the top linear switches available.
These switches are made from Gateron’s proprietary Ink material and are available in different colors (aka different spring weights). There’s even a clicky version out there.
Specs
- Type: Linear
- Top Housing: Proprietary Ink Material
- Bottom Housing: Proprietary Ink Material
- Stem: POM
- Spring Weight: 70g (Bottom Out)
- Total Travel: 4.0mm
- Lubrication: Pre-Lubricated
- Pins: 5-pin
Specs were sourced from various vendor websites.
Wanna get into details about mechanical switches? Learn more about them here.
Tempted already? Snag a pack and join the linear party!
Hands On Breakdown
I tried these switches as they came from the factory using the following setup:
Keyboard: Neo Studio Neo65
- Case: Aluminum
- Plate: FR4
- Mount: Gasket
Check out our keyboard case article, plate article, and gasket mount article for more info.
Keycaps: Wuque Studio BOW
- Material: PBT
- Printing: Double Shot
- Profile: Cherry
Learn all about keycaps here.
Note: Neo Studio Neo65 doesn’t have RGB. RGB was tested on a Keychron Q1.
Check out the force curve.
I tested these switches in both gaming and typing scenarios.
Performance
Performance Score: 4
Preferences:
The switches I’ve used the longest are the Gateron Oil Kings. So, you can consider them the baseline for what my preferences are.
I like to rest my fingers on the keys when I’m typing. This often leads to keys being inadvertently pressed.
I also type like I’m hammering nails. I bottom out pretty hard when I press the keys.
General:
These switches were very smooth and felt like they had the average amount or slightly less than average amount of scratchiness.
They an above average amount of initial force at 40g. like a really heavy initial force on my switches and these switches delivered that.
The bottom-out force at 70g felt excellent to me. I really like the way these switches felt when pressed.
Gaming:
So, I finally caved in and bought Palworld. It totally blew me away. I should have bought this game a long time ago.
For those that aren’t familiar with the game, Palworld involves moving your character using the WASD keys and pressing a bunch of other keys to use your character’s abilities. Everything felt really responsive to me and I caught tons of Pals with no issues.
The switches performed great while playing the game, but I wasn’t blown away or anything. They kinda just disappeared into the background as I ran around catching Pals. I guess you could say this is a good thing since a keyboard shouldn’t distract you from the game.
I got a lot of time in with these switches. This game is deceptively long. You level up super fast in the early game and then it slows down to a crawl when you’re around level 30. I made it to 40 so far and I still can’t beat the third boss.
These switches are on the heavier side, but I didn’t feel any finger fatigue at all while playing. There’s a lot of key pressing in this game too. A lot of the keys are awkwardly place, like pressing 1 and 3 to switch pals and 2 to change Pal Spheres. I really should go and rebind them to something else.
But nevertheless, I have no complaints at all about these switches and I thoroughly enjoyed using them.
Typing:
I’m actually writing this review using these switches right now.
I did a really short typing test without any warm up. The test was only a couple of sentences and I got an outrageous score of 135 wpm. Of course, I recognized that the short test wasn’t representative of my true typing speed and there was no way I would be able to sustain that pace.
I did a few more tests and the were much more in line with the scores I was used to. I made quite a few mistakes with these tests, noticeably more than normal. I’m not sure that was the case. These switches are on the heavier side so I shouldn’t have been having many accidental actuations. The mistakes were likely from me trying to beat that fake 135 wpm score I got earlier.
Resting my fingers felt good on these switches. I didn’t really feel them starting to sink down. Most switches that I’ve tested hover around the 35g range for initial force. It’s surprising how much of a difference the extra 5g to push these switches to 40g initial force makes.
Overall, the typing experience was good on these switches.
Check out the score I got on TypeRacer:
Sound Profile
Sound Score: 4
Sound Signature:
These switches sounded on the thockier side. Thock is my preferred sound profile. Initially, I thought these guys could have been a bit thockier, but the sound quickly grew on me. I’m really enjoying the marbly sound coming from these switches.
Pinging:
Pinging was hit or miss on these switches. I sampled dozens of them and I could hear the faintest of pinging on about half of them. Most of the pinging was on the upstroke.
Installed on the keyboard, I couldn’t hear any pinging at all. I just heard the pleasant thocky sound from each key press.
Microphone Usage:
In the past, I regularly had complaints on Discord about my mic picking up keyboard sounds when I was using these switches, but I didn’t get any complaints at all during the play sessions where I was testing out the switches.
I even told my teammates to specifically listen for my typing as I mashed on the keyboard for them. They said they couldn’t hear anything.
I also put my phone up next to the keyboard on a speaker phone call and the other side couldn’t hear any keyboard sounds either.
Build Quality
Build Quality Score: 4.5
Socket Fit:
The switches installed into the sockets securely, but they didn’t click into place. They kinda just squished into place. I didn’t have to re-seat any of the switches. They all installed perfectly on the first try.
I wiggled the switches in the socket and didn’t discover any excessive wiggling.
Pins:
I poked around on the switches and didn’t notice anything wrong with the build quality.
The pins were nice and sturdy and I didn’t bend a single one while seating them into the sockets.
The switches were 5-pin design and were very secure.
Errors:
There were no issues with ghost-typing and all my keys worked on KeyboardTester.com.
Lubrication:
The switches came pre-lubricated from the factory.
I opened about a dozen of them to check out the insides. The lube was pretty consistent on the switches but seemed a bit light to me.
Nevertheless, Gateron probably has the research to back their lube job. The switches felt very smooth with each key press and I really can’t complain about it.
The only improvement I can think of would be to re-lube the springs myself to see if I can get rid of more of the pinging.
Aesthetics and Compatibility
Compatibility Score: 5
Colorway:
The switches have the following color scheme:
- Black: POM stem
- Smokey: Proprietary Ink material top housing
- Smokey: Proprietary Ink material bottom housing
I hate transparent, but if I had to have transparent switches, I’d rather go for the smokey look.
That said, I still don’t like the way these switches look. They’re probably the worst looking of the Gateron Ink series. At least the other ones kinda match. The black stem and smokey housings seem to clash on this switch.
Keycaps:
Keycaps went on with no issues. I got the usual resistance when pressing the keycaps onto the stems and they had a satisfying click when installed.
The caps sat on each switch securely and didn’t have any unusual wobbling.
Pulling off the keycaps was as easy as putting them on. They all came off without any issues.
RGB:
RGB worked great on these guys. The smokey housing mutes the RGB a bit, but it’s still leaps and bounds more bright than opaque switches.
You’ll want to consider these guys if you’re looking for an RGB build..
Quick Comparison
Here’s how the Gateron Ink Black switches stack up against some similar options:
| Switch | Type | Actuation Force | Travel Distance | Materials |
| Gateron Ink Black | Linear | 60g | 4.0mm | Proprietary Ink Housing, POM Stem |
| Everglide Aqua King | Linear | 52g | 4.0mm | PC Housing & Stem |
| Gateron Cream Soda | Linear | 56g | 3.8mm | PC/Proprietary Ink Housing, POM Stem |
| LEOBOG Reaper | Linear | 45g | 3.6mm | PC/Nylon Housing, POM Stem |
| NovelKeys_ Cream | Linear | 55g | 4.0mm | POM Housing, POM Stem |
| Glorious Lynx | Linear | 40g | 4.0mm | PC/Nylon Housing, POM Stem |
| Gateron Oil King | Linear | 55g | 4.0mm | Proprietary Ink/Nylon Housing, POM Stem |
| Wuque Studio Morandi | Linear | 50g | 3.5mm | POM Housing, UPE Stem |
| EPOMAKER Wisteria | Linear | 45g | 3.6mm | PC/Nylon Housing, POM+PTFE Stem |
| Cherry MX Red | Linear | 45cN | 4.0mm | Plastic Polymer Housing/Stem |
| Gateron G Pro 3.0 Red | Linear | 45g | 4.0mm | PC/Nylon Housing, POM Stem |
Price and Value
Value Score: 2
At the time of this writing, the Gateron Ink Black switches cost ~$0.80 per switch. These switches are in the expensive territory.
These things aren’t cheap. The value is terrible, but these are definitely premium quality switches. You really do get what you pay for.
They have been on sale before. Definitely track the price and jump on them when you see the price drop.
Who Are These Switches For?
You’ll love these switches if you’re a typist looking for a heavier actuation point. I had virtually no adjustment period with these things. They felt natural to me right away.
These things are also for those that are into thock. They sounded good to me. The marbly profile is pleasing to the ears.
These switches can be for the lazy tinkerer. They performed well right out of the box. But if you’re a serious modder, you’ll likely be able to extract even more performance out of these things if you take the time to lube the springs.
Wrapping Up
Performance Score: 4
Sound Score: 4
Build Quality Score: 4.5
Compatibility Score: 5
Value Score: 2
Total Score: 3.9 out of 5
The Gateron Ink Black switches, as they came from the factory, were good to me.
I love how smooth they were and I did enjoy the way they sounded.
The weight of these switches was perfect to me, but I would have preferred a bit heavier on the initial weight. I didn’t like having to consciously think about lightly resting my fingers on the keyboard to prevent accidental actuation. I like just being lazy when I type.
That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these switches that likes heavier switches.
So, you ready to give them a spin? Grab a pack and upgrade your typing today!
How We Tested and Our Methodology
Keyboard Forge is a 100% independent publisher.
We purchased these switches with our own funds and were not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
We conducted numerous hours of hands-on testing with these switches in both gaming and typing environments. Majority of the gaming testing was done playing a variety of Steam games. Majority of the typing testing was done writing articles for Keyboard Forge.
We hope this review helps you get a better understanding of these switches. Feel free to reach out to suggest switches to review in the future.
Thanks for the support!
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