Let’s talk about the Everglide Aqua King 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 Everglide Aqua King 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
Everglide was first introduced to western audiences in May of 2019. They were exclusively sold at Drop at the time.
The company offered four types of switches: Sakura Pink, Coral Red, Amber Orange, and Jade Green. The first three are linear while the Jade Green was tactile. These switches were only sold in batches of 70 or 110.
The switches received positive feedback after the initial sale. They were all fairly smooth and performed decently, relative to the other linear switch options available at the time.
Everglide quickly became a worthwhile option.
There are different version of the Everglide Aqua Kings. This review is going over the 67g version.
Specs
- Type: Linear
- Top Housing: Polycarbonate
- Bottom Housing: Polycarbonate
- Stem: Polycarbonate
- Spring Weight: 67g (Bottom Out)
- Total Travel: 4.0mm
- Lubrication: Unlubed
- 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: 4.5
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 of scratchiness.
They show to have a pretty high initial force at 55g and they felt decent to rest my fingers on.
Everything about these switches matches what my preferences are. That said, they felt just alright to me. So, what’s the problem and why don’t they feel perfect to me? I have no idea, but let’s go into more details.
Gaming:
I spent days playing Grounded with these switches.
For those that aren’t familiar with the game, Grounded 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 stomped the bugs with no issues.
The switches were fine while gaming. There weren’t any glaring issues with the way they felt, but there also wasn’t any wow factor. They kinda just disappeared from thought while I was playing.
I did end up beating the hardest boss in the game, the Infected Broodmother, for the first time with these switches. Not only did I beat her once, but I beat her like 10 times. If you’re good at parrying, use the Compliance Badge. Trust. It was a game changer for me.
While running around in the backyard, fighting normal bugs, I did notice how smooth these switches felt. This was a pleasant surprise to me and we’ll go into why in the next section.
Typing:
I’m actually writing this review using these switches right now.
I did a typing test and typed fine with these switches. Zero warm-up. I just jumped right into it and was able to hit 100+ on a couple of longer typing tests.
I didn’t have to adjust my typing style to prevent any mistakes. Was able to just type as I normally would and the errors were minimal.
Resting my fingers felt comfortable on these switches. Their higher initial force made it so I didn’t have to worry about accidental actuations while doing so.
Overall, the typing experience was good on these swtiches.
Check out the score I got on TypeRacer:
Sound Profile
Sound Score: 4.5
Sound Signature:
These switches sounded thocky. Thock is my preferred sound profile, but for some reason, these switches didn’t hit the spot for me. I don’t think they were thocky enough.
Pinging:
I couldn’t hear any pinging at all on these switches. I brought individual switches up to my ear and listened as closely as I could. There was nothing on the downstroke nor the upstroke.
Since I couldn’t hear anything with them up to my ear, it was no surprise that I couldn’t hear anything when I brought my ears down to the keyboards either.
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
Socket Fit:
The switches installed into the sockets securely, but they didn’t click into place. They kinda just squished into place. I had to re-seat a handful of them ‘cus they took a bit more force than the others. Was afraid I had bent the pins, but it turned out I hadn’t.
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:
Here’s where all the issues probably stemmed from.
I bought these switches on Amazon. The manufacturer didn’t state whether the switches were factory lubed or not, but all the reviews were raving about the lube (except for one who said other users were overexaggerating).
I opened about a dozen of them to check the insides. They were bone dry! That or my eyes are going bad.
I looked as closely as I could on the switches and couldn’t tell if even a super thin layer of lube was on the switches or not. I even ran my finger around the stem to see if I could feel anything, but I couldn’t.
Oddly still, the switches felt super smooth. I have a feeling proper lube will change my feeling about these switches. I’ll be back with an update after I get around to lubing them.
Aesthetics and Compatibility
Compatibility Score: 5
Colorway:
The switches have the following color scheme:
- Transparent: Polycarbonate stem
- Transparent: Polycarbonate top housing
- Transparent: Polycarbonate bottom housing
I hate transparent, so it’s no surprise that I hate the way these switches look. The all transparent look was kinda disorienting to me. It was so hard to take pics of these switches ‘cus I didn’t even know what to focus on. The only colors in the spring were the internals and they were impossible to capture clearly on camera.
That said, at least they weren’t some weird color combination.
Keycaps:
Keycaps went on with no issues. I got the usual resistance when pressing the keycaps onto the stems.
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 but one did pop off with its corresponding keycap.
RGB:
RGB worked phenominally on these guys. Full transparent everything really blows up the RGB. Imagine putting transparent keycaps on these guys.
These are the switches you want if you’re looking for maximum glow.
Quick Comparison
Here’s how the Everglide Aqua King switches stack up against some similar options:
| Switch | Type | Actuation Force | Travel Distance | Materials |
| 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 |
| Kailh Box V2 Red | Linear | 40g | 3.6mm | PC/Nylon Housing, POM Stem |
Price and Value
Value Score: 2
At the time of this writing, the Everglide Aqua King switches cost ~$0.71 per switch. These switches are in the expensive territory.
These things aren’t cheap. The value isn’t great, 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 only alright to me, though. I just prefer a little more thockiness.
These switches can be for the lazy tinkerer. They performed decently well, despite being completely unlubed. 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 hand lube.
Wrapping Up
Performance Score: 4.5
Sound Score: 4.5
Build Quality Score: 4
Compatibility Score: 5
Value Score: 2
Total Score: 4.0 out of 5
The Everglide Aqua King switches, as they came from the factory, didn’t do it for me.
I love how smooth they are, but I only barely like the way they sound.
The weight of these switches was perfect to me, but I don’t know why I just didn’t enjoy typing with them as much. I’m going to go ahead and say its because of the lack of lube. I have a strong feeling that proper hand lubing will completely change the way I feel about these things.
That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these switches to anyone looking for max RGB.
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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