Huntsman Mini (Purple Switches) Experience

Hello, I just want to share my experience with the huntsman mini which I have been using for about 3 months and prior to buying this keyboard I have little to no exposure to mechanical keyboards. I decided to get huntsman mini after my 2014 blackwidow te is not registering some keys but it lasted that long so credit to Razer for the reliability. With reliability in mind, I thought of going another shot on razer keyboard and at that time Razer were among the earlier ones to make optical switches keyboards which in theory should last longer because of the lesser moving parts. It was a heavy investment for a 60% keyboard to be honest but I didn't think twice because of my previous experience with Razer and its more like a love at first sight, keyboard looks sexy. Initially, I wanted to get the red switches but when I tried out the huntsman mini with the red switches on the shop, it doesn't feel like a mechanical keyboard and more like a membrane keyboard for some reason, so I decided to get the purple switches instead.

Keep in mind that I am heavy gamer and I do some coding. After using the keyboard for a while, my thoughts are pretty conservative on the keyboard, its neither the best or worse keyboard and I don't mind that but the pinging noise that bothers me a lot especially when you press the backspace key. Naturally, I looked up for solutions and came across randomfrankp's video on youtube and he suggests by adding a layer of foam under the pcb solves the problem. I tried it out and it works and I have no more complains about the keyboard and in fact for some reason it feels better. After a month or so using the keyboard, few of the keys started to jam, once you pressed the key down it doesn't go back up. I opened up the keyboard and then I noticed some broke plastic bits inside the keyboard. It took quite some time to realized it came from switches, the small side bump that supposed to generate the clickiness of the switch and secure the switch to the pcb. With that broken part, the switch wobbles a lot and hence the jam. After modding the keyboard, I have doubts that I could claim the warranty and sadly I end up buying a different keyboard.

TLDR: If you own a hunstman, try not to mod. I broke mine.

As I use the keyboard, I did some research in mechanical keyboards and here are my feedbacks when using the keyboard at stock for beloved Razer team:

• The keys wobble a lot, makes it feel cheap.
  
• Pinging noise because of the hollow case, adding a piece of foam or silicon layer should eliminate this problem.
  
• Crappy switch design.
  
• Provide few spare switches out of the box. Saves you some hassle entertaining customers with eventually defect switches.
  
• Possibly design a mod friendly keyboard and hot-swappable switches.
  
• Maybe a tactile optical switch?
  
  
• It's definitely not worth 120 usd, if you ask me how much should it be priced at. I'd say 70-80 usd.
  
  
• As for the red switch with the dampener (not much experience but it's pretty obvious), the actuation force and travel distance is too low, in comparison (overall feel) to cherry silent reds, its night and day.