TL;DR — I reduced my keycap height by at least 3mm by using low-profile or “medium”-profile…

TL;DR — I reduced my keycap height by at least 3mm by using low-profile or “medium”-profile switches. I found 3 switches that are compatible with standard MX-style PCB layouts AND standard keycaps (if you can tolerate bottoming out on the plate or switch corners). Normal Durock stabilizers worked fine for me with all of these switches, but you won’t get the full stem travel distance.

• My Favorite: Outemu GTMX Low-Profile (I vote Reds > Black, your mileage may vary)
• Runner Up: Outemu Medium-Low Profile
• Least Favorite: Tecsee Silent Linears

Full Review

I’m trying to build a relatively low-profile keyboard with an MX-style PCB, so I ordered several low-profile switches to compare. I only found 3 switches with pins that were compatible with standard PCB layouts (cherry MX-style) AND were in-stock and available in-bulk during summer 2024.

I ordered several common low-profile switches, not realizing their pin locations and sizes were very different therefore NOT compatible with standard PCB layouts. I even read the dimensional drawings of some of these switches ahead of time, but looked only at the height of the switch, not the pin locations…….face palm

Available, but DOESN’T FIT PCB: Common low profiles switches that are compatible with standard keycaps, but tragically NOT compatible with standard PCB layouts (different pin locations):

• Kailh Choc v2
• Kailh POM Ghost/Phantom/Wizard
• Kailh Mid-Height
• Gateron KS-33

Fits, but ISN’T AVAILABLE: Low & Medium profile options that appear compatible with both standard PCB layouts and standard keycaps, but are tragically NOT available summer 2024 include:

• Gazzew Med-Low (might be exact same as Outemu GTMX, tested here)
• Kailh Half-Height (at least not available in bulk)
• Hori Edge

Success! I found 3 switches that were compatible with my existing PCB’s, plates, and keycaps:

• Tecsee Silent Low-Profile Linears
• Outemu Medium-Low Profile
• Outemu GTMX Low-Profile

Results

I confirmed you can swap out your existing switches for these to shave off at least 3mm from your current keycap height if measuring from the PCB, and can still shave off at least 2mm even for plate-mounted boards (comparing to Gateron Pro Silver V2’s as a control test).

Sound Test: YouTube sound test here! Qualitatively, I liked the Outemu GTMX the best since they had the most crisp sound (not quick as clean and crisp as the Gateron Pro Silvers or Pro Yellows, but best of the Low-Profile switches). Outemu Medium-Lows were in second place, not quite as crisp and sharp. Unsurprisingly the Tecsee “Silent” Linears were the quietest, with a very muffled sound that I didn’t enjoy. All were stock straight from the factory, un-lubed.

Feel: I bottom out every single time when I type, so take this with a grain of salt. I found the Outemu GMTX to be the smoothest, since the Outemu Med-Lows were a bit scratchy and wobbly, and the Tecsee Silents were the most wobbly and scratchy — not to mention when bottoming out with the Tecsee’s, it felt kind of mushy instead of crisp the way I like it.

Keycap Compatibility: All 3 have standard stem designs so they should all be compatible with standard keycaps, HOWEVER the keycaps bottom out differently with these switches:

• Tecsee and Outemu Med-Low: Switch corners will collide with most keycaps
• Outemu GTMX Low: Most keycaps will bottom-out on the plate, without colliding with the GTMX switch

Most keycaps (Cherry, SA, MDA, etc.) on the Outemu GTMX switches will collide with the plate, since the switch designers intentionally removed material from the corners of the switches where the collision with the keycaps would normally occur, making an octagonal shape when looking from the top. Therefore when bottoming out, the most keycaps will be flush with the plate. The exception were ISA profile keycaps, which have a slimmer side-profile and did not collide with the plate or any of the low-profile switches tested here. I didn’t mind this because at least it’s a stable bottom-out.

Alternatively the sides of the Tecsee and Outemu Med-Low switches DO collide with some keycaps, just above the plate on the corner of the switches. The Outemu Med-Low switches are wide enough to collide with every side of the keycap, so it’s a relatively stable bottom-out. The Tecsee’s on the other hand are just large enough to collide, but small enough that you can push the keycaps past these raised corners on one side or the other if you wobble the keycap; therefore I sometimes got the unpleasant experience with the Tecsee’s of bottoming out on the plate on one side of the switch, then immediately pushing the keycap to the other side and touching that side of the plate as well before the keycap snapped back to the resting position.

Stabilizers: There appear to be two low-profile stabilizer options available (please tell me if you’re aware of more!):

• Plate Mounted: Gateron plate-mounted low-profile stabilizers
• Screw-In: Tecsee PCB-mount stabilizers

I only tested the Gateron low-profile stabs because I’m looking for plate-mount stabs, however I was disappointed to see they didn’t fit the thickness of standard plates (I was using a brass plate, 1.4mm thick). The Gateron stabs are clearly designed for thinner plate thicknesses (which I wasn’t able to measure because the gap was so small I couldn’t get my calipers in there!).

Since the only plate-mounted stabs I found didn’t fit, this begs the question: do you even NEED low-profile stabs with low-profile or medium-low profile switches? I confirmed that standard Durock stabilizers worked just fine (I didn’t have any alignment issues), HOWEVER they don’t allow the full travel distance of the switch stem. The housing of typical stabilizers is taller than the top of the low-profile switches, so the top of the stabs collides with the inside of the keycaps when pressed.

The Outemu GTMX had the most noticeable difference, since the stabs raised the pressed keycaps a full millimeter compared to the stab-less keys which were flush with the plate. The Outemu Med-Low and Tecsee Linears only had about half of a millimeter difference in height between the pressed keycaps, mainly because the stab-less keys collide with the corners of the switches and prevent that extra 0.5mm of travel. This wasn’t a deal-breaker for me, as I was just grateful they were all compatible, but your mileage may vary.

Thanks for reading! Hope this helps.