Hall Effect

Should You Buy Gaming Keyboards With a Hall Effect?

By Connor McBride — Published 1 day ago

Your monitor and mouse are essential components of your gaming hardware, but your keyboard also plays a key role. While mechanical keyboards have traditionally remained a popular choice, there's a new player on the horizon - Hall-effect keyboards. But do they deserve your attention?

Before we talk about the features of Hall-effect switches, it's helpful to understand how mechanical switches work. When you press a key, the rod (the colored plastic element) moves downward, compressing the spring inside the switch.

This movement causes the two metal contacts to contact, which locks the key in place. As soon as you release the key, the spring spreads out and returns the rod to its original position, separating the contacts and preparing the switch for the next press.

This mechanism is a pleasure to use for typing and gaming. Moreover, it is very reliable - it can withstand about 50 million keystrokes, which is much more than membrane keyboards. Hall-effect (abbreviated HE) switches are essentially like mechanical switches, in appearance they are almost identical. HE switches have the same plastic body and MX-style stem, allowing the same keys to be used as for mechanical keyboards.

They also have a spring inside that creates resistance when pressed and returns the rod when released. While they are not completely identical, in my opinion, they feel and sound similar to regular linear mechanical switches such as Cherry MX Reds.

The main difference is in the way HE switches detect presses. Instead of a metal plate, HE switches use a magnet inside the rod and a Hall sensor at the bottom. As the rod moves, the sensor detects changes in the magnetic field. As soon as a keystroke crosses a certain threshold, e.g. 2 mm, it is registered as an input.

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The advantages of this technology are numerous. First, physical wear and tear is greatly reduced, which is why HE switches are rated for 100 million presses. But the main advantage is the analog nature of HEs, which allows them to capture input throughout the entire movement of the switch. This means you can customize the trigger point to your preference. For example, my SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Wireless Gen 3 keyboard uses OmniPoint 3.0 switches that can register a keystroke from 0.1mm to 4.0mm.

HE keyboards are great, but like many things in life, they are not without flaws. Chief among them is the price. Hall-effect keyboards are at the height of their popularity right now, but that's not the only reason for the high prices. I suspect it's because HE switches cost more to manufacture, as they require tighter tolerances and may include slightly more expensive components as well as research costs to create these new keyboards. Furthermore, most HE keyboards are either Kickstarter products or premium gaming brands like Corsair, Razer, and SteelSeries, which tend to have a higher price tag.

If you are serious about gaming and your budget allows it, you should consider buying an HE keyboard. The benefits are too significant to ignore. Even if your favorite game doesn't support SOCD for faster striking, you can still use the customizable trigger points to fine-tune the behavior of each key. Rapid Trigger is also a powerful feature that minimizes response time. However, if your budget is limited, you can still make do with a regular mechanical keyboard, especially if you choose one with lightweight, low-threshold switches like the Akko V3 Silver Pro.