The Boba U4T offers a superb stock experience and gets even better with lube
If you’ve been following the channel, you may have noticed that I have a strong partiality for linear switches, but in the name of experimentation we’re going to start exploring some tactile options. The Gazzew Boba U4T was an obvious choice as I’ve been very impressed by the sound tests I’ve heard. Designed by Gazzew and manufactured by Outemu, the U4T is a follow-up of the original U4, which is a silent tactile switch that was very well received by the community. The U4T maintains the same housing and stem leg design with a longer stem pole.
The Boba U4T is available with an opaque or clear housing, the latter of which is known as the RGB version. Price-wise you’re looking at around $0.60 per switch, and these switches are usually available on Monstargear and Aliexpress. Quite an interesting design here with a brown yellowish coloured stem and milky housing. The stem is made of POM and the housing is mixed plastic, then we have Korean stainless steel springs that are available in 62 or 68g. This milky style housing has become very popular for its deep and muted sound signature, and you’ll find the Boba housing on quite a few frankenswitches, most notably the Holy Boba, which is a combination of the U4 housing and Halo stem.
The U4T features a longer stem pole which means the stem pole is actually the bottom out point, resulting in a loud and thocky bottom out. This is of course the main selling point of the U4T. The longer stem pole also means that the switch has a lower travel distance, bottoming out at just over 3mm. As the stem leg would suggest, the U4T has a rounded bump, and what’s interesting is that the bump feels fairly drawn out. As a matter of fact the whole downstroke almost feels like one long tactile bump, as the pre and post travel is very low. Looking at the force graph, we can see the high tactile position and also the low linear travel after the bump. In comparison to something like the T1 and Holy Panda, the U4T has a longer and more rounded tactile event, so it doesn’t feel as snappy as the aforementioned switches. I did pick up some marginal scratchiness, but the linear travel is so low that it shouldn’t really be noticeable. The U4T comes with a very light application of factory lube on the leaf, and these sounded pretty good stock. Overall the ping was quite low on the Korean springs, however there were a few switches where it was quite bad, so at the very least I would recommend lubing the spring bottoms.
Something to keep in mind when choosing a tactile switch is what kind of bump you like. If you prefer a rounded bump with a greater length, then the Boba U4T will be perfect, however if you prefer a shorter and sharp bump, this won’t be the switch for you. As far as my experience, I really enjoyed typing on these switches, however I did run into some finger fatigue especially when gaming. Even though the spring weight is 62g, the longer bump does give them a heavier feel, and they’re probably a bit too heavy for me to use on a daily basis. As expected the U4T has a stunning sound profile, with the milky housing giving it a nice deep signature, and then of course that loud and thocky bottom out. But even more impressive is how tight these switches sound, and that’s because of the excellent tolerance on the housing, comfortably being less rattly than a Gateron and even JWK. My only nitpick would be that the Bobas make a fairly high pitched clack on the upstroke, which can potentially be diminished with some lube on the top housing. I decided to use my Krytox mix to eliminate the marginal scratchiness and ping, but most of all I was hoping to get an even deeper sound.
The tolerances on this Outemu housing is very impressive, especially in comparison to JWK and Gateron. The stem wobble is extremely low on both lines, comfortably beating Gateron and even better than JWK. The housing is also very tight, and you definitely won’t be needing films unless you’re looking to change the sound. These excellent tolerances contribute to a very tight sound profile, and the Bobas are basically rattle-free.
So in summary, the U4T is a great choice if you’re looking for something louder and thockier than the original U4. These switches offer a superb stock experience and get even better with some lube.
headtr1p 