Keyboard, Review

Anubis Review: Incredibly Thocky Switch With a Strong Tactile Bump

Let’s get this straight out of the gate: if you want one of the “thockiest” tactile switches in the market now, the Anubis easily fits the bill. It even has a deeper sound profile than the Gazzew Boba U4T Thocky, which is considered to be one of the thockiest tactile switches.

Aside from its sound signature, the Anubis has a lot of the winning qualities too, including a strong tactile bump, excellent tolerances, and a unique, “soft” typing experience. Of course, it has some shortcomings too – keep on reading this review to find out more.

What It Is

Designed by Chewwy and 0sirisTV from Mechs on Deck, the Anubis is manufactured by Durock, one of the most recognisable switch manufacturers. The colourway of the Anubis is also based on Mechs on Deck’s logo, with a light green top housing, black bottom housing, and light grey stem.

Speaking of which, both the top and bottom housings of the Anubis is made out of nylon, which gives the switch its deep, thocky sound profile. The POM stem of the Anubis has an extended pole too, so when you bottom out with this switch, you get the “poppy” sound popularised by the original Holy Panda tactile switch.

Like most switches manufactured by Durock, the Anubis has a five-pin design. It also has a 65g gold plated spring with a light factory lube, so it is smooth out of the box. There are some downsides to the factory lube, but I’ll get back to this further down the review.

Last but certainly not least is the pricing of the Anubis. I got it from iLumkb at S$9.50 for 10 switches, so that comes up to about RM3 per switch. This makes it slightly more expensive than the Boba U4T, which goes for S$8.50 (about RM26) for 10 switches from Pantheon.

However, the Anubis does have a number of advantages over the Boba U4T – I’ll discuss this in the next section.

The Good Stuff

The sound profile of the Anubis is arguably its best quality. Thanks to its full nylon housing and extended stem pole, it has a very deep, poppy sound signature. The all-nylon housing also makes it a pretty muted switch, which I’m quite fond of – it’s definitely quieter than the Boba U4T and Glorious Panda.

Because the Anubis is factory lubed, it is also relatively smooth out of the box. While there’s a hint of audible scratch, it doesn’t feel scratchy at all. After all, the factory lube is just a thin oil-based lubricant that covers the stem and spring.

And then there’s the typing experience of the Anubis. Just like the Boba U4T and Glorious Panda, the tactile bump of the Anubis starts at the very top with a bit of post-travel after the bump. As for the tactile bump itself, it’s a tad sharper than the U4T and Glorious Panda, but it’s not quite as sharp as the Moyu Black or Zilent V2.

But what really surprised me is the “soft” typing feel of the Anubis. Compared to the Glorious Panda, for example, the bottom out of the Anubis is not quite as harsh; I would even say it feels “cushioned.” So even though it has a sharper tactile bump than the Glorious Panda, it doesn’t feel quite as fatiguing to type on.

Another winning quality of the Anubis is its excellent tolerance. There’s very, very minimal horizontal and vertical stem wobble, and it’s even comparable to the Boba U4T in this regard – that’s a high praise.

I quite like the colourway of the Anubis as well. To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled by the colour of the switch when I first saw it online, but after seeing it in person, I’m a fan. The light green hue of this switch even matches GMK Botanical – the second group buy for this keycap set is live right now, by the way.

The Bad Stuff

Remember when I said the factory lube of the Anubis has some downsides? Well, some switches were not lubed particularly well. Out of the 90 switches I got, two were overlubed to the point that they felt “sticky.” There’s also more resistance throughout the downstroke, and the tactility is reduced as well.

And then there’s the leaf and spring noises of the Anubis. Out of the box, there’s some spring crunch (even though it’s lubed), but it’s the leaf ticking that is especially noticeable. To solve these two issues, relubing the switch is definitely necessary.

Besides that, the Anubis doesn’t feel quite as snappy as its competition either. In fact, when I first installed these switches, the spacebar and enter keys refuse to return. After repeatedly actuating the switches on these two keys, they eventually work as intended.

But even then, the Anubis still feels more…”sluggish” than the Boba U4T or Glorious Panda. I imagine swapping the 65g springs with heavier, longer springs could make the switch feel more responsive, but some folks may not want to go through the trouble.

Is It Worth It?

Despite its shortcomings, the Anubis is easily my favourite tactile switches to date. I love its thocky, deep sound profile, strong tactile bump, and very minimal stem wobble – winning qualities of any mechanical keyboard switch. I would’ve loved it if the Anubis was a tad snappier, but I reckon this can be solved by swapping the springs.

If you’re in the SEA region, you can get the Anubis from iLumkb. For those in the US, you can grab this excellent tactile switch from Cannon Keys itself.

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