Akko’s foray into the extreme budget switch market, an overall rating

Akko has yet again created a very budget-friendly switch, the Cream Yellow V3s. Coming in at 20 cents per switch, this is an obvious contender against the very popular Gateron Yellow Series. It has extremely good build quality for its price, and with its winglatch housing design—although making it slightly harder to open—gives it exceptionally good tolerances. It has 3.5 mm travel with 1.9 mm of pre-travel, with a 50 g actuation force. They have long pole stems which negates compatibility issues with North-facing LEDs and Cherry profile keycaps

Smoothness: 8/10

Being so cheap, I expected something worse. However, once lubed with GPL 205g0, these switches were extremely smooth. Though clearly not as good as high-end switches like Alpacas, these are still a great offering for less than half the price of an Alpaca. There is very little stem wobble, even when compared to switch heavyweights like the U4Ts and Alpacas. 

Sound: 7/10

These switches are lubed and used in a Keychron C1 (tempest and foam modded) with MDA profile keycaps, no desk pad. Your keyboard sounds may differ.

Even though all keyboards will make your switch sound different, the Cream Yellow V3s provide a high pitched sound that overall is very pronounced. They indeed sound “creamy” as advertised, meaning that they have a very smooth bottom-out sound. However, you can definitely change this by modifying both your board and switches. Even right from the factory there is menial spring and leaf ping, and the switch definitely is worth its price.

Weighting: 9/10

I personally like lighter linear switches compared to something like Alpacas or Durock Lavenders, and these hit the spot. Being 50 g, this switch provides the perfect balance of a satisfying bottom-out with a relatively small 3.5 mm of travel.

Typing Performance: 7/10
The lubed Cream Yellow V3s provide an extremely satisfying linear typing experience. That being said, I do not like typing on linears. Even though I have not had bottom out problems in which the key is not fully depressed while typing, I do not find that it is a pleasant experience compared to my tactile switches. This may not be reflective of your experiences, as this is my personal opinion. 

Gaming Performance: 7/10

Even though many people consider linears superior for gaming, I did not find this better than tactiles. It still has a very smooth actuation with less overall travel, however, I still do not find them extremely pleasant to play on. Again, this may not be reflective of your experiences, as this is my opinion.

Overall Score: 38/50 = 74%

Conclusion: The Akko Cream Yellow V3s are extremely high quality budget switches. It definitely lives up to its name and performs exactly as advertised. They are a great budget offering from Akko, and compared to other switches like the Gateron Yellow, the Cream Yellow V3s are completely up to preference. They are definitely on the higher pitched side on my keyboard, however, your experience and build will likely differ from mine. These switches are able to compete with less budget offerings such as Durock Lavenders, and in my opinion are the new budget linear to beat.

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