Gateron Sea Salt Smoothie

Quick Summary

The Gateron Sea Salt Smoothie is an all-POM linear that reworks the popular Smoothie recipe with a heavier, extended spring and a touch more travel. The result is a smooth, deep-sounding switch that feels a little more substantial under the finger than the original. It’s a solid pick for anyone who wants a creamy, factory-lubed linear without the price or fiddliness of a boutique build.

Specs and Feel

This is a true linear: no bump, no click, just a clean keystroke from top to bottom. Pre-travel sits around 2.0mm with a roughly 3.7mm total travel and a ~48g actuation, so it lands in the medium-weight range rather than feeling featherlight. The standout is the 22mm single-stage extended spring, which gives a firmer, more progressive return and a more deliberate bottom-out than the standard Smoothie.

The full-POM housing and stem are doing the heavy lifting on feel and sound. POM is naturally self-lubricating and slightly softer than nylon, so the travel is genuinely smooth with minimal scratch, and the acoustics skew deep and muted, closer to creamy than poppy. Stem wobble is well controlled for a stock Gateron switch, and the factory lube keeps things consistent across the batch.

Tuning

These don’t strictly need anything, which is the appeal. The factory lube is competent and the POM materials cover most of what hand-lubing would gain you. If you’re a tinkerer, a light pass on the springs can quiet residual ping, and switch films are largely unnecessary given the tight POM tolerances.

Verdict

If you like deep, smooth linears and want a heavier, more grounded take on the Smoothie line, the Sea Salt is an easy recommendation, especially at how cheaply it’s stocked. Buy it if you want a creamy mid-weight linear that’s ready to drop in; skip it only if you prefer a lighter spring or a brighter, clackier sound signature.