Epomaker Sea Salt Silent V3 Review: A Silent Switch That Doesn’t Feel Mushy

Today, I have something a little unusual from Epomaker: the Sea Salt Silent V3. These are linear switches and, as the name suggests, they are designed to keep noise to a minimum. This is already the third generation of the Sea Salt Silent series, which naturally raises expectations.

What makes them unusual, however, is neither their silent design nor the fact that the series has reached its third generation. There is another design choice that sets them apart even among silent switches, and I was particularly curious to see how it would affect the way they feel under my fingers. So, let’s take a closer look at what the Sea Salt Silent V3 have to offer.

The Sea Salt Silent V3 switches are sold in compact cardboard boxes, each containing 35 switches. Inside, every switch sits in its own molded slot in a plastic tray, while a separate plastic cover keeps everything securely in place. I have no complaints about the packaging: it provides enough protection to keep the switches safe during shipping and, more importantly, helps prevent their pins from being bent. The tray itself looks good and can later be reused to keep other switches safely stored and neatly organized.

A pack of 35 switches costs $17.99, which works out to approximately $0.51 per switch. This places the Sea Salt Silent V3 firmly in the mid-range price bracket. Epomaker runs sitewide sales fairly often, though, so there is a good chance of finding them for less. During the 11.11 sale, which is active at the time of writing, the price is $15.29 per pack, or around $0.44 per switch. At that price, the Sea Salt Silent V3 switches sit closer to the lower end of the mid-range price bracket, offering even better value. Either way, they remain reasonably priced and should not push the total cost of a build too high.

The Sea Salt Silent V3 is a standard-profile MX-style mechanical switch with a 5-pin PCB mount, a 4-clip housing design, and a dustproof stem.

Visually, its color scheme is built around a seaside theme. Personally, the combination of a yellow stem, a transparent top housing, and a pale blue bottom housing reminds me of clear blue seawater and yellow sand on a beach. It makes me miss the sea…

This combination of colors and transparency does more than bring back memories of the sea, however. The transparent polycarbonate top housing allows plenty of RGB light to pass through and helps spread it more evenly around the switch. The V3 also has a built-in LED diffuser, which helps to channel far more of the light from the keyboard’s LEDs through the switch. This diffuser is new to the V3, as the V2 did not have one. This is a genuine improvement for anyone who enjoys RGB lighting. The result is smooth, even illumination with almost no noticeable color distortion (from the switch housing itself). If you use shine-through keycaps or simply enjoy your keyboard’s backlighting, these switches are an especially good match. If you use shine-through keycaps or simply enjoy your keyboard’s backlighting, these switches are an especially good match.

The Sea Salt Silent V3 have a fairly balanced force curve. The initial force is approximately 38 gf, increasing to 45 gf at actuation and 51 gf at bottom-out. This places them comfortably between light and heavy switches, making them a versatile middle-ground option for a wide range of uses. The 19 mm extended spring gives the stem a snappy return and helps the press feel more even throughout the travel.

Total travel is 3.5 mm, with the actuation point located at 1.8 mm. Compared with the classic 4.0 mm, the shorter travel brings the bottom-out slightly closer. Reduced travel has become increasingly common among modern mechanical switches, though, so there is nothing particularly unusual about 3.5 mm. Personally, I prefer shorter-travel switches because they feel a touch quicker to me.

Stem wobble is about average. I would not say there is very little wobble, but it is not excessive either. It is roughly what I have come to expect from a modern mechanical switch.

The Sea Salt Silent V3 are factory-lubed, and the lube job is excellent. Lube is clearly visible on the inner walls of both the top and bottom housings, as well as on the stem and spring. And it shows in use: the switches feel perfectly smooth throughout the travel, with no trace of scratchiness. The POM stem contributes here too. The material’s low coefficient of friction helps the stem slide smoothly inside the housing – a key reason POM is so widely used for switch stems.

The bottom-out feel is probably the most interesting part. Most silent switches use rubber dampers somewhere in their construction to absorb the impact at the end of the downstroke and suppress the usual bottom-out sound. The side effect is a softer, less crisp bottom-out feel than you would experience with a conventional non-silent switch. Some people enjoy this softer bottom-out and describe the resulting typing experience as cushioned and more comfortable. Others are not particularly fond of it and describe the bottom-out as vague or mushy. This is entirely a matter of personal preference.

What sets the Sea Salt Silent V3 apart – and what I hinted at beginning of the review – is that they do not use rubber dampers for silencing. Instead, small relief cuts in the stem at its contact points with the bottom housing help absorb and cushion the impact, resulting in less noise. This is an interesting solution because it helps reduce some of the softness commonly associated with silent switches. I would not say their bottom-out feels exactly like that of a conventional non-silent switch, but it is firmer than that on silent switches that rely on rubber dampers and comes much closer to the feel of a regular switch.

This design also avoids that bouncy feeling rubber dampers can create when you press harder at bottom-out, causing them to compress further and spring back under your fingertip. Instead, with the Sea Salt Silent V3, there is a small amount of cushioning near the end, followed by a fairly firm end of travel.

So, if you need a quiet switch but dislike the soft bottom-out typical of many silent models, this difference could be a big deal for you.

Silent switches may seem simple to judge: the quieter each press sounds, the better. In reality, however, the difference between a good silent switch and a poor one can be quite substantial.

Once the usual bottom-out sound is taken out of the equation, attention shifts to any other sounds the switch may produce. For example, if a switch is poorly lubricated, the stem may produce a dry, scratchy sliding noise. Another potential issue is spring ping, an unwanted metallic ringing that can occur when the spring itself is poorly lubricated. It can be surprisingly irritating in an otherwise quiet switch. Noises like these undermine the entire purpose of a silent switch, so there is definitely more to consider than simply how quiet the downstroke is.

I can say right away that the Sea Salt Silent V3 have neither of these issues. I heard no spring ping and no audible scratchiness from the stem moving inside the housing. The switches are also very quiet on the downstroke. This actually surprised me because, given how their silencing mechanism works, I expected them to be a little louder. Instead, they are every bit as quiet as silent switches with rubber dampers and even quieter than some I have tried.

The upstroke deserves a separate mention, as it is slightly louder than the downstroke. Even though I type a lot, I did not notice this during normal use. It only became apparent when I deliberately pressed individual keys all the way down and then released them abruptly to isolate the upstroke sound. This is only a minor detail because the upstroke is still quieter than that of a non-silent switch, but it may be worth knowing if you are a heavy-handed typist.

The Sea Salt Silent V3 are nice and smooth linear switches with a balanced force curve that makes them versatile enough for both everyday typing and gaming. Naturally, they are best suited for those who want a quieter mechanical keyboard for shared workspaces, late-night typing or gaming, or any other situation where louder switches could disturb someone nearby.

They are also a good fit for anyone who cares about keyboard lighting. The transparent top housing and built-in LED diffuser help the backlighting appear bright and even.

However, what truly sets the Sea Salt Silent V3 apart is their silencing mechanism. Since it does not rely on rubber dampers, their bottom-out does not feel as soft as that of many other silent switches. For that reason, I would especially recommend the Sea Salt Silent V3 to anyone who wants quieter switches but has never enjoyed the typical feel of rubber-damped silent switches.