TMR vs Hall Effect switches
TMR is the newest sensor under the same magnet. It does not change what a magnetic switch does — adjustable actuation and rapid trigger behave identically — it changes how precisely and how efficiently the PCB reads the magnet.
Same switch, different sensor
Both families put a magnet in the stem and read its position from the PCB:
- Hall Effect (HE): a Hall sensor outputs voltage proportional to magnetic flux. Proven, cheap, ubiquitous — every HE board shipped so far uses it.
- TMR (Tunneling Magnetoresistance): a sensor whose resistance changes with field direction via quantum tunneling. It is far more sensitive to small field changes and needs less current — which is why it took over gaming-controller thumbsticks first.
What that buys a keyboard: finer position resolution (smoother rapid-trigger curves at 0.01 mm-class sensitivity), better behaviour at the edges of the flux window, and lower sensor power draw — the last one matters mainly for wireless magnetic boards, where sensor current is a real battery line item.
What does not change
| Hall Effect | TMR |
|---|
| Magnet in stem | Yes | Yes — same switches physically |
| Adjustable actuation / rapid trigger | Yes | Yes |
| SOCD / analog features | Board firmware | Board firmware |
| Keycaps | MX-style stems | MX-style stems |
| Socket rules | Board-family specific | Board-family specific |
The compatibility logic in the checker — socket, polarity, keycap tolerance — applies unchanged. A TMR board is still an HE-style board to your keycaps.
Where TMR actually wins — and where it doesn't
- Wins: wireless magnetic boards (battery life), extreme-sensitivity rapid trigger, headroom against sensor saturation with very strong magnets.
- Doesn't: wired 60HE-style gaming. At 1–8 kHz polling the bottleneck is the game and the PCB, not the sensor physics. "TMR is faster" claims don't survive a stopwatch on wired boards.
- Ecosystem: still young. Cross-compatibility charts are thinner than HE's; vendors are only starting to publish dual-protocol switches (Gateron's Magnetic Jade Silent explicitly targets HE + TMR boards).
Buying checklist for a "TMR" board
- Confirm the board actually has a TMR sensor per model — some lines mix sensor types across revisions.
- Check which switches the board validates (socket + polarity), same as HE. Start from the board's shipped switch family.
- Ask what you're buying it for: wireless battery life or analog feel → TMR is a genuine reason. Pure wired speed → any competent HE board is equivalent in practice.
- If a dual-protocol switch exists for your board (e.g. Jade Silent), it removes the guesswork entirely.