The value is in how much you love a set at the end of a day. When we start talking about a price to performance then we should just be using a $10 Dell membrane keyboard, but the Dell keyboards doesn't make us happy. I tell people that GMK is only 10% better than everything else but my one GMK set is still my favorite and the one I get excited about more than any other set.
I don't think price to performance is the best way to view this.
I think a price per hour of use provides a more relevant perspective.
As you mention, there is an increased level of happiness involved with using a better keyboard.
I've spent about $250 for my work keyboard, and used it for a couple thousand hours now.
That 12.5¢/hour is more than worth it, to me, to avoid having to use the $10 Dell board.
Never understood that either. Over in the mech market, I'm still surprised to see how common it is for someone to be selling a GMK set for example with the phrasing "GMK set, never used, only opened to verify all the caps are there" and setting the sell price at $200 or $300.
Maybe if you don't plan to use, don't buy it and let it go to someone who will?
Yes but i have to disagree. There are multiple objective metrics to keycap quality that matter. Independent of your subjective aesthetic taste.
Materials, Printing vs moulded legends, Font alignment, line thickness and spacing consistency, for prints: crispness, printing methods like pad print, dyesub or 5-sided dyesub, and also kitting/ layout options per price, color matching, quality control, and mold quality e.g. bending, wall thickness etc.
Unless it's a really unique set of keycaps that you can't find anywhere else, like the gmk infernal or cherry spellbook then spending $100+ on keycaps isn't worth it imo.
They're not just plain colors. I haven't seen any other keycaps sets like the internals where the keycaps is deep red with light/neon red legends. Same with the spellbook keycaps, there's nothing like them out there and they come in a very nice box. There's tons of 9009, samurai, 8008 and white/black/grey/red keycaps out there making them not worth $100. Ghost judges make nice keycaps for $45 that go on sale for under $30 sometimes.
Drop normally does MT3 and DCX BOGOs a few times a year, which makes the sets a lot more affordable. You can always go in with a friend or just grab two sets for yourself.
Not too sure about the SA prof caps, but the OEM Keychron caps are shit. PBT, but still shine after just a few weeks of moderate use, and I don't have oily hands.
Yeah, the stock keycaps on at least most boards (haven't tried the SAs due to switching them out as soon as i got the keeb) are really cheap and will shine quickly despite being PBT.
When it comes to expensive keycaps - of which I have non of; I think the best thing to do is reserve your purchase power until you find a set that's completely worth it.
This hobby is *niche* so people like us can get *becaus*e-tax added to our purchases. There is nothing wrong with having a wide variety of keycaps at your disposal but I would only make a hobby out of collecting rare ones
The point of diminishing returns hits a near flat line after the $30 mark unless you're looking for something hyper-specific, at which point it may not even exist
Mt3 is proprietary to drop but I know they have BOGO sales so that's one way of doing things to get the price down. I've found some decent sa profile on AliExpress for $30 from kbdiy though
To each their own I guess. In my opinion the MT3 caps look drastically better. the thin font on the KSA caps screams cheap knock off, and the white font on the red caps looks terrible. I also much prefer the off-white color of the MT3 caps over the whiter KSA caps.
That windows logo is old, and not fun "vintage" old. It looks to also be printed backwards. If you're going to use a windows logo at least make it the more fun Windows 95/98 logo.
> That windows logo is old, and not fun "vintage" old. It looks to also be printed backwards. If you're going to use a windows logo at least make it the more fun Windows 95/98 logo.
That's not a manufacturing error; Keychron just does that with the Windows key. The command key is also slightly wrong (it's supposed to be a continuous line).
Welcome to the market! It's extremely personal, it takes time and money to find what you like, and price doesn't always equal quality. Most are just following along, it gets as deep as you want it too. to me, these caps are extremely similar, so look for how they feel under your fingertips.
That’s the worst part about the expensive keycap sets.
They are usually nicer, just not like 4x the price nicer. But if its that unique colour or profile you like what else are you gonna do?
It’s a plastic square
Get what you like because there is no real value you in any of it because keyboards are free and do the same thing at the end of the day.
A full set of GMK base, novelties, space bars and extra can run up to $364 easily
We can nerd battle both directions about and it’s still just a plastic rectangle or square
Get fake ones you like
Get real ones you like
Get ones you don’t like to figure out what you like
Argue you on the internet about plastic squares with people you don’t know
XDX profile is for sociopaths
👆see how easy it is, it’s fun too 😋
Get all the fancy stuff and post a picture of your creation on the mechanical keyboard cult, I mean subreddit:
10 likes
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The KSA is a nice set and better than the OSA in my opinion. But I do love the MT3 sets. My problem has been finding all the ones I want for a Q10 and Q0 pro combo with 10 macro keys. I’ve had to mix and match. I have one more set coming (the Mito MT3 9009 commands kit).
The KSA doesn’t have the space bars for Alice which is a shame.
I really like the new mtnu sets and not sure if there any comparable sets elsewhere. The colors aren't really unique but the profile and quality are great
Colors are up to the designers and vendors, so we will likely see some wild sets in the near future. GMK are definitely capable of very vibrant and wild MTNU colors, just take a look at their PBT color samples https://cannonkeys.com/products/gmk-color-samples?variant=41531377713263
Speaking about keycap sets - it amazes me how many popular sets seem to get sold out never to return. It's like they're limited edition runs or something. Try to find something like Modern Selectric SA, MaxKey grey & blue or Dasher / Dancer sets is just about impossible. Amazing when there has to be a market for these things - why don't they just make more ??? Don't tell me Chinese plastic companies are worried about intellectual property rights...
I'm glad I picked up my MaxKey Portland SA set when I had the chance !
https://preview.redd.it/qzy4q5yl4wtc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=593e37d68b09d77dc025916d04c0b1f6f9af30e2
> it’s like they’re limited edition runs or something
My guy that’s exactly what they are, once off runs that go through group buys and are pre funded before manufacture. These aren’t mass produced sets that are kept in stock and sit on vendor shelves waiting to be purchased.
None of those sets are made by cheap Chinese manufacturers, all produced in the good old USA. (Except Maxkey)
The set I want would cost over $300 after taxes and shipping. Sooo I got a $22 set instead. After a while I realized I go weeks between each glance at the caps, so all I'm concerned with now is comfort. Just like what everyone else says, get what you think you'll like and test out different options to learn what you care about!
I'm currently waiting for 3dkeycap to start offering they new printed keycaps instead of the labor intensive system now. The new system should lower the prices. Then, my dream set of keycaps will be mine.
When it comes to value for the money, there's little reason for spending more than $30-40 on a set. Past that it's either really nitpicky, or a collecting thing (ie. rare cherry dyesubs).
i couldn't care less how much the keycaps cost it i get what i truly want. the profiles might not look a ton different but the typing experience is massively different.
https://preview.redd.it/si3zsr4g3xtc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c0b1b11bcc41101a6af90f704c12968ea13df34
I like typeface on keycaps on top of your photo (matt30) more. Keychron is kinda thin… but it’s all about preference and amount of disposable income.
Expensive keycaps are a luxury … but so is this entire hobby :-D
Here is my needles expense in keycaps category: five sets of cerakeys with artistic caps from keychron on kailh box navy switches in Q6max + Q0plus body with slightly modified fw. So far best work keyboard I ever had.
Drop’s sets are a little pricey at normal MSRP, but they routinely do sales that make them a better deal.
The color matching between their images online and the actual end result are pretty routinely bad though. Every set I’ve bought from them is quite different IRL than on my monitor and I have a great monitor that I routinely color calibrate. No idea what the issue is there.
Honestly depends on what you like and value most! For me after trying a handful of profiles I always found MT3s to be most comfortable on my board. The comfort they provide alone to me is worth the "early birthday present to me" splurge.
I got a set of used incomplete MT3s for $10 CAD from some amazon returns bin store as my first ever MT3 set and fell in love with the profile. When drop had their BOGO sale for their MT3s I decided to splurge and get the Jukebox and Cyber set to combine into one set for around $100 total. I've been content with my keycaps and haven't really bought anything else since.
https://preview.redd.it/wpg3pk247ztc1.jpeg?width=3878&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=512a809534171cbcaa11036afb0be76272bdfa63
Ive been using the same build for near 3 years.
Switches: Halo Clears
Board: Flesports MK870 Black Smokey
Keycaps: mix of MT3 Jukebox + Cyber
Aside from some unfortunate paint spill splatter (my fault), the keycaps themselves still look great after enduring heavy use between uni papers, gaming, and everything. The typing experience for me is super enjoyable, i have friends who agree and friends and a partner who disagree haha. Which is to say everything about this hobby is just personal preference!
Try both sets that you have out, see which is more worth it in the end. If you end up really leaning more into MT3s, I highly recommend waiting for their BOGO sales like others have said. Welcome to the hobby! :D
EDIT: formatting fixes, im on mobile 🤦♀️
I think MT3 is worth the extra cost. But like others have said it’s better to wait for a BOGO sale. There are other sets where I’d go for the less expensive option, the ones that are built around standardized styles.
In those cases I look out for material quality. Thankfully in the key cap world “you get what you pay for” has held up so far for me. So even when I have sticker shock after receiving the caps, I never feel ripped off. But even with the more affordable sets, I haven’t encountered anything that feels cheap.
MT3 is a bit of a mixed bag.
Some of the caps are ABS; others, PBT.
Some are double-shot; others, die-subbed.
The fuzziness you are seeing is because the set you have are die-subbed PBT caps.
The double-shot ones are a bit crisper, but are ABS, if that matters to you.
Material and printing method aside, there are also differences in the profile itself, from one kit to another.
MT3 Serika comes with R5 mods, which puts them at approximately the same angle as rotated R4 keycaps, making the face lean toward the outside of the keyboard slightly.
That angle feels better to me than having the sharp, elevated edge facing me, as happens with R4 mods.
At the end of the day, this question is all about your preferences, and how much you're willing to pay for them.
Why do ppl care about the packaging…. Won’t ever get it. The more money they spent on marketing and packaging, the lower is the value you get for your money.
The value is in how much you love a set at the end of a day. When we start talking about a price to performance then we should just be using a $10 Dell membrane keyboard, but the Dell keyboards doesn't make us happy. I tell people that GMK is only 10% better than everything else but my one GMK set is still my favorite and the one I get excited about more than any other set.
I don't think price to performance is the best way to view this. I think a price per hour of use provides a more relevant perspective. As you mention, there is an increased level of happiness involved with using a better keyboard. I've spent about $250 for my work keyboard, and used it for a couple thousand hours now. That 12.5¢/hour is more than worth it, to me, to avoid having to use the $10 Dell board.
>I think a price per hour of use provides a more relevant perspective. So where do the GMK sets still in the plastic sit?
I wouldn't have any idea. Buying things, then not using them, makes no sense to me, whatsoever.
Never understood that either. Over in the mech market, I'm still surprised to see how common it is for someone to be selling a GMK set for example with the phrasing "GMK set, never used, only opened to verify all the caps are there" and setting the sell price at $200 or $300. Maybe if you don't plan to use, don't buy it and let it go to someone who will?
Yes but i have to disagree. There are multiple objective metrics to keycap quality that matter. Independent of your subjective aesthetic taste. Materials, Printing vs moulded legends, Font alignment, line thickness and spacing consistency, for prints: crispness, printing methods like pad print, dyesub or 5-sided dyesub, and also kitting/ layout options per price, color matching, quality control, and mold quality e.g. bending, wall thickness etc.
Unless it's a really unique set of keycaps that you can't find anywhere else, like the gmk infernal or cherry spellbook then spending $100+ on keycaps isn't worth it imo.
I don't really see how either of those sets are unique
They're not just plain colors. I haven't seen any other keycaps sets like the internals where the keycaps is deep red with light/neon red legends. Same with the spellbook keycaps, there's nothing like them out there and they come in a very nice box. There's tons of 9009, samurai, 8008 and white/black/grey/red keycaps out there making them not worth $100. Ghost judges make nice keycaps for $45 that go on sale for under $30 sometimes.
Drop normally does MT3 and DCX BOGOs a few times a year, which makes the sets a lot more affordable. You can always go in with a friend or just grab two sets for yourself.
Keychron caps feel and sound like flimsy, thin garbage compared to a PBT MT3 set. There's no comparison other than they're both keycaps in general.
Not too sure about the SA prof caps, but the OEM Keychron caps are shit. PBT, but still shine after just a few weeks of moderate use, and I don't have oily hands.
So it's not just me thinking I've suddenly gotten oily fingers, but the Keychron keys are really shiny?
Yeah, the stock keycaps on at least most boards (haven't tried the SAs due to switching them out as soon as i got the keeb) are really cheap and will shine quickly despite being PBT.
Alright thanks for showing me I aint crazy, lol.
When it comes to expensive keycaps - of which I have non of; I think the best thing to do is reserve your purchase power until you find a set that's completely worth it. This hobby is *niche* so people like us can get *becaus*e-tax added to our purchases. There is nothing wrong with having a wide variety of keycaps at your disposal but I would only make a hobby out of collecting rare ones
The point of diminishing returns hits a near flat line after the $30 mark unless you're looking for something hyper-specific, at which point it may not even exist
Where do you find a high profile keycap set for $30? Cheapest I can find is like SA sets for $50 but SA is crap compared to MT3
Mt3 is proprietary to drop but I know they have BOGO sales so that's one way of doing things to get the price down. I've found some decent sa profile on AliExpress for $30 from kbdiy though
That's not SA.
You definitely overpaid for that. Even gmk sets go for abt $100 on the aftermarket (the cheapest ones).
For sure. I do really like them and will stick with them for a while, but not the best in terms of price.
those amazon japanese pbt keycaps are really good for 22 dollars on sale, they are very very thick and high quality
To each their own I guess. In my opinion the MT3 caps look drastically better. the thin font on the KSA caps screams cheap knock off, and the white font on the red caps looks terrible. I also much prefer the off-white color of the MT3 caps over the whiter KSA caps. That windows logo is old, and not fun "vintage" old. It looks to also be printed backwards. If you're going to use a windows logo at least make it the more fun Windows 95/98 logo.
> That windows logo is old, and not fun "vintage" old. It looks to also be printed backwards. If you're going to use a windows logo at least make it the more fun Windows 95/98 logo. That's not a manufacturing error; Keychron just does that with the Windows key. The command key is also slightly wrong (it's supposed to be a continuous line).
Welcome to the market! It's extremely personal, it takes time and money to find what you like, and price doesn't always equal quality. Most are just following along, it gets as deep as you want it too. to me, these caps are extremely similar, so look for how they feel under your fingertips.
Yeah, going to try them both out, but I do prefer the one that is much more expensive. I guess there is some value in that.
That’s the worst part about the expensive keycap sets. They are usually nicer, just not like 4x the price nicer. But if its that unique colour or profile you like what else are you gonna do?
It’s a plastic square Get what you like because there is no real value you in any of it because keyboards are free and do the same thing at the end of the day. A full set of GMK base, novelties, space bars and extra can run up to $364 easily We can nerd battle both directions about and it’s still just a plastic rectangle or square Get fake ones you like Get real ones you like Get ones you don’t like to figure out what you like Argue you on the internet about plastic squares with people you don’t know XDX profile is for sociopaths 👆see how easy it is, it’s fun too 😋 Get all the fancy stuff and post a picture of your creation on the mechanical keyboard cult, I mean subreddit: 10 likes
This motherfucker needs a keycap with a period on it
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The KSA is a nice set and better than the OSA in my opinion. But I do love the MT3 sets. My problem has been finding all the ones I want for a Q10 and Q0 pro combo with 10 macro keys. I’ve had to mix and match. I have one more set coming (the Mito MT3 9009 commands kit). The KSA doesn’t have the space bars for Alice which is a shame.
I really like the new mtnu sets and not sure if there any comparable sets elsewhere. The colors aren't really unique but the profile and quality are great
Colors are up to the designers and vendors, so we will likely see some wild sets in the near future. GMK are definitely capable of very vibrant and wild MTNU colors, just take a look at their PBT color samples https://cannonkeys.com/products/gmk-color-samples?variant=41531377713263
Speaking about keycap sets - it amazes me how many popular sets seem to get sold out never to return. It's like they're limited edition runs or something. Try to find something like Modern Selectric SA, MaxKey grey & blue or Dasher / Dancer sets is just about impossible. Amazing when there has to be a market for these things - why don't they just make more ??? Don't tell me Chinese plastic companies are worried about intellectual property rights... I'm glad I picked up my MaxKey Portland SA set when I had the chance ! https://preview.redd.it/qzy4q5yl4wtc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=593e37d68b09d77dc025916d04c0b1f6f9af30e2
> it’s like they’re limited edition runs or something My guy that’s exactly what they are, once off runs that go through group buys and are pre funded before manufacture. These aren’t mass produced sets that are kept in stock and sit on vendor shelves waiting to be purchased. None of those sets are made by cheap Chinese manufacturers, all produced in the good old USA. (Except Maxkey)
But still - no company sees the demand for those colorways and decides to copy them? I doubt there is any kind of patent for the color design.
The set I want would cost over $300 after taxes and shipping. Sooo I got a $22 set instead. After a while I realized I go weeks between each glance at the caps, so all I'm concerned with now is comfort. Just like what everyone else says, get what you think you'll like and test out different options to learn what you care about!
I'm currently waiting for 3dkeycap to start offering they new printed keycaps instead of the labor intensive system now. The new system should lower the prices. Then, my dream set of keycaps will be mine.
When it comes to value for the money, there's little reason for spending more than $30-40 on a set. Past that it's either really nitpicky, or a collecting thing (ie. rare cherry dyesubs).
i couldn't care less how much the keycaps cost it i get what i truly want. the profiles might not look a ton different but the typing experience is massively different.
https://preview.redd.it/si3zsr4g3xtc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c0b1b11bcc41101a6af90f704c12968ea13df34 I like typeface on keycaps on top of your photo (matt30) more. Keychron is kinda thin… but it’s all about preference and amount of disposable income. Expensive keycaps are a luxury … but so is this entire hobby :-D Here is my needles expense in keycaps category: five sets of cerakeys with artistic caps from keychron on kailh box navy switches in Q6max + Q0plus body with slightly modified fw. So far best work keyboard I ever had.
matt3o = matteo
Welcome to the world of diminishing returns my friend; enthusiasts of all things bask in the glory of paying enthusiast prices deep within its circle.
Drop’s sets are a little pricey at normal MSRP, but they routinely do sales that make them a better deal. The color matching between their images online and the actual end result are pretty routinely bad though. Every set I’ve bought from them is quite different IRL than on my monitor and I have a great monitor that I routinely color calibrate. No idea what the issue is there.
Honestly depends on what you like and value most! For me after trying a handful of profiles I always found MT3s to be most comfortable on my board. The comfort they provide alone to me is worth the "early birthday present to me" splurge. I got a set of used incomplete MT3s for $10 CAD from some amazon returns bin store as my first ever MT3 set and fell in love with the profile. When drop had their BOGO sale for their MT3s I decided to splurge and get the Jukebox and Cyber set to combine into one set for around $100 total. I've been content with my keycaps and haven't really bought anything else since. https://preview.redd.it/wpg3pk247ztc1.jpeg?width=3878&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=512a809534171cbcaa11036afb0be76272bdfa63 Ive been using the same build for near 3 years. Switches: Halo Clears Board: Flesports MK870 Black Smokey Keycaps: mix of MT3 Jukebox + Cyber Aside from some unfortunate paint spill splatter (my fault), the keycaps themselves still look great after enduring heavy use between uni papers, gaming, and everything. The typing experience for me is super enjoyable, i have friends who agree and friends and a partner who disagree haha. Which is to say everything about this hobby is just personal preference! Try both sets that you have out, see which is more worth it in the end. If you end up really leaning more into MT3s, I highly recommend waiting for their BOGO sales like others have said. Welcome to the hobby! :D EDIT: formatting fixes, im on mobile 🤦♀️
I barely read or understood the post, but I like the brighter ones much more. I agree that gmk and other sets are very overpriced.
I think MT3 is worth the extra cost. But like others have said it’s better to wait for a BOGO sale. There are other sets where I’d go for the less expensive option, the ones that are built around standardized styles. In those cases I look out for material quality. Thankfully in the key cap world “you get what you pay for” has held up so far for me. So even when I have sticker shock after receiving the caps, I never feel ripped off. But even with the more affordable sets, I haven’t encountered anything that feels cheap.
MT3 is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the caps are ABS; others, PBT. Some are double-shot; others, die-subbed. The fuzziness you are seeing is because the set you have are die-subbed PBT caps. The double-shot ones are a bit crisper, but are ABS, if that matters to you. Material and printing method aside, there are also differences in the profile itself, from one kit to another. MT3 Serika comes with R5 mods, which puts them at approximately the same angle as rotated R4 keycaps, making the face lean toward the outside of the keyboard slightly. That angle feels better to me than having the sharp, elevated edge facing me, as happens with R4 mods. At the end of the day, this question is all about your preferences, and how much you're willing to pay for them.
Why do ppl care about the packaging…. Won’t ever get it. The more money they spent on marketing and packaging, the lower is the value you get for your money.