Janalphabet Lol you use switches, you fucking noob, I activate it with a switch puller going in the pcb Edit: just in case, it’s a joke please don’t get mad
Just a heads-up but if you like the look of pudding but enjoy thicker, higher quality keycaps... The new Ducky pudding caps are pretty great. Got some for my son and they were better quality and thickness than standard pudding caps found elsewhere. PBT doubleshot.
Got purple pudding Matrix keycaps not to long ago! Really enjoy them though I cant tell the difference much from those and some Amazon Green ones I got for half the price.
Allways if I can get good looking keycaps with GMK on the box! Why would I want a good computer anyways. It more reasonable to buy 200 $ pieces of plastic.
Working in the injection moulding industry. I can confirm the main thing you're paying for is limited availability/limited runs. Abs vs pbt and even manufacturing quality to an extent is not the biggest price differential. That will be a few pence/cents per key cap at most. But limited runs can be the biggest difference. When you divide tooling costs and press time into each part, a 50k single shot tool or 100k double shot tool set (rough estimates) with colour variations with setup costs and small run times etc is where the money adds up for the manufacturer ROI.
So what you're saying is that they are intentionally making them available for limited times so that they can charge more rather than keeping them around so that they can charge less. That is, artificially inflating demand and price at the same time so that they can justify the absurd prices. Hmmm.
@@nickglover yes and no. The manufacturer will estimate demand and base their runs on this. At the end of the day you have a cost of investment, so if you can't invest for 100k sets but can only afford 1k sets then so be it.
I suppose that also doesn't really explain why sets that are normally stocked, like basically every MT3 set on Drop, are so expensive. Those should have the better ROI, and yet...
@@nickglover again you can look at it from a pure material and process aspect and these sets should cost no more than about £10. You put a price on your brand though separately based on what you think of your engineering/design input and what that is worth. When you talk Automotive (segment I work in) , you are not looking at 100k more car from an audi Q5 to a range rover vogue. But people pay that for the perceived quality/luxury of the range rover.
Yeah, I think that's really what I'm saying. People want to justify the prices, but really it's just that they can get away with charging that. If we all stopped buying, they'd probably lower prices. But it's a weird inflated market we've all accepted, so it continues.
EPBT is seriously underrated. Also no mention of Signature Plastics SA. Their ABS is on another caliber. Not as crisp as GMK but looks better when it turns shiny.
I got myself a KBD67 which requires a shorter shift key that many mainstream keycap sets don't have, which forced me to dig into the custom keyboard market and many of the popular Chinese keyboard websites like Taihao, Kprepublic and KBDfans. I'm really glad I didn't go for a cheap $40 set of two-tone and instead settled on a GB of EPBT Sushi keys. They are really nice to touch and super high quality. $100 for the set.
JTK has become one of my go to brands of middle-ground, Also JTK has been one of the few to pull off a Triple-shot set of caps on a few different runs. Custom boards is a endless rabbit hole to fall into, but imo worth it over-all.
I’m waiting on the GMK Vaporwave to arrive, it’s going to be a nice upgrade from the cheap white keycaps that I currently have and help bring my setup together
you forgot a major con of GMK sets; they get shiny due to being made of ABS, the font won't wear off since its doubleshot but they'll start to feel pretty nasty and the shine will be visible
I honestly don't buy the price justification. I just got a 15 SA profile PBT set which is doubleshot and they feel amazing. They're super thick and rigid and have a nice colorway. The lighting shines through the letters but really slowly fades on the bottom which would be the only issue, but it's not very noticeable and definitely not worth a price increase of 50 or even 100 euros.
Additional point: Profile. Most boards use OEM but I've seen a few with DSA. I haven't seen boards with SA caps stock, so if they're your thing, it's aftermarket only.
I got a blue switch TKL keyboard for free. Thin shinethrough ABS keycaps. When I build a proper board, it'll be with thick PBT DSA profile caps. The uniform profile is better for typing personally and for compatibility. And it looks and sounds more premium at a decent price.
I'd just rather by clones over paying resellers twice the original price. Also, most of the clones are PBT, which is great - ABS shine may not be a defect but I hate it.
to add to this, getting any custom keycaps for ISO (even UK ISO which has only a few additional caps compared to france or german) is very hard, most of the cheaper but still decent quality caps only support ANSI or partial ISO support, so the £100 range is non-existant there. maybe if someone knows of some sets link them below but ive yet to find any
Thanks for this, I always thought PBT was the be all and end all of key caps. The shining on ABS you mentioned is pretty accurate, I've had my keyboard for like 3months now and I can already see some shining on my keys. That's pretty much how I figured out that I have ABS key caps lol.
I thought that PBT spacebar with the lattice on the inside was familiar... the VA68M that it came with might've been hot garbage but they certainly knew what they were doing when they made a nice spacebar.
To you its worse, but to him its probably better. Imagine if he just want to change to overall feel of his keyboard, with a full set he can change everything on his keyboard, but with a spacebar? Good luck with that.
Taihao caps are really thin compared to gmk or even epbt which sound worse than both. The legends on taihao caps are also pretty thin and sometimes. uneven. However, for the price, it is pretty good value. But epbt has been starting to make double shot abs like gmk for very low price as well (around $70) and is a much better option if you save up a little it more.
I got the tai hao abs keycaps and I actually prefer it over my Doubleshot PBT Keycaps. They are as light as an abs keycap but they feel like pbt keycaps. I definitely recommend getting Taihao abs keycaps if you can find any. They are Doubleshot abs so they won’t wear out but they will shine over time but for me I don’t really care since the feeling of the keycaps are really pleasant
it looks good, but the quality isn't that high, qc is kinda meh since my taihao caps has some scratches and looks like a nubmark out of the box I recommend you to save some and buy EnjoyABS or just find cheap PBT keycaps instead
the hardest thing about buying keycaps, is finding a set you like the legends, colors, thematics, and how it all looks as a whole, i couldnt care less about abs and pbt and stuff like that, but i cant seem to find any keycaps that i like, and i dont know where to look, amazon is limited to maybe 25 keycaps, and banggood the same, and most of those look too flashy and weird
What about the sounds that certain keycaps make when typing? Are there materials of keycaps or differing shapes and thicknesses that sound different when typing?
So do all these pros actually increase the price to manufacture the key caps enough to justify these > $150 price tags? Or is a big chunk of it the “premium” and “limited edition” feel
I'm still quite confused - i get the limited availability part, but for the other parts how is it possible to be so much more expensive? it's just thicker and colored plastic that is manufactured with more precision, but its still small pieces of plastic? Like it doesnt make sense that it costs the same as a decent cpu. Or do you think that the limited availability is the main reason for the price? Bc that would make sense for custom keyboards too
WOW! my Nephew is deep into key caps, I shared this video with him on his Discord. I never knew they would cost this much, WOW.........AWESOME video JD
do not stone me pls. i bought a 2 tone abs set (navy/pink) from taihao's website for like $30 w/ shipping! (i paid in TWD) and i love them! The caps don't feel slick at all, the colors and legends are very clean and the manufacturing quality is a 100x better than expected!
What is a good keycap set at around $50 or less range? Good video idea!! Key cap sets for every budget range with a review of what might be best for each budget range $25 or less on up.
Hey JDTechGear I needed help with Anne Pro 2 keyboard (60% keyboard): I need a Portuguese keyboard, but doing so I lose the functions on the side of those keycaps. So my point is, where can I got to, to order custom backlit keys, in Portuguese, backlit but have the side functions on them?
@@Slada1 Lego also has good quality control and a long history of it. These low volume keycap, switch and keyboard companies do not. You'd think these supposedly "one off" group buy keycaps and switches would be of the highest quality but they rarely if ever are completely without defects. Gmk plays it safe by barely innovating.
I’d love a comparison video of the GMK Laser and Akko Neon keycap sets.. I love the look of the laser, but the Akko looks solid for the price. Tons of additional options and robust colors
@@mechros4460 I definitely wouldn’t go that far, I had warping on a spacebar and a bunch of caps were missing chunks. It was a nice keycap set but definitely had its flaws
@@Praxtra_ seems like the quality is pretty inconsistent. Some people have great sets and some people have a lot of warping issues. Also the font lettering is inconsistent on some of the keycaps (modifiers, enter).
Actually have been researching this for the last couple of months. I'll say the price is better but the quality depends on the brand you buy off of Ali. MaxKey, Domikey, ePBT, and a couple others are actually pretty solid. Don't fall for OneCao though
Wow i didn't know the differences between different types of keycaps from manufacturers. I just bought a keyboard that was a collaboration with wasd keyboard and jtk ketcaps and it came out to 250. I bought it because i knew doubleshot pbt keycaps are rare to come by and supposedly last forever but now there are different manufacturers that offer doubleshot keycaps. My question is how good is jtk opposed to gmk? Thanks in advance
JTK from what I hear is pretty good quality, I haven't used them myself, so I can't speak on it's behalf but the general consensus is good for the money!
If a keycap is just a bunch of plastic, a cpu is just a bunch of sand Gmk sets are like designer handbags, they're exclusive and they appreciate in value as they become more rare. Let's not kid ourselves on quality, sure they are higher quality but given how the whole system is automated it is definitely not worth hundreds based on the product alone, what is worth hundreds is the exclusivity of designs and colors. They are expensive because group buys are so long and in very small batches Here is an example: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08N6FFP1C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I have that keycap set and a GMK set, the GMK one cost me $215 and this one cost $18. Aside from the backlighting being uneven like in the video at 4:08 which is just a problem with all pbt, these keycaps are just as thick as the GMK set and have no warping or other issues. For $18 they are just as high quality as the GMK set except for that one issue, but the GMK set is worth it because its worth minimum $300 now because it is exclusive and its in a niche colorway that perfectly matches everything else in my setup. If you just want quality you can't go wrong with keycaps similar to the one I linked, but if you are buying GMK you are buying the exclusivity and uniqueness of the design. I think the video did a good job of making this point clear but I think there was too much of a focus on the quality. The quality is not important up to a certain level, and it makes no sense comparing $200 keycaps with free ones that come with the keyboard to say they have higher quality, its more fair to compare them against $20 - $50 keycaps and the truth is there really isn't much more quality, its all just about exclusivity
A lot of good information, but i would have wished for a form of comparison table at the end to better decide what to get. Cannot wait for my first set to arrive =)
I feel ya, there's a lot of brands out there I've yet to see in person that I feel would be necessary to put together a chart for pure comparison. Honestly after a certain price range it comes down to preference
Keycaps are not like watches in which replicas are hard to make. You can find replicas (although limited selection) of certain colorways that are doubleshot pbt 1.5mm thick at half the price or even less, since I'm counting the shipping cost as well. The reasons mentioned in this video ARE reasons yes. The same reason why designer clothes cost x100 more than they cost to make. I don't think GMK keycaps are that insane, but I'm sure they don't have to charge as much as they do. They just CAN.
Not necessarily. These keycaps are usually one-offs. The molds for the legends have to be made and the colors have to be matched with each new set. An exclusive design and/or color combo is incredible expensive to do in small numbers from a manufacturer. Small numbers meaning orders less than 1mil-500k or so. The volume of production is so low that these keycaps would be virtually impossible to get for any price without a group buy.
@@jdtechgear I did alot more reading on how doubleshot keycaps are made and I see that alot of QC and a complicated process is involved. Also the colouring of the plastic is done separately. But the above would apply to less expensive doubleshot keycaps that are non GMK. So I'm guessing it has more to do with producing the new colorways, since they have to start from scratch. As for molds, novelties aside, the base kits are always the same legending with japanese characters on some, which molds are also available. So it doesn't need to have a mold made from scratch like novelties which makes sense for it to be expensive. So, I'm guessing the difference between $140 GMK set and $70 aliexpress set is simply a matter of having to create a new color combination of plastics. I'll have to look into whether making different colored plastic from scratch would justify difference in cost. Although I was also assuming that labor is more expensive in certain parts of the world than others and I think you know what I'm alluding to. But I forgot one more factor. The person who designed the set deserves to benefit from it. So I guess in some ways I can understand the difference.
Set yourself a few notifications for the 8, 9, and the 10th month mark from now to help you remember, and get you excited to get them. What set did you end up joining in on? Cheers!
The truth is that ABS is not really inferior to PBT. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise GMK, Signature Plastics, and many others wouldn't be using ABS for their high-end production runs. I get kind of annoyed when people constantly say that ABS is inferior to PBT and that ABS is more likely to shine over time. Any keycap can shine over time. You get what you pay for, generally. That said, to the average user, it probably makes nil difference and they probably don't even notice "shine."
What a great video and I learned a lot. I just made an expensive mistake and bought the Logitech G513 GX Blue keyboard and disappointed that the secondary characters are not see through. Do you know if there's any nice keycaps that I can swap out, that has all characters see through?
Maybe lookup taihao keycap sets from mechanicalkeyboard, its priced quite cheaply and i believe is doubleshot abs mostly. Doubleshot are usually backlit-able, tho correct me if thats wrong.
I get that this is a great option for customization but, its still well a bit pricey. I dont mind for the keyboard and everything around ur PC to look nice, but for that money, ill go with just any keyboard for 30$ and im ok, save up money for more important stuff around my PC. Thats how i feel about it. Its very niche and very limited, almost to the point that its kinda worthless to have worth. If i understand and heard right from the video, u need to wait sometimes a year for ur caps , seriously ?? Really now, no thank you. I think i wont have the patience = its not for me. U lot who love this stuff, good for u, but its really hurtful to my eyes seeing how much some cost. No thanks, staying with a regular keyboard with boring caps. I dont need to show off. And or i dont need for my keyboard to look as part of an exhibit in a museum. Switching those caps instead of regular ones, id hate to use them afterwards, even if u telling me that they last very long. Still it cost too much. Personally for me they arent worth it. As i stated many times, or a few times. Good for u who like or need this stuff, good for me that its not essential to buy it and can save up some money for more practical and useful stuff around my PC. Good video with good info. Thanks.
Absolutely. That's the thing about being an enthusiast in a hobby. I could drain a ton of money building realistic small scale train sets (which I would love to do). But to most people that's a waste of money. Same for cars, some would/can spend lots of money on a car they are incredibly passionate about. But a lot of people may see the car as just a unit of function. Get me to point A to point B reliably. That's all. The same can be said about keyboards, shoes, pokemon cards and so on. There's a point past the actual return on value depending on how you value it yourself. On the flip side I would like to do a follow up video on cheaper keycaps to customize your keyboard a bit on a much more wallet friendly version.
I looked for the metropolis keycaps that were in this video and was disappointed when i saw they were sold a year ago smh
4 роки тому+4
Great production quality. Also the narration is awesome, very nice to listen to. But for the gods sake man, stop making marks on the keycaps with that sharpie :)
0:45 What are those? Prolly one of the prettiest minimal colour combination of a Keyboard Cable I've ever seen.. by SummitCables? Zap? Those black aviators + the blue
@@jdtechgear Yo man. That'd be sick. More and more keyboard enthusiasts are booming up everywhere. Should grab the opportunity sir. Would never know your view count shoots up like wild.
dose anyone know a set of PBT key-caps with transparent legends that would be compatible with the layout of the corsair K95 RGB i like the feel of the PBT caps on my DAS Keyboard but there blanks and i need the extra macro keys on my K95 for work
imo high quality pbt keycaps are worth it but personally not a fan of the high price gmk keycaps that are still abs as i loathe abs plastic shine after use
Great Vid! Thx! I'm currently looking for nice blank keycabs for my ducky one 2 mini with iso de layout. Any recommendations? Would be much appreciated! 😁
Really happy with my aesthetic keycaps from aliexpress and their sound. So all good. It's the limited buy that pushes that price. I can never justify to myself these luxury marketing premiums.
i dont use keycaps im typing on the switches
😭 Nice
bruh same lmao i actually dont use the keycaps
brutal
what a legend
Janalphabet Lol you use switches, you fucking noob, I activate it with a switch puller going in the pcb
Edit: just in case, it’s a joke please don’t get mad
this is a brilliant video
you make brilliant videos
You actually do WATCH EVERY video of keyboards xD , your skit wasnt lying damn .
@@RealOxygentv fr, I'm obsessed atm
@@Glarses and i watched all your videos
lmao you’ve got me into custom keyboards i’m on my way to making my own now lmao tysm for making me spend unholy amounts of money on asthetic utensils
"It seems almost impossible to spend this much money on pieces of plastic"
...lego sets...
...Anime figurines.
@@CaveyMoth or just figurines in general, they cost like 1000$+
Gunpla but the engineering is amazing so i shill. Maybe someday i will afford an PG set.
@@Chester200100 slowly staring at pgu rx-78-2 that I wanna buy
@@enriquemunoz6415 Cries in not having 300 usd to spare
Somebody get this man a pointer so he stops marking things with his nice pen
Or maybe just suck out the ink
@@HentaiNat slurp
I thought he was writing on the keycap to demonstrate something.
It looked like just a normal pen you get for $1
Custom legends
As a person who swapped out pudding keycaps for matrix keycaps, I was wondering why my keyboard sounded so different. Thank you for this video.
Yeah the Matrix caps are much better than the Pudding ones.
Just a heads-up but if you like the look of pudding but enjoy thicker, higher quality keycaps... The new Ducky pudding caps are pretty great. Got some for my son and they were better quality and thickness than standard pudding caps found elsewhere. PBT doubleshot.
Got purple pudding Matrix keycaps not to long ago! Really enjoy them though I cant tell the difference much from those and some Amazon Green ones I got for half the price.
"can cost as much as some cpus or GPUs"
it's alright i'll just use integrated graphics
Hell yeah
Allways if I can get good looking keycaps with GMK on the box! Why would I want a good computer anyways. It more reasonable to buy 200 $ pieces of plastic.
I have a weak PC cause that's all I need.
Working in the injection moulding industry. I can confirm the main thing you're paying for is limited availability/limited runs. Abs vs pbt and even manufacturing quality to an extent is not the biggest price differential. That will be a few pence/cents per key cap at most. But limited runs can be the biggest difference. When you divide tooling costs and press time into each part, a 50k single shot tool or 100k double shot tool set (rough estimates) with colour variations with setup costs and small run times etc is where the money adds up for the manufacturer ROI.
So what you're saying is that they are intentionally making them available for limited times so that they can charge more rather than keeping them around so that they can charge less. That is, artificially inflating demand and price at the same time so that they can justify the absurd prices. Hmmm.
@@nickglover yes and no. The manufacturer will estimate demand and base their runs on this. At the end of the day you have a cost of investment, so if you can't invest for 100k sets but can only afford 1k sets then so be it.
I suppose that also doesn't really explain why sets that are normally stocked, like basically every MT3 set on Drop, are so expensive. Those should have the better ROI, and yet...
@@nickglover again you can look at it from a pure material and process aspect and these sets should cost no more than about £10. You put a price on your brand though separately based on what you think of your engineering/design input and what that is worth. When you talk Automotive (segment I work in) , you are not looking at 100k more car from an audi Q5 to a range rover vogue. But people pay that for the perceived quality/luxury of the range rover.
Yeah, I think that's really what I'm saying. People want to justify the prices, but really it's just that they can get away with charging that. If we all stopped buying, they'd probably lower prices. But it's a weird inflated market we've all accepted, so it continues.
"As it seems almost impossible to spend that much on pieces of plastic". Cries in WH40K
It's so refreshing to see a video that doesn't need music to be engaging. Great work, man!
EPBT is seriously underrated. Also no mention of Signature Plastics SA. Their ABS is on another caliber. Not as crisp as GMK but looks better when it turns shiny.
I got myself a KBD67 which requires a shorter shift key that many mainstream keycap sets don't have, which forced me to dig into the custom keyboard market and many of the popular Chinese keyboard websites like Taihao, Kprepublic and KBDfans. I'm really glad I didn't go for a cheap $40 set of two-tone and instead settled on a GB of EPBT Sushi keys. They are really nice to touch and super high quality. $100 for the set.
Damn! I feel like my knowledge of keycaps seriously levelled up in under 10 minutes! Super informative video JD!
Thank you Rita! I'm glad it could be followed without getting too technical 😅
preach
Same
JTK has become one of my go to brands of middle-ground, Also JTK has been one of the few to pull off a Triple-shot set of caps on a few different runs. Custom boards is a endless rabbit hole to fall into, but imo worth it over-all.
im poor
i love "actually the entire of this hobby require a lot of patience"
just, true
I don't use keycaps or switches. I short the key wirings to send an input.
I’m waiting on the GMK Vaporwave to arrive, it’s going to be a nice upgrade from the cheap white keycaps that I currently have and help bring my setup together
Send pics on discord when they come in
@@jdtechgear I'll be sure to! I'm hoping for them to come within the next two weeks
@@Jdroo20 Did you get your keycaps? :)
Got myself some $30 dye sublimated PBT keycaps. The japanese coral sea. Fucking love them. I'll take the aesthetic of them over the $200 GMKs any day.
Legend says he's still inking the insides of keycaps till this very day.
It's how I prototype novelties
you forgot a major con of GMK sets; they get shiny due to being made of ABS, the font won't wear off since its doubleshot but they'll start to feel pretty nasty and the shine will be visible
Thickness, anti fading, anti warping are pretty much the only things I look out for. After that, its just personal preference of the design
excellent video, straight to the point and toned down comfortably
I honestly don't buy the price justification. I just got a 15 SA profile PBT set which is doubleshot and they feel amazing. They're super thick and rigid and have a nice colorway. The lighting shines through the letters but really slowly fades on the bottom which would be the only issue, but it's not very noticeable and definitely not worth a price increase of 50 or even 100 euros.
have you ever owned a set of GMK Keycaps to compare them to your PBT set?
@@Jackpotur Why do he need to? He's good with his keycaps, that's it.
Additional point: Profile. Most boards use OEM but I've seen a few with DSA. I haven't seen boards with SA caps stock, so if they're your thing, it's aftermarket only.
This is really fantastically narrated, thanks for putting together this video for us! You did great👍
That group buy thing sounds like dlc season pass in gaming
I plan on getting some cheapo ones from amazon initially so that i can actually use my first board, but upgrading to GMK as soon as possible.
Just "$200 keycaps" sounds absurd
A long needed explaination, and a nicely executed one. 10/10
Can’t believe you didn’t method Signature Plastic, they are famous of SA profile.
I got a blue switch TKL keyboard for free. Thin shinethrough ABS keycaps.
When I build a proper board, it'll be with thick PBT DSA profile caps.
The uniform profile is better for typing personally and for compatibility. And it looks and sounds more premium at a decent price.
Wait...
I just watched a video about key caps...
What has this lock down done to me
There's a big community for keyboard enthusiasts
You should look for artisan keycaps, they're very expensive but beautiful. Usually people use them on the ESC key.
You will be horrified to learn that most of us have been enjoying custom keycaps long before pandemic lockdowns ever happened
It’s made you a man of culture.
I'd just rather by clones over paying resellers twice the original price.
Also, most of the clones are PBT, which is great - ABS shine may not be a defect but I hate it.
Bro you're so good at talking
I am mesmerized, subbed instantly
Where did you purchase your custom cable from at 6:09 if you don’t mind me asking?
I made that one!
Amazing video 👌 do you have any plans on covering pom keycaps in the future?
to add to this, getting any custom keycaps for ISO (even UK ISO which has only a few additional caps compared to france or german) is very hard, most of the cheaper but still decent quality caps only support ANSI or partial ISO support, so the £100 range is non-existant there. maybe if someone knows of some sets link them below but ive yet to find any
Yeah this is also true. There isn't as much support for ISO layout from what I've seen.
@@jdtechgear seems KAT kits may be a good option, they are slowly poping up. maybe more will come out with the GMK wait times
@JDTechGear Great video. Can you please tell me what the keycaps are at 6:30.
ePBT Olevetti I think
Thanks for this, I always thought PBT was the be all and end all of key caps.
The shining on ABS you mentioned is pretty accurate, I've had my keyboard for like 3months now and I can already see some shining on my keys. That's pretty much how I figured out that I have ABS key caps lol.
I'm getting GMK Umbras in 2021 and I wanted to fully understand what makes them so good ! Thank you for the video
I thought that PBT spacebar with the lattice on the inside was familiar... the VA68M that it came with might've been hot garbage but they certainly knew what they were doing when they made a nice spacebar.
Didn't know there were $200 keycaps. Definitely seems like a scam for nerds with more money than things to do. Where can I buy some?
So ur not a sneaker head, ur a kb head
Maybe this will help me explain to my friend that a $12 keycap set from aliexpress is worse than a $12 spacebar from matrix
To you its worse, but to him its probably better. Imagine if he just want to change to overall feel of his keyboard, with a full set he can change everything on his keyboard, but with a spacebar? Good luck with that.
Any thoughts on the tai-hao keycaps? They seem pretty high quality.
Taihao caps are really thin compared to gmk or even epbt which sound worse than both. The legends on taihao caps are also pretty thin and sometimes. uneven. However, for the price, it is pretty good value. But epbt has been starting to make double shot abs like gmk for very low price as well (around $70) and is a much better option if you save up a little it more.
I got the tai hao abs keycaps and I actually prefer it over my Doubleshot PBT Keycaps. They are as light as an abs keycap but they feel like pbt keycaps. I definitely recommend getting Taihao abs keycaps if you can find any. They are Doubleshot abs so they won’t wear out but they will shine over time but for me I don’t really care since the feeling of the keycaps are really pleasant
I also got the Taihao abs keycaps only for 30$ + 20$ for shipping
it looks good, but the quality isn't that high, qc is kinda meh since my taihao caps has some scratches and looks like a nubmark out of the box
I recommend you to save some and buy EnjoyABS or just find cheap PBT keycaps instead
It’s good for an entry level board but if you get premium customs you would want better ones in the future
beautiful summary right there, you've just earned a like, nice vid
and to think I bought the RK61 for just $35
the hardest thing about buying keycaps, is finding a set you like the legends, colors, thematics, and how it all looks as a whole, i couldnt care less about abs and pbt and stuff like that, but i cant seem to find any keycaps that i like, and i dont know where to look, amazon is limited to maybe 25 keycaps, and banggood the same, and most of those look too flashy and weird
Having all the preferences met is definitely tricky. Sometimes it depends on my mood haha
I’ve done so much god damn research about plastics after going through a few sets of caps. U touched on a lot of good points.
The only thing I hate on my stock ABS keycaps is it is a finger grease magnet. I had to clean it one a week or twice a month.
Thats when you reached the shininess the lubey keycap so yummy i want to lick
What about the sounds that certain keycaps make when typing? Are there materials of keycaps or differing shapes and thicknesses that sound different when typing?
So do all these pros actually increase the price to manufacture the key caps enough to justify these > $150 price tags? Or is a big chunk of it the “premium” and “limited edition” feel
I'm still quite confused - i get the limited availability part, but for the other parts how is it possible to be so much more expensive? it's just thicker and colored plastic that is manufactured with more precision, but its still small pieces of plastic?
Like it doesnt make sense that it costs the same as a decent cpu. Or do you think that the limited availability is the main reason for the price? Bc that would make sense for custom keyboards too
A multitude of factors. The Novelties/Colors and more are R&D'd for each set. It's a big upfront cost to a kimited group buy.
Whoaaa. It is you! You're the guy that did the Batman Parody mouse review.
WOW! my Nephew is deep into key caps, I shared this video with him on his Discord. I never knew they would cost this much, WOW.........AWESOME video JD
Thanks Mr Cly! I hope he enjoyed it 😆
@@jdtechgear we both enjoyed it.
Dsa magic girl is the most colorful, prettiest keycaps ive seen. Wish they were 2mm thick though
do not stone me pls.
i bought a 2 tone abs set (navy/pink) from taihao's website for like $30 w/ shipping! (i paid in TWD) and i love them! The caps don't feel slick at all, the colors and legends are very clean and the manufacturing quality is a 100x better than expected!
and no they don't feel any thinner then the double shot pbt set that i bought for 80$ a few months ago
What is a good keycap set at around $50 or less range? Good video idea!! Key cap sets for every budget range with a review of what might be best for each budget range $25 or less on up.
you deserve so many more subscribers with this quality of videos
Gonna need the link to that Metropolis keycap set.
So does high quality, double-shot, mocha espresso, ABS keycaps mean no shining like standard PBT keycaps?
I contacted the designer of the Apollo set, he said there’s currently no plans on a second run. He’s focused on new designs.
Nooooo. I need my gray set. Modern Dolch it is
The amount of times he said keycaps...
Very well put and a educational video, thanks !
Link and information to purchasing my custom deskmat now available! : bit.ly/2xuVC6Q
Hey JDTechGear
I needed help with Anne Pro 2 keyboard (60% keyboard):
I need a Portuguese keyboard, but doing so I lose the functions on the side of those keycaps.
So my point is, where can I got to, to order custom backlit keys, in Portuguese, backlit but have the side functions on them?
What are those keycaps at 6:30 I've been looking for a colorway like that for awhile
Those are ePBT Olivetti. They're mostly in stock keycaps
Thanks you so much
@@jdtechgear Are they any good?
I love how monotone the whole videos was
Nice
Me too, I'm just here to deliver information
It's my favotire. I'd rather not adjust my volume if he gets too quiet or too loud.
This was super helpful thanks!
“It seems impossible to spend this much on plastic”
*Looks at LEGO collection*
And lego is mass produced!
@@Slada1 Lego also has good quality control and a long history of it. These low volume
keycap, switch and keyboard companies do not. You'd think these supposedly "one off" group buy keycaps and switches would be of the highest quality but they rarely if ever are completely without defects. Gmk plays it safe by barely innovating.
hey bro, what’s black and red keycaps on this video? 6:19
I’d love a comparison video of the GMK Laser and Akko Neon keycap sets.. I love the look of the laser, but the Akko looks solid for the price. Tons of additional options and robust colors
Definitely, some would go far as to say that the Akko has better quality.
@@mechros4460 I definitely wouldn’t go that far, I had warping on a spacebar and a bunch of caps were missing chunks. It was a nice keycap set but definitely had its flaws
@@Praxtra_ seems like the quality is pretty inconsistent. Some people have great sets and some people have a lot of warping issues. Also the font lettering is inconsistent on some of the keycaps (modifiers, enter).
On ali express you can find G-MKY keycaps and Maxkey/Domikey keycaps, same quality for half of the price and always in stock.
Actually have been researching this for the last couple of months. I'll say the price is better but the quality depends on the brand you buy off of Ali. MaxKey, Domikey, ePBT, and a couple others are actually pretty solid. Don't fall for OneCao though
Wow i didn't know the differences between different types of keycaps from manufacturers. I just bought a keyboard that was a collaboration with wasd keyboard and jtk ketcaps and it came out to 250. I bought it because i knew doubleshot pbt keycaps are rare to come by and supposedly last forever but now there are different manufacturers that offer doubleshot keycaps. My question is how good is jtk opposed to gmk? Thanks in advance
JTK from what I hear is pretty good quality, I haven't used them myself, so I can't speak on it's behalf but the general consensus is good for the money!
Just finished a GMK Metropolis build, I can say, these keysets are expensive as fuck but it's worth it if you're willing to drop the coin.
nice dude, I hope you enjoy it!
If a keycap is just a bunch of plastic, a cpu is just a bunch of sand
Gmk sets are like designer handbags, they're exclusive and they appreciate in value as they become more rare. Let's not kid ourselves on quality, sure they are higher quality but given how the whole system is automated it is definitely not worth hundreds based on the product alone, what is worth hundreds is the exclusivity of designs and colors. They are expensive because group buys are so long and in very small batches
Here is an example: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08N6FFP1C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have that keycap set and a GMK set, the GMK one cost me $215 and this one cost $18. Aside from the backlighting being uneven like in the video at 4:08 which is just a problem with all pbt, these keycaps are just as thick as the GMK set and have no warping or other issues. For $18 they are just as high quality as the GMK set except for that one issue, but the GMK set is worth it because its worth minimum $300 now because it is exclusive and its in a niche colorway that perfectly matches everything else in my setup. If you just want quality you can't go wrong with keycaps similar to the one I linked, but if you are buying GMK you are buying the exclusivity and uniqueness of the design. I think the video did a good job of making this point clear but I think there was too much of a focus on the quality. The quality is not important up to a certain level, and it makes no sense comparing $200 keycaps with free ones that come with the keyboard to say they have higher quality, its more fair to compare them against $20 - $50 keycaps and the truth is there really isn't much more quality, its all just about exclusivity
I joined my first GMK group buy last week and am now waiting on my set of GMK Nightshade!
dont worry, theyll be waiting for you next year.
@@alex99x99x oh ik, I bought it for my Christmas/New Years gift 😂
The only reason I bought gmk key caps is just to flex
yes you heard that right but they are really nice double shot caps
« It’s an investment » haha ha
Ha... please help me I spent 250€ on gmk sets
A lot of good information, but i would have wished for a form of comparison table at the end to better decide what to get. Cannot wait for my first set to arrive =)
I feel ya, there's a lot of brands out there I've yet to see in person that I feel would be necessary to put together a chart for pure comparison. Honestly after a certain price range it comes down to preference
Keycaps are not like watches in which replicas are hard to make.
You can find replicas (although limited selection) of certain colorways that are doubleshot pbt 1.5mm thick at half the price or even less, since I'm counting the shipping cost as well.
The reasons mentioned in this video ARE reasons yes. The same reason why designer clothes cost x100 more than they cost to make. I don't think GMK keycaps are that insane, but I'm sure they don't have to charge as much as they do. They just CAN.
Not necessarily. These keycaps are usually one-offs. The molds for the legends have to be made and the colors have to be matched with each new set. An exclusive design and/or color combo is incredible expensive to do in small numbers from a manufacturer. Small numbers meaning orders less than 1mil-500k or so. The volume of production is so low that these keycaps would be virtually impossible to get for any price without a group buy.
@@jdtechgear I did alot more reading on how doubleshot keycaps are made and I see that alot of QC and a complicated process is involved. Also the colouring of the plastic is done separately. But the above would apply to less expensive doubleshot keycaps that are non GMK. So I'm guessing it has more to do with producing the new colorways, since they have to start from scratch. As for molds, novelties aside, the base kits are always the same legending with japanese characters on some, which molds are also available. So it doesn't need to have a mold made from scratch like novelties which makes sense for it to be expensive. So, I'm guessing the difference between $140 GMK set and $70 aliexpress set is simply a matter of having to create a new color combination of plastics. I'll have to look into whether making different colored plastic from scratch would justify difference in cost. Although I was also assuming that labor is more expensive in certain parts of the world than others and I think you know what I'm alluding to. But I forgot one more factor. The person who designed the set deserves to benefit from it. So I guess in some ways I can understand the difference.
Just bought a $200 keycap set. Hope I remember in a year.
Set yourself a few notifications for the 8, 9, and the 10th month mark from now to help you remember, and get you excited to get them. What set did you end up joining in on? Cheers!
@@christophersmith8028 oo. Did not know that. I joined the GMK Monarchs. Rough ly $200 cad with shipping
@@ElliotKwan that’s a rad set. Hope you enjoy them when they come in. Cheers!
Best places to shop for good keycaps? TIA!
what about pom keycaps, for example the ones made by esc keyboard, what is that compared to abs and pbt?
The truth is that ABS is not really inferior to PBT. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise GMK, Signature Plastics, and many others wouldn't be using ABS for their high-end production runs. I get kind of annoyed when people constantly say that ABS is inferior to PBT and that ABS is more likely to shine over time. Any keycap can shine over time. You get what you pay for, generally. That said, to the average user, it probably makes nil difference and they probably don't even notice "shine."
Are Tai hao keycaps any good..i just hopped into the keyboard space
Extremely informative. Thank you.
Great info and excellent video :)
What a great video and I learned a lot. I just made an expensive mistake and bought the Logitech G513 GX Blue keyboard and disappointed that the secondary characters are not see through. Do you know if there's any nice keycaps that I can swap out, that has all characters see through?
Maybe lookup taihao keycap sets from mechanicalkeyboard, its priced quite cheaply and i believe is doubleshot abs mostly. Doubleshot are usually backlit-able, tho correct me if thats wrong.
I have 3 gmk sets. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of them.
I get that this is a great option for customization but, its still well a bit pricey. I dont mind for the keyboard and everything around ur PC to look nice, but for that money, ill go with just any keyboard for 30$ and im ok, save up money for more important stuff around my PC. Thats how i feel about it. Its very niche and very limited, almost to the point that its kinda worthless to have worth.
If i understand and heard right from the video, u need to wait sometimes a year for ur caps , seriously ?? Really now, no thank you. I think i wont have the patience = its not for me.
U lot who love this stuff, good for u, but its really hurtful to my eyes seeing how much some cost. No thanks, staying with a regular keyboard with boring caps. I dont need to show off.
And or i dont need for my keyboard to look as part of an exhibit in a museum. Switching those caps instead of regular ones, id hate to use them afterwards, even if u telling me that they last very long. Still it cost too much. Personally for me they arent worth it. As i stated many times, or a few times.
Good for u who like or need this stuff, good for me that its not essential to buy it and can save up some money for more practical and useful stuff around my PC. Good video with good info.
Thanks.
Absolutely. That's the thing about being an enthusiast in a hobby. I could drain a ton of money building realistic small scale train sets (which I would love to do). But to most people that's a waste of money. Same for cars, some would/can spend lots of money on a car they are incredibly passionate about. But a lot of people may see the car as just a unit of function. Get me to point A to point B reliably. That's all. The same can be said about keyboards, shoes, pokemon cards and so on. There's a point past the actual return on value depending on how you value it yourself.
On the flip side I would like to do a follow up video on cheaper keycaps to customize your keyboard a bit on a much more wallet friendly version.
JDTechGear Please do!
Domikey and tai hao are both good. Some interesting bow Jian coming I have a good feeling
The quality of keycaps and quality of the color add some bucks yea that s right but what really break the bank is usually availability
I looked for the metropolis keycaps that were in this video and was disappointed when i saw they were sold a year ago smh
Great production quality.
Also the narration is awesome, very nice to listen to.
But for the gods sake man, stop making marks on the keycaps with that sharpie :)
0:45 What are those?
Prolly one of the prettiest minimal colour combination of a Keyboard Cable I've ever seen.. by SummitCables? Zap?
Those black aviators + the blue
I made that cable from parts bought off of Zap, came out way better than I thought it would!
@@jdtechgear You have pics or video featuring builds with that cable? Can't seem to notice any on your UA-cam channel
@@KelvinTan133 sorry I never saw this man, I might try and make a video of it if you like or a build stream of sorts
@@jdtechgear Yo man. That'd be sick. More and more keyboard enthusiasts are booming up everywhere.
Should grab the opportunity sir. Would never know your view count shoots up like wild.
dose anyone know a set of PBT key-caps with transparent legends that would be compatible with the layout of the corsair K95 RGB i like the feel of the PBT caps on my DAS Keyboard but there blanks and i need the extra macro keys on my K95 for work
imo high quality pbt keycaps are worth it
but personally not a fan of the high price gmk keycaps that are still abs as i loathe abs plastic shine after use
ABS for rich colors and less warping, ePBT can get some nice colors in as well
Great Vid! Thx! I'm currently looking for nice blank keycabs for my ducky one 2 mini with iso de layout. Any recommendations? Would be much appreciated! 😁
Just out of curiosity, why do people want blanks?
Great content. Subscribed!
Really happy with my aesthetic keycaps from aliexpress and their sound. So all good.
It's the limited buy that pushes that price. I can never justify to myself these luxury marketing premiums.
so doubleshot ABS won't shine overtime, but do they match PBT on that end?
As far as I know any type of ABS will shine over time
GMK? You should buy higher-quality, full-profile kits manufactured by the inventors of the SA and DSA profiles over at Signature Plastics.