What keycaps are you using on your Novatouch?

[Veridis]

Hello, I just got a Novatouch recently and am wondering what keycaps do you guys have on yours
I'm still using the stock keys, thinking about getting a blank keycap set.

Also, what keycap profile have you tried and prefer on the Novatouch?

[intelli78]

Right now, stock.

I like the way Ducky PBT sounds/feels. Don't like GMK. The only Ducky caps I have are blank, though, and I don't want to run blanks -- have a couple dyesub Ducky sets on the way and will put one of those on when they arrive.

[Hyde]

I've always been wondering, are the Ducky thick PBT made from the same place as Poker 2 keycaps?

EDIT:  Sorry not meant to derail but I don't have a Novatouch yet so I can't contribute to this post. 

[_PixelNinja]

At the moment I am using my PBT engraved set :

[intelli78]

At the moment I am using my PBT engraved set :

Show Image

Load = fired

Where did that set come from?

[_PixelNinja]

With the exception of the red Esc, it is a set that used to be made by KBC. There were available in black and white, either blank or engraved. I was lucky to get my hands on one of the last sets available at the time. I wish they were still in production...

[intelli78]

With the exception of the red Esc, it is a set that used to be made by KBC. There were available in black and white, either blank or engraved. I was lucky to get my hands on one of the last sets available at the time. I wish they were still in production...

I see. I used to have a similar (same I guess) set on a Poker, but I didn't realize they made the rest of the keys too

[_PixelNinja]

Yes — they are the same as the stock key caps that were on certain Pokers. They are no thick PBT, but they are still very nice in my opinion.

[Karura]

If anyone is interested enough, I bought two sets of those engraved thin PBT caps in 2011 (one black and one white) and they've been great. I think some of the later ones have messed up cursive legends.

[Novus]

Leopold keycaps
Will probably put my vortex caps on my novatouch

[Veridis]

Leopold keycaps
Will probably put my vortex caps on my novatouch

Are they the ones in this thread?
Been reading about Keycaps since I started this thread. So many choices! Cherry vs OEM profile, blank vs side printed. 

[GL1TCH3D]

If I get mine I'll throw some Dolch DSA on =O

I much prefer DSA for the most part =(

[intelli78]

Leopold keycaps
Will probably put my vortex caps on my novatouch

Are they the ones in this thread?
Been reading about Keycaps since I started this thread. So many choices! Cherry vs OEM profile, blank vs side printed. 

I just put a set of these on my Novatouch and they are absolutely awesome. They look great, feel great, and sound great. I prefer them to everything I've tried so far, including GMK, Ducky PBT, and BSP PBT.

[Flyersfan1]

Nice photos Intelli!
So fresh and so clean.

[intelli78]

"Clean" really does describe the combination of those caps with the minimally branded Novatouch. I mentioned earlier that I didn't want to run blanks on my NT, but these almost convince me otherwise. Too bad Leopold hasn't released black blanks. 

[rowdy]

Very nice Novatouch

[Novus]

"Clean" really does describe the combination of those caps with the minimally branded Novatouch. I mentioned earlier that I didn't want to run blanks on my NT, but these almost convince me otherwise. Too bad Leopold hasn't released black blanks. 

Yea I really want those blank blacks myself too

[Veridis]

"Clean" really does describe the combination of those caps with the minimally branded Novatouch. I mentioned earlier that I didn't want to run blanks on my NT, but these almost convince me otherwise. Too bad Leopold hasn't released black blanks. 

Yea I really want those blank blacks myself too

We should all PM widebasket to ask for it

[HoffmanMyster]

These.


Novatouch by HoffmanMyster, on Flickr

[Lastpilot]

These.

Show Image

Novatouch by HoffmanMyster, on Flickr

You win.

[rowdy]

These.

Show Image

Novatouch by HoffmanMyster, on Flickr

You win.

So you got that impression to, eh? :))

[Binge]

These.

Show Image

Novatouch by HoffmanMyster, on Flickr

I feel as though this has been missing from my life.

[Novus]

Show off.
Go touch type with blanks :/

[_PixelNinja]

We should all PM widebasket to ask for it

He said Leopold do not plan to make black blanks in the near future, which sucks.

[Novus]

I got a similar response from him last week as well.

According to him we're going to be stuck with blank navy caps for a while. Speaking of which just bought another set .

Kinda makes me glad i got that blank black vortex set a while back.

[SpAmRaY]

"Clean" really does describe the combination of those caps with the minimally branded Novatouch. I mentioned earlier that I didn't want to run blanks on my NT, but these almost convince me otherwise. Too bad Leopold hasn't released black blanks. 

Yea I really want those blank blacks myself too

We should all PM widebasket to ask for it

A few of us have already tried that.

[_PixelNinja]

Still sucks though. I do not understand that decision considering they do not actually have to produce a new set.

[Volvicsoda]

Leopold keycaps
Will probably put my vortex caps on my novatouch

Are they the ones in this thread?
Been reading about Keycaps since I started this thread. So many choices! Cherry vs OEM profile, blank vs side printed. 

I just put a set of these on my Novatouch and they are absolutely awesome. They look great, feel great, and sound great. I prefer them to everything I've tried so far, including GMK, Ducky PBT, and BSP PBT.

Show Image

Show Image

can't agree more. love the way these keycaps sound & feel.

[acantha]

I just put my newly received Galaxy Class set on, and i'm LOVING it.

[Sov]

Great choice intelli78 - went with the exact same set.  Was hoping they'd have a bit more of a textured feel, but the material and sound are great.

[Veridis]

Just got the Leopold Pbts in white, got a quick snapshot. Gonna try some keyboard photography when I'm free
The stabilizers are really noisy with these keys though.
 

[Veridis]

Hmm, the shorter cherry profile takes away some pf the tactile feedback at the top of the stroke. It seems that taller keycaps have more "pop"  at the beginning because any effect of off-center keypresses are magnified and a little more force is required to actuate.

When deliberately pressing Stock OEM keys dead center, the switch feel is identical to these cherry profile pbt.

This may be the reason that some people felt the 45g Topre switch on the Novatouch feel heavier than on other topre keyboards.

[intelli78]

I took my Leopold PBT off to try out the Tai Hao Olivette that just arrived from Massdrop.

They look good on the NT:



As for the feel, they are actually pretty comparable to the stock caps. The shifts/enter are nice and high, so they don't smack against the plastic tabs.
I'll put the Leo PBT back on soon, but these are not bad.

[Veridis]

Wow intelli, the color scheme of those keycaps are really nice!



Added Ducky White engraved pbt to my Novatouch. The pbt doesn't feel as nice as the realforce's or the Leopold pbt, but it's OEM profile and also feels quite "chunky" because of it's thickness.
The engraving is also extremely difficult to see, which is great because the legends disappear if you're not looking hard

[_PixelNinja]

So the consensus is that Cherry/Stepculture 2 profile does not work well with the Novatouch's stabilized switches?

I was thinking about getting the Leopolds or something similar, but if it's as bad as it sounds I might forget about that idea for now.

[HoffmanMyster]

So the consensus is that Cherry/Stepculture 2 profile does not work well with the Novatouch's stabilized switches?

I was thinking about getting the Leopolds or something similar, but if it's as bad as it sounds I might forget about that idea for now.

Cherry profile feels fantastic on the Novatouch, IMO.

[Veridis]

So the consensus is that Cherry/Stepculture 2 profile does not work well with the Novatouch's stabilized switches?

I was thinking about getting the Leopolds or something similar, but if it's as bad as it sounds I might forget about that idea for now.

It would be better if you already had some cherry profile keycaps lying around to try. There are quite a few people reporting about having problems with cherry/low profile keycaps (myself included) but there seems to be an equal number of people around being satisfied. Even when just comparing the same keycaps (Leopold pbt), different people feel differently.

[_PixelNinja]

*Facepalm*

I totally forgot I had an SP RGB PBT set lying around. I'll try that on to see how they do on the stabilized switches... Regardless, thanks for your feedback!

[_PixelNinja]

Okay so tried the keys on and they are indeed very noisy on the stabilized switches; they "clack" even when pressed lightly, nearly like bottoming out on Cherry MX. I am sad Panda.

[Veridis]

Okay so tried the keys on and they are indeed very noisy on the stabilized switches; they "clack" even when pressed lightly, nearly like bottoming out on Cherry MX. I am sad Panda.

Your experience mirrors mine then, unfortunately
I don't know how anyone can tolerate that kind of clacking, it's horrible.

[_PixelNinja]

I agree it's not pleasant at all. I guess I will have to stick with OEM profile on the Novatouch...

[intelli78]

So the consensus is that Cherry/Stepculture 2 profile does not work well with the Novatouch's stabilized switches?

I was thinking about getting the Leopolds or something similar, but if it's as bad as it sounds I might forget about that idea for now.

On my board, Cherry caps clack against the switch housings, but Leopold PBT does not. The stabs are loud no matter what but the Leo caps are great on the NT.

[Veridis]

Hmm, after a few days of using the thick OEM Ducky PBT, I have a hypothesis that heavier keycaps make a louder 'clack' on the upstroke. The stock thin abs keycaps and the keycaps on the Realforce 87u (which is medium thickness, but probably much lighter because they are shorter) were quieter.
I have a feeling that engineers at Topre knew this, and so made the stems on their keycaps protrude a little to decrease keycap height but still maintaining clearnace.

[snipars]

Vortex doubleshot PBTs, although I'd like to get some DSA keycaps from signatureplastics, or maybe ORIGINATIVE's classic beige keyset 
would anyone else agree that the difference between ABS and PBT on topre isn't as big as the difference between ABS and PBT on cherry MX, it's still a big difference and i'd rather use PBT but i don't find it as necessary as PBT on MX

[redeye]

Got my iso novatouch yesterday and i'm chuffed. Only downsides so far are a noisy enter and right shift.




Does anyone know where to get an extra spacebar spring? I might try it under the enter to see if it helps.

[Hypersphere]

I've been tweaking my Novatouch for quite some time, and I've finally gotten it to be almost as enjoyable to type on as my silenced RF87UB55. My modifications include the following:

+ Silencing Rings
+ Lubed stabilizers
+ Self-adhesive foam squares under the spacebar
+ Ducky PBT keycaps in OEM profile

The silencing rings substantially attenuated the return-stroke clack noise, and lubing the stabilizers and putting foam pads under the spacebar greatly attenuated stabilizer rattle.

I've tried a number of other keycap sets, including stock, SP ABS double-shots, Originative ABS double-shots, Imsto dye-sub PBT, Leopold PBT, Vortex PBT double-shots, and Ducky PBT in OEM profile. I found that Cherry and Leopold profile produced contact noise on the downstroke; this was almost eliminated by using the higher OEM profile.

[Oobly]

I've read that SA profile are great on the Novatouch, but haven't seen any posters yet in this thread using them 

I know Muirium is rocking DSA Granite on his and loving it.

[Hypersphere]

I've read that SA profile are great on the Novatouch, but haven't seen any posters yet in this thread using them 

I know Muirium is rocking DSA Granite on his and loving it.

Yes, on the theory that a high profile should work well on the NT, I am hoping someday to get an SA profile set. The only problem with that is that it is my understanding that there are technical issues with using PBT for the SA profile, and I much prefer typing on PBT rather than ABS.

I've also tried the Granite set on the NT. It looks great and works well in terms of downstroke noise, but I have difficulty typing on the set. I'm not sure how much of the problem arises from the spherical tops vs. the flat DSA profile, but I think it is mostly the flat profile. Nevertheless, the Granite set is so beautiful I intend to hold onto it and keep trying until I adapt to the profile.

[HoffmanMyster]

I've read that SA profile are great on the Novatouch, but haven't seen any posters yet in this thread using them 

I know Muirium is rocking DSA Granite on his and loving it.

I enjoyed SA just fine on the Novatouch, but I prefer GMK so that's what I use.