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CSA Keycap Profile Reviews
DEPS_250:
Did some keycap browsing on Amazon and I found some keycaps with a CSA profile. I have never seen this style of keycap profile before. Does anyone in here have experience with CSA profile keycaps? Specifically...
1. Does the CSA have a similar height and feel to Cherry?
2. Does the CSA feel ergononic and comfortable?
3. Would the CSA profile best suit people with hands on the smaller side?
4. How do you like the CSA profile compared to the Cherry profile and/or your preferred keycap profile?
wjrii:
CSA (aka YSA and various other *SA) is a budget spherical, sculpted keycap. It'd say the hieght is a little more similar to OEM than Cherry. They all seem to be made from duplicate molds, and always have the same narrow monoline font. The plastic often claims to be PBT, but being cheap and doubleshot I imagine they're mostly ABS. The one set I have used a lot has shined a good bit, in line with value-ABS sets, but not to an offensive degree based on their place in the market.
So all that said, yeah, they're pretty nice, especially in their price-point, and if you have a standard layout (100%/TKL/60%) you can get them dirt cheap, often under USD20. You pay just a touch more for better kitting, but don't look for anything truly custom or something oddball like 40% support. Typing wise, they have a decent enough sculpt, and the landing spots on the keytops are quite large, like XDA.
The colors are pretty vibrant, and as colorway clones they're perfectly suitable. They pretty much never have novelties, so they're in some sense less of a knockoff than many other value sets. Overall, I am glad they exist and find them an unambiguous upgrade from your usual gamer-board and superbudget included keycaps. XVX/Womier sells a lower sculpt called ISA (used to be called just "XVX") that is more like Cherry height and has a little more PBT in the blend to resist shine, and it's just about as cheap for even better kitting. If you like the look but want to go upmarket, Signature plastics SA, MT3, and MTNU offer that retro vibe in a higher quality. I find Akko's various spherical offerings to be a nice middle ground in terms of pricing as well.
HungerMechanic:
--- Quote from: wjrii on Thu, 19 September 2024, 10:26:37 ---CSA (aka YSA and various other *SA) is a budget spherical, sculpted keycap. It'd say the hieght is a little more similar to OEM than Cherry. They all seem to be made from duplicate molds, and always have the same narrow monoline font.
--- End quote ---
This CSA, is what we are talking about also known as CX SA profile?
wjrii:
--- Quote from: HungerMechanic on Mon, 23 September 2024, 11:54:51 ---
--- Quote from: wjrii on Thu, 19 September 2024, 10:26:37 ---CSA (aka YSA and various other *SA) is a budget spherical, sculpted keycap. It'd say the hieght is a little more similar to OEM than Cherry. They all seem to be made from duplicate molds, and always have the same narrow monoline font.
--- End quote ---
This CSA, is what we are talking about also known as CX SA profile?
--- End quote ---
Maybe? My google-fu is failing me on any actual pictures of CX SA. If you have any, please post them.
The CSA is stuff like this and this. I think a few Jamesdonkey boards came with them, but mostly they're on AE and Amazon positioned as discount "retro" sets.
HungerMechanic:
--- Quote from: wjrii on Tue, 24 September 2024, 09:29:19 ---
--- Quote from: HungerMechanic on Mon, 23 September 2024, 11:54:51 ---
--- Quote from: wjrii on Thu, 19 September 2024, 10:26:37 ---CSA (aka YSA and various other *SA) is a budget spherical, sculpted keycap. It'd say the hieght is a little more similar to OEM than Cherry. They all seem to be made from duplicate molds, and always have the same narrow monoline font.
--- End quote ---
This CSA, is what we are talking about also known as CX SA profile?
--- End quote ---
Maybe? My google-fu is failing me on any actual pictures of CX SA. If you have any, please post them.
The CSA is stuff like this and this. I think a few Jamesdonkey boards came with them, but mostly they're on AE and Amazon positioned as discount "retro" sets.
--- End quote ---
Ahh. My bad. I meant 'QX SA.'
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006328401780.html
It's another budget profile. [The key on the right.]
Come in a fairly wide range of colours now. From semi-transparent, to opaque mono and Dolch-style colourways.
They are cheap, $20 during sales. SA-like shape with sculpted rows, but OEM height. Smooth surfaces, thin ABS molds. Similar in concept to this CSA, but not identical.
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