Tai-Hao DS PBT -- Antibacterial Coating?

[Hypersphere]

Is it true that Tai-Hao double-shot PBT keycaps have an antibacterial coating? I think it might be in the form of silver nanoparticles. If this is so, I wonder why they felt the need to do this? I would much prefer uncoated PBT.

[nubbinator]

They did it because they know how grubby the hands of nerds get.  They were trying to inject a little hygiene into their lives.

[SpAmRaY]

Maybe so they don't spread disease so easy?

I mean in hospitals, universities etc if they are trying to reach out to that market being antibacterial could be great marketing.

[Hypersphere]

Yes, I know the supposed hygiene rationale, but simple hand washing has been shown to be more effective than relying on antibacterial coatings. I would prefer not to have any sort of  coating on keycaps. Of course, there are choices other than Tai-Hao.

At the moment, I am typing on a new dye-sub PBT set from Leopold -- excellent quality at a  reasonable price.

[ideus]

Yes, I know the supposed hygiene rationale, but simple hand washing has been shown to be more effective than relying on antibacterial coatings. I would prefer not to have any sort of  coating on keycaps. Of course, there are choices other than Tai-Hao.

At the moment, I am typing on a new dye-sub PBT set from Leopold -- excellent quality at a  reasonable price.

Link?

The best part of being typing all the time is that your board shares with you your pizzas and tacos.

[KHAANNN]

99.9% marketing?

[ideus]

99.9% marketing?

"silver nano-particles antibacterial coating" Marketing? Nah!, it sounds too scientific to be marketing.

  ) )

[Hypersphere]

Just received a Tai-Bao set. Supposedly double-shot PBT and with the antibacterial coating. The coating results in the keycap surfaces having a very unpleasant feel -- not at all like uncoated PBT from any other manufacturer that I have tried, including Ducky, IBM, Imsto, Keycool, Leopold, Topre, and Vortex.

I have considered trying to remove the coating, but I think I will return them instead and use higher quality caps from another company that does not use an antibacterial coating.

[ATXTider]

I've read a thread where a guy gave his walk-through on coating removal.  My 2 min of googling is failing me right now though.  I'm not entirely positive it was on GH, but I think it was here.  It's bugging me enough that I'll probably keep googling for it.

[ATXTider]

A-Ha!

http://imgur.com/a/FodAg

[KHAANNN]

A-Ha!

http://imgur.com/a/FodAg

Thanks for digging this up, it was an interesting read

[Rodgaroon]

Got myself a set, removed the anti-bacterial coating, and while it make a difference, I'm still not the biggest fan of the set. My Granite set just feels a lot more "solid"

[1swt2gs]

You can simply use rubbing alcohol to get the coating off the Tai-Hao sets if you don't like how they feel!

[Vox_PT]

You can simply use rubbing alcohol to get the coating off the Tai-Hao sets if you don't like how they feel!

Yup, I did this to my Bumble Bee set. Followed a simple guide that I found on r/mk.
It's super easy to do and it worked out pretty well in the end.

[rowdy]

I have a few Tai Hao sets and no idea whether they have this coating or not.

Has anyone got before and after pictures, or is this just something that you feel?

[ATXTider]

I have a few Tai Hao sets and no idea whether they have this coating or not.

Has anyone got before and after pictures, or is this just something that you feel?

Pretty sure it's a 'feel' thing.

[Jeftha]

I have a few Tai Hao sets and no idea whether they have this coating or not.

Has anyone got before and after pictures, or is this just something that you feel?

I have the orange and black Tai Hao double shot PBT set and the coating started to wear off pretty fast. It's especially noticeable on the black modifiers. It doesn't look pretty. I don't have access to the keyset right now, but it looks something like the WASD keys: http://i.imgur.com/r4tJWBh.jpg I found this random image on reddit.

There's a large spot like that on my left black shift key, because I used to play a game that would have me hold shift for long periods of time. I'm guessing that if you remove the coating completely, you won't see the difference between the coated and uncoated area and perhaps they'll look pretty clean again.

[rowdy]

I have a few Tai Hao sets and no idea whether they have this coating or not.

Has anyone got before and after pictures, or is this just something that you feel?

I have the orange and black Tai Hao double shot PBT set and the coating started to wear off pretty fast. It's especially noticeable on the black modifiers. It doesn't look pretty. I don't have access to the keyset right now, but it looks something like the WASD keys: http://i.imgur.com/r4tJWBh.jpg I found this random image on reddit.

There's a large spot like that on my left black shift key, because I used to play a game that would have me hold shift for long periods of time. I'm guessing that if you remove the coating completely, you won't see the difference between the coated and uncoated area and perhaps they'll look pretty clean again.

Eeewww!

I have the Tai Hao orange and black set too, but it has no sign of that happening.

OTOH I do swap keyboards and key sets around fairly regularly, so I probably haven't used my set enough to wear the coating down.