Are the PBT keycaps from MASSDROP a good buy?

[Nikelu]

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-pbt-keycaps here is the drop boys.they aren't your typical 20$ caps so I guess they are somehow good quality.Should I purchase them ? Haven't tried PBT yet       


https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps  BOTH LINKS ARE FINE NOW,THERE WAS A MISTAKE FROM MASSDROP

[IvanIvanovich]

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

[Nikelu]

I am a blank guy for sure. I do have a Razer Blackwidow with Blues now (2013 ed) and I will get a KUL and Pok3r or Novatouch really soon.OEM for me? I think not all keycaps will fit into razer as it doesnt have the classic layout right?

[Special K]

Show Image

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

Are the doubleshots the same thickness:

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps

They look thinner in the MD photos.

[Nikelu]

LOL they cancelled the vortex PBT drop and now they have doubleshot PBT ones. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps Sooo opinions?

[vax]

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

Yeah but those are OEM profile. And they look a little bit thinner than the Leos.

What's a good source for PBT ISO addon sets? Haven't foun anything so far.

[SpAmRaY]

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

Yeah but those are OEM profile. And they look a little bit thinner than the Leos.

What's a good source for PBT ISO addon sets? Haven't foun anything so far.

Probably aren't any.

[IvanIvanovich]

I said the good ones from Vortex are the Cherry profile ones, and I posted a picture of the Cherry profile ones. I got a set from one of the prior sales. They are 100% identical to what I use in my groupbuys... I just wish I could get the same price margins. The Leopold ones are from a different factory, so they are slightly different. I am not sure how different the thickness is, it wasn't much as I remember, would probably need to use digital calipers to notice.
As far as ISO, if you want Cherry profile then getting them from Cherry G80/G81 is the only option. No one else seems to have any tooling for the ISO enter keys besides Cherry for that profile for PBT/POM.

[Novus]

I got a set of blanks during the first run on MD.

They mixed up the profiles and somehow everybody ended up getting cherry profile instead of what was written - OEM.

These are great value but two things I'm not a fan of:
The nitpick is sorting  blanks is really annoying     
The more substantive complaint is I am not a fan of how small the F and J handles are. You can barely feel them.

[HPE1000]

I got a set of blanks during the first run on MD.

They mixed up the profiles and somehow everybody ended up getting cherry profile instead of what was written - OEM.

These are great value but two things I'm not a fan of:
The nitpick is sorting  blanks is really annoying     
The more substantive complaint is I am not a fan of how small the F and J handles are. You can barely feel them.

Seriously. They might as well not be there. I wish they would be scooped or something. Other than that I like them, I am not a fan of high texture keycaps so they are great.

[KnivesM]

I said the good ones from Vortex are the Cherry profile ones, and I posted a picture of the Cherry profile ones. I got a set from one of the prior sales. They are 100% identical to what I use in my groupbuys... I just wish I could get the same price margins. The Leopold ones are from a different factory, so they are slightly different. I am not sure how different the thickness is, it wasn't much as I remember, would probably need to use digital calipers to notice.
As far as ISO, if you want Cherry profile then getting them from Cherry G80/G81 is the only option. No one else seems to have any tooling for the ISO enter keys besides Cherry for that profile for PBT/POM.

The Leopolds are barely thicker, about .05mm thicker when I measured.

[Nai_Calus]

I can only speak to the second link, having a set of the white/blue doubleshots and most of a set of the black/white ones.

I like them. The legends are kind of ugly, but not as hideous as the other Poker-looking ones. They're nice and thick, the LEDs on my Code have to be up pretty high to shine through the white. Around 1.5mm thick. The F/J/5 bumps on the doubleshot set at least are nicely prominent. Fairly strong texture to them, feels good. Spacebar's got extra mounting holes so it looks like it'll work on those weird offset spacebar boards.

No extra or fancy keycaps; exactly the keys on a 104. If you've got a Ducky Shine with 108, for example, you're going to need other keys/artisans to fill those four media keys.

[crazystu]

The more substantive complaint is I am not a fan of how small the F and J handles are. You can barely feel them.

I agree, I was in the first group buy and got front printed.
Apart from that I really like the key-caps - they are nice and thick, and introduced me to the goodness of Cherry profile!

[vax]

Now I'm confused. Are the Vortex from Massdrop OEM or Cherry profile?

[SpAmRaY]

Now I'm confused. Are the Vortex from Massdrop OEM or Cherry profile?

The current buy last I checked stated OEM as the profile.

What people are discussing was a previous buy where OEM was advertised but cherry was produced.

[Nikelu]

Should I go with cherry or oem ?

[vax]

Should I go with cherry or oem ?

Filcos are OEM which are really high. But you COULD like em. Most guys prefer Cherry tho.

Top Row: IBM - high keys Second Row: Topre - medium height Third Row: Cherry Corp - low height Fourth Row: Filco - high height

[Nikelu]

Have you tried both? Which you prefer?

[HPE1000]

Cherry is nicer imo

Not only does it feel better to type on, it looks nicer. (Also just my opinion)

[vax]

Have you tried both? Which you prefer?

Yes. I got 2 Filcos and a couple of Cherry boards and cap sets. Also tried the Cherry Caps on the Filcos and they are definitely more ergonomical to type on.

[asgeirtj]

Show Image

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

Do you mean that these are lasered and thus you will feel the legends?  This feel the legend business confuses me a little, I thought that double shot caps would feature legends that you won't feel the legends but i have these https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps caps from vortex and you can feel the legends on them.  You say that these are the same as in your groupbuy for pbt, is your opinion that the leopold caps feature better texture than them?
 

I said the good ones from Vortex are the Cherry profile ones, and I posted a picture of the Cherry profile ones. I got a set from one of the prior sales. They are 100% identical to what I use in my groupbuys... I just wish I could get the same price margins. The Leopold ones are from a different factory, so they are slightly different. I am not sure how different the thickness is, it wasn't much as I remember, would probably need to use digital calipers to notice.
As far as ISO, if you want Cherry profile then getting them from Cherry G80/G81 is the only option. No one else seems to have any tooling for the ISO enter keys besides Cherry for that profile for PBT/POM.

100% the same? aren't your dye sublimated and these lasered?

[vax]

I guess he's only talking about the profiles. Not the printing methods used.

[Special K]

Is it just the picture scaling, or are the PBT doubleshots here:



thinner than the PBT laser etched ones here:



The doubleshots look thinner to me, but maybe it's just the way I'm looking at it and they are actually the same thickness.

[crazystu]

I'm comparing the thickness now (I have both sets), they are very similar (closer than those two photos suggest). They seem to be essentially the same thickness to me (just eyeballing it).

[bazh]

ugh, still hurts my eyes everytime I look at their PBT double-shot set, good legend but fugly alignment ruins everything.

[Doppelganger]

disregard

[Doppelganger]

LOL they cancelled the vortex PBT drop and now they have doubleshot PBT ones. https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps Sooo opinions?

No they didn't, it is right here https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-pbt-keycaps

[Special K]

ugh, still hurts my eyes everytime I look at their PBT double-shot set, good legend but fugly alignment ruins everything.

What's wrong with the alignment?

[caseyandgina]

I wish it were viable to order custom PBT doubleshot keys. I use a modified dvorak layout and need numerous keys to be 1.0x and 2.0x size instead of the usual 1.x sizes. I ordered a couple sets of blanks in OEM profile in hopes that I can replace enough of my keys to be content...

[IvanIvanovich]

Show Image

The Cherry profile kind are good, they are the same as what I and imsto offer. Laser may have a rough feel though, if you can swing blanks I would recommend them or front print. They are a decent dark grey.
I do prefer the Leopold ones though, they have a nicer texture and are about the same price.

Do you mean that these are lasered and thus you will feel the legends?  This feel the legend business confuses me a little, I thought that double shot caps would feature legends that you won't feel the legends but i have these https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-doubleshot-pbt-keycaps caps from vortex and you can feel the legends on them.  You say that these are the same as in your groupbuy for pbt, is your opinion that the leopold caps feature better texture than them?
 

I said the good ones from Vortex are the Cherry profile ones, and I posted a picture of the Cherry profile ones. I got a set from one of the prior sales. They are 100% identical to what I use in my groupbuys... I just wish I could get the same price margins. The Leopold ones are from a different factory, so they are slightly different. I am not sure how different the thickness is, it wasn't much as I remember, would probably need to use digital calipers to notice.
As far as ISO, if you want Cherry profile then getting them from Cherry G80/G81 is the only option. No one else seems to have any tooling for the ISO enter keys besides Cherry for that profile for PBT/POM.

100% the same? aren't your dye sublimated and these lasered?

I mean that the Cherry profile version are actually made in the same factory as what I use and from imsto, so the keycap themselves are the exact same disregarding cap color or legend marking. Yes, laser legends you can often feel the markings, it feels scratchy.

[KHAANNN]

laser etched == avoid, in no time those etchings will become filled with finger sweat

20$ is pretty nice for a keyset, especially pbt double shots, I say buy if you're looking for a simple set

[Special K]

I got a set of blanks during the first run on MD.

The more substantive complaint is I am not a fan of how small the F and J handles are. You can barely feel them.

Just to clarify, are you talking about the PBT laser etched set here:



or the PBT doubleshot set here:



Because the F and J marks on the doubleshot set look pretty reasonable to me.  The ones on the laser-etched set look pretty small.

[Huxley2500]

PBT lasered:
[url][https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-pbt-keycaps/url]

[Hyde]

Well to clarify:

The cherry profiles set is the same as the imsto set, which has very very small F and J nub.

The OEM set which is the same as the Poker II set, which has pronounced F and J nub.

[Special K]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

[Hyde]

^ I wonder the same too lol.

[rowdy]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

How is it that they can produce PBT doubleshots?

I suspect they have a new type of PBT that is easier to work with in these ways.

[psyEDk]

I have a set of them in cherry profile side printed flavour, they're great. Highly recommended if you like smooth solid pbt caps!

[bazh]

I dont think the problem is at the ability of the manufacturer, as for BSP bought Cherry's PBT tools so theoritically they should be able to do both 6.25 and 7x spacebar with no difficulty, but who knows what make them not.

[ctm]

I am a little confused. I think the profile only affect height of the keycaps, right? Are Cherry profile and OEM profile the same height?

[Doppelganger]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

IMSTO makes a PBT spacebar with all of their sets. In fact, there is a new grey, cherry profiled PBT set from IMSTO that just hit MassDrop. Great price on this set too, as their dye-sub keys are top notch. I can speak from experience: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/imsto-pbt-cherry-keycaps?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Community%20-%20Mechanical%20Keyboards%20-%20MAU%20%28Active%29&utm_campaign=Mech%20Keys%20Active%20Product%20Announcement%202015-04-14&mode=guest_open

Ducky also includes a PBT spacebar with their OEM sets.

I am a little confused. I think the profile only affect height of the keycaps, right? Are Cherry profile and OEM profile the same height?

Not at all. Cherry are quite a bit lower than the OEM profile.

[Novus]

I mean that the Cherry profile version are actually made in the same factory as what I use and from imsto, so the keycap themselves are the exact same disregarding cap color or legend marking. Yes, laser legends you can often feel the markings, it feels scratchy.

That's neat and that makes the vortex blanks a really great steal.
Your sets and imsto's do have larger f and j hook/nubs right?

[Doppelganger]

I mean that the Cherry profile version are actually made in the same factory as what I use and from imsto, so the keycap themselves are the exact same disregarding cap color or legend marking. Yes, laser legends you can often feel the markings, it feels scratchy.

That's neat and that makes the vortex blanks a really great steal.
Your sets and imsto's do have larger f and j hook/nubs right?

I have an IMSTO PBT dye-sub set and the hook nubs on the f and j are virtually non-existent. They are super small

[nightdriver]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

vortex's spacebars are not perfect.  they tend to be a bit bent.  you can either live with it or try soaking them in boiling water for a few minutes and straightening them out yourself.

[Special K]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

vortex's spacebars are not perfect.  they tend to be a bit bent.  you can either live with it or try soaking them in boiling water for a few minutes and straightening them out yourself.

Ugh, I wish I would have known that before I bought 2 of the PBT doubleshot sets on MD.  Then again they were only $20 each, so I guess I'm not out that much if I don't like them, plus I'll know to never buy them again.  They shouldn't even be selling the set if they can't guarantee the keys will be straight.

[Novus]

How is it that Vortex can make a PBT spacebar, but other keycap manufacturers cannot?  Is the manufacturing process still that advanced even after decades of keycap manufacturing?

vortex's spacebars are not perfect.  they tend to be a bit bent.  you can either live with it or try soaking them in boiling water for a few minutes and straightening them out yourself.

Ugh, I wish I would have known that before I bought 2 of the PBT doubleshot sets on MD.  Then again they were only $20 each, so I guess I'm not out that much if I don't like them, plus I'll know to never buy them again.  They shouldn't even be selling the set if they can't guarantee the keys will be straight.

... weren't you just whining about the abs spacebar that comes with a pbt keyset.