Is the premium price worth it for SA caps

[Encabulator]

I posted a thread earlier asking about the lack of SA keycaps and when there are nice looking sets they're well into the 150+ price range if you're lucky enough to get there before they're bought out and sold for 50 dollars more.  I love the vintage rounded look of SA keycaps but I dont think I can justify the price so I'm most likely going to opt for a set of SP blank DSA keycaps. How do you feel about SA keycaps? Is the look/feel really worth that premium price?

P.S. This isnt meant to be a complaint. I've started to realize there are premiums to pay to get what you really want in a small-ish community like this. I just wanted to start a conversation that may help me come to the decision whether to settle for blank PBT SA or take the plunge and spend 2x for some SA SP keycaps. Thanks 

P.S.S [WTT] Kidney [WTTF] SP Jukebox

[romevi]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

[Encabulator]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

Someone recommended me the Filco SA keycapshttps://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2076. He said they had a slightly less dramatic curve. I might try them out but Im probably getting PBT SP DSA blanks.

[nmur]

their height means that they wobble quite a lot

they look a lot better in photos compared to how they feel to type on

[Tactile]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

Someone recommended me the Filco SA keycapshttps://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2076. He said they had a slightly less dramatic curve. I might try them out but Im probably getting PBT SP DSA blanks.

The Filco caps are very nice. I wouldn't call them "SA", since that's a Signature plastics thing. I have a set of the Filco on a WASD V2 with blue switches. The quality is very good and the extra weight of the nicely done double shot moulding seems to smooth the switch feel and mellow the sound a bit. Be aware that the Filco caps are not black/white. I'd call the colors coffee & cream.

[SpAmRaY]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

Someone recommended me the Filco SA keycapshttps://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2076. He said they had a slightly less dramatic curve. I might try them out but Im probably getting PBT SP DSA blanks.

The Filco caps are very nice. I wouldn't call them "SA", since that's a Signature plastics thing. I have a set of the Filco on a WASD V2 with blue switches. The quality is very good and the extra weight of the nicely done double shot moulding seems to smooth the switch feel and mellow the sound a bit. Be aware that the Filco caps are not black/white. I'd call the colors coffee & cream.

Signature Plastics makes them for Filco so yes they are SA.

[romevi]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

Someone recommended me the Filco SA keycapshttps://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2076. He said they had a slightly less dramatic curve. I might try them out but Im probably getting PBT SP DSA blanks.

The Filco caps are very nice. I wouldn't call them "SA", since that's a Signature plastics thing. I have a set of the Filco on a WASD V2 with blue switches. The quality is very good and the extra weight of the nicely done double shot moulding seems to smooth the switch feel and mellow the sound a bit. Be aware that the Filco caps are not black/white. I'd call the colors coffee & cream.

Signature Plastics makes them for Filco so yes they are SA.

I was going to say, I thought those were SP too.

For me, the only SA sets I want are Round 5, Penumbra, Retro, and that Filco set. The Filco set seems to be the most readily available.

[profanum429]

For SA, the look is greater than the feel. I've had a couple of SA sets (Retro and Troubled Minds), but just couldn't get used to the steep height. That said, I did find them more manageable on flat boards, or else boards with a very low angle.
I believe SA stands out best in pictures; as for actual typing, I prefer lower profiles.

They're definitely nice and thick, but I didn't like the feel of them as they felt very glossy to me. I prefer the more matte finish of PBT or GMK ABS.

That said, I think SA definitely does a great job of capturing that vintage look. I regret selling my Retro set and am on the lookout for another set. 

Aye, this. I love the look of SA but for feeling Cherry profile is way nicer than SA to me. I can still type on SA though but I don't prefer it. The looks however are amazing for SA, so I pay for the looks

[zslane]

SA is pretty much all I type on. I'm one of the rare few (apparently) who has no problem typing on them, and of course I love the way they look. For me, they are worth the price of admission. However, there are very few sets I like in terms of colorways (see my signature banner), so that tends to keep my wallet from screaming.

[Joey Quinn]

Imo Cherry profile > SA

You'll have more colorway options with cherry profile at a lower price without sacrificing quality and cherry pro feels better to type on. I think SA looks better in renders and photos than it even will in person.

[SpAmRaY]

Imo Cherry profile > SA

You'll have more colorway options with cherry profile at a lower price without sacrificing quality and cherry pro feels better to type on. I think SA looks better in renders and photos than it even will in person.

I gotta agree with this. For me personally I've been using stock side print Leopold thick pbt caps for over a year at this point.

They used to be easily available from eBay for <$50 but I didn't see any with a quick search. But I just buy Leopold keyboards and problem solved.

It's also hard to beat the enjoypbt sets, they look great and feel great in cherry profile and seem to be fairly affordable even aftermarket.

And if you want ABS find some OG cherry caps or get in on a GMK set.

I should say I'm not really a fan of DSA either. Again it looks cool and can do some neat stuff as far as moving keys wherever for alternative layouts etc, but I just didn't like actually using that profile either.

But like everything else in this hobby so much is personal preference it is good to have tried many things to know what you like or don't like and also taste will change sometimes as well.

[zslane]

So there must be some SA sets you guys don't want anymore that you would be willing to sell to Encabulator?

[SpAmRaY]

So there must be some SA sets you guys don't want anymore that you would be willing to sell to Encabulator?

I'm pretty sure I've already sold all of mine or I would.

[fatpolomanjr]

Are custom legends cheaper with SA and DSA caps from Signature Plastics? Because I have the hardest time finding custom ortholinear / planck GMK sets.

[zslane]

Depends on whether or not you're talking about dye-sub legends or double-shot legends.

Dye-sub legends don't cost extra because it's basically just an ink-jet printer printing whatever its told to print on each keycap, whereas each new double-shot legend requires the creation of a new engraved legend plate to serve as the mold for the first shot of plastic.

Last I checked, SP charges $75 for a new legend plate. I don't know what GMK charges.

[Puddsy]

no

[Joey Quinn]

Last I checked, SP charges $75 for a new legend plate. I don't know what GMK charges.

I think most of the time GMK will just say no to custom legends.

no

Simple answer but true

[Puddsy]

GMK will not do custom legends

they are very faithful to the original cherry tooling that they own

[SpAmRaY]

GMK will not do custom legends

they are very faithful to the original cherry tooling that they own

You might want to take a look at some recent GMK group buys I'm certain they've done quite a few custom legends lately unless a lot of buys used pad printing which I don't think they did.

[Puddsy]

GMK will not do custom legends

they are very faithful to the original cherry tooling that they own

You might want to take a look at some recent GMK group buys I'm certain they've done quite a few custom legends lately unless a lot of buys used pad printing which I don't think they did.

They'll do singles/novelties but not a whole new set, I should have clarified

[romevi]

Didn't they do a bit more for Carbon?

[dantan]

let me suggest that SA caps should always be used with a wristrest due to the height.

[zslane]

What SA set are you selling?

[Puddsy]

Didn't they do a bit more for Carbon?

it was just a few singles, GMK Carbon still uses mostly cherry legends

[cmc]

Echoing zslane, I've found that my SA caps are great to type on, but maybe it depends on what sort of keyboard they're mounted on—mine are on my Novatouch right now, and I like them a lot better than, say, the standard caps on my CODE, or the factory caps on my Realforce RGB.

I'm still waiting on various other sets of "fancy" keys (e.g., Dasher and Dancer (SA), and Terminal_ (GMK)), so I might change my mind about the "best" profile, but so far the SA caps help make my Novatouch my most enticing keyboard to use.

The most frustrating thing about all the "nice" keycap sets is that they're either hard to find and expensive or not actually available (and expensive), which makes it harder to get a good feel for things quickly.  (I really only succumbed to this hobby late last year, and got lucky enough to get a set of Nantucket Selectric off the waiting list.)

[punksinatra]

I agree above it really depends on what board you use SA on.

I did have 6 sets of SA keycap sets for a fair bit of time and typed on them exclusively combination of most profiles for SA including uniform R3 and I like them.

What I found out at least for me is that I like SA profiles before on low profile cases since I do not want to use any wrist rest and they are fine to type on.

Another thing is they feel much better for me when using on a TKL board or 60% board like poker specially for full sculptured sets with uneven profiles imagine using them on a KBD75 it would take much getting used to

But then again I can type and easily adjust on different profiles, cherry, oem, sa, chicklet, macbook I don't complain well at least my fingers don't

[Niomosy]

SA caps are hit or miss for people.  They're tall which can throw people off.  Like some have mentioned, flatter keyboards seem to work better with SA caps.