How is Filco SA compared to other SA keysets?

[lordlors]

Hi, I'm new to this community and into the world of mechanical keyboards. I watched Chyrosran's videos on Kailh Navies and SA keycaps. So I got myself a GMMK TKL with Box Navies and Filco's SA keycaps and freaking love it! I've heard they're made by SP which is considered to be one of the best keycap manufacturers. I bought this off from Filco's Japanese website since I live in Tokyo. They're cheap, just costed me around 50 US dollars and they've got new colors aside from the blackish ones I've seen on the net. Most were sold out but thankfully, the navy/white combo is still available and was perfect to go with my box navies. Filco no longer glues the costar stab insides into the space bar and mod keys and are just put into a small ziploc bag so I had no problems. Here's the link if you're interested to look at their new colors: http://www.diatec.co.jp/shop/list.php?s[]=110:1006:10036

I know Filco's SA is semi sculpted using only R2 and R3. How do they compare to Maxkey's fully sculptured SA keysets? Are Maxkey's objectively better in terms of quality? This may be subjective but is it still better to experience a fully sculptured SA keyset?

[blighty]

I personally like the Filco SA sets.  Unfortunately, I no longer regularly type on boards that use the standard 1.25u mod/6.25u spacebar, so I don't use them.  If I did, they are great bang for the buck and they more or less feel like a slightly higher profile OEM set. 

[Hyde]

I think quality wise it should be about the same, Filco SA are made by Signature Plastic.

As for sculpted SA, I think it's entire based on preference.

For reference, I hated sculpted SA while other people raved them.  My ideal is all row 3 SA, even Filco's row 2 bugged me (I own a set too).

So if you enjoy it then I'd not worry about it.  But if you're curious then maybe you should get a set from Maxkeys since they're quite a bit cheaper than the SA sets.

[lordlors]

Which makes me think, how is it that Filco SA is much cheaper compared to other SP's SA keysets when they're all made by SP? Is it because Filco SA isn't fully sculpted or does it have something to do with the legends and colors on Filco SA being different?

[JianYang]

Which makes me think, how is it that Filco SA is much cheaper compared to other SP's SA keysets when they're all made by SP? Is it because Filco SA isn't fully sculptured or does it have something to do with the legends and colors on Filco SA being different?

Probably partly due to the partially sculpted, and mostly due to quantities.

[Tactile]

Which makes me think, how is it that Filco SA is much cheaper compared to other SP's SA keysets when they're all made by SP? Is it because Filco SA isn't fully sculpted or does it have something to do with the legends and colors on Filco SA being different?

Well... call up Filco and ask how many keycap sets they ordered from SP. Now go to SP, pick out the set you like, give them a call and promise to buy that same number of sets. I'll bet you could get the price pretty close to what the Filco sets sell for, or maybe a bit less.

[zslane]

There are three reasons why the Filco SA keycaps are less expensive that all the custom SA sets you find elsewhere:

1. Filco has an OEM vendor relationship with Signature Plastics.
2. Filco orders keycaps in huge quantities.
3. The Filco SA set is a fixed 104-key set with no novelties or extra keys for alternate layouts or other such nonsense.

If you were a large manufacturer who ordered millions of dollars of product from SP over the course of a 2 or 3 year purchasing contract, you'd get a nice discount too.

[lordlors]

Thanks for the info! I'm very much ignorant in the ways of business-related things. Now I understand. I thought there was a difference of quality at least, Filco SA being of lesser quality. But it is solely a matter of quantity and sales. The keycap industry and market is really fascinating. Coming from a gaming background, it's my first time delving into a niche hobby such as customized mechanical keyboards.