Best value for money keycaps (includes novelties, numpad), non GMK

[dcisme]

Good day community!

recently i have been looking at keycap sets, looking to hear some suggestions from the community, got myself a set GMK bentos R2 from novelkeys as it's on sale ($90 for base sets) which i think is amazing, but i am also looking at cheaper sets that are good in quality and has some nice novelties included, i came across some sets from canonkeys, wuque studio, omnitypes, which are quite good and comes with some nice novelties, would like to hear feedbacks and maybe pics from extended use of keycaps.

thank you so much!

[VaporKeebs]

XDA Happy Planet by GKs and Drop. https://drop.com/buy/gks-xda-v2-happy-planet-keycap-set

XDA is a great profile. Can work with any board since the profile is uniform, even ergos and orthos. Set comes with one kit, no add ons needed. 132 keys so the kit will legit fit most any board.

Fun retro colors. Cute space/alien novelties. Only $36 and ready to ship.

[dcisme]

nice! thanks vapour! definitely looks good! do u have more than 1 set of caps?

[selsik]

Drop in-stock mt3 and dcx profile keysets have proven to be quite good and the price is fair for high quality abs.

Domikey keysets are also great bang for buck.

[Fraaaan]

Shenpo is great value, you can find them on Taobao and Aliexpress.

Not sure why you'd want to buy budget caps if you already have GMK, though.

[tp4tissue]

them $20 pbt blanks are the best caps. smooth stem.  lettering is noober. learn 2 type, cut your keyboard in half,  Split + Tented.

[HungerMechanic]

Wuque Studio is doing a GB of PBT Camping for $70-something dollars.

Shenpo can go for very cheap - like $30 for a full set during sales on AliExpress. You can also look at something like 21KB for something more expensive, maybe 50 dollar range, but a little more consistent than Shenpo.

Many of the fake GMK-Y clone sets on AliExpress can go for very cheap, 30 USD. But there is a higher risk of bent spacebar/modifier, missing keys, or crooked stems. And the legends are usually worse.

The set known as Artifact Bloom: Vintage is currently 45 dollars on Drop.com, but has been known to go to $39 during sales. Those are very consistent keycaps. However, they have a very smooth texture, which is off-putting to some. I find that they are excellent for clicky switches, like BOX White.

Domikey is the best value for higher-quality in-stock ABS. Their keycaps are probably higher-quality than JTK, and just under GMK.

MT3, when it goes on sale, can be a bargain. For example, there are full sets that go for $99 or even $90. At that price, they are good value. Unfortunately, they cleared out their excess stock recently, and raised the prices. So $105/110 sets are now going for $120.

I think Omnitype came out with a new profile, it may be a more affordable A-grade keycap like Domikey is. There are also group buys for Cannoncaps keycaps that seem competitively-priced.

[HungerMechanic]

ALSO:

NicePBT seems to be affordable, check out some examples on Apex Keyboards. They might be the same as CannonCaps.

Novelkeys has its own profile which runs some official sets like PBT Taro. It's my understanding that they're pretty acceptable for what they are. Maybe even good.

If you don't mind thin ABS/PBT, Tai Hao can be affordable if it's being offered at a low price [inc'l shipping] and no duties from retailers such as AliExpress. Like $30 USD or less for an ANSI-104 set. Unfortunately, they don't typically offer expanded sets. Only in their 'international' sets meant to help EU [ISO] customers might you find a couple of expanded full sets. Or if you order directly from the Tai Hao website.

Tai Hao does make affordable decent keycaps in their "Cubic" profile, but the available colourways are limited, and often bad.

AKKO has been known to offer very affordable sets. During sales, it's been possible to pick up AKKO "Silent" [a clone of GMK Muted] and other Cherry-profile keycaps for about $50 USD. Their "ASA" high-profile keycaps can also be priced fairly low during sales, around $50 USD, despite having more plastic and excellent packaging [at least their Cherry sets have excellent packaging.]

Likewise, there is a keycap profile shorter than MG-profile that is sold on AliExpress. I don't remember the name at the moment, but they can go for like $45 USD [including shipping] for a full, extended set with even some novelties. These might be the best-value high-profile keycaps that there are. The manufacturer makes some colourways [such as "Monster"] in Cherry, SA, MG, and this other profile. And you can get some of these sets VERY affordably.

It's too bad that you missed some sales recently: Drop [MT3 and Artifact Bloom] and AliExpress [GMK-Y, Shenpo, Domikey maybe, AKKO, MG-profile]. So maybe your best bet, if in United States, are getting in on Cannonkeys + NicePBT group buys, Novelkeys NK Profile, OmniType, and Drop's new DCX-profile.

[HungerMechanic]

Here's DOMIKEY vs. GMK and JTK:



https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/rjm8bd/domikey_vintage_review_comparison_to_gmk_jtk_with/

[HungerMechanic]

Good day community!

recently i have been looking at keycap sets, looking to hear some suggestions from the community, got myself a set GMK bentos R2 from novelkeys as it's on sale ($90 for base sets) which i think is amazing,

There are some labor day sales on keycaps:


GMK

https://novelkeys.com/collections/labor-day-sale


GMK and SA

https://omnitype.com/collections/labor-day-sale-22


MT3 / GMK / SA / DCX

https://drop.com/all-communities/drops/labor-day-sale


Kinetic Labs

https://kineticlabs.com/keycaps/polycaps/code-pbt


Might want to consider something different, like DCS Sleeper at Drop. It's a pretty nice set!

[Leslieann]

Personally, I'm a fan of the HK Gaming.

Search Amazon for "thick pbt 9009 139", you should find the 9009 set (pale gray), but they have alternates made similar.

Almost all are the same company making them, and while not the nicest looking they have good high contrast, thick pbt, and a large set (139 kecaps!) with ANSI, big enter, reduced shift and alternate colored keys for pretty darn cheap ($35 or so).  The downside is the skirts are short so if you use a low profile case with no sides they will be really high, allowing more light, but also makes it easy to catch your finger on the edge on perimeter keys, and the perimeter is sharp. They can also shine in time, but they don't shine like ABS, these start off powdery feeling and end up more satin. Regardless, for the amount of keys, visibility (sooo many specialty caps are hard to read low light) and money, they're a real bargain.

[MIGHTY CHICKEN]

Domikey is my choice for cheaper version of gmk, while not quite the same, its amazing value
Also shenpo is a very good budget pbt option

[VaporKeebs]

nice! thanks vapour! definitely looks good! do u have more than 1 set of caps?

Yes I have way too many sets. I have 10 sets currently on boards. And about 6 sets not on a board yet. With more preordered that Im waiting on.

[mohawk1367]

It really depends on what you're looking for. PBT? ABS? Double shot or dye sub? What profile

In general the ones I can recommend though are Mistel and XDA PBT for budget caps, and CRP for deeper pockets.