Author Topic: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)  (Read 58441 times)

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Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #50 on: Fri, 29 May 2020, 06:21:26 »
Last weekend  :-X

Offline LostGoatOnHill

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #51 on: Fri, 29 May 2020, 07:21:37 »
Just ordered Arctic Alphas, Arctic Icon Mods and Beluga, really looking forward to putting this on a white board, brrrrrrrrrrr!

Offline dvorcol

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #52 on: Fri, 29 May 2020, 17:07:15 »


More
<-- progress
« Last Edit: Fri, 05 June 2020, 15:34:01 by dvorcol »

Offline dpingz

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #53 on: Sun, 31 May 2020, 13:24:01 »
Just ordered Arctic Alphas, Arctic Icon Mods and Beluga, really looking forward to putting this on a white board, brrrrrrrrrrr!

I totally bought the exact same here for an all white as well! Hell yea! :thumb:

Offline William_S_Jones

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #54 on: Sun, 31 May 2020, 15:30:02 »
Well, looks like I join today; 1 numpad, both alphas, both 40s kits! I'll regret it if I don't; plus I'm still hoping I can land KAT milkshake when extras are available! Artic is mine!


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Offline oalmali

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #55 on: Sun, 31 May 2020, 17:39:01 »
Hey is 1st of June included or excluded? Need to wait to get a reply for b2b transaction from one of the vendors.

Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Final Weekend - MOQ 325%)
« Reply #56 on: Sun, 31 May 2020, 23:13:11 »
Hey is 1st of June included or excluded? Need to wait to get a reply for b2b transaction from one of the vendors.

It will still be open on 1st of June until the EOD

Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Last Day! - MOQ 368%)
« Reply #57 on: Wed, 03 June 2020, 14:14:43 »
Hyped!  Can't wait to see these caps with a nice white and blue underglow

Offline dvorcol

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Last Day! - MOQ 368%)
« Reply #58 on: Fri, 05 June 2020, 15:30:12 »



Offline dmatx1

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (Last Day! - MOQ 368%)
« Reply #59 on: Fri, 05 June 2020, 15:55:14 »
Nice numbers and interesting tie between text and icons.

Offline vsrnth

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #60 on: Sat, 06 June 2020, 21:20:40 »
There have been reports of legend misalignment and keycaps being moulded wrong. Biip has reached out to keyreative regarding the issue and is waiting on a response. The runners of KAT refined and monochrome have also reached out to keyreative. No one knows how widespread the issue is. That said there have been reports from owners of KAT alpha, that they too had the same issue.

Can you also please reach out to keyreative and see to it that these issues are looked into.






« Last Edit: Sat, 06 June 2020, 21:27:23 by vsrnth »

Offline Charks!

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #61 on: Wed, 01 July 2020, 07:50:09 »
Hi, is there any update on the progress?

Offline J3ff_Leopard

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #62 on: Wed, 01 July 2020, 08:35:32 »
Hi, is there any update on the progress?

Well it's been 4 weeks. Manufacture time was estimated at 30 weeks. So...probably not much.
WTB Resin Cast Click Clack Leaf

Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #63 on: Thu, 19 November 2020, 13:08:27 »
Coming up on 25 weeks.

Have we heard if there's been any significant manufacturing delays due to obvious reasons?

Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #64 on: Thu, 19 November 2020, 13:40:13 »
Given that Keyreactive hasn’t gotten under 9-10 months yet save for their blanks kits, and that KAT Explosion and Atlantis are currently estimated at 9-12 months, I’d be pretty surprised if this wasn’t well into next year.

Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #65 on: Thu, 19 November 2020, 13:55:02 »
Given that Keyreactive hasn’t gotten under 9-10 months yet save for their blanks kits, and that KAT Explosion and Atlantis are currently estimated at 9-12 months, I’d be pretty surprised if this wasn’t well into next year.

I'm expecting my board to take about that long (Q2 2021), plus I need to budget for 80 Zealios, a custom cable, and a few bespoke metal keycaps (ESC and enter planned).

AND I need to get a 3080, god willing.

NBD, I just figured we're getting close to the initial estimate and people would probably start trickling in for updates.

Offline datarock

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #66 on: Thu, 04 February 2021, 03:16:33 »
It's been a couple of months since the last message in this thread.
Any news on the progress, maybe a new estimated shipping date?  :D

Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #67 on: Wed, 10 February 2021, 14:15:07 »
Same.

The estimated shipping date on Novelkeys was Dec 2020, and while that obviously was never going to be hit due to COVID, being kept in the dark about this isn't much better.

Offline heyimpanda

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #68 on: Wed, 10 February 2021, 15:46:37 »
NK's update page has it est. shipping date of April 2021

but of course it's keyreative so who the **** actually knows lol

Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #69 on: Thu, 11 February 2021, 00:12:00 »
I think expressing keyreactive estimates as months is a little too granular and quarters might be better. Q2 seems a reasonable guess?

Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Concluded!)
« Reply #70 on: Tue, 16 February 2021, 10:46:09 »
I think expressing keyreactive estimates as months is a little too granular and quarters might be better. Q2 seems a reasonable guess?

Early Q2 is what I think would be more accurate. Insert "I didn't expect this many delays" comment here.

Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Arctic (GB Ended, production nearing completion)
« Reply #71 on: Mon, 17 May 2021, 17:35:27 »
Final KAT vs JTK

Final KAT vs R1 Sample vs JTK

Final Kat vs R1 Samples


I tried photographing in different lights but this is the best I can do with my 20IQ

These should be the final production samples and we should be on our way.

There are some problems with legends from what I have received,

Some keys are misaligned such as the <, and >. and the R Shift for the icon mods. I didn't receive all of the kits to review so keep that in mind.

I'm seeing what our options are at this time to fix it but I want to get this into people's hands first soon as possible.

I made a mistake and glossed over a spelling error in our Box Art so you'll be receiving KAT Artic. I won't be fixing the box art as that would add too much time for a much delayed set.

The color is finalized, I believe the blue matches very well with what I intended
« Last Edit: Mon, 17 May 2021, 17:40:24 by Mcnos »

Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #72 on: Mon, 17 May 2021, 19:34:48 »
LOL the thread title. You’re a good sport.

Love the blue!

Offline LordOwen

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #73 on: Tue, 18 May 2021, 01:57:11 »
The misaligned keys are kind of worrying, but the colors look great in the photos! I'm excited to get them at last :)

Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #74 on: Tue, 18 May 2021, 23:09:29 »
The misaligned keys are kind of worrying, but the colors look great in the photos! I'm excited to get them at last :)

So far it's been just small details.

It's kind of annoying but we'll just have to see until we get all the kits in hand.

Offline UnicornCables

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #75 on: Wed, 19 May 2021, 19:00:57 »
The colours look so good, congratz!

Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #76 on: Tue, 25 May 2021, 11:55:08 »
Awesome to see progress!

I'm glad I'm not using the standard R shift or the white alphas, so things are looking up.

Plus I have this brand new NK65 just dying to have these keycaps on it.

Offline Mcnos

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Almost there)
« Reply #77 on: Tue, 25 May 2021, 20:46:12 »
Awesome to see progress!

I'm glad I'm not using the standard R shift or the white alphas, so things are looking up.

Plus I have this brand new NK65 just dying to have these keycaps on it.

I don't think there are any issues with the white alphas.

The ones I have on hand were the previous samples and used a different font.

Offline LordOwen

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #78 on: Fri, 11 June 2021, 00:16:18 »
Just got my shipping notification from zFrontier! Hopefully, my set will arrive by Monday, and I can get them onto my Alpine65 (seems appropriate) that evening.

Offline Mr Chrome

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #79 on: Fri, 11 June 2021, 10:30:22 »
Just got my shipping notification from zFrontier! Hopefully, my set will arrive by Monday, and I can get them onto my Alpine65 (seems appropriate) that evening.

When you get your caps mounted, would you be willing to post some pics/first impressions here? I’ve heard some horror stories about this set, so it would be good to know how it turns out for you.
“This plastic rectangle is alright. The plastic rectangles on top of it, though...”

Offline LordOwen

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #80 on: Sun, 13 June 2021, 23:23:33 »
Sure thing, I'm expecting them in my postbox when I get home this afternoon. I'm curious how many others have received them so far, or if I'm just lucky enough to have a quick vendor (zFrontier's English site).

Offline omegarex555

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #81 on: Mon, 14 June 2021, 01:38:21 »
my God this kat artic's spacebars are so scuffed I lost word. the 7u spacebar bend. the spacebar stem are misaligned I'm having difficulties inserting them, not to mention now my spacebar is really slow to return upstroke. I only opened the spacebar kit now I'm afraid to open the mods and alphas

Offline LexProf

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #82 on: Wed, 16 June 2021, 01:41:43 »
Yes, the Discord on KAT Artic is a blood bath. :(

Offline IBMweMissU

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #83 on: Thu, 08 July 2021, 05:37:58 »
My set arrived with just one Ctrl key, but 3 Code keys (instead of 2), a wrong row pipe key, and an hourglass 275u spacebar.
Other than that its not too bad, but email attempts to get the missing key/replacements have not been replied.
Its a pity - its a nice set, and KAT profile was interesting.

Offline William_S_Jones

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #84 on: Thu, 08 July 2021, 09:02:59 »
After hearing this, I'm a little concerned b/c I ordered enough to fit to 2 40% to 50% MKBs.... & received my shipment noticed this morning...oh well,

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Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #85 on: Thu, 08 July 2021, 20:28:44 »
can we get some pics for the issues here?

Offline William_S_Jones

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #86 on: Mon, 12 July 2021, 17:21:10 »
Just got my kits today. Will open and takes pics of everything when I get off work in the next hour. My fingers are crossed.

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Offline arock0627

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #87 on: Mon, 12 July 2021, 21:23:18 »
Mine arrived.

There's some minor, MINOR alignment here and there but I'd put it as absolutely in great condition.  No spacebar warping, all letters in the same space on my keys on a cursory inspection, and they feel absolutely amazing to type on.

https://imgur.com/gallery/daLscR5

Offline catbus

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #88 on: Mon, 12 July 2021, 23:01:33 »
Got my frostbite kit today... I was pretty hopeful from what I've been hearing from others, but jeez is the alignment bad. My nine also has a random black spot... despite being a white dye-subbed key.
(note the my lighting is not great and the white spots on the keys are not actually visible)

Picture of the set on my Atlas: https://i.imgur.com/xNNTjtR.jpeg

A couple lines to accentuate the alignment: https://i.imgur.com/EPEPbcs.jpeg

Black spot on the 9: https://i.imgur.com/5uajX7m.png



Offline Joaquox

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #89 on: Tue, 13 July 2021, 00:14:34 »
Got my frostbite kit today... I was pretty hopeful from what I've been hearing from others, but jeez is the alignment bad. My nine also has a random black spot... despite being a white dye-subbed key.
(note the my lighting is not great and the white spots on the keys are not actually visible)

Picture of the set on my Atlas: https://i.imgur.com/xNNTjtR.jpeg

A couple lines to accentuate the alignment: https://i.imgur.com/EPEPbcs.jpeg

Black spot on the 9: https://i.imgur.com/5uajX7m.png


Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #90 on: Tue, 13 July 2021, 20:25:24 »
Mine arrived. I put the keys on a TKL to see how they were.

https://imgur.com/a/umVgPYc

3 things to note, with the disclaimer that the switches aren't perfectly straight so a bit of the twisting is on me.

1. the snowflake key on F5 is a teensy bit darker than the other novs at F6-F8 which should be the same color. the keys are photographed twice with the board turned 180 degrees so you can tell it's not the lighting.
2. the alignment issues noted by catbus seem to be here too, maybe not as bad?
3. See the homing bars? That it looks like there's not enough color by them? Yeah, thats real.

The good: this is the first time I've ever tried KAT. I like the profile and sound. The novs are sharp and the alignment there seems fine. My bars aren't crooked from 7u to 2.25u, at least not more than 2019 gmk sets.

I have...7? more KAT base kits in GB. I haven't asked for refunds and probably wont. The quality is worse than JTK years ago and people tell me they've gotten better and the pics seem to reflect that. If someone wanted to bet me their 1000 to my 100 USD that by the close of 2023 I'd have those 7 sets with this quality being the floor and that Keyreactive wouldn't fold, I'd probably bet it as insurance.

If there's something more you want to see, lemme know. If you said you had issues.........post. them. You have a phone w a camera and imgur's free. People make informed decisions based on these.


« Last Edit: Tue, 13 July 2021, 20:28:12 by IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES »

Offline Mr Chrome

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #91 on: Wed, 14 July 2021, 07:54:03 »
@IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES thanks for the review, it gives a good picture of what to expect from KAT. I’m glad they seem to be transitioning to scooped homing keys for later reverse dyesubs, at least.


The good: this is the first time I've ever tried KAT. I like the profile and sound.

As someone who’s just tried KAT for the first time, how would you compare the profile to Cherry, feel wise? I think with all the issues, that’s probably the deciding factor in choosing whether or not to enter GBs/aftermarket for these in their current state. Wondering if a GMK Arctic would beat this just on overall QC alone...
“This plastic rectangle is alright. The plastic rectangles on top of it, though...”

Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #92 on: Wed, 14 July 2021, 13:19:56 »
@IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES thanks for the review, it gives a good picture of what to expect from KAT. I’m glad they seem to be transitioning to scooped homing keys for later reverse dyesubs, at least.

As someone who’s just tried KAT for the first time, how would you compare the profile to Cherry, feel wise? I think with all the issues, that’s probably the deciding factor in choosing whether or not to enter GBs/aftermarket for these in their current state. Wondering if a GMK Arctic would beat this just on overall QC alone...

Second part first. I've had probably 65 or so GMK sets in hand, 15 SA, 5 DSA, coupla other things, this is my first KAT. I've had a coupla clone sets from 2017-2018 era pass through my hands as they came with something else i wanted. This is the worst alignment I've seen; this includes sets available on taobao. I've got another cap i need to photograph where the top surface is peeling off. People complain about GMK caps 'not being as good as they used to' when I've had spacebars that needed straightening that were made in 2016. GMK QC is a whole other world, and against sets at the same price point as KAT, theyre not as good there either.

This is the importance of photographs. Right now GMK oblivion R2 has ~20x the documentation of issues an order of magnitude less bad than what we're seeing here (none from me, this is the first time I've posted about issues related to quality on geekhack out of whatever thousand posts) and what keyreactive needs is some lessons in QC, because they think this crap is tolerable.

>I’m glad they seem to be transitioning to scooped homing keys for later reverse dyesubs,
I'm glad for you. I dont like scooped. I paid money for sets with bars, they can make the bars.

How does it feel? good enough that Im in here giving a $h!t when its not my turn. I'd really hoped to not like it so I could get my 1200-1500$ back in refunds and buy Rama Chess sets or robot cars or whatever.


Offline IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #93 on: Wed, 14 July 2021, 13:31:16 »
As mentioned before, here’s my cap that’s developed pemphigus vulgaris

https://imgur.com/a/CMOkAcI

Offline IBMweMissU

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #94 on: Thu, 15 July 2021, 01:30:27 »
Its quite amazing that they won't even reply for missing keys!

Offline Mr Chrome

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #95 on: Fri, 16 July 2021, 23:02:00 »
This is the importance of photographs. Right now GMK oblivion R2 has ~20x the documentation of issues an order of magnitude less bad than what we're seeing here (none from me, this is the first time I've posted about issues related to quality on geekhack out of whatever thousand posts) and what keyreactive needs is some lessons in QC, because they think this crap is tolerable.

I think this is what has bothered me as well. To find any KAT/KAM problems you need to hunt for proof of it yourself, in your own set or by checking photos of others’. Their communication issues really don’t make it any easier getting info about production issues or whether they’ll be addressed. The misalignment issue for the price of these caps bothers me too because I have seen clone sets with better placement of legends than this. Then you see the number of people who get incorrect keys in their kits, and the fact that Cadet sent out before final checks, and you gotta wonder what kind of QC they believe in.

I'm glad for you. I dont like scooped. I paid money for sets with bars, they can make the bars.

I was mostly glad about the scooped homing keys because it’s one of the only instances where Keyreative seems to be addressing an issue in a way that will produce results, even if it doesn’t solve the issue. I don’t feel all that strongly about homing keys because I type like an idiot. I do feel strongly about the fact that everyone should get what was advertised and that they paid for, though... you shouldn’t have to accept unexpected changes to a product just because they screwed it up after you gave them money :/

I guess the annoying thing is that Cherry profile caps are a dime a dozen, so you can at least pick and choose what manufacturers to deal with and what issues you can tolerate. KAT is just Keyreative, and they sure do funny things with an attitude like it’s fine because they’ve got a product no one else offers.
“This plastic rectangle is alright. The plastic rectangles on top of it, though...”

Offline Bub

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Re: [GB] KAT Artic* (Shipping)
« Reply #96 on: Sat, 17 July 2021, 12:31:05 »
@IOVERCALLHISTIOCYTES thanks for the review, it gives a good picture of what to expect from KAT. I’m glad they seem to be transitioning to scooped homing keys for later reverse dyesubs, at least.

yes thanks iover... good info.

I have a few KAT sets on the way. Thinking I'm going to go in on extras here.