Just got an email from Omnitype about the extra caps, so it looks like they're finally about to go out.
Now that I've had these caps for a while, as a participant in the group buy for both of the initial colorways and a veteran of The Longest Wait, I have a few thoughts on the caps themselves.
First, the profile is great overall, and I love the glossy finish of the caps. The sound is good, as is the typing feel, in my view. JTK really did deliver on the original vision there, so I have to give them credit.
However, there are a few gripes I think are worthy of note.
First, several of the caps are not formed well on the stems, particularly the +/= key, on multiple of the four sets I wound up getting. (The deep-dish F key is bad, as well, at least on my WoB set.) These caps just kind of fall off of some switches when I try to use those keys. This problem is worse with JTK switches with P3 stems like Durock POMs and Epsilons, where all HSA caps are just generally loose. I can't really use them on some boards, as a result.
If you have some HSA caps, check the fit on the +/= key in particular. Would be curious to hear everyone's impressions. Seems to me like this might be a straight-up defect across most HSA sets.
Second, I've noticed that some of the alpha key legends are composed of much thicker lines than others, to the point where it really looks jarring. This effect is most noticeable with dark legends on brighter backdrops like BoW and brown on beige. It's harder to see on WoB and BoB, for whatever reason. BoW looks super janky to me now that I've seen it.
Examples here:
The lettering on E is thick, while the lines are way thinner on R. Same for B (thin) and N/M (thick).
I assume others of you have seen this issue? It's not great with the inverted sets, and it seems like JTK needs to address this issue before running more sets.
Finally, I'm super happy to have the bonus inverted key sets and the extra keys they've sent out later, including especially the extra "B" for Alice-style layouts, but I'm bummed that convex short space bars aren't part of the mix. In the years since we first ordered HSA, split keyboards have become much more popular, and I'm sad these sets don't have short bars for use with my favorite layout. Would be great if we got a chance to buy some short bars in a future HSA run as a separate kit or something!
Anyhow, would love to hear the thoughts of other HSA keycap owners who have been living with them for a while now.
