[IC] KAT Refined - GB starts tomorrow!

[ILikeShorts]

I'm sure it's not popular enough to warrant, but any chance of mono-legends for numbers and special characters?

+1

I'm an XDA Canvas mono user and it solves a lot of compatibility issues whilst contributing to an even cleaner look.

Exactly! I've got quite a non-standard layout. I don't have <> as shifted ,. and I can't bring myself to have legends that don't match up.

[SmilingPudding]

Would be nice to have icon mods for control and options in the Mac kit.

[vurtomatic]

^^^Seconded.

[selectallfrom]

^^^I also second that

[MacSurfy]

Would be nice to have icon mods for control and options in the Mac kit.

^^^I also second that

^^^Seconded.

I hear you guys loud and clear  . Unfortunately I must disappoint you. Control, Esc, Caps Lock purse, Delete and Option/Alt are icons that you will never find in my sets. Especially not this one. I get that they make more sense for Mac users but hopefully you can live with my choice and join anyway. Thank you! 

[octol]

Looking at the ortho and ergo kits my wishlist is as follows.
In the ortho kit:

1. 2x blank 1.5u R2.

Reason: probably the two most popular split ergo boards are the Corne and the Lily58, and these use 1.5u (alt 1.25u) keys for the thumbs. Usually these smaller split boards are grouped together with the ortho kit as they have 1u outer mods. See MT3 Susuwatari as an example. Or the MDA Big Bang ortho set. Currently you need both the ortho and the ergo kit two cover these boards (and they are very common).

2. 2x blank concave 1u (R1) and/or replace the lower/raise with double up/down arrows. Ideally also another 2x blank concave 1u R2.

Reason: In Planck style layouts people more often than not flip the raise/lower keys upside down. The keycap set bundled with the Planck has these keys as up/down arrow making it simple.

In general: adding a few blank keys would give a lot of flexibility

[Mtvan87]

Was thinking about getting the GMK Minimal 2, but after seeing KAT Refined. Will have to change my mind and wait for this GB.

[Shutter_Shock]

Anyone / OP know more about any improvements to QC with KAT sets? My understanding is that previous sets had QC problems, though I should stipulate that I have never personally owned a KAT set—only GMK. My biggest concern is that I've heard of issues with keycaps being crooked. It would drive me nuts if the keycaps were misaligned.

[JoltFX]

Was thinking about getting the GMK Minimal 2, but after seeing KAT Refined. Will have to change my mind and wait for this GB.

Too true I’m in the same boat now

[nbesa]

Definitely interested, gj!

[parablol]

Loving the niche kits!

[newQuestioner]

What kits would I need for a Maja? Alphas + Mods?

[SirTimmyTimbit]

Would it be possible to offer an accent kit?

WoB escape, enter, spacebar for BoW and vice versa?

[toumatakeshi]

I second the black/white accents. If this set takes off I'm sure we'll have people looking to make KAT accent kits matching this font/style (KAT Mr. Sleeves???)

[Hell-es]

Oh, its already offered - buy both 

Already asked for colored accents / mods in discord.  —> maybe later, not this round

[leifsi]

Can you change the nordeuk set into a noth and south kit like most kat sets have?

[Pejano]

I'm in for a WoB set and I'm UK-based, so if anyone wants to split the NorDeUK kit let me know

[MacSurfy]

Can you change the nordeuk set into a noth and south kit like most kat sets have?

Hi,

Most sets don't have it. Some do.

Whenever there is a South kit in a set it is pretty much always the worst selling kit. Explosion sold 3, Lich sold 1 (!!) and Space Cadet sold 3. I would argue that the North/South kitting is something we don't need in KAT sets.

It's not a structure I will follow for this set. I want to focus my efforts on kits that will actually be used. Hopefully you can find something that works for you anyway. Cheers!

[Biased opinion]

Just looking over the sets and the only thing i would say is missing is a full numpad with R5 keys like you see on GMK ThinkCaps. This is pretty much mandatory if your running a separate numpad like the KBDPad

https://imgur.com/Kc6NaOo

[MacSurfy]

Anyone / OP know more about any improvements to QC with KAT sets? My understanding is that previous sets had QC problems, though I should stipulate that I have never personally owned a KAT set—only GMK. My biggest concern is that I've heard of issues with keycaps being crooked. It would drive me nuts if the keycaps were misaligned.

We won't really know until the next KAT set is delivered which I think is pretty soon.
Hopefully it is looking better this time!

[MacSurfy]

Would it be possible to offer an accent kit?

WoB escape, enter, spacebar for BoW and vice versa?

This would add 6 kits (icon, icon+text, text * 2 for the colorways) so it has intentionally been left out. Or I would just add them all to one kit. But at that point you are looking at a very small price difference to just grabbing two different mod kits. So at the moment it does not look like this will happen.

[MacSurfy]

salut!

French kits added.

[MacSurfy]

Apparently a true French kit should have tertiary legends. So that has been added in now aswell but it will cost you two extra keys. Let me know if it is all good now 

[TiamDesigns]

I'm probably in for BoW set 

[MacSurfy]

firstly, amazing work and definitely in regardless but a couple of questions:

1. any possibility of getting 2x 2.25U Shifts for us 660 layout users?

2. sorry if this was mentioned/discussed already - was it more popular to have the R4 End and Pgdn keys in the numpad kit rather than the mod kits? personally, i thought it would have made more sense to keep them in the mod kits?

3. (being greedy) some sets have included two Tab keys to be able to outfit two boards (obviously different layouts) with just one modifier kit (e.g. a standard ANSI and HHKB/tsangan). of course this is easier achieved with accent kits as they provide additional ESC and Enter keys. i noticed there are 3 different numpad Enters to match whichever style of mods. similarly, adding 3 styles of Tabs (and regular Enters) might make that kit more compelling to some? probably asking a lot, but is this something you might consider?
edit: or perhaps in the Extra Mods kit?

again, looking forward to the GB and appreciate you being so receptive to feedback!

1. yes 
2. As far as I know R4 End and R4 PgDn is more common with numpad users than on smaller layouts. So it made more sense to move them there and save two keys.
3. I will think about it but it sounds like the increased price will be hard to justify on whichever kit it ends up being on.

[MacSurfy]

Looking at the ortho and ergo kits my wishlist is as follows.
In the ortho kit:

1. 2x blank 1.5u R2.

Reason: probably the two most popular split ergo boards are the Corne and the Lily58, and these use 1.5u (alt 1.25u) keys for the thumbs. Usually these smaller split boards are grouped together with the ortho kit as they have 1u outer mods. See MT3 Susuwatari as an example. Or the MDA Big Bang ortho set. Currently you need both the ortho and the ergo kit two cover these boards (and they are very common).

2. 2x blank concave 1u (R1) and/or replace the lower/raise with double up/down arrows. Ideally also another 2x blank concave 1u R2.

Reason: In Planck style layouts people more often than not flip the raise/lower keys upside down. The keycap set bundled with the Planck has these keys as up/down arrow making it simple.

In general: adding a few blank keys would give a lot of flexibility

Thanks for adding Colevrak, samples look okay as well. The colour I'd prefer as more like WS1.

About the 'ergo' kit, I think some things could be changed. The R2 bracket keys seem to be duplicates from the ones in the alpha kit, and the R2 PgUp and PgDn keys seem to be included twice in just this kit. And for the 1.5u keys, my priorities would in some cases be different. For example, the R3 Control key is something I've never seen, but a R3 1.5 Backspace and a R3 1.5 Backslash would both be pretty common, I think. R2 1.5 Enter would also make sense in my opinion. And for the bottom row, I'd personally prefer a 1.5 Sys or even a second 1.5 Control over the 1.5 Menu or Fn options, possibly the 1.5 Menu could be replaced.

I will have a look at your suggestions and see what we can do. Stand by!


[/quote]

What kits would I need for a Maja? Alphas + Mods?

From what I can see on the pictures of it you are correct. Alphas and mods kit. If you want to use the 2U 0 you will need the numpad kit too, otherwise just the 2.25U Shift there and save yourself the extra expense.

[DaMnED]

South kit, any chance?

Edit: Just saw the reply about South kit. I understand, had to ask. This is why I prefer Int kit vs noth/south, more sells and I get most of the keys I'd want anyway.

[bobdenard]

Apparently a true French kit should have tertiary legends. So that has been added in now aswell but it will cost you two extra keys. Let me know if it is all good now 

Show Image

French kit is ace, man! J’adore :)

[MacSurfy]

I'm sure it's not popular enough to warrant, but any chance of mono-legends for numbers and special characters?

How do people feel about this? Personally I love mono, just don't know if there is any interest for this.

[psxndc]

I think it would be clean AF, just didn't know if you were concerned about Minimal 2 comparisons since they did it and "Minimal" is their theme. But I'd personally love it.

[KurageOuji]

I never realized how nice mono looked until I saw it in minimal r2, now I wish I would have it on even more sets, so I would definitely welcome it.

[Pejano]

I'm sure it's not popular enough to warrant, but any chance of mono-legends for numbers and special characters?

How do people feel about this? Personally I love mono, just don't know if there is any interest for this.

If you covered all the numbers/punctuation in your alphas kit, that would be another reason for me to buy this over another similar GB

Any chance you could produce some renders?

Super excited for this set now!!

[noorejji]

I concur would be really interesting to see a mockup of mono legends on this set.

[Protein]

Excited for my first kat set(s) 

[octol]

There is a very good KAT Ergo guide here
- https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/g0nhg0/kat_ergo_kit_guide/
and the follow up
- https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/i3roqp/quick_dirty_kat_ergo_kit_guide/

Going by these what's missing from the Ergo kit is
 - 8x1u R2 thumb row: ctlr, super, alt, fn, menu, ins, del, print             
 - 2x1u R1 convex blank   
 - 1.5u R2 Enter

[MacSurfy]

08/11/2020
Ergo kits — Removed duplicate R2 PgUp & PgDn
Ergo kits — Changed row number on bottom R1 to R2
Ergo kits — Added 2 x 1U convex keys
Ergo kits — Changed R1 1.5U Menu to Alt
Ergo kits — Changed R3 1.5U Control to Backspace
Ergo kits — Changed R2 1.5U Caps Lock to Enter
Ergo kits — Replaced 4 x R1 2U blanks to convex.

[Armaguard]

08/11/2020
Ergo kits — Removed duplicate R2 PgUp & PgDn
Ergo kits — Changed row number on bottom R1 to R2
Ergo kits — Added 2 x 1U convex keys
Ergo kits — Changed R1 1.5U Menu to Alt
Ergo kits — Changed R3 1.5U Control to Backspace
Ergo kits — Changed R2 1.5U Caps Lock to Enter
Ergo kits — Replaced 4 x R1 2U blanks to convex.

Show Image

Ergo set is now perfect. R3 backslash included in alphas kit so that's covered. Thank you for taking time to review and being flexible, fantastic work.

And text mods look great. If the text mod kit ends up in the GB, I'll definitely pick it up too.

[MacSurfy]

08/11/2020
Ergo kits — Removed duplicate R2 PgUp & PgDn
Ergo kits — Changed row number on bottom R1 to R2
Ergo kits — Added 2 x 1U convex keys
Ergo kits — Changed R1 1.5U Menu to Alt
Ergo kits — Changed R3 1.5U Control to Backspace
Ergo kits — Changed R2 1.5U Caps Lock to Enter
Ergo kits — Replaced 4 x R1 2U blanks to convex.

Show Image

Ergo set is now perfect. R3 backslash included in alphas kit so that's covered. Thank you for taking time to review and being flexible, fantastic work.

And text mods look great. If the text mod kit ends up in the GB, I'll definitely pick it up too.

Thank you! Glad we ended up with something that is an improvement of earlier Ergo kits out there. Could not have done it without the support of you guys!

[Muchacho]

salut!

French kits added.

<3 <3 <3

Didn't expect that!

Is UK kit also planned ?

[MacSurfy]

I think it would be clean AF, just didn't know if you were concerned about Minimal 2 comparisons since they did it and "Minimal" is their theme. But I'd personally love it.

I think that's fine. Nobody owns mono legends and they have been done before. I do find the enlarged numbers quite odd looking tho, but cool at the same time. Double edged sword sort of.

With the amount of kits I have going on already I might just wrap it up where we currently are. Or add one more, have not decided yet.

[MacSurfy]

salut!

French kits added.

<3 <3 <3

Didn't expect that!

Is UK kit also planned ?

Basic ISO coverage is already available. Sure the UK one could be broken out, but so could many other things in the kits. The idea is not dead but there are a few things to consider with the requests coming in.

[Muchacho]

Basic ISO coverage is already available. Sure the UK one could be broken out, but so could many other things in the kits. The idea is not dead but there are a few things to consider with the requests coming in.

Oh, I didn't take a close look to the NORDEUK, thought it missed some from standard UK layout. Perfect then!

[Domantas]

I will probably will buy both wob and bow, if I have money. Or at least wob mods and bow alphas. This will be my first KAT profile keycaps

[badbusinessman]

Looks great, def interested

[stealthzero]

Cant wait to buy both BoW and WoB sets.   My wallet will be ready.

[stoffelduss]

08/11/2020
Ergo kits — Removed duplicate R2 PgUp & PgDn
Ergo kits — Changed row number on bottom R1 to R2
Ergo kits — Added 2 x 1U convex keys
Ergo kits — Changed R1 1.5U Menu to Alt
Ergo kits — Changed R3 1.5U Control to Backspace
Ergo kits — Changed R2 1.5U Caps Lock to Enter
Ergo kits — Replaced 4 x R1 2U blanks to convex.

Show Image

aren't the top bracket keys still duplicates of the brackets in the alphas? and I'd prefer System over Alt for the bottom row 1.5u key, I would never put Alt in a corner like that.

[MacSurfy]

08/11/2020
Ergo kits — Removed duplicate R2 PgUp & PgDn
Ergo kits — Changed row number on bottom R1 to R2
Ergo kits — Added 2 x 1U convex keys
Ergo kits — Changed R1 1.5U Menu to Alt
Ergo kits — Changed R3 1.5U Control to Backspace
Ergo kits — Changed R2 1.5U Caps Lock to Enter
Ergo kits — Replaced 4 x R1 2U blanks to convex.

Show Image

aren't the top bracket keys still duplicates of the brackets in the alphas? and I'd prefer System over Alt for the bottom row 1.5u key, I would never put Alt in a corner like that.

Yes, good catch they are actually duplicates. So we can shave down the kit with 2 more keys then. As for the System over Alt I dunno, keep seeing Alt being used there but if nobody minds we can change it.

[blaqbern]

Your commitment to making this set as good as it can possibly be is really admirable. Thank you for all the time and effort!
This set is  living up to its moniker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lamonayon]

Totally agree to this!

[Adelscott]

In for a sh*t ton of kits  

Thank you !