conflict of interest disclosure: I have a lot of them, and am selling them in the classifieds sectionI just got hold of a lot of Cherry Row E thick PBT keycaps. So I installed them on two separate keyboards, one a normal ANSI layout, the other a matrix keyboard that I use normally.
Here is my observation after using them for several days.
GOOD
Thick PBT Row E are most like buckling spring keycaps in height, size, angle and most importantly, feel. They have texture and a very solid feel due to their thickness. I am very pleased by the sense of quality and solidity, the uniform height is very pleasing to the eye, and they look really professional.
I definitely recommend Row E if you want Cherry MX keycaps close to those on the Model Ms and Fs that I used for many years. They have the solidity and size of SA profile keycaps, but also have texture and can be interchanged with different rows if you use Colemak or Dvorak layout.
BAD
(Yes, this is intended to be a balanced and honest review)
My matrix board looks very nice now that all the keycaps are the same, but it really sucks when I try to touch type. I do have muscle memory, but my hands inevitably have to move when I reach for the mouse or to get at a function key. When you have everything the same height, it’s terrible. I was forced to swap out a few keycaps to different profiles so that at least my hands can locate.
On the ANSI board I was very pleased to replicate a good part of the buckling spring keycap feel on my 1u keys. But that created another question: what about the modifier keys? I simply could not use Cherry profile mods, since these are much lower than the Row Es. I swapped to OEM profiles, but they didn’t feel right. In the end I settled for SA profile mods. I find these the most compatible, partly because of height, and partly because they have the same solid feel. Unfortunately now the ANSI board does not look good, because SA mods are spherical and Cherry Row Es have sharp corners. Frankly, it looks terrible.
CONCLUSION
Row Es are great on their own. But without manufacturers making Row E mods, you can’t find compatible keycaps to populate a standard ANSI board. You can populate a matrix board with Row Es and the board will be pleasing to the eye and hand, but in practical usage it’s not so good.
As much as I want to sell my spare Row Es, I can't honestly recommend them for use as alphas on standard keyboards. Maybe for switch testers or keypads.
I would like to suggest that somebody create a dyesub Thick PBT Row E keycap set group buy for an entire ANSI keyboard. That would net us keycaps very similar to the Model M/Fs. I believe this will feel much superior to DSA dyesubs.
