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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: jcoffin1981 on Sun, 07 March 2021, 20:29:30
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Keycaps are an expensive item to try. I think it makes more sense to find a board with outstanding keycaps and replace or mod the switches as you like. IMHO Leopold has the best caps (PBT) of the boards I have tried. Does anyone know of any board that can be comparable? Ducky has some boards I would like to try, but I don't know if the caps are good. I love my Anne Pro, but the keycaps are thin.
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You can buy those caps for pretty cheap so why limit your board options just due to a relatively cheap easily replaced part only to have to swap the switches?
This is completely backwards to me, switches are far more difficult (and risky) to replace than the keycaps even if you're talking hot swap.
Mechanicalkeyboards.com has Ducky and Vortex keycap sets and Amazon has some pretty darn nice thick PBT caps (1.4mm or more) for cheap. You can occasionally find Leopold on Ebay and Drop.
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Leopold does make very nice keycaps, but there are others that are just as nice. Mistel makes some great sets that you can get on Amazon, and Varmilo makes extremely nice dye-subbed keycaps, although they only sell a couple separately (available on mechanicalkeyboards.com). I've had a couple of Ducky sets, and they're great as long as you don't mind the odd side-by-side legends on the number keys. I'm sure they wanted to save a buck by using the same molds that they use for their backlit keyboards, but the way the legends look bugs me.
Swapping out switches is a rabbit hole I've tried very hard not go down. It really does get expensive and time consuming, although it was very satisfying the first time I successfully changed out all of the switches on a keyboard. By far the worst part was desoldering the lead-free solder that's used in commercially made keyboards.
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I have purchased aftermarket keycap sets and been VERY disappointed- poor texture, thinner than I expected , hollow sounding, etc. Does anybody knows of a quality replacement MX compatible keycap set? I care more about feel than look. The catch is that I'm not spending more than $30- $60. There is just no value in spending more than that- $200 is redonkulous I purchased a set of Leopold keycaps from Korea about 5 years ago and to date these are the best I've used, along with the stock ones on Leopold boards. Sadly they are not in production anymore. Right now I'm looking for a set for my Anne Pro II. The caps aren't bad, but they are kinda light and thin.
Swapping out switches is cake for me, so I have no problem buying a leopold board and getting rid of the Cherry switches.
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They're all ok for the most part, but SOME come with really scratchy (Key-Cap-stems). These are the only ones you want to avoid, because they bind a little bit struck off-axis.