Vortex pbt UK iso caps on DK 4

[DesignerNeil]

For Flyke and whoever else might be interested in ISO pbt's.

The new caps arrived and I got some pics taken. Overall they are far superior to the standard Das ones. Much thicker, feel nicer, fit better, even colour, sharper legend and more. But there are a few small downsides.

1. You can see light stem marks on some keys, especially long right shift and spacebar, but also some 1x keys too...not all and not noticeable in most light conditions.
2. They sent me 2 x D's and no # key.
3. The colour is much lighter than I expected.
4. They weren't very well packed and the spacebar had some very light marks on the side.

Have a look at the pics and see what you think, it was late so the light isn't great. Over all I'm quite pleased (and my keyboard is working better - but that's another story). I would have preferred black and no stem marks of course but its a significant upgrade from what I had.

[Flyke]

Thanks a lot for the detailed pictures and descriptions.
They do look really good!

The stem marks are visible in some of your shots.
I've read about it on Massdrop as well, and while I was hoping that was an issue with one production run it may just be a general issue with those keycaps.
Might not be that big a deal though - I guess it's the sort of thing you will have to see in real life to really judge it.

I expected they came carefully packaged.

I share your disappointments, but they are not real deal-breakers. I am still tempted to get a set for one of my TKLs. It's quite expensive though so I am not quite ready to order just yet..

I am still tempted to get a set although it'll end up costing almost as much as the board I intend to use them on :-)

[DesignerNeil]

Thanks a lot for the detailed pictures and descriptions.
They do look really good!

The stem marks are visible in some of your shots.
I've read about it on Massdrop as well, and while I was hoping that was an issue with one production run it may just be a general issue with those keycaps.
Might not be that big a deal though - I guess it's the sort of thing you will have to see in real life to really judge it.

I expected they came carefully packaged.

I share your disappointments, but they are not real deal-breakers. I am still tempted to get a set for one of my TKLs. It's quite expensive though so I am not quite ready to order just yet..

I am still tempted to get a set although it'll end up costing almost as much as the board I intend to use them on :-)

It really isn't too bad.  When I first opened them I was in my sunroom in mid afternoon on a sunny day and it was quite noticeable, but in my office environment you have to look at them very closely with the light catching them just right before you even see it.  The stock das keys had an uneven colour with some being slightly lighter than the others, but the colour of these keys is completely even, so that more than compensates for the stem marks in terms in visual appearance.  As well as that the texture is much better and its nice to get rid of all those shinny keys that had worn so quickly on the das. They also line up better due to the tighter fit, which overall helps the appearance too. So visually, despite the stems and the lighter colour, they are still a big improvement.

If I was a premium keyboard manufacturer, pbt keycaps would be the first standard item on my list.  My Das cost me over £130 plus postage (over $200) and I find it unbelievable that a keyboard at the top of the market has the cheapest crappiest caps ever.  If your ABS caps are anywhere near as bad as mine, they you certainly won't regret buying these.