I just bought a colorful Unitek K-258 on Ebay for $20.

[njbair]

I stumbled across this one as a suggested item under another keyboard.



It's a Unitek K-258, manufactured by NTC. I actually already own one from an e-cycler GB right here on Geekhack a few months ago. The one I already own has White Alps, and that's what I'm expecting this one to have as well, since both boards have the same FCC IDs. The K-258 was also produced with Cherry MX Blues by a different OEM.



When I found the Ebay listing, it had zero bids, but just to play it safe I set up a snipe to get it, and I got it for the starting bid of $19.99 plus shipping! Not too bad, especially for a set of interesting Alps caps, many of which will work on an Infinity layout.

[ideus]

I stumbled across this one as a suggested item under another keyboard.

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It's a Unitek K-258, manufactured by NTC. I actually already own one from an e-cycler GB right here on Geekhack a few months ago. The one I already own has White Alps, and that's what I'm expecting this one to have as well, since both boards have the same FCC IDs. The K-258 was also produced with Cherry MX Blues by a different OEM.

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When I found the Ebay listing, it had zero bids, but just to play it safe I set up a snipe to get it, and I got it for the starting bid of $19.99 plus shipping! Not too bad, especially for a set of interesting Alps caps, many of which will work on an Infinity layout.

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Cool caps.

[chyros]

Nice, looks very cool . I bet someone would love that Fort Worth cap xD . Let us know what it's like and what switches it has .

[WhitePlate]

Interesring caps.  The colors really pop

[Joey Quinn]

I saw this thing and wanted to buy it but didn't know if it'd have MX compatible caps.

[CPTBadAss]

THOSE ARE ALPS CAPS? I have a lot of jelly. Someone please provide the peanut butter

[njbair]

I saw this thing and wanted to buy it but didn't know if it'd have MX compatible caps.

I would have looked right past it if I didn't already own the same model.

[tararais]

Very cool looking board. Do you know the printing method/material? From the time period I would think PBT dye-sub, but the logo'd keycaps look like ABS.

[njbair]

Very cool looking board. Do you know the printing method/material? From the time period I would think PBT dye-sub, but the logo'd keycaps look like ABS.

The caps on my existing K-258 are laser-etched ABS, so I have to assume the same for this one. I'll have to check the colored caps once it arrives, but my guess is pad-printed ABS.

[tararais]

Very cool looking board. Do you know the printing method/material? From the time period I would think PBT dye-sub, but the logo'd keycaps look like ABS.

The caps on my existing K-258 are laser-etched ABS, so I have to assume the same for this one. I'll have to check the colored caps once it arrives, but my guess is pad-printed ABS.

Ahh, it does have white print on some keys so it certainly can't be dye-sub or lasered. That's a shame, always love to see some top quality keycaps on old boards.

[njbair]

Very cool looking board. Do you know the printing method/material? From the time period I would think PBT dye-sub, but the logo'd keycaps look like ABS.

The caps on my existing K-258 are laser-etched ABS, so I have to assume the same for this one. I'll have to check the colored caps once it arrives, but my guess is pad-printed ABS.

Ahh, it does have white print on some keys so it certainly can't be dye-sub or lasered. That's a shame, always love to see some top quality keycaps on old boards.

Generally i agree but with Alps, I'll take what I can get.

[tararais]

Very cool looking board. Do you know the printing method/material? From the time period I would think PBT dye-sub, but the logo'd keycaps look like ABS.

The caps on my existing K-258 are laser-etched ABS, so I have to assume the same for this one. I'll have to check the colored caps once it arrives, but my guess is pad-printed ABS.

Ahh, it does have white print on some keys so it certainly can't be dye-sub or lasered. That's a shame, always love to see some top quality keycaps on old boards.

Generally i agree but with Alps, I'll take what I can get.

 
 
Does Alps generally have lower quality keycaps than old Cherry? Forgive my ignorance, I haven't spent much time learning about them other than complicated vs. simple.

[CPTBadAss]

Well....Old Cherry caps vary in quality too. Lasered PBT isn't very sought after. Dyesubbed or doubleshot Cherrys are nice. Alps caps aren't as thick but they also range in quality from bad (Pad Printed) to great (relatively thick dyesubbed PBT).

Just because it's old Cherry doesn't automatically make it desirable and high quality.

[njbair]

Well....Old Cherry caps vary in quality too. Lasered PBT isn't very sought after. Dyesubbed or doubleshot Cherrys are nice. Alps caps aren't as thick but they also range in quality from bad (Pad Printed) to great (relatively thick dyesubbed PBT).

Just because it's old Cherry doesn't automatically make it desirable and high quality.

The big difference is that up until recently, old Alps caps were the only ones you could get. OTOH, Cherry MX caps are constantly being made, and really nice ones at that (GMK, JT Keycaps, etc.), so you have other options besides old caps.

[tararais]

Well....Old Cherry caps vary in quality too. Lasered PBT isn't very sought after. Dyesubbed or doubleshot Cherrys are nice. Alps caps aren't as thick but they also range in quality from bad (Pad Printed) to great (relatively thick dyesubbed PBT).

Just because it's old Cherry doesn't automatically make it desirable and high quality.

   
 
Well yeah, that's true, it just seems that the amount of great ALPS caps (thick double shot, thick dye-sub) is few and pad-printed many, while most Cherry boards are at least lasered. Of course there is a range for both, but on average would you say that vintage Cherry boards have better keycaps? I could just be delusional ofc. 
edit: I think I accidentally a letter in 'shot'.

[njbair]

Well....Old Cherry caps vary in quality too. Lasered PBT isn't very sought after. Dyesubbed or doubleshot Cherrys are nice. Alps caps aren't as thick but they also range in quality from bad (Pad Printed) to great (relatively thick dyesubbed PBT).

Just because it's old Cherry doesn't automatically make it desirable and high quality.

   
 
Well yeah, that's true, it just seems that the amount of great ALPS caps (thick double ****, thick dye-sub) is few and pad-printed many, while most Cherry boards are at least lasered. Of course there is a range for both, but on average would you say that vintage Cherry boards have better keycaps? I could just be delusional ofc.

Hard to say. AEKII keycaps are pretty nice dye subbed PBT, although people don't necessarily love the legend font. I think Dell AT101 caps are regarded as pretty good. The Northgate OmniKey's caps are doubleshot and supposedly made by Tai Hao, and although I have not tried an OmniKey, if the caps are anything like the Tai Hao Alps doubleshot caps that Massdrop sells, they're pretty decent.

Then there are a ton of obscure Alps boards made by various OEMs. You don't find many doubleshot sets out there, that's for sure.

Signature Plastics DSA PBT blanks feel nice if you can get used to the DSA profile. And a bunch of us are about to find out what their DCS Alps doubleshot caps are like, now that Badwrench had begun shipping his modifier kits. They are probably on par, feel-wise, with the Tai Hao Alps doubleshots, with the added benefit of smaller runs and custom colors and legends. The downside is cost. My 60% kit costs the same as three Tai Hao sets. But keycap enthusiasts have proven again and again that they will pay what they have to for the colors they want. And the more popular Alps switches become, the higher MOQs (and thus, lower prices) we'll achieve.

It's really an exciting time to be an Alps user!!!

[chyros]

The Northgate OmniKey's caps are doubleshot and supposedly made by Tai Hao, and although I have not tried an OmniKey, if the caps are anything like the Tai Hao Alps doubleshot caps that Massdrop sells, they're pretty decent.

Then there are a ton of obscure Alps boards made by various OEMs. You don't find many doubleshot sets out there, that's for sure.

Nah man, there's more Alps doubleshots out there than you think . Most notably, almost all Focuses have what appears to be the same Tai-Hao doubleshots, so if you want some Alps doubleshots, Focus is a good source for them .

[njbair]

The Northgate OmniKey's caps are doubleshot and supposedly made by Tai Hao, and although I have not tried an OmniKey, if the caps are anything like the Tai Hao Alps doubleshot caps that Massdrop sells, they're pretty decent.

Then there are a ton of obscure Alps boards made by various OEMs. You don't find many doubleshot sets out there, that's for sure.

Nah man, there's more Alps doubleshots out there than you think . Most notably, almost all Focuses have what appears to be the same Tai-Hao doubleshots, so if you want some Alps doubleshots, Focus is a good source for them .

Nah, it's easier just to run my own GB.

[chyros]

The Northgate OmniKey's caps are doubleshot and supposedly made by Tai Hao, and although I have not tried an OmniKey, if the caps are anything like the Tai Hao Alps doubleshot caps that Massdrop sells, they're pretty decent.

Then there are a ton of obscure Alps boards made by various OEMs. You don't find many doubleshot sets out there, that's for sure.

Nah man, there's more Alps doubleshots out there than you think . Most notably, almost all Focuses have what appears to be the same Tai-Hao doubleshots, so if you want some Alps doubleshots, Focus is a good source for them .

Nah, it's easier just to run my own GB.

you get them in group buys? How much do you pay per set?

[njbair]

The Northgate OmniKey's caps are doubleshot and supposedly made by Tai Hao, and although I have not tried an OmniKey, if the caps are anything like the Tai Hao Alps doubleshot caps that Massdrop sells, they're pretty decent.

Then there are a ton of obscure Alps boards made by various OEMs. You don't find many doubleshot sets out there, that's for sure.

Nah man, there's more Alps doubleshots out there than you think . Most notably, almost all Focuses have what appears to be the same Tai-Hao doubleshots, so if you want some Alps doubleshots, Focus is a good source for them .

Nah, it's easier just to run my own GB.

you get them in group buys? How much do you pay per set?

You really don't know? Alpine Winter, Alps 60% full set, doubleshot DCS. We're 92% to 50 orders, and 70% of the way to 100 sets. If we hit 100 sets the price is $70/ea.

Massdrop is also running some Tai Hao doubleshot 104-key sets for $20-$23 right now. I wrote a review, they're really pretty decent.

[CPTBadAss]

Well yeah, that's true, it just seems that the amount of great ALPS caps (thick double shot, thick dye-sub) is few and pad-printed many, while most Cherry boards are at least lasered. Of course there is a range for both, but on average would you say that vintage Cherry boards have better keycaps? I could just be delusional ofc. 

I'd say on average, it's about the same. There's plenty of boards with nice dyesub caps (Apple AEK or anything Alps and Apple) and doubleshot (Focus boards). There's just less information and popularity on Alps stuff and a lot more manufactures that used Alps-mount that we on Geekhack know little about.  It is true that Cherry is easier to understand and more popular so there's more information, but I'm not really sure where your Cherry angle is coming from.

you get them in group buys? How much do you pay per set?

He's referring to the Alpine Winter GB he's running.

[chyros]

There's just less information and popularity on Alps stuff and a lot more manufactures that used Alps-mount that we on Geekhack know little about.  It is true that Cherry is easier to understand and more popular so there's more information, but I'm not really sure where your Cherry angle is coming from.

you get them in group buys? How much do you pay per set?

He's referring to the Alpine Winter GB he's running.

I see. That's either quite a lot or very little money for a set Oo . Looks like it'd be way cheaper to buy an old 2001 tbh Oo .

Also from my experience of going through tons of old boards, more manufacturers used Alps-mount than Cherry-mount ones. It's just that Cherry survived longer than Alps' keyboard division.

[CPTBadAss]

Do you chyros. Just providing information

[njbair]

I see. That's either quite a lot or very little money for a set Oo . Looks like it'd be way cheaper to buy an old 2001 tbh Oo .

But no options for 60% layouts. Alpine Winter supports them all!

[chyros]

I see. That's either quite a lot or very little money for a set Oo . Looks like it'd be way cheaper to buy an old 2001 tbh Oo .

But no options for 60% layouts. Alpine Winter supports them all!

As, so do they use other keycaps then? You can tell I'm not used to small keyboards xD . Well it's definitely a nice initiative you have there .

[njbair]

I see. That's either quite a lot or very little money for a set Oo . Looks like it'd be way cheaper to buy an old 2001 tbh Oo .

But no options for 60% layouts. Alpine Winter supports them all!

As, so do they use other keycaps then? You can tell I'm not used to small keyboards xD . Well it's definitely a nice initiative you have there .

Yep. Lots of strange layout differences and different spacebar sizes among 60% boards.

[njbair]

The keyboard arrived in the mail today! Here are some quick phone pics:


This is a pretty cool layout. And it occurs to me, uniform top row, short right shift, and a 6U spacebar, these would go well with Badwrench's mods for an Infinity, although I haven't compared profiles.


All the caps are pad-printed. Even the stock beige caps, which is weird because the other K-258 I own has laser-etched caps.

These orange caps in particular are very vivid.



Genuine white Alps, as I expected. Though these feel smoother and more worn-in than the other white Alps I own (my other Unitek was new old stock).

So I'm pretty happy with this board, especially for the price!

[chyros]

Ooooh, purdy! Nice pictures!

I'm surprised you find the broken-in Alps to be smoother than stock ones. I've never found this to be the case with any of my Alps boards yet Oo .