[IC] DCS Cream Cheese and Green R3 | FINAL KITTING! (2025-08-27)

[yoonelec]

The second IC form is now live — just before the kitting is finalized!

2nd IC FORM

[yoonelec]

Thank you for the feedback! I’ve actually already revised the kitting and requested a quote from SP

• Would it be too much of a stretch to use an R4 Fn key instead of R4 End? In return, I’ll include R3 PgUp and R4 PgDn in the Extensions kit too(the original Extensions kit has been renamed to the Decorations kit)
• As you suggested, I’ll likely go with Terminal ISO instead of a full ISO kit. However, I’m still debating whether to include it in the Base kit or the Extensions kit. I’ll get a quote from SP first and then discuss it with the EU vendor
• I’m planning to move the mod-colored R1 1u `~ key to the Extensions kit, along with the matching R2 1.5u | key
• I’ll also be adding a second 2.25u Shift key to the Extensions kit
• The 40s kit will be revised as well
• Lastly, the Windows keys have been part of the kit since R1, so I think it would be difficult to remove them entirely

• It would be, because a lot of people prefer to put the R4 1u Fn on the bottom row instead of the right column. Also, a Home–PgUp–PgDn–End column is just as (if not more) common than *–Delete–PgUp–PgDn and Delete–PgUp–PgDn–Fn.
• Keep in mind that 40s support also depends on there being a 1.25u Shift in the base kit. Splitting ISO off into separate kits is kinda inconvenient, plus you may have to add another 1.25u Shift to the 40s kit. Either 4-key terminal ISO or ISO-UK support in base is pretty standard among SP sets.

• Looks like this base kit is going to be skinny af and the extension kit will have all the things people that don't use a wkl tkl actually want.

  ^
• Re Windows keys: This set currently doesn't have 2× 1.5u Super and a second 1u Alt for Mac layouts, so maybe offer that alongside the Win keys? (I'd still drop the 1u ones, though.)

You’ll see that a lot has been improved in this second IC. Could you take a look? Please ignore the minibars in the What kit — they’ll be removed in the final version.

[Rob27shred]

Hey, I actually have an r1 set and I’m missing a few keys. I was wondering if it’s possible to buy the specific missing keys?

SP might offer single keys after the GB as that is something they do often with their in house designed sets. It is expensive though, $5 a pop even for a 1u key. I learned this the hard way filling out an incomplete set of DCS Midnight I acquired.

[nessMINI]

no 4th row "end"? wait what?

[yoonelec]

no 4th row "end"? wait what?

R4 End is included in the Base Kit presented in the second IC!

[konstantin]

You’ll see that a lot has been improved in this second IC. Could you take a look? Please ignore the minibars in the What kit — they’ll be removed in the final version.

Hey, I've taken a look at the updated kitting, and it looks pretty good to me. However, with this configuration, you'd be missing split spacebar and Alice layout support — that would require adding an extra B key, as well as 2c + 2.25c + 2.75c spacekeys, to either the base kit or the extensions kit. Forcing people to buy the 40s kit to get that compatibility is not a viable option, imo. Speaking of which, I think the 40s kit could benefit from further reductions; but I'm not the target audience for that, so you'd best be off consulting the folks over in the 40% Discord server.

Since this set is posed to run with SP, have you considered offering both split-kit and monokit options? This would entail simultaneously running the current configuration with split kits together with a monokit that includes only the most commonly used keys (not unlike a typical GMK base kit). If my understanding is correct, SP has been preferring this combined approach with their recent sets. I suggest talking to them about that.

Edit: The numpad kit is still missing a R1 = key.

[hicals]

Please consider excluding switchkeys from the list of vendors in the future, as they are a vendor that deceives customers

I would like to advise everyone to be extremely cautious when purchasing anything from switchkey
I ordered a Cloudline V2 at the end of March and waited four long months before finally receiving it at the end of July.
My initial excitement quickly turned to disappointment: within 5 seconds of unboxing, I noticed a visible dent on the bottom case.
I immediately emailed switchkey to inform them of the issue and requested a replacement bottom case.
They offered me 50 AUD as compensation, which I declined, insisting instead on a replacement—even at my own shipping cost—because I wanted an A-grade keyboard.
switchkey replied that they had no replacement stock and told me to return the product for a refund. I agreed.
However, they then demanded that I cover round-trip international shipping, which exceeded 100 USD.
I understand that QC errors can happen.
However, charging the customer for switchkey’s own QC mistake is completely unreasonable.
I insisted again that switchkey cover the return shipping, but they refused.
It became clear to me that they are exploiting the difficulty of international returns to deter refunds,
essentially shifting the cost of their own QC failure onto the customer.
In my view, switchkey knowingly shipped the defective bottom case, fully aware it wouldn't meet A-grade standards,
and used their return policy to make it impractical for the customer to send it back.
They even claimed the dented bottom case falls within their QC spec-in, which shocked me.
To be certain, I emailed JJW, the keyboard designer, and asked whether the unit I received was A-grade.
He confirmed it was somewhere between A- and B grade.
That says everything.
I strongly discourage anyone from buying from a site that can’t even properly distinguish between A and B-grade keyboards.
Thank you.

[zhol]

Please consider excluding switchkeys from the list of vendors in the future, as they are a vendor that deceives customers

if this is how you react to a machining mark of that size on the underside of a case i don't want to know how you're going to react when you see the dcs keycap skirts and legend consistency

[yoonelec]

The final kitting has been revealed! I would greatly appreciate it if you could review it for any errors.

[konstantin]

The final kitting has been revealed! I would greatly appreciate it if you could review it for any errors.

Hey, so the base kit is about as bare-bones as it gets, although I can understand why you chose to have it that way (SP pricing is hardly ideal). I suspect a large percentage of buyers will need at least some keys from the extensions kit, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a cheaper base kit. What do the IC response stats look like in terms of % just base kit vs. % base + extensions (not counting other kits)?

If I were you, I'd swap the two GeekHack novelties from base with 1u Ctrl and one 1u Alt from extensions. The former two keys are optional, while the latter two are pretty essential for many 60%, 65%, 75%, 1800/CP as well as 40% layouts. I would highly recommend including them in the base kit. Additionally, making this replacement ought not to require a re-quote, as the unit count per kit would stay the same.

Alternatively, if you're dead set on having a GH novelty in base, you could move F13 to extensions (since the green GH key can substitute for it) in order to make room for 1u Ctrl, 1u Alt. Also, unless this is a personal preference of yours, I'd drop the white GH key — pretty much no one I know uses alpha-colored novelties, especially not on R1.