[GB] GMK Triumph Adler. Pics posted...

[GSimon]

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Probably one of the worst condition set.  The box seems got beaten up really bad.  Not a single key left in the tray. 
I am still counting how many keys have scratches

so, you bought an empty GMK tray that is packed with air pack and plastic keycaps? 

I think the keys might have had a better shot without the tray and just thrown in with the bubble packs. In the tray they just bounce on top of each other in a more confined space and scratch up.

On another note, here's my shipping statuses:

Carrier Information:
Date   Time   Status
07/31/2015   16:36   Electronic shipping information received
07/31/2015   19:51   Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit to carrier
07/31/2015   20:10   Received by US Carrier
08/06/2015   10:45   Processed by US Carrier
08/06/2015   13:01   In Transit to Post Office/Delivery Agent - For export
Post Operator:
08/06/2015   10:00   Pre-Shipment Info Sent To Usps
08/10/2015   08:47   Arrived in Destination Country
08/10/2015   08:47   Into Customs

10 days in shipping :O, normally not a concern, but I can just picture those keeps getting banged up more with each day.

[jonathanyu]

Just my opinion about the tray.  I think the tray were designed to stack up one by one for bulk shipment but not for shipping individually.  I think it is not gmk fault that keycaps cant stay in the tray while shipping individually.  Massdrop can prevent this happen by simply taping all sides of the tray.

btw, just counted there are about 30 keycaps have scratches.

[LechnerDE]

I honestly don't see why everyone is complaining about the missing plastic on the numpad + key. It was designed that way so it wouldn't interfere with (presumably) plate mounted Cherry stabilizers.

Dolch, GMK RA, GMK Ollivetti numpad + signs are all like that.

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Before anyone asks, scooped F&J also have "less" doubleshot plastic to fit the scoops. The legend only takes up the top left corner.

Thanks for pointing that out!

As I stated in my previous posts I don't see any quality issues with this set. All the imperfections some people noticed were caused by the abysmal packaging.

The light bleeding stuff is also not new. You can see the same effects with the CMYW Mods. I guess bright colors can't block all the light from the LEDs. It's a physics thing.

I have the feeling that people are overly critical and look for the tiniest issues, because they are frustrated about their damaged keys.

Don't get me wrong - you guys have all the right to complain! Scratched keys are unacceptable, but this was not GMK's fault. They never claimed their trays were suitable for single shipping.

They stacked 1000 orders, packed them perfectly and send them to Massdrop. Then **** got messed up....

[swimmingbird]

Calvin, mine already arrived in Malaysia Post. Not sure when it will reach me.

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Ugh, that does not give me much hope for my package. No update for the last 6 days.

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Hey Bueller - when you load the dhl global mail page it will show who is actually carrying the package and a tracking number for them - mine wisted as DAI.
I took my tracking number over to the DAI website and it has much more updates there. Last I checked the DHL page said "Transport to Destination Country" from 5 days ago but the DAI one shows that my sets are already in Sydney. Hope that helps

[GSimon]

Just my opinion about the tray.  I think the tray were designed to stack up one by one for bulk shipment but not for shipping individually.  I think it is not gmk fault that keycaps cant stay in the tray while shipping individually.  Massdrop can prevent this happen by simply taping all sides of the tray.

This first part makes sense but MassDrop taping the sides would do nothing. The keys are moving around within the case, contained with tape or not.

The keys need cases like this one:

where the keys are fitted to the case with those circular stems.

They stacked 1000 orders, packed them perfectly and send them to Massdrop. Then **** got messed up....

MassDrop messing it up makes more sense, GMK doesn't ship sets ever 1 at a time AFAIK and I'd imagine they've done this before. Still, bad foresight on GMK's part to not consider that they would be shipped out individually later which could cause problems

[rowdy]

Calvin, mine already arrived in Malaysia Post. Not sure when it will reach me.

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Ugh, that does not give me much hope for my package. No update for the last 6 days.

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That's nothing - I have a Bro Caps package that hasn't seen updates for more than 3 weeks!

At least the TA one has been updated recently.

[jonathanyu]

Just my opinion about the tray.  I think the tray were designed to stack up one by one for bulk shipment but not for shipping individually.  I think it is not gmk fault that keycaps cant stay in the tray while shipping individually.  Massdrop can prevent this happen by simply taping all sides of the tray.

This first part makes sense but MassDrop taping the sides would do nothing. The are moving around within the case, contained with tape or not.

The keys need cases like this one:

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where the keys are fitted to the case with those circular stems.

taping all sides would still better than all keycaps having party in the whole box....

[jonathanyu]

For the colors, I think the alpha keys have a great choice, but the teal is strange to me.  It just not the TA I thought it would be.
Anyone else think the legends are little bit blurry and not as sharp as the old GMK sets?

[naps250]

No update since the 4th. Local service also says the caps are in Frankfurt. 

[KatzenKinder]

This **** stresses me out too much to even go through my set right now, they're just sitting in the box all over the place lol...

[GSimon]

taping all sides would still better than all keycaps having party in the whole box....

I hear ya, but is that even better? Would still take just as long to sort out, would just appear marginally less chaotic.

[tjcaustin]

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Probably one of the worst condition set.  The box seems got beaten up really bad.  Not a single key left in the tray. 
I am still counting how many keys have scratches

The impressive part of this picture is just how little distance they traveled from MD to you.  I think you're one of, if not the, closest user to where massdrop is.

Just my opinion about the tray.  I think the tray were designed to stack up one by one for bulk shipment but not for shipping individually.  I think it is not gmk fault that keycaps cant stay in the tray while shipping individually.  Massdrop can prevent this happen by simply taping all sides of the tray.

btw, just counted there are about 30 keycaps have scratches.

It would also help if massdrop's shipping center knew how to box things securely.  Properly sized box would be like step one.  And considering how sloppy the packaging looks, who knows how many of these empty tray, box full of caps were like this before they even left massdrop's possession.

It legitimately looks like they started with a box for a tkl, threw the caps in, ripped off enough of those bubble things to stretch across the box and sealed it up, then started stacking to the rafters.

[stoic-lemon]

I honestly don't see why everyone is complaining about the missing plastic on the numpad + key. It was designed that way so it wouldn't interfere with (presumably) plate mounted Cherry stabilizers.

Dolch, GMK RA, GMK Ollivetti numpad + signs are all like that.

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Before anyone asks, scooped F&J also have "less" doubleshot plastic to fit the scoops. The legend only takes up the top left corner.

Well I'll be.....Guess I have nothing to complain about :D Thanks for pointing that out. There really is nothing else I can see wrong with the quality of the caps produced here.

[naviman]

Took me a good 20 minutes re-arranging all the keys in the box! Then again it's better than doing work so I'm not complaining

Has anyone used this on an ISO keyboard? If so I'd love to see a photo.

I think the set looks fantastic Not sure if I'll like the feel after using the PBT ones on the POK3R but we'll see

[filphil]

Took me a good 20 minutes re-arranging all the keys in the box! Then again it's better than doing work so I'm not complaining

Has anyone used this on an ISO keyboard? If so I'd love to see a photo.

I think the set looks fantastic Not sure if I'll like the feel after using the PBT ones on the POK3R but we'll see

My impressions from using granite and retro dsa was that I liked the softness abs provides over the hard pbt.

It might be different when comparing thick cherry profile caps but I have no reason to think so. You'll know what your preference is soon enough.

[dimmu]

Anyone else think the legends are little bit blurry and not as sharp as the old GMK sets?

this would be my main concern. the dolch was really sharp but when i received the ta, i thought it was perfect at first until i started placing them right next to the gmk dolch set.  the legends almost look like taihao right next to the other set. i don't think it was intelli's fault tho and this is the first custom color gmk buy so i can give gmk a pass for that but the quality needs to improve.

i'm still satisfied with the set and will gladly join on another custom gmk run.

[kacase]

I honestly don't see why everyone is complaining about the missing plastic on the numpad + key. It was designed that way so it wouldn't interfere with (presumably) plate mounted Cherry stabilizers.

Dolch, GMK RA, GMK Ollivetti numpad + signs are all like that.

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Before anyone asks, scooped F&J also have "less" doubleshot plastic to fit the scoops. The legend only takes up the top left corner.

Thanks for pointing that out!

As I stated in my previous posts I don't see any quality issues with this set. All the imperfections some people noticed were caused by the abysmal packaging.

The light bleeding stuff is also not new. You can see the same effects with the CMYW Mods. I guess bright colors can't block all the light from the LEDs. It's a physics thing.

I have the feeling that people are overly critical and look for the tiniest issues, because they are frustrated about their damaged keys.

Don't get me wrong - you guys have all the right to complain! Scratched keys are unacceptable, but this was not GMK's fault. They never claimed their trays were suitable for single shipping.

They stacked 1000 orders, packed them perfectly and send them to Massdrop. Then **** got messed up....

I collected my set from customs yesterday and was just as lucky as you. Not a single cap had shifted.

However I have also, like so many others found a lot of quality issues. A couple of the keycaps in my set were scratched anyway. This can not have been due to shipping, as all my caps were still perfectly in place.

I am sad to report that (at least some of the scratches) are GMKs fault.

Also my right long shift has a dark swirl, which looks like the pigments were not mixed into the plastic properly. This "swirl" is not on the side, but on the top unlike what most have seen so far.

Another production issue is that there is some sort of dirt inside the plastic of my U cap. It is of orangy colour and right next to the legend. From far away it looks like a crumble, however I have tried cleaning the cap with alcohol, gently with a tissue and once i got a bit annoyed carefully with an xacto knife. None of these however led to results. It seems to be some kind of dirt, that is molten right into the keycap.

I will post pictures later today, once I arrive at home.

[shawn o]

 

[kacase]

intelli78, can you please post a pic of your TA board next to the new GMK matched set? I'd like to see how close they are and there will be no light difference then.

After skipping on this group buy I purchased a board on German Ebay and it seems like the GMK keys are much bluer than my TA set.

there was no such board "on german ebay"

[azhdar]

intelli78, can you please post a pic of your TA board next to the new GMK matched set? I'd like to see how close they are and there will be no light difference then.

After skipping on this group buy I purchased a board on German Ebay and it seems like the GMK keys are much bluer than my TA set.

I'd be very curious for you to show us a link of said auction.

[ttzhou]

intelli78, can you please post a pic of your TA board next to the new GMK matched set? I'd like to see how close they are and there will be no light difference then.

After skipping on this group buy I purchased a board on German Ebay and it seems like the GMK keys are much bluer than my TA set.

Can you post a picture of your board with a timestamp as well? I'm quite interested in seeing boards purchased from German Ebay, especially from someone as reputable as yourself.

[Johan]

All my keys came in the tray, not in the proper arrangement, but in the tray at least.

They seem fine.

One of the 1.25 alt keys has a bit of the... Lets call it paint issue. No clear scratches on any of the keys. Casting marks are definitely there, seems more prominent on the teal keys.
Also the text is a bit off misaligned on some of the caps. Especially the ISO shift key.
I'm not super happy with the quality. The tray is nice but I would rather have skipped it and got a lower shipping cost.

[TBone]

In my opinion, the keycaps should be packed in foam like Ducky keycaps. I've never seen better packaging than them, even though the keycaps aren't the best quality. No keycap can move, and then it's placed in its own cardboard box (sturdier than MD's box) and then put inside the shipping box. No problems in shipping could ever occur, even if MD screwed up even more than this.

For reference:

[Nai_Calus]

I honestly don't see why everyone is complaining about the missing plastic on the numpad + key. It was designed that way so it wouldn't interfere with (presumably) plate mounted Cherry stabilizers.

Dolch, GMK RA, GMK Ollivetti numpad + signs are all like that.

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Before anyone asks, scooped F&J also have "less" doubleshot plastic to fit the scoops. The legend only takes up the top left corner.

Because it looks like this from the outside:



I would give zero ****s and probably not even notice it if it didn't show right through to the outside, but it does, so much so that I initially thought it was a huge scuff. It's noticable in pretty much every photo I've seen that includes a numberpad and actually looks worse to me than the heavy scratching on my Windows key.  :p

If your keys there exhibit the same, then egads. If they don't, then clearly something went horribly wrong on TA.

[LechnerDE]

I collected my set from customs yesterday and was just as lucky as you. Not a single cap had shifted.

However I have also, like so many others found a lot of quality issues. A couple of the keycaps in my set were scratched anyway. This can not have been due to shipping, as all my caps were still perfectly in place.

I am sad to report that (at least some of the scratches) are GMKs fault.

Also my right long shift has a dark swirl, which looks like the pigments were not mixed into the plastic properly. This "swirl" is not on the side, but on the top unlike what most have seen so far.

Another production issue is that there is some sort of dirt inside the plastic of my U cap. It is of orangy colour and right next to the legend. From far away it looks like a crumble, however I have tried cleaning the cap with alcohol, gently with a tissue and once i got a bit annoyed carefully with an xacto knife. None of these however led to results. It seems to be some kind of dirt, that is molten right into the keycap.

I will post pictures later today, once I arrive at home.

Hmm, that's odd. I didn't find a single scratch on my keys. No swirls either. Shouldn't all keys have the same flaw if it was a molding issue?

[HoffmanMyster]

Dirt embedded in key (small but annoying)

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As I've mentioned before, injection molding is not my area of expertise (I do flat die extrusion), but based on what I do know about extrusion in general, I would not expect this to be true dirt.  It's likely what my industry would call a "carbon", and what the injection industry seems to call a "black spot", which would be caused by essentially burning the resin in the extruder.

It may seem like petty semantics, but I just wanted to mention it because if it were actually dirt that would be very bad.  This (carbon / black spot) is still unacceptable to make its way to the finished product, but is a completely reasonable thing to expect to occur during production.

[user 18]

Got my set in the mail today. Caps were scattered all over the inside of the tray, but they seem to all be here. I have a few scratches and noticeable discolourations, but not enough to make it worthwhile to send things back. Will probably see about getting a partial refund or credit.

Looking at the designs of the trays, it's very clear to me that the trays are designed to be nested together, and rely on pressure from trays below and above to hold keys in place. They are not appropriate for loose-packed shipping of individual sets.

[cjhard]

I'm curious how or why Numpad + got the white streak while it's not the only key with a chunk of the legend shot "missing" by design. ISO Enter is the same on all GMK keys, but it doesn't have that mark.

[user 18]

I'm curious how or why Numpad + got the white streak while it's not the only key with a chunk of the legend shot "missing" by design. ISO Enter is the same on all GMK keys, but it doesn't have that mark.

That's surprising to me as well.

[sethk_]

I'm curious how or why Numpad + got the white streak while it's not the only key with a chunk of the legend shot "missing" by design. ISO Enter is the same on all GMK keys, but it doesn't have that mark.

That's surprising to me as well.

I think it has to do with the profile, but I am not sure as I don't have enough sets to test it.

[Photoelectric]

Look at it this way: the "original" faded TA sets seem to be randomly discolored and uneven, so this replica is true to that aspect of the set   I'm guessing the extent to which the original TA sets have yellowed over time varies significantly from board to board too.

I do wonder why GMK did not do a test batch before full production, to see how successfully the new colors mixed together. But maybe they consider 500 sets, or however many were ordered, a small test batch anyway.

[taylordcraig]

I'm nervous to get my set, hope there aren't any large scratches when it arrives.
Still in customs. =/

[henz]

I'm nervous to get my set, hope there aren't any large scratches when it arrives.
Still in customs. =/

mine is coming, and with a phat customs toll

[user 18]

I'm curious how or why Numpad + got the white streak while it's not the only key with a chunk of the legend shot "missing" by design. ISO Enter is the same on all GMK keys, but it doesn't have that mark.

That's surprising to me as well.

I think it has to do with the profile, but I am not sure as I don't have enough sets to test it.

ISO enter and Numpad + are the same row profile though.

[techmattr]

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Probably one of the worst condition set.  The box seems got beaten up really bad.  Not a single key left in the tray. 
I am still counting how many keys have scratches

[swimmingbird]

Has anyone in Australia received their sets yet? What was the condition like?

[bueller]

Has anyone in Australia received their sets yet? What was the condition like?

Mine arrived in Australia on Sunday, still waiting on the local carrier to deliver. You can be sure I'll post some pics when they arrive.

[GL1TCH3D]

Well

I got my set today and of course I had $30 to pay in taxes on it.

Discolorations on the left shift in that swirl that people have talked about.

All of my keys made it to my house in the tray though.

Which is a bit funny because I'm all the way in Canada and it seems a lot of the USA customers had the issue with the tray.

Otherwise my legends all seem to be good. There's no bleed through on my mobik (because that's on PCB and not in switch). No scratches or anything like that.

[KHAANNN]

I'm in the crushed box and exploded cap gang. No damage that has stood out to me as far as the caps are concerned. I looked them over as I was rearranging them in the case. The wors one was the + key for the numpad which I have seen other people have the same issue. That one is on GMK.

Other than that I am pretty pleased with the set. I love the colours and am not too bothered about accuracy with one of the many pictures we saw before. Thanks to intelli78 for his hard work getting this going and I hope he thinks about running another buy in the future.

On the other hand, I am now very wary of joining another Massdrop unless I see them deal with this situation with concrete changes and replacing keys for those that need them. Some of us have been far luckier than others, but it could have easily been different.

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By the way, I don't know whether this is mentioned but, I was just about to give an ISO Enter as a gift, it's from Ivan's GB, I noticed that it also has the side gaps that people complain about, so it's not something unique to this GB

I believe most of the issues are triggered by Massdrop, with their carelessness, they just fuel everyone's fire
I don't think most of these issues would be noticed if they didn't screw up with shipping again, otherwise minor issues like these exist with most sets (GMK included, obviously it's a bit more with this GB, but still ...)

[whentheclouds]

...

[swimmingbird]

Has anyone in Australia received their sets yet? What was the condition like?

Mine arrived in Australia on Sunday, still waiting on the local carrier to deliver. You can be sure I'll post some pics when they arrive.

I'll post mine too
Hope yours arrive in a decent condition

[snipars]

i was surprised to see my set arrived in perfect condition!

[digi]

i was surprised to see my set arrived in perfect condition!

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nice Octagon, your spacebar is backwards btw, just a heads-up.  :))

[snipars]

i was surprised to see my set arrived in perfect condition!

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nice Octagon, your spacebar is backwards btw, just a heads-up.  :))

har-har

[techmattr]

[romevi]

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That looks absolutely beautiful.

[intelli78]

Yep, nice pics techmattr! Looking really good. On my monitor I'd say the colors are a little dark but overall those are some of the most accurate photos posted so far.

These pics from Reddit are also very close to reality, again on my monitor:

[snipars]

Yep, nice pics techmattr! Looking really good. On my monitor I'd say the colors are a little dark but overall those are some of the most accurate photos posted so far.

These pics from Reddit are also very close to reality, again on my monitor:

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interesting, for me the colours in these pictures are really very different to reality, i guess my monitors are all not calibrated greatly

[whentheclouds]

intelli, can we have a picture of both the caps and the pantone chip you used, in the same photo?

[intelli78]

interesting, for me the colours in these pictures are really very different to reality, i guess my monitors are all not calibrated greatly

Our monitors may be showing very different colors. Also, your real life perception is going to change depending on the ambient light, the keys look a lot different in direct sunlight vs. diffuse incandescent lighting, etc.