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

[Steezus]

I just got my RS96 kit today, just waiting for a few more parts to come in and then I can start building. I want to put my TA set on and I don't know if the red plate will go well with it, hmmm the decisions to make. 

[Zeal]

Just got my TA set in. For something that traveled via UPS to USPS, then flew from the East coast Canada to West coast, my keys were surprisingly "intact". No keys fell out of the tray surprisingly.

I had some time looking at GMK's tray. It really isn't that badly designed. The main cause of the tray failure was due to the center "button" popping out. After looking at it closely, there just wasn't enough room to fit the center push button along with the home row keys, which caused the home row keys to slant up a bit. I see that GMK added a horizontal indent along that row to try to hold the keys flat, but that just made it easier for the center push button to pop out.

If the 4 corners were taped shut instead of the 2 down the middle, I think the keys would have had a better chance of surviving the trip. Alternatively, add a few more push buttons in the corners and it would work equally well. The tape GMK used to hold the two trays down was quite sticky. I'm not sure how some other members' stickers came loose.

In addition, RIP $1:1.3056 exchange rate.



P.S. Teal is hard to capture. Will need to spend some time in PP...

For those wondering, I believe I was 4th to order, so my package was one of the first ones to go out and didn't get any special packaging treatment that MD mentioned on later sets.

[U47]

Massdrop's shipping is beyond ridiculous. Mine got to Edmonton in about the same condition as yours, and yet it was like $35USD on top of the price? I might be MD'd out.

Oh, and pinched for $17 customs fee and GST. Not worth it.

In addition, RIP $1:1.3056 exchange rate.

[GSimon]

★★★Straw Poll★★★

The intention of the poll is to determine defects from shipping, not production. If your keys were all in place but had some defects from production (i.e swirls/discoloration/scratches on keycaps) choose "keys were in place, no visible defects".

Note: I spelled visible wrong

Please answer the poll, I'm curious to see how many people were affected, maybe the numbers can be used to show MassDrop the extent of the damages.

[nubbinator]

Needs a keys were everywhere, some defects option.

[GSimon]

Needs a keys were everywhere, some defects option.

I changed the wording, out of place can be for a few keys out of place or 'keys everywhere'. Otherwise I'd also have to include "keys everywhere, no defects" which is unlikely but possible.

Also If you're the person who voted within the 10 mins of my first poll vote again, had to create new poll.

[CommonCurt]

★★★Straw Poll★★★

Note: I spelled visible wrong

Please answer the poll, I'm curious to see how many people were affected, maybe the numbers can be used to show MassDrop the extent of the damages.

The option I would need is  "Keys were in place, some defects"

[GSimon]

The option I would need is  "Keys were in place, some defects"

Is it swirls etc? The intention I had for the poll is to note damages in shipping, not production, thus "Keys were in place, no visible defects" would be the option I'd suggest. If there's even 1 key out of places and scratches, I'd go for the Keys were out of place, some defects.

[CommonCurt]

The option I would need is  "Keys were in place, some defects"

Is it swirls etc? The intention I had for the poll is to note damages in shipping, not production, thus "Keys were in place, no visible defects" would be the option I'd suggest. If there's even 1 key out of places and scratches, I'd go for the Keys were out of place, some defects.

Yeah, the colors on some of the mods had the blotchy color effect, and I have scratches/scuffs on random caps.

[GSimon]

Yeah, the colors on some of the mods had the blotchy color effect, and I have scratches/scuffs on random caps.

Well, perhaps it's too hard to say if the defects (scratches specifically) were from shipping or production if they're all in place? I'd choose the "keys were in place, no visible damages" because from the onset if you view the keys through the plastic casing, the damages weren't apparent right away therefore "no visible damages"? Best I can suggest, my poll is imperfect, as was my spelling of visible

[kacase]

my keys were in place and still scratched!

[Air tree]

my keys were in place and still scratched!

Maybe they massdrop received them all out of place, re packed them and then they made it you fine?


And the same thing could have happened to other, but they got theirs jumbled anyways...

[Elrick]

my keys were in place and still scratched!

Maybe they massdrop received them all out of place, re packed them and then they made it you fine?


And the same thing could have happened to other, but they got theirs jumbled anyways...

MassDrop always need to break out the original package when they receive it, due to re-packing hundreds of orders to ship world-wide.  No doubt they had to re-settle all the orders which might of took them ages to do hence the damage might of already been incurred.

Shame GMK doesn't do REALFORCE type of key-set packaging because they do it, to perfection  .

[henz]

i got my set today, found all the keycaps outside the tray as expected. But to my surprise, no scratches!! The only thing that bugs me a little is that almost all my caps bleed from the backlight, some bleed constantly and some bleed when pressed,the blue ones also. One thing i noticed but dont care for as much is that the bottom row has a wierd angle compared to my gmk modifiers, not sure which one is off, TA or the modifiers.

[LechnerDE]

i got my set today, found all the keycaps outside the tray as expected. But to my surprise, no scratches!! The only thing that bugs me a little is that almost all my caps bleed from the backlight, some bleed constantly and some bleed when pressed,the blue ones also. One thing i noticed but dont care for as much is that the bottom row has a wierd angle compared to my gmk modifiers, not sure which one is off, TA or the modifiers.

That's because they are Row 5 profile while your modifiers are Row 4. Take a closer look at the mockup in the OP and you will see it.

So to answer your question neither are off. For this GB a different profile was chosen to stay faithful to the original.

[henz]

i got my set today, found all the keycaps outside the tray as expected. But to my surprise, no scratches!! The only thing that bugs me a little is that almost all my caps bleed from the backlight, some bleed constantly and some bleed when pressed,the blue ones also. One thing i noticed but dont care for as much is that the bottom row has a wierd angle compared to my gmk modifiers, not sure which one is off, TA or the modifiers.

That's because they are Row 5 profile while your modifiers are Row 4. Take a closer look at the mockup in the OP and you will see it.

So to answer your question neither are off. For this GB a different profile was chosen to stay faithful to the original.

Thanks for the clarification 

[Frizer]

I took some photos but the colour on my screen is way off the real colour so I don't want to post something which is misleading. Looking through the photos that people have posted the closest to reality on my monitor are those posted by Bunnylake.

I can't see any faults on the legends examining them side by side with other GMK sets I have.

[Orca]

Bull sh|t packaging

[Chemisery]

I was excited and scared at the same time because of all the reporting of caps all over the box instead of inside the packaging.
True enough the same happened to me and honestly, so far this is the worst experience I had with MD's delivery. The box was misshapen, which had never happened before.
Aside from shipping nightmare and scratch keys (such as on my space bar ) I think the overall was really well done. Intelli, thank you!

As mentioned, it was difficult to capture the colors, some of the pics shared looks like Raindrop colorway to me, but rest assure, it's quite far from Raindrop.
My only grip would be the colors are darker than what I perceived as TA based on the pics I saw here on GH from my monitor (nope, not going to go into discussion about perceived colors), Pantone was like the most logical step IMO, aside from that I am very happy with this set.
Glad I was in this buy, the process was interesting to see how ppl get divided between various key issues and eventually shaped the set. I appreciate the views from different gher and they presented some very interesting and solid points with valid concerns and suggestion. Although at some point the divide almost caused a fallout somewhere, I am glad this set made it out in the end. Hopefully I can get the scratched caps replaced.

[n2k]

Seems like I got lucky. The keyset made it safely (back) to Germany.
Not a huge fan of the alpha legends being a different color than the mods but I'm sure I can live with it 

[PrinsPils]

I missed the initial groupbuy but i got my set via Madhias, he was willing to sell it. I recieved they keycaps today and i have to say they are absolutly stunning. Yes, there is 1 key with a scratch on it, and 3 keys got the swirl/stain spots. But it is only visable if you pay a lot of attention to it. Does it bother me? nope, am i happy? Yes!

Thanks intelli78 for creating this keycap set.

Unfortunatly, my razer blackwidow tournament got a derpy layout and the spacebar is an odd size. So i have to wait till my new keyboard arrives to use the correct spacebar. Till than, ill stick with a black one

[NorrisB]

I missed the initial groupbuy but i got my set via Madhias, he was willing to sell it. I recieved they keycaps today and i have to say they are absolutly stunning. Yes, there is 1 key with a scratch on it, and 3 keys got the swirl/stain spots. But it is only visable if you pay a lot of attention to it. Does it bother me? nope, am i happy? Yes!

Thanks intelli78 for creating this keycap set.

Unfortunatly, my razer blackwidow tournament got a derpy layout and the spacebar is an odd size. So i have to wait till my new keyboard arrives to use the correct spacebar. Till than, ill stick with a black one

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Dont forget the legends are messed up, I can see you have bleeding on your F keys and the F6, the 6 is crooked.

[NorrisB]

Reading the Massdrop thread is horrible, looks like the damage during shipping is the least of our worries from some of the pics I've seen. 90% sure I'll be sending my set back to Massdrop for a refund if the QC is as bad as it looks from photos. I've got 5 other sets from GMK and none of them display these problems, no way will this set see one of my boards with the faults on display when I've got so many other sets not being used. Pretty disappointing, this set really grew on me since the drop.

There are definitely some legend oddities going on.


Legend bleed, crooked legend, curved F:

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Crooked 6:

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Uneven/crooked legend:

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Legend bleed, crooked F (less severe one):

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I have the same problem on my set and I see the same things on these other photos, this does not seem like a premium set.

[nightdriver]

i doubt i ever would have noticed that F6 without the picture, but now i'm sure i'll never NOT notice it.

so, uh, thanks for ruining the set for me! haha

[beehatch]

Hmm, I get my replacement set in a few days apparently. If there are any problems, I think I may just keep it and deal with it, idk.

[SigLogical]

Received my set yesterday, Only key with light bleed was the F key, everything else was perfectly fine.

[Steezus]

I decided to finally bite the bullet and give my set a thorough inspection, surprisingly enough my set was pretty damn good, the only mistake that I saw was the pad printed Sys Rq on my print screen cap, the second S looked like it had a little scratch out of it. When my set first arrived all my caps were in the up-right position and all in their tray, I did take a picture that my phone managed not to save  . Overall I can't really complain since this is the first set created by GMK where custom colors have been involved, it was a learning experience for all and I hope GMK and Massdrop improve out of this.

Edit: Fixed innacuracy

[HoffmanMyster]

the only mistake that I saw was the dye subbed Sys Rq on my print screen cap, the second S looked like it had a little scratch out of it.

Just to clarify, that's pad printed, not dye subbed. 

[Steezus]

the only mistake that I saw was the dye subbed Sys Rq on my print screen cap, the second S looked like it had a little scratch out of it.

Just to clarify, that's pad printed, not dye subbed. 

Thank you for clarifying, I wasn't too sure when I posted that but it does make a lot more sense now in how the scratch occurred on the key cap.

[o3okevin]

Got my set yesterday! Scratched left shift too 
Pic with teal clack, so close but yet so far... if they matched I would've gone crazy

[NorrisB]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job. 

[inanis]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

I really like my set. I think that once the negativity starting going it took on a life of it's own. People were going to point out every tiny flaw. I'm not saying that there aren't some very real issues, but it was not a total disaster. There have been plenty of positive comments, they just aren't as juicy as all the bad ones so they are easily forgotten.

[nubbinator]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

Nah, Massdrop was horrible.  GMK was

[Steezus]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

Nah, Massdrop was horrible.  GMK was

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I honestly wouldn't call Massdrop horrible either, I just think that they had good intention for the packaging but underestimated the wrath of the postal service, granted you should always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Massdrop has few if any employees that are keyboard enthusiasts so they do not value these key sets as highly as we all do. After all MD ships a lot of different products that do not require such detailed and planned packaging. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm just just giving Massdrop the benefit of the doubt since every other product I have purchased off them has arrived in perfect condition but that's just how I see it.

[romevi]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

Nah, Massdrop was horrible.  GMK was

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I honestly wouldn't call Massdrop horrible either, I just think that they had good intention for the packaging but underestimated the wrath of the postal service, granted you should always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Massdrop has few if any employees that are keyboard enthusiasts so they do not value these key sets as highly as we all do. After all MD ships a lot of different products that do not require such detailed and planned packaging. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm just just giving Massdrop the benefit of the doubt since every other product I have purchased off them has arrived in perfect condition but that's just how I see it.

This. I could see them just wanting to meet the daily quota so they just package it as necessary and off it goes.

It seems the trays themselves AND the mail system are largest to blaim. The trays weren't meant for long shipping. If they were, they'd probably need those snap-tight plastic trays. Off the top of my head, Japanese figures, like SH Figuarts use those types of plastic trays to keep their figures intact.

[nubbinator]

How can you blame the mail system?  You know packages aren't going to be babied, so you should package them accordingly.  The boxes MD used were terrible, thin POS boxes and the bubble packs were not rigid enough and did not provide enough support.  It was absolutely terrible packaging.  They could have taped the GMK packs to the bottom of the box and tossed bubble packs on top and had better shipping results because the packaging was clearly not well thought out.

[jonathanyu]

[Steezus]

How can you blame the mail system?  You know packages aren't going to be babied, so you should package them accordingly.  The boxes MD used were terrible, thin POS boxes and the bubble packs were not rigid enough and did not provide enough support.  It was absolutely terrible packaging.  They could have taped the GMK packs to the bottom of the box and tossed bubble packs on top and had better shipping results because the packaging was clearly not well thought out.

You can't really say that the postal service's treatment of packages is satisfactory either. The packaging Massdrop made did the job of keeping the tray in place, however GMK's poor package design and partially Massdrop's tape location did not keep the key caps in place. I'm sure Massdrop justified the lack of tape on all four sides to save time because of the massive bulk of orders they had to ship out, which I'm not necessarily agreeing with but can somewhat understand where they're coming from. With my GMK tray only one out of three of the snap-in points work for me.

[calvinhousecat]

I missed the initial groupbuy but i got my set via Madhias, he was willing to sell it. I recieved they keycaps today and i have to say they are absolutly stunning. Yes, there is 1 key with a scratch on it, and 3 keys got the swirl/stain spots. But it is only visable if you pay a lot of attention to it. Does it bother me? nope, am i happy? Yes!

Thanks intelli78 for creating this keycap set.

Unfortunatly, my razer blackwidow tournament got a derpy layout and the spacebar is an odd size. So i have to wait till my new keyboard arrives to use the correct spacebar. Till than, ill stick with a black one

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Best looking Razer Keyboard by far

[HoffmanMyster]

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

Nah, Massdrop was horrible.  GMK was

Show Image

I honestly wouldn't call Massdrop horrible either, I just think that they had good intention for the packaging but underestimated the wrath of the postal service, granted you should always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Massdrop has few if any employees that are keyboard enthusiasts so they do not value these key sets as highly as we all do. After all MD ships a lot of different products that do not require such detailed and planned packaging. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm just just giving Massdrop the benefit of the doubt since every other product I have purchased off them has arrived in perfect condition but that's just how I see it.

This. I could see them just wanting to meet the daily quota so they just package it as necessary and off it goes.

That's really not a good excuse.  It might explain why the warehouse workers didn't put the time and effort in to ensure safe transit, but it's still a flaw on MD's end, whether it be with management or the laborers.

This group buy was a disaster, GMK did a horrible job.

I really like my set. I think that once the negativity starting going it took on a life of it's own. People were going to point out every tiny flaw. I'm not saying that there aren't some very real issues, but it was not a total disaster. There have been plenty of positive comments, they just aren't as juicy as all the bad ones so they are easily forgotten.

Some of the "issues" brought to light here have been present in previous group buys, but they were never scrutinized like this buy was.  Just today I looked at two shift keys from the CMYK buy (2013) and noticed that one of them had more legend "bleed" (slightly thicker legend) than the other.  Very similar to what was pointed out with the function keys and a few others from TA.  But CMYK didn't have the audience and high visibility that TA has, so nobody noticed.

[nightdriver]

How can you blame the mail system?  You know packages aren't going to be babied, so you should package them accordingly.  The boxes MD used were terrible, thin POS boxes and the bubble packs were not rigid enough and did not provide enough support.  It was absolutely terrible packaging.  They could have taped the GMK packs to the bottom of the box and tossed bubble packs on top and had better shipping results because the packaging was clearly not well thought out.

You can't really say that the postal service's treatment of packages is satisfactory either. The packaging Massdrop made did the job of keeping the tray in place, however GMK's poor package design and partially Massdrop's tape location did not keep the key caps in place. I'm sure Massdrop justified the lack of tape on all four sides to save time because of the massive bulk of orders they had to ship out, which I'm not necessarily agreeing with but can somewhat understand where they're coming from. With my GMK tray only one out of three of the snap-in points work for me.

you're assuming massdrop did the taping.  i'm thinking GMK probably did the taping.

[nightdriver]

the only mistake that I saw was the dye subbed Sys Rq on my print screen cap, the second S looked like it had a little scratch out of it.

Just to clarify, that's pad printed, not dye subbed. 

Thank you for clarifying, I wasn't too sure when I posted that but it does make a lot more sense now in how the scratch occurred on the key cap.

unfortunately you can't dyesub a light color on a dark color.

[nubbinator]

More

How can you blame the mail system?  You know packages aren't going to be babied, so you should package them accordingly.  The boxes MD used were terrible, thin POS boxes and the bubble packs were not rigid enough and did not provide enough support.  It was absolutely terrible packaging.  They could have taped the GMK packs to the bottom of the box and tossed bubble packs on top and had better shipping results because the packaging was clearly not well thought out.

You can't really say that the postal service's treatment of packages is satisfactory either. The packaging Massdrop made did the job of keeping the tray in place, however GMK's poor package design and partially Massdrop's tape location did not keep the key caps in place. I'm sure Massdrop justified the lack of tape on all four sides to save time because of the massive bulk of orders they had to ship out, which I'm not necessarily agreeing with but can somewhat understand where they're coming from. With my GMK tray only one out of three of the snap-in points work for me.

you're assuming massdrop did the taping.  i'm thinking GMK probably did the taping.

And the GMK taping was sufficient for how they shipped.  Just because something is shipped to you in bulk one way doesn't mean it's safe to reship to individuals that way.

[MarkRobbo]

More

How can you blame the mail system?  You know packages aren't going to be babied, so you should package them accordingly.  The boxes MD used were terrible, thin POS boxes and the bubble packs were not rigid enough and did not provide enough support.  It was absolutely terrible packaging.  They could have taped the GMK packs to the bottom of the box and tossed bubble packs on top and had better shipping results because the packaging was clearly not well thought out.

You can't really say that the postal service's treatment of packages is satisfactory either. The packaging Massdrop made did the job of keeping the tray in place, however GMK's poor package design and partially Massdrop's tape location did not keep the key caps in place. I'm sure Massdrop justified the lack of tape on all four sides to save time because of the massive bulk of orders they had to ship out, which I'm not necessarily agreeing with but can somewhat understand where they're coming from. With my GMK tray only one out of three of the snap-in points work for me.

you're assuming massdrop did the taping.  i'm thinking GMK probably did the taping.

And the GMK taping was sufficient for how they shipped.  Just because something is shipped to you in bulk one way doesn't mean it's safe to reship to individuals that way.

This is definitely true, the packaging is without a doubt Massdrop's fault regardless of who did the darn taping.

The trays were suitable for how GMK shipped them to Massdrop. That was the end of their responsibility and Massdrop's begun with making sure that they were adequate for splitting up and shipping out individually which is where it all went wrong. We all know packages aren't going to be treated like they are fine china within the postal services of various countries and account for it in our packaging. Massdrop's packaging isn't great at the best of times but by assuming that these trays were safe to ship out straight away individually was a huge mistake and we've all seen the results.

I'm yet to collect my TA order from the post office and having to hope that it will be free of scratches.

[techmattr]

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.



What do you guys think?

[Elrick]

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

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What do you guys think?

Skeet has been shot across the screen here in Convict Town.

Truly scrumptious, that whole keyboard has been elevated into the stratosphere of perfection, you lucky bastard.

[ATXTider]

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

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What do you guys think?

Is that a white top KUL?  Regardless, nice pic, nice board!

[njbair]

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

Show Image

What do you guys think?

One of the best I've seen so far, although like mine which I posted a while back, the whites all have a yellowish hue:


Noppoo with Triumph Adler by Nick Bair, on Flickr

What was your RAW workflow? I used Lightroom and made most of my adjustments in the HSL/Color/B&W panel. I think my teal hue is right on, but it's too bright.

[techmattr]

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

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What do you guys think?

Is that a white top KUL?  Regardless, nice pic, nice board!

Indeed. KUL ES-87 w/Proton White top.

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

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What do you guys think?

One of the best I've seen so far, although like mine which I posted a while back, the whites all have a yellowish hue:

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Noppoo with Triumph Adler by Nick Bair, on Flickr

What was your RAW workflow? I used Lightroom and made most of my adjustments in the HSL/Color/B&W panel. I think my teal hue is right on, but it's too bright.

I export from Capture NX2 with a neutral color profile as RAW then import to PS CS4 and cut down the cyan a bit. The RAW exported directly is almost perfect. That last little bit of tweaking is tough though. I'm going to dig out my old Nikon D50. The old CCD sensors capture these types of colors more accurately.

[shawn o]

I'm using a pair of color calibrated Dell U2410 (IPS panels) and that looks really good actually.

Trying to get a more accurate representation of color in photos... shot RAW edited with color calibration.

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What do you guys think?