I would like to point out that ABS plastic is usually double shot nowadays because of the plastic being easier to mold and while there are some PBT keycaps that are double shot, most are dye sublimated, because of the plastic being harder to mold. PBT is also more prone to warping issues with the longer keycaps while ABS keycaps don't usually have this problem, they do shine faster than PBT.
Thank you for the information! There's really a lot of different manufacturing and material combinations 😊 Another way of solving the warping long PBT keys, like the space bar, is... splitting the spacebar! You also gain extra thumb keys, so it's a win-win 😂
i have an abs keycap set, all of the keys are shiny. granted, when i got them new they were shiny, so they are supposed to be like that, they are also clear
I have a March 1990 Model M which has been my daily driver for just under 20 years now, and not a shiny keycap in sight. Basically, PBT keycaps don't shine in normal use period.
So I know no one asked, but I will tell you my story. So I have a Varmillo Vintage days without the numpad, and at first I really loved it, with the keycaps being so delicious (visually, I wanted to eat them), they are soo crisp. But I was constantly hitting random buttons, missing keys. And so I thought that maybe I need time to adapt to it, maybe I will be better, it’s just the habbit, isn’t it. My hands are quite big, and I previously really enjoyed typing on mac keyboards and one very flat one from logitech. So I went and bought a cheap xda keycaps on aliexpress, and oh boy why didnmt I do that earlier. The area of the keycap is ever so slightly bigger than the original keycaps I had, but now I don’t miss the keys, and the fingertips feel like they belong in the cap. In other words, it is just what I needed, I needed a flatter keyboard. Of course there are other profiles and I think I will go through some of them in the coming years, but I am glad I did that first step and tried something new. I also use mac, and russian layout. Fortunately for me I know all the keys by heart, so I can type regardless of the type face, but you might want to pay closer attention to what you are actually buying. And for some reason, even though there are no russian letters now on the keyboard, I type faster and more confident if I look at the keyboard. I just “see” where the russian letters are by looking at the english ones, weird, but you might experience something like that if you have a good memory of the layout. Good luck to anyone who made it that far :)
This was very helpful, thank you! Was on the fence with XDA, having an OEM that I keep mistyping on, but enjoyed my flat Logitech. Will try an XDA set now. Thanks!
this video is very informative and literally had everything in one place. I'll recommend this video to my friends that interested in mechanical keyboard!
You should really mention that if the switches have pins in the bottom/LED's on the top (north facing), most Cherry keycaps will interfere with a lot of switches. This can easily be circumvented by buying long pole switches (like the Akko CS series, or KTT Roses), or south facing keyboards (like the KBD67 Lite, Ikki68 Aurora and a plethora of other enthusiast boards) if you want to avoid the chance of interference as much as possible. Although south-facing boards are slowly getting cheaper, most keyboards that are into the 100 dollar range (exc: Keychron K series, Iqunix M80/L80's, and a lot of gaming oriented keyboards) have north-facing switches. So, it's still something to note for the would-be keyboard enthusiast.
Yep, you're right, the position of the LEDs can have a lot of impact on how the lights shine through. Also, most profiles don't have the shie though options, so we'll reserve that for future endeavors 😅😅 Thanks for the suggestion!
for those reading even further ahead, the CIDOO AMB066 you can purchase the bare bones kit for $60 or get it for $80 as a finished keyboard, south facing LEDS 5 pin hot swap and ofc its an alice layout
Be aware if you do get Cherry profile and your keyboard has north facing led's there is a chance that there'll be interference between the switch and keycap but this isn't always the case some switches like all variants of Gateron yellows and all akko switches don't have this problem (there are more switches that don't have this problem but these are the only ones I know of) and the keycap thickness also plays a factor so if your keyboard is north facing I suggest you avoid Cherry just to be safe unless you have one of the switches listed above
Thanks for the info! That's also really important to have in mind when buying one keycaps or others. One note, switches facing north or south, does not depend on the brand of switches, but on the PCB and how the switches are mounted on it
@@DygmaLab yes I know it's the pcb that determines whether it's north or south facing but the switches I mentioned above don't have interference with cherry caps even when they're north facing
By far, the best keycap profile explanation on the internet! Beautiful presenter, knowledgeable, smart and outspoken! You girl have everything! Amazing! New subscriber instantly!
Wow, thank you for your compliments! I'll share those with everyone. We really make a team effort to produce the videos with quality without making them dull 🥰
@@DygmaLab - and it shows! I love every single second of every single video you push out. So informative and funny in the same time, real pleasure to watch!
I've been using the SA profile for a while and a wrist rest definitely helps with the typing angle that the keycaps present. All of this information is really nice, thanks for this!
@@DygmaLab I hear what you're saying but that's a hearty "No thank you". I have no interest in a group buy for a variety of reasons, partially because I'm lazy but mostly because I don't think group buys are the way forward for this hobby. It feels like people are finally starting to kick back against the idea of prepaying big money and waiting a year or longer or terrible or non-existent feedback from the manufacturer for some silly plastic rectangles. As for myself, I can adjust to cherry, KAT or DSA because those are all readily available and I've already got sets in each lol
Is XDA COMPLETELY uniformed on all sides? I just got my first set of XDA, but they are blank, and I cannot tell which way is right side up. I always thought XDA had a tiny, tiny raise on each key until I had them in hand.
I have a GMMK pro and I use Mechkey Alpha's black blank PBT keycaps, they're slightly darker than glorious keycaps but exactly the same material and profile, they look so good.
Just in case anyone else also frequently comes back to this video for reference: 5:42 DOM 5:58 DSA 6:12 G20 6:26 TEX 6:38 XDA 6:52 OEM 7:09 SA 7:20 OSA 7:38 CHERRY 7:52 DCS 8:08 DSS 8:29 HSA 8:48 KAT 9:13 KAM 9:23 MDA 9:42 MG 9:56 MT3 10:06 TAI-HAO CUBIC
Thanks to you for your kind words 😊 One final piece of advice regarding those 2 profiles, if you have a keyboard with backlight on the keycaps, XDA keycaps with shine through are not very common, so don't despair if they are not easy to find 😉
@@lacylich I'll look into it once ive started getting used to it hehe. i did plan on lubing my previous keyboards' switches, but its a lot of work. maybe ill start with just the stabilizers.
@@mtk3668 there's this video of :3ildcat lubing the switches and stabilizers of his Raise. It's pretty tedious work but the end result is well worth it.
Thanks a lot for the kind owrds and the subscription 🤗🤗 We must warn you, the more keycaps you have, the more you want. It's one of those things that make you want to buy more, you've been warned 😉
don't avoid high profile keycaps, just get a wrist rest. the high profile keycaps (e.g. SA) have a deeper sound which is really nice. i find SA easier to type on that other styles because they curve with the way fingers move.
there's a lot of profiles you mentioned that i've never heard of! but i expected "moa" to make into this list, they're uniform and always come in flashy colors and cute designs, it's pretty interesting
I'm an ortholinear user (ErgoDox mainly) and I find cylindrical keycaps help keep the fingers 'in line'. I found it particularly helpful when I was first learning and hit the wing keys. I haven't tried swapping back to flat/spherical (DSA) keycaps now I've been using it for a few years now 🤔
Thanks to you for your kind words 😊 We try to help in anything we can, if oyu have more questions, you can reach out in any of our socials, we're always happpy to help!
It's like if those 3 profiles have something in common... Anyway, glad to hear you've found your prefered profile, people try and try and don't reach a conclussion 😉
Really?? I'm confused to buy cherry or xda profile, since I'm hating my OEM keycaps now. I keep getting typos plus using red outemu doesn't help either, when i type in OEM my finger keep getting stuck. Cherry seems interesting but she said it's just lower version of OEM so im conflicted.
IS IMPORTANT THE SOUND OF THE KEYCAPS, AND THE SATISFACTION WHEN YOU PUSH THEM. THAT IS IMPORTANT FOR CHOOSE YOUR KEYBOARD, MAYBE MORE THAN THE COLOUR, REALLY. SO THE SAME+ WRITING A TEXT. THANK YOU. 👍.
Of course it is important. For some people, it's even more important than the shape and the color. But that's the beatuy of it, everyone has their own reasons to pick the keys, and they are all right 😊 We only give information to people so they can make more informed choices 😉
You're not alone in that love, it's probably the most requested profile among our community. We're trying to find some more sets with shinethrough though. If you get wind of any, let us know 😉
We feel you 😂😂 We've all been there. This video is in part to help us understand we have a problem when it comes to keycaps. There are just too many, in too many colors, designs shapes and lights 😜😜
As an ISO-nordic 65% keyboard owner there isn't much to to choose from and ordering from inside EU, to avoid astronomical shipping fees, limits it even more.
"Gaming Rage" I one of the most overlooked problems around. Because everyone slams the keyboard or the table every now and then. It's time for Keyboard companies to pay attentino on it 😂
I have a tex shinobi it comes with palm rest and I raise the keyboard from the palm rest so slants forward, and that makes it more comfortable for my wrists.
The negative tilt (raising the side where the palm rests are located) helps a lot to improve posture, you can find more information about that here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UAjCgaP_jNw.htmlfeature=shared&t=91
I just fell down the rabbit hole with custom keyboards ... and I use a mac with an Italian iso keyboard ... how can I solve and find keycaps with iso Italian? also low profile...
ISO keycaps are hard to find Marko... even more if in Italian and low profile. You could try searching on AliExpress for example and on some enthusiast forums 🤔 r/mechanicalkeyboard may also have some recommendations there 🕵️
Thanks to you for your comment 🙂 In regards to ABS, you're right that they shine faster than PBT keycaps, but they have some advantages. For instance, the light shines better through them, and the materials and painting have improved. Of course it's a very personal matter, just mentionning so y8ou can give them a shot every now and then 😅
1:53 that's not at all the case. I use ASA and Cherry profile on my lily 58 and kyria boards without any issue. Scultped key profile does not negatively affect columnar keyboards.
In the video we say that because on columnar keyboards, if the keycaps are sculpted it is easier for your fingers to collide with the ends of the keycaps when sliding your fingers up or down, but it doesn't mean that they have to be uniform. I use for example sculpted keycaps on my Defy and I don't have problems either because I lift my fingers enough, but someone else may have problems with their fingers colliding with the keycaps when sliding them up and/or down 😊
Some people do that on purpose. The like a reverse-mounted space bar. In fact, the thumb-cluster keycaps of the Dygma Raise are angled a bit outwards too. It's more comfortable.
I understand why since there are so many factors to this but I wish there were more on sound because I heard some people discussing the sound of different sets. Nevertheless, great video with just so much information!
Keycap sounds mainly depend on thickness and material. pbt is apparantly more thocky, and the thicker the caps the deeper pitched it will be. Plate, casematerial, swithces and mounting style also all play a role
Also remember, getting cherry profile keycaps means you need to have switches that have the RGB-through hole facing south. You'll have interference if you put Cherry keycaps on north facing switches.
Yes, and if you have a keyboard with south facing LEDs and switches, the Cherry profile keycaps should have the translucent legends below the keycap stem so that the LED light shines through better. This is a small problem for south facing switches.
@@DygmaLab I wouldnt sacrifice sharp looking top legends, like with gmk sets, for rgb shinethrough. You can still have rgb and have it not be shine through, and it looks good imo.
I just purchased a Royal Kludge RK96 90% and 5 keycaps couldn't be switched out because the size were too long. It doesn't really bother me much. I have small hands
Hi there, that happens sometimes with modifier keys if the set does not have extras for different sizings. But if it does not bother you, it's still great!
Why aint nobody talking about moa keycaps? They are literally the best and the most aesthetic ones. Literally nobody, no youtubers talk about them and they are quite common
There are even more and growing 😂😂 The bare minimum ewe can do is put some information out, that way you won't be overwhelmed or confues the keycaps profile with instuttions such as CIA, GPU, DSD, MI5, and such 😂😂
Here in Brazil it's the exact opposite, there are a TON of iso keycaps, and... You guessed it, I use ansi, and it is a PAIN to find Keycaps for my Keyboard, there is another problem for me in particular, I have an Redragon K624P (Elise Pro) and my left shift is the normal length, but my right shift is the smaller one, not the lengthy one, but that's my keyboard layout problem, so I need those 131 keycaps set so i can get both ISO and ANSI just for that shift on the same set style
@@DygmaLab oh, what I meant with here in Brazil it's already online, there is zero keycaps in local stores, and because of politics and whatever, Brazil made imports pretty much impossible, sky high fees and etc, so, we are doomed with what already is in the country
1:54 that's actually something I haven't heard before. Why is that? I always thought that people use uniform profile keycaps on ortho boards because of popular convention
It usually has to do with the way we move our fingers in ortho keyboards. It feels more comfortable. One possible reason is that it's easy to hit keys in the corner when moving diagonally, while on staggered keyboards we usually "access" the keys from one of the 4 sides instead of the corners due to never having a purely diagonal key placement. Profiled keycaps are more "bumpy" so you notice this more on ortho keyboards.
Looking at this coz I've been using flat low profile laptop keyboard for years. Had a mechanical keyboard for a year and a half now and still couldn't get the hang of it. Tried changing switches and still no improvement with my typing. I read suggestions that I should try flatter keycap profiles instead of the concaved OEM ones I've been using.
We've tested these XVX ones and they're super cool, they have the uniform layout and felt awesome with the Raise 😻 Maybe you can check them out: en.xvxchannel.com/en-eu/products/xvx-horizon-low-profile-shine-through-keycap-set-117-key
Nice selection 😉 You've made the most of your time if you tested all those profiles plus some others to disregard 😉 Glad to see there are more enthusiasts around!
The video seems pretty under researched. First off the ABS mentioned in the video pretty much only applies to cheaply produced keycaps, and the manufacturing process of ABS varies depending on price. There's nothing wrong with these, its just that the video fails to point out that currently, the leading brand of keycaps is GMK which produces exclusively Double-shot, ABS Cherry profile keycaps which are significantly thicker and sound completely different from the keycaps described in the video. GMK keycaps are also mainly community driven, i.e. designed by hobbyists and keycap designers and ran as group buys. The main selling point of them is quality, the double-shot molding is very clean, legends super crisp and quality is very well controlled. ABS also allows the keycaps to come in a much wider range, and much more vibrant colors. PBT keycaps are also mostly dye-sublimated instead of double-shot. Apart from Polycaps by kineticlabs, I believe most other manufacturers of PBT keycaps use dyesub (with the exception of Chinese manufacturers selling GMK clones). I recommend watching Jimmy Nguyen's keycap video cos he dives deeper into the custom keycaps scene.
We realize there are more manufacturing methods used for the different materials, and that trends are also changing! We will release another version of this video with many updates 😄
So many are high-profile. I've always felt high-profile feels clumsy - I recently got a laptop and while I mostly use it with a OEM keyboard, I really end up liking the thin chicklet design of the laptop's keyboard a bit better - My hands seem to get 'stuck' less often.
I used to get that feeling too. I guess it's a matter of getting used to it... You can also try to move to non-sculpted ones. They would have the same size and would feel closer to the ones on a laptop... 😉
Can you create special caps with the Default Layer #1, for the number PAD? Letter U would have a small number 7 and Letter I would have a small number 8... You could sell that as an optional for the Keyboard
Thank you for the suggestion! The Raise is completely remappable, so users normally change around the location of their keys. Having the numpad printed on the keys won't be for everyone. However, we see how this can help people who like the numpad in the default place 😊
Thanks for an interesting and informative video. I juse sculpted keys (MT3) on my ortholinear Planck keyboard with 0 degree tilt. I think this is a quite comfortable combination, even though the keycap profile has been designed for 5 to 7 degree tilt. I did experiment with different profiles, both sculpted and non-sculpted, but I found MT3 to be the most comfortable one for me. Is it any specific reasons why you mentioned at 1:53 in the video that uniform sets are best for ortholiinear keyboards? Just wondering, because I can't really think of any reasons for why it should be different from a row-staggered keyboard layout.
Thanks to you for taking the time to share your insights 😊 Finding the perfect keycaps for you takes time, and as you did, testing. We can only provide general advice and information, the specifics of each case require concerned users llike you to do their part 😂 About uniform keys: they are very common on ortho keyboards, besides, some orthos that mount sculpted keycaps have the same suculpted in all the rows, for instance, the Moonlader's keycaps are R3 OEM keycaps all around the board Hope this helps, if not, feel free to reach again, it's been a pleasure talking to you 😊
@@DygmaLab Thanks for your reply. I have seen the claim that uniform keycaps are better for orthos before, but haven't understood the reasoning behind it. I do see the advantage in the cases where it is going to fit a wide range of tilting and tenting angles, but for normal keyboard with a set tilt I think it is more a personal preference, like on the row-staggered ones. I wasn't aware of the Moonlander using uniform OEM R3 caps, though, but it makes sense, as they have to accommodate all adjustment angles of the keyboard. On my Kyria split column-staggered board I use uniform keycaps, but this is mostly due to the limited selection of keycaps for Kailh Choc switches. Thanks again for your reply, and keep on making awesome videos and awesome keyboards.
