Drop BoW keycap set -- to buy or not?

BoW set for $45

Gradient set for $45

Anyone know anything about “Artifact Bloom” the brand? Also, is Drop cancelled?

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drop is always cancelled, there is no end of good reasons not to buy from them, but if you are going to that seems like a perfectly fine keycap set to buy.

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the price is about the only thing that’s compelling. I know BoW is a common theme and will be made and remade indefinitely, but the markup on existing sets is hard to stomach.

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Oof, always hard for me to pass up a BOW set… still hunting for that just right shade…

My two cents on Drop:

IDK about cancelled, but I’ve personally had a very mixed experience with Drop. They don’t have a good track record with customer support, and they have a downright terrible one when it comes to communication - but it does look like they’ve been trying a little harder with that lately.

Bad experience: My original Massdrop CTRL had some physical scuffs, and the lighting behaved strangely. I couldn’t get any info out of support, but to their credit they did offer me a refund if I returned the board - but wouldn’t exchange it and couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to get another even though it was listed as an “in-stock” item. I eventually found out from another customer that the board needs USB 3.0, and with it will behave consistently and reliably - support team had no idea, and also wouldn’t say one way or another if all the models had machining scuffs or if that was a fluke. They just came off as cage-y.

Better experience: I’d signed up for the original MT3 Susuwatari group-buy all the way back in 2018 - and while there were all kinds of delays and questions during the intervening time, they eventually started communicating clearly and regularly - though I think they waited until they felt they had a handle on the situation to do so and in the mean time people rightly wondered what was going on. Once they did emerge from radio silence, though, they apologized for the delay and offered a voucher for a free MT3 base kit for the trouble.

Looking in their discussion sections now, there seem to be quick and regular responses to questions from Drop - so I’m hoping they heard the feedback about that in the past and continue in the direction of more communication and more transparency.

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Yeah, I see that their CS was posting keycap measurements (thickness) so I guess they’re keeping an eye on it now.

Do you know why keycap designs skip making Mac or neutral mods?

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Every now and then a group buy set will have Mac mods as an extra kit, but it is pretty rare on in-stock sets.

I’m guessing it’s a cost vs demand calculation, though I wouldn’t mind seeing a more neutral symbol like a diamond, vs whatever flavor of Windows logo is in at the time. I do have a few group buy sets with “Super” in place of the OS keys. Once in a blue moon, though, there will be a Mac-centered set like Extended 2048 - I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that, either.

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Yeah! I was all in for MT3 when I realized I’m getting fatigued with SA/tall profile in general…so now I’m on the hunt for the Cherry height one :sweat_smile:

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Already sold through the conversation is moot :rofl:

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I went with the Enjoy PBT ABS WoB set, as the Drop set had limited compatibility.

EDIT: Also, I haven’t heard good things about Drop, and my experiences with them have also been lack luster. The only thing I’ve bought from them since 2015, has been the THX 789, but I purchased it through Amazon, as I didn’t want to deal with Drop directly.

The Issue, that I had with Drop, was stuff not lining up, on one of the keyboards, that I ordered from them. They kept telling me they were looking into it, but after months of 0 progress and emails that all said they were looking into it, I said F it. and haven’t bought any thing directly from them since.

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I guess I hesitated too long!

where is it in stock? I’m looking for BoW.

Last I saw KBDfans carried it and TheKeyDotCompany.

Note: The KeyDotCompany, took over a month to get me one of the two sets, that I ordered (Same Order number), then shipped me a 3rd, 3 months later, which I had to go through the hassle of shipping back to them.

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same, I ordered infinikey dolch a month ago, delivered today. :frowning:good caps though and given covid, I’m not too concerned.

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If you get these let us know how the space bar is. That’s my biggest concern with buying a budget PBT set.

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@Dr.Doof, I hope that’s the case…

@pixelpusher, The space bars appeared to be fine, in the two kits, that I got, but I have not actually used them, as the Tex Shinobi uses an odd sized space bar.

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@CosmicKira I’m waiting for TKC to announce BoW extras. Just saw your response to @Dr.Doof, ugh, that’s rough. So you’re still missing one set at least?

@pixelpusher I missed out on the Drop ones, but hopefully someone here got in on them. I tried to look up Artifact Bloom but I guess it’s not a known brand yet?

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I picked up this 108-set from Monstargears. Pretty decent for an in stock item.

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$75 after shipping? how long did it take?

Ugh, I guess shipping to my part of the world is a bit cheaper, however, just shy of two weeks.

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