Interesting Finds & Heads-Ups

I keep mine as unlabeled loot boxes. It’s a surprise each time I reach for a similarly sized case :yum:

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HA. I did that for a good two years. Then one day I ended the madness and actually labeled them.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CjZkMy1LeEq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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Some decent deals during the AliExpress 11.11 sale:

[Listed in CAD$]

Holy Pandas - $44 Shipped for 90

JWICK T1 [transparent or opaque] - $31 shipped for 90

Light-blue accents for beige+cream sets - $18 CAD shipped

Hyperglide Brown and Black - $52 CAD shipped for 90 [okay, not the best deal]

AF SA keycaps are down to about $59 CAD shipped for a set

[Hyperfuse clone still in-stock!]

Feker Matcha tactiles - $47 CAD for 90, or $38 with store discount

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I’m pretty sure the first link is not real Holy Pandas and just a clone, probably feker with INVYR marking.

Otherwise, KPRepublic, MKZealots, and JKDK are solid stores, KPRepublic and MKZealots have great customer service and a lot of selection with fair prices, just keep in mind that often sellers don’t speak English so try to keep it simple, as they may read it through a built in translator in the chat.

MKZealots is an official seller of Gazzew switches BTW, and it’s site is cheaper, though I can’t testify if it’s good,.

In comparison a lot of people have great experience with the AE store of KPRepublic but often displeased with their private site.

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Yes, I’ve heard the same about KPRepublic’s stores. At least through AliExpress, you can hold them to some kind of accountability, if necessary.

I figure that the HPs are clones, and was going to label them as such, but most people here would assume that, regardless? Do you know if the Feker’s are any good? That price is tempting. Are the stems as good? Could save me from purchasing Halo Trues.

Wonder how well-lubed those T1s are. People seem to be using the V2 JWICKs straight-from-the-factory. And wish I liked Matcha tactiles more…$38 CAD for 90 is a very good deal, how could they be vs. Ergo Clears in an NCR-80?

EDIT: Although, those might be Feker Matchas, HP clones in Matcha, rather than KTT Matcha.

I personally don’t have any experience with them, but back when they were popular I’ve read about great experience and I’ve also read about broken stems, huge inconsistentcy with the tactility and more QC issues.

I wouldn’t recommend them this days simply because there’s a huge selection of switches of known brands.

The JWICK switches are great, they lack tolerances with the stem and look a bit cheaper but otherwise they’re phenomenal for the price, dirt cheap, smoother than most switches, factory lubed, no housing play and the stem wobble isn’t bad, just not on par with their high-end switches.

I’d assume the lubing isn’t consistent (but which switch is tbh?), but I don’t see a reason not to go with the JWICK T1 especially at their price, Ergo Clears are very different from them.

If you’re looking for a HP style tactility there’s the Tecsee Purple Panda: They don’t sound the same, and the tactility is not as strong, but it’s a HP style switch with a long pole, short travel with sticking stem, and a bump on top, fantastic switch imo, their linear version the Carrots are a great switch too.

Another T1 style (which is just a HP with a standard stem and travel) are the Akko Lavender Purple, the tactile response despite being light is very noticable and snappy, switch is clacky and loud due to the long pole stem (but has full travel like the NK Creams).

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Thanks. I’m definitely going to go with the JWICK T1, simply because they offer great value.

Good to hear that they are pretty-good out-of-the-box. I suspect they’ll require at least spring-lubing. I’ve also used a few samples as the basis for a frankenswitch, so these could be handy for my Gateron Orange T1 [62 G L spring].

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They are different and way too scratchy, but have some of the best and most consist tolerances ever. They’d make for some amazing factory broken in switches though.

CannonKeys is running a mystery keycap set sale I can support (NicePBT or CannonCaps set for $29):

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Sweet! I just picked up a couple myself!! :+1: :+1:

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Is it just me or is the shipping pretty expensive? Never bought keycaps from CK so don’t know if this is normal.

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It’s normal. Keyset packaging is not small either.

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It’s a little more than expected. Picked up a keycap set and lube station from NovelKeys a few days ago and shipping was $5 less:

Edit: are you in the US? It looks like shipping would be $8 for me:

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I’ve seen $5~$15 shipping charge within CONUS. The other day I had to pay $12 or so in shipping for just one FR4 plate from Canada. I thought they could just ship the plate in an envelope. Turns out they sent a box.

I don’t think CONUS vendors are trying to profit from shipping. Instead, it’s just fluctuation in shipping cost and route. NovelKeys is pretty well situated. Others are not so well situated.

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Signature Plastics won’t let me select regular mail only priority so I didn’t check out my last order. The shipping would have been $25 from WA to NJ.

With fuel and labor through the roof right now, I am not surprised.

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Honestly, after comparing a bunch of them directly, JWICK’s Nylon T1s might be the best when it comes to their stock state. I remembered being pretty impressed with Dark Ambers and Kiwis - and still am to some extent - but darn if the JWICKs don’t have a more clean sound and feel right from the bag. :x

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I placed an order for what I hope are nylon JWICK T1s [opaque instead of transparent.] So we’ll see what I get when they arrive.

I actually had played with samples of Dark Amber T1s bought locally one summer. They were pretty good, but yes, the sound wasn’t ‘clean.’

If nylon JWICKs sound better, that’s a major plus. T1s feel okay w/o user-lube, but the sound is an issue. Maybe I will only have to re-spring these.

EDIT: The frankenswitch I made was pretty OK. It was dark amber T1s with Gateron Orange stems. Springs 62 G TX (L). Maybe 60 G [L].

They are kinda like Ergo Clears that way. Gat Orange stem is like a Brown, but more vigorous in the T1 housing. A low-weight 16mm spring is enough. They’re stiffer and less fluid than Browns, a more punchy switch. Fine with high-profile keycaps.

But the sound wasn’t great. I didn’t lube the housings enough, I guess, and the 16mm springs [and stock T1] are noisy. So I wasn’t happy enough with them to build. T1 is fine anyway, so it’s kinda moot. [Yes, these Gat. Orange T1s were less tactile.]

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I completely agree that CK (and other vendors) are unlikely to be profiting at all on shipping charges. I’m on the East Coast, so maybe regional location in playing into the cost for @Backspace? Looking back on the last few years of shipping costs for keycaps I’ve ordered, they’ve been under $10 for domestic or $14-20 for non-US vendors.

I had mentally put CK and NK on roughly equal footing in terms of scale/profitability, but no way of knowing if that’s actually the case.

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I’m in California, so maybe Cannonkeys is located on the east coast? I dunno, I might be too used to sub-$10 shipping from vendors close to or located in CA.

Still, great deal for sub-50 dollar caps. All the keycaps on CK are above or well above the price point there selling at.