I posted about them before. Definitely an MG clone and super comfortable to type on to boot!
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These clones are approaching full inception. Pretty soon the OEM will clone the clone.
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You were the one! My brain refused to talk so thank you for saying that.
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I’ve had an MG Ember set for a while, and I recently got a few sets of these AF SA.
Definitely this is a lower profile clone of MG. If I replace an AF SA key with an MG key, and push the MG key down till it’s the same height as the AF SA keys on that row, then it blends in -perfectly-.
I don’t know how the MG guys could complain though - MG is identical to SA, except with a more scooped out top. And now AF SA has identical curvature and tops of keys to MG, but they’ve made them OEM height.
The AF SA profile is the same for the function keys and numbers. Because these keys are sooo similar to MG in shape, colour and finish, it’s really nice to replace the function key row with MG keys, for a fully sculpted look.
(I love them. I already ordered more sets. They’re really well made, feel fantastic to type on, and cost 1/4 as much as an MG set).
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That’s some great insight. I wish I had a set of MG on hand to compare against these, but your comments definitely fill in that gap.
Cloneception!
Some really good discussion on this thread. Thanks, @ms264556 for recounting your experience.
It was possible to have individual AFSA sets mailed to you for about $45 USD recently.
I didn’t go in on it, for various reasons, but it’s really helpful to know that AFSA isn’t MG profile. I have MG Monster, and am very satisfied with the profile, but don’t know if AFSA is on the table for me.
They might be the perfect solution for replacing the MT3 keycaps on my Leopold, which are so high that my keyboard tray can’t close with them. Maybe the AFSA would be shorter. The keyboard tray works with OEM-profile.
According to this seller, AFSA is basically identical to MG, no?
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I believe someone earlier mentioned that they’re shorter in overall height, but similar in cup and profile.
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Yeah, I used a paint program to superimpose the AFSA over an MG profile keycap in the same row, and the MG was a tiny bit taller.
So my camera skills are appalling & I have no lighting, but I took some photos of the MG behind AFSA…
And here’s OEM in front…
And finally, here’s the keyboard with AFSA + MG function key row…
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That looks to be 1 maybe 2mm different in height. Otherwise remarkably similar no?
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Yeah. It feels like a couple of mm. The extra 2 mm adds enough weight so they feel different.
Here’s a picture with the numpad half AFSA, half MG…
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It looks more pronounced in that shot for sure. Personally, I think I’d prefer the extra height simply because I really like typing on the SA and MT3 profiles. But overall, I probably will enjoy this a lot.
I’ve now got four sets. The 3 pack I ordered and now a set in brown for a Commodore 64 inspired board being designed.
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Good stuff!
I wonder if an AF SA keyboard would still allow my keyboard tray to close.
The brown set looks fantastic. If I didn’t already have 6 sets of AFSA now…
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I feel bad that I missed out on that green set on the GMK-Y store, as it was unique enough to be useful to me.
That ‘black shimmer’ one would probably look good on a transparent charcoal keyboard.
Maybe just buy the green set off AliExpress? I assume you mean the MG Ember Aurora rip-off, which I still see available from a few sellers. I bought a set off a seller Gliging-keyboard Store “Wazi keycap 172 Keys SA” which turned out to be G-MKY AF SA. They took less than a week to get to me in NZ.
And if you’re keen, you can buy a set of matching MG keycaps (which are back in stock at melgeek) and mix and match the profiles. The colours and finish are indistinguishable.
I’m using the top and bottom row from an MG Ember Dusk set, and the middle rows from AFSA Shimmer Black.
And to keep the arrow key camber nice, I’ve used AFSA on the bottom row arrows, and stolen a down-arrow from another set as the up arrow.
Very nice, even if it took $200 of keycap purchases.
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Hi! I think about buying this set from GMK-Y too… have you compared the sound between domikey and GKK-Y? I use Domikey too and I loved the sound, I worry if that thickness difference would give different sound result …
All of my SA sets, including domikey, sound more “dampened” and lower pitched than AFSA.
The AFSA sets are noisier (in a bad way) than my GMK sets too (and louder, I guess caused by the extra space inside them).
On a nice thocky keyboard, AFSA is fine. A bit noisier than SA, with more high-pitched sounds coming out.
On a cheap keyboard with cheap switches I think SA or GMK helps a lot by hiding the nasty rattly, hollow, and pingy noises; and something super-thin like DCS makes a silk purse out of a sows ear by making these noises sound quite ‘fun’. AFSA just magnifies the nasty noises. Ugh.
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I have no experience with their SA-profile sets.
But I have MG Monster [the GB version] on a Tester68 [with lubed stabs] of all things, and it’s surprisingly good.
Using well-lubed MODE Signal switches with TX films, it actually sounds decent. Like thumpy plastic. It could be a lot worse - there’s no scratch or ping.
So MG has an okay sound profile with an affordable build. But sure, I guess PBT MT3 would sound better. [I’m using dev/tty to improve a Filco with Ergo Clears].
I finally ordered an AF SA set. The green/gray one I wanted, which was available on one of the multitude of posts from the same seller. 62 CAD shipped. It’s taking a while to ship, though, I guess because of the anti-COVID measures. That’s fine with me.
I’ll see if I can put it on the Ergo Clear board and finally close my keyboard tray. It has a height limit of ~OEM keycaps, so hopefully AF SA isn’t too much. Also going to try it against ABS MT3 on an MK870, as the MT3 is giving me some trouble.
I’m going to get these on a board here at some point. I’m curious to see if I have the same response to the sound.
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