So I bought two sets from Amazon that I think are the ones you’re talking about? This is the pic that comes with the listing:
I did find other QX SA sets on Ali, but they were smaller kits that didn’t have short space bars (among other things). This pic has the problem you complain about, but shows the smaller size of the kit:
Thanks. That’s helpful!
On the Amazon link, the 160 key white set has the row heights, which is nice, especially on a set that differentiates between bottom row and the one above. It also appears to be ever so slightly different from the 160-key pink set. Speaking of the pink one, it almost looks like the kitting was intended for a multi color set but no one revised it for monochrome (eg multiple enter keys that appear identical).
How are they to type on as workaday keycaps?
They’re decent, esp for the price. They’re nice and thick for sure. The incomplete second shot for some of the keys is annoying, but livable (and probably fixable with some kind of filler).
The most noticeable thing to me, though, is that they aren’t quite spherical in their finger sculpting. It’s more like a rounded rectangle than circular, if that makes sense? Here’s a close up pic that hopefully illustrates it:
Yeah, I noticed that! They do seem to combine well, tho, as I’ve got two different boards with combinations that I thought turned out nice.
Novelkeys NK87 with the white and pink kits (both from Amazon).
Monsgeek M6 with the pink and purple sets (pink from Amazon, purple from Ali).
Could someone who speaks Chinese confirm what 菲 means and why it is a key? I know that the other character is “love” 愛, although why that is a keyboard key i don’t know.
Google Lens translates them together as Aifei which is the manufacturer of the keycaps. I don’t know if it is correct but it sounds reasonable
Interesting! So the two characters together are the name of the manufacturer. Means “Love Fragrance”. Nice name.
The rocket, gear, and robot arm novelties seem to have been taken from SA Mechanist?
Certainly seems like it.
They seem to be using a different set as well:
Off the top of my head I certainly can’t place it, and they seem pretty basic, but I tend to assume that clone novelties are almost always lifted from somewhere, LOL.
Such a weird mix. Canadian maple leaf, smiley face, and um, Lucky Charms cereal pieces?
Their passion is clearly graphic design.
Like others in this thread I’ve found QX SA to be disappointingly thin sounding, with a loud, annoyingly high-pitch sound profile (not that I can really complain given the uber low price). But I’ve had decent luck improving them with the following mod: I coated the inside of the keycaps with a couple of layers of wax from a candle. This adds thickness, weight, and dampens the higher-pitch frequencies a bit.
It’s a messy, time-consuming, and kinda ridiculous method, but if like me you just have to make due with cheap SA knockoffs, it can make the final experience a little less disappointing.
What it means is that QX SA is not adequate in stock-form for those who want deeper sound. It justifies the thicker, more expensive keycaps produced by other molds.
I’m glad that there is choice, but maybe the manufacturer should try a thicker version of this profile.
A series of 'KBDiy SA Profile" sets are currently on sale:
I didn’t know they had been doing transparent keycap sets in Dolch patterns!
That’s pretty cool. Might pick up a set
I don’t see the dolch option though
My bad - when writing “Dolch Pattern,” I simply meant that there is a colour differentiation between the alphas and modifiers.
Previously, most of the transparent sets were monochrome.
I am not sure which profile these “SA” sets actually are, as many things fall under “SA-profile” among the clone manufacturers. Will probably have to look at the novelty keys for clues.
Pricing is interesting. That link was listed at $25 CAD, shipped, but refreshes as $28 CAD [with coin discount]. And the same items are listed multiple times by that seller, with varying prices. Maybe sometimes it just gives you the ‘coin discount’ automatically.
The orange and black one is interesting. Lots of Skiidata and similar sets available these days from manufacturers. But not so many Skiidolcha / Maxkey “Orange on Dolch.”
They’re QX SA / QXA. (I got the transparent black a while back).
what do you think of them?
I liked them ok to type on. They feel like every other QX set. All QX sets have the second shot a little raised above the rest of the key surface, so they feel a bit like lasered or infilled caps.
The black transparent colour is quite dark, so they look like dark grey caps without backlighting. The second shot ends very high up, which I don’t like the look of, so I didn’t bother buying the lighter colours.
If you’ve got a backlit keyboard then the effect is a bit weird - you’ll get a glow from the sides of your caps but the top is mostly opaque apart from one or more broken lines where the second shot has gaps (mostly inside the stem). I put a key over a bright LED so you can see more easily what I mean, and took a photo of a mod key which has an extra gap.
I bought a cheapie:
$25 CAD.
Came in a minimal cardboard box labelled “SA.” Plastic trays and foam padding sheets. Despite the cheap exterior box, the internals are packaged well.
The cardboard box and label were similar to other QX SA sets, and also the fake Cherry-profile Pyga sets.
In-person, the colours match the photos on the store page.
