B-stock W1-AT in Dark Olive
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One of the cheap “Pyga” sets from AliExpress arrived today.
Surface texture is smooth, a little bit creamy, not entirely smooth. It’s actually pretty decent.
This is the “cyan” colourway you see advertised on some of the retailers there. It’s actually more of a transparent smoky charcoal. Only the legends are clearly Cyan.
It’s actually a little tricky to photograph. Despite the charcoal outer layer, there is of course an entire cyan inner-layer. In certain lighting, a faint undertone of cyan shines through. One could exaggerate the lighting to produce an exaggerated cyan effect in these keycaps, and some retailers do in their photos. [Maybe they should release a reverse of this or something.]
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Pretty interesting. How thick are they?
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I don’t have those calipers that seem to be mandatory on this forum! But I will take a photograph of the underside beside a GMK keycap.
GSA Retro - High Light
Very unique set!
IRL, I would call these colors burgundy, very dark navy, hunter green, light beige, and dark beige.
The key caps are very glossy and approximately 1.3mm thick
After 5-6 typing test, I would say that the sculpt is very comfortable and familiar. No row stands out as feeling unnatural to me. The dish feels smaller. It doesn’t look that different to me, but if feels noticeably smaller. Perhaps similar in size to DSA dish?
Sound is more clack than thock. So, accentuates the higher end of the sound frequency. But it’s not like DSA that can sometimes make the switch sound bad. I think most people would say they prefer a deeper sounding keypress, but sometimes a thick and tall keycap can make a switch feel and sound quite dull. These won’t!
The sculpt is much lower than SA
And is similar in height and sculpt to MT3
And it’s in the same realm as AFSA sculpt
There are quite a few options for caps to accent this set. One thing to note is that the 7u is dark navy/black, and the 6.25u is green. I was planning to use the green, so I might need to try another keyboard.
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What a unique set. Let us know what the typing experience is.
Side note, my absolute dream keycap set would be something like DCS 9009… but make it glossy. I am a shine enjoyer.
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wait the fact its lower makes me glad. damn. wonder if still any extras
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Updated my previous post with details on typing feel.
I really wanted to buy a set myself, but just couldn’t get past the $22 for shipping to my location. Hoping someone carries the set domestically to avoid that.
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These look so good. I’m happy that they’re a little lower profile. Can’t wait till my set gets here.
I think if anyone is interested in the set there should be lots of stock. I think I mentioned that they were selling out in a separate thread, but it looks like KBDFans just keeps making more and more available, both on their site and on their AliExpress page.
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If you put this set on a board with RGB lighting, would you mind taking a pic? I’m curious how much light would actually pass through. And do you notice a lot of unfilled spots on the bottom layer? From your pic, I can only kinda notice it on the O key, but this charcoal layer also doesn’t look that transparent to me.
I’m interested in the red set, but I want to avoid this look that I’ve seen in other transparent keycaps.
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Left - CRP R3 “Fn” 1U key
Center - Fake Pyga “PgDn” key
Right - GMK Honeywell R1 “PgDn” key
I will see if I can get a transparency shot maybe tomorrow.
Edit:
In the hand, the GMK keycap feels sturdier. The “Pyga” feels lighter and hollower.
The surface texture of the GMK keycap is like a smooth eggshell with some textured grip. The Pyga is smoother and less-grippy.
If you’ve ever used a set like Artifact Bloom, the retro-styled PBT ones, you know how slippery those are. The Pyga is about 80% as slippery - just enough to be grippy.
The “Pyga” are probably fine for typing on. The fact that you can get it for about $25 USD shows how far we’ve come. Finally, a set you can probably recommend to newcomers as “good enough.” The layout is not good, though. Mainly for ANSI TKL and full-size, with some concessions to alternative layouts. That’s why they can do it so cheap.
I think it would be a good pairing with a semi-transparent budget board like the MK870, and that what I bought it for.
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Okay, I put two on an MK870:
You can see that there is no real transparency, except on the outer edges of the keycap where there is only a thick single-layer of transparent charcoal.
So, they are fairly consistent in their lighting, but they are mostly opaque.
You can see them beside opaque DMK keycaps. In fact, they look as if they are from similar molds. I would say the Domikey is about 20-30% creamier and grippier than the “Pyga.” So you could say that maybe these are 70% of Domikey quality.
They sound a little more insectile [chittery] whereas the Domikey is a little thockier [and I don’t like to use that word, but may be the case here.] Typing on the Pyga is fine.
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How is the B Stock ?
Do you see some external problems on the case ?
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Said differently, I’ve been using these for three minutes and they’re already one of my very favorite light tactiles. In my perception, light tactiles are the most difficult common sub-type to execute well, and I think these folks nailed it.
This isn’t the thread for it, but I agree completely!
After experimenting with switches since 2018, I’ve come to the exact same conclusion. I wrote about it somewhere else recently. Basically, any small thing that goes wrong with leaf, spring, housing and stem texture, you will notice.
You can’t just slather them in lube like a linear, or be dominated by a big bump or click.
Light tactile is just a small deviation from linear. You are already paying attention to that deviation. And anything that distracts from it will be noticed. Light tactiles need the best housings and springs, and best lubing. Any shortcomings are very apparent.
[This is one reason MX Browns are so controversial. Good concept, questionable execution.]
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Ditto.
Light tactiles are finicky for sure. Balance of factors involved are so fine that the effect of adding film is often surprising and usually not for the better.
I found that simplest and most linear-fan friendly light tactiles to work with have bump at the top like Halo and Zealios v2 so, in effect, their bumps are used to make linears with extra weight only at the top. Long springs can do the same but only so far.
As to lubing, I’ve learn to appreciate 3203 a lot since I started tinkering with light tactiles.
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I meant to ask when you first posted but got distracted. (Thanks, @HungerMechanic for the reminder!)
How do the Fleeting Gold switches feel in comparison to Pewters? Better/worse/not at all the same? I gravitate to heavier tactiles, but I was surprised to find I liked the Pewters as a nice change of pace.