Hello there.
Looking for a set of SA iso set of keycaps i’ve noticed something I find odd.
Lots of set send an extra keycap of the letter B. Why is that? It’s not like it’s a different size, like some 0 out there or some space bar keycaps. (notice the extra B near the slimmer 0 key)
Alice layout (https://kineticlabs.com/blog/what-are-alice-mechanical-keyboards) and the like have become pretty popular. They have a b on each side of the middle gap in most cases.
Since I’ve never paid much attention to that layout I must admit I’ve never noticed the extra B in there.
Thank you mate 
Perhaps you’re already aware but I thought I’d mention it since I own this set: they’re not actually SA. They’re one of the several knock-off kinda SA-inspired spherical-ish keycap profiles discussed here.
I don’t own genuine SA, but I’m told they’re very different in terms of profile and quality.
Can’t say how different the caps you got are from authentic SP SA, but the Maxkey SA sets I got were very similar to SPs so the difference might not be as big as you’re thinking. Unfortunately I just never got comfortable using SA so most of my SA sets are SP & get used sparingly. We have a few people around here who love SAish profiles so they could probably tell you better the differences between SP’s SA other manu’s SA.
I haven’t tried the AFSA/ASA, which I understand to be a bit nicer, but the “QX” SA mentioned here are a good value. I reckon they’ll shine faster than SP and the sound is not as nice IMHO, but they’re decent double-shot caps and there’s nothing out of the ordinary in the typing experience compared to other modestly sculpted spherical profiles. The dish is very much a rounded square and the height is a bit lower than Signature Plastics’ SA, closer to OEM, and you sort of “get what you get” with kitting. The pudding-ish partial shine-through versions can look a bit wonky when the backlight is on as they obviously didn’t (couldn’t?) adjust the legend shot to fully fill in, but that won’t be an issue with an opaque set.
Just make sure you don’t pay more than about $25-$40 for a set (they can be found for even less sometimes), and I say enjoy the keycaps and the savings.
Yes. The QX SA and AF SA are basically ‘budget-decent’ spherical-ish keycaps, with the latter being shorter than SA.
The thread that was mentioned is very helpful in this context.
QX SA is on the bottom-end of ‘decent,’ and can be found for about $23 CAD sometimes. I am not sure about the keycap consistency, and the profile doesn’t work well for me. But the colour is reasonably consistent, and they don’t seem to ship with many errors. Well-packed for the price.
There isn’t too much diversity in colourways for QX SA. They probably did a few runs of this and that, and decided that not enough people were buying it. They are a far sight better than what used to retail at the price, but they are not in a common profile.
AF SA is nicer. I think the keycaps themselves are a little smoother, more consistent, very consistent colour. But the sound is mediocre - MT3 and SA will give you better sound, if that’s what you’re looking for. Tend to be packed very-well for the price.
AF SA is basically a shortened MG profile, I think. MG was ‘inspired’ by Topre Hi-Profile, some people suspect. MG is actually very nice to type on, but has the same mediocre sound as AF SA.
Then there is actual Maxkey SA. Where they actually copied SA profile. I think I’ve come across at least one of these sets. The sets that actually clone SA are pretty decent, just not as luxurious in sound or finish as real SP SA.
The problem is that some vendors on AliExpress, and probably elsewhere, label some sets as ‘SA’ when they are actually AF SA or QX SA, which causes confusion. So if you are looking for real Maxkey SA, make sure the product photos by the manufacturer clearly state that it is SA-profile, preferably with a diagram of the profile.
Otherwise, the Maxkey SA that is bundled with budget keyboards on AliExpress tends to be fairly nice.
Thanks for all the info.
To be honest, finding an SA or maybe an MDA in ISO-es is proving to be challenging.
I like the aesthetics of the SA and I’ve heard that those kaycaps give a very pleasant deep sound. Thock I believe it’s called.
I don’t want to spend too much into my first SA since I’ve never been able to try it before and I’ve read many comments that go along the lines of “It incredibly pretty but I never got used to it and had to change them”.
Since I’ve only dealt with OEM (afaik), I fear it may be too much of a jump.
If I don’t find anything to test, maybe I’ll give myself a birthday present and try a good one anyways, even if I have to sell or gift it later.
Yeah, ES caps in general are tough to find, and SA more so. The only ones I know of are SP’s dyesub PBT sets:
They’re broken up into a lot of individual kits, so you’ll need to know exactly what keys you need for your board in order to buy the appropriate kits. Like, the ISO Enter and Shift are sold separate from the ES alphas, and those are sold separate from all the modifiers.
Thanks a ton for the info Piperaceae 
I’m going to take a look at those.
