nah its not a dealbreaker. i just wanna tug the cables snugly to protect the port and the cable.
I wonder how good are the caps compare to something like enjoypbt though. too bad it's not dyesub. can't ask for too much for that price though.

btw. anyone has extensive experience with varmilo dyesub caps? thinking to pick up a set. seems like DSA and GMK are all the rage right now.

This post has been edited by zorbyss.: Mar 5 2018, 02:43 PM

The thickness of the keycaps win. Only that part is great. The printed font will faded after long term use, just like Filco.
If it's not deal breaker, I would like to let you know, Malaysia only have Blue and Red switch. No BROWN.

Give me few hours, I will snap you the photo the font after long period of using (half year of abuse).

HAHAHAHA. I already got 3 brown board. Bought it with blues.
I dont really like blues personally, but it's fun to annoy my colleagues once in a while.
Viva la Brown.

Cleaning the keycaps right now with the dental tablet. Well, too disgusting to show the public.

But, although the board is made by Costar, please do not have extra expectation that the board will same like Filco.
Such a long time, we finally see another Made In Taiwan keyboard from CM. Most of their keyboard are made in China (not because china is cheaper, but they have few manufacturer that in China).

ok haha

i have enjoypbt blanks. i just don't have cm pbt caps to compare to lol (but i think cm's pbt caps are decent enough; you can make them blanks if you rajin typing lol)

i have varmilo caps also. (dye-subbed and side-printed) design wise, they are not as best looking as gmk's, but they're still my favorites. (pbt with good thickness; cherry/step sculpture 2 profile) unlike enjoypbt caps, which are soft and smooth, the textures of varmilo caps are different depending on color, e.g. black/yellow/red are relatively smooth, but blue/white/grey are slightly rough.

for dsa profile i always need adjustments when i use it (nice looking, but my typing experience with it is not as good as cherry profile)

edit: a note on gk64 rgb pcb - if you got stuck with its firmware 1.7, downloaded via built-in updater in GK6XPlus Driver 5.0.0.21, and the software keep throwing application failure messages at you when applying custom settings, update the firmware to 1.16. the offline firmware updater can be requested from the official QQ group of GK6x devs.

kbdfans' 5-degree build comes with firmware 1.16. my older prebuilt gk64 (and spare pcbs) are not. they are all fixed now.

with firmware 1.16, the shortcut to turn lighting off is fn + backspace now. the rest is still the same. you can refer to the manual available at http://www.pc-100.com/downloads-mechanical-keyboard/ (basically they are just rebranded gk64; DO NOT use their repackaged software. use the latest one from http://www.jikedingzhi.com/downloadlist)

This post has been edited by horns: Mar 5 2018, 06:21 PM

one question, is varmilo VA87m using cherry profile keycap?

some said step-sculpture 2 profile. to me it's really like cherry profile.

It's not Cherry Profile since cherry profile do have distinct sharp edge on each keycap.

Varmilo looks rounded like OEM but with shorter height and finely made. The current Varmilo still using the Step Sculpture 2. Which is the same as what Leopold use.
Don't need to surprise since Varmilo is long time manufacturer for Leopold. So, they will share the same keycaps design.

Note: I know this info last time during exchanging email with the Varmilo representative.. Many big brands are backed by strong manufacturers.

thanks a lot for the clarification!

i have both caps with cherry and step sculpture 2 profiles in front of me. i know they look different, but when i type on them i feel the same for both, and i like both of them haha

You hardly find difference if all the keycaps with like SS2, OEM, Cherry with same thickness. I myself just like to use OEM, because easily replaceable at very low cost.
If using GMK / BSP Cherry as daily drive, will broke very fast.

Everyday we eat normal foods (OEM) or cheaper foods, once a while eat good (Cherry) 1 so you will feel gratitude towards good foods (Cherry).

maybe you're right there are factors like thickness that make profile differences less noticeable. actually i still collect oem profile key cap sets. (e.g. those from HardCap; there are new sets from them called joker, midnight; i already have horizon and skyline) i do use them, just not as often.

.. whether normal/cheap or good food, i always feel blessed. however i feel wasted if i took those super expensive ones

I'm surprised you get the HardCap (Akko x Ducky collaboration), since many did feedback that the bottom of the doubleshot is really not appetizing.
Well, it's their first time making keycaps, should give them chance.

So, how is the feel of the HardCap ?


Note: HardCap, most fund coming from Akko China, since Akko is taiko... Like invested over a million RMB onto this project.

This post has been edited by quovadis123: Mar 6 2018, 02:30 AM

It's almost 30-40% off Filco with extra features, I wouldn't mind too much if it lacks a bit build quality. Anyway, costar stabs is the main selling point to me Almost it can be a pain in the ass while switching keycaps on the mod keys compare to cherry stabs. much easier to lub though, so rattling stabs aren't an issue to me.

However, if Varmilo makes Leopold's keycaps. then it could be an issue here. I've no idea why my leopold keycaps makes costar stabs mushy.

Yeah. I have a set of enjoypbt too. the best set I have to date. no money to invest in a set of GMK yet. i stumbled across Akko on Taobao as well. Looks decent and priced similar as Varmilo. I'm thinking which set to get. Maybe both?

This post has been edited by zorbyss.: Mar 6 2018, 10:28 AM

right, HardCap really needs improvements lol but i'm fine with that, because they're very affordable, with ok-ish legends. its thickness is so-so. (i think it's similar to tai-hao's)

the feel to me is like the brand name, hard. i believe this characteristic might be good for certain combos to produce good outcomes.

to me costar stabs provides the convenience of lubing when necessary.

thick caps can cause mushiness to costar stabs because of the wires. you can either replace the wires or sand the caps.

Motivation

sweet

.. as always, they are very generous about applying thick lube on stabs. (maybe too generous)

hahaha... holy crap! I opened the picture in a new tab to view it at full size and holy macaroni... definitely too much lube! LOL

HHKB also give extra 1..
Roti canai kuah banjir..

this is effing cute

Was wondering, where can we get switch lubricants for tactile/clicky switches locally? Or definitely have to purchase it from overseas?