New GMMK Pro - mechanical keyboard

[Audioboxer]

Yeah, looks like I'll have to return mine, I can fix everything but not the rotary encoder, it's kinda unusable the way it is now, and I didn't spend this much on a keyboard just to have a feature that doesn't function well.

QC seems to be a bit hit and miss with Glorious. Have heard issues with Keychron as well. I guess the trade off is getting mechanical keyboards for less than those group buys charge that you then need to wait like a year or so for.

But it's still not acceptable when functionality of the base keyboard either isn't working properly or requires a lot of user intervention to fix it.

 

[garnerx]

South facing LEDs are used to increase compatibility with profiles like Cherry profile keycaps. Shorter keycaps can sometimes stick and just not work with north facing LEDs. You tend to find expensive keyboards in the mechanical keyboard scene all have south facing LEDs or some just no LEDs at all. It's one of the things you give up for builds like this.

Of course, I realised this after I'd done a bit more research - I'm new to this type of keyboard. I got this one as an upgrade on a GMMK TKL, and the reason I got that one is because I was fed up of my previous Das Keyboard having no backlight.

Now I have a much better typing experience but I'm pretty much back in the dark. Look how bright those Tai Hao keycaps are on the GMMK TKL:


I've ended up wasting even more money on keycaps. I thought if I can't have lighting then I might as well get something arty, so I ordered a set and realised too late that it was a flat XDA profile, which I don't really want. I've also got two more sets on order from Drop, from last week's BOGOF offer on high profile MT3 sets. I'll get there in the end, and maybe eBay the surplus.

It appears that the overlubed stabs issue got resolved sometime ago, maybe I got a model from an old batch, I should return/replace it and see if the new board is any better.

I think mine (two weeks old) is a newer revision, as it doesn't have the pads under the stabs, as shown in the cleaning instructions on the Glorious site. But they were still completely sticky and useless.

 

[Audioboxer]

Of course, I realised this after I'd done a bit more research - I'm new to this type of keyboard. I got this one as an upgrade on a GMMK TKL, and the reason I got that one is because I was fed up of my previous Das Keyboard having no backlight.

Now I have a much better typing experience but I'm pretty much back in the dark. Look how bright those Tai Hao keycaps are on the GMMK TKL:


I've ended up wasting even more money on keycaps. I thought if I can't have lighting then I might as well get something arty, so I ordered a set and realised too late that it was a flat XDA profile, which I don't really want. I've also got two more sets on order from Drop, from last week's BOGOF offer on high profile MT3 sets. I'll get there in the end, and maybe eBay the surplus.


I think mine (two weeks old) is a newer revision, as it doesn't have the pads under the stabs, as shown in the cleaning instructions on the Glorious site. But they were still completely sticky and useless.

Yeah Tai Hao make some of the best shine through, but they're unfortunately wasted on a keyboard like this. I touch type so it was mostly aesthetic me having backlight lol. My best recommendation is either get white/bright legible keycaps or maybe even consider something like this https://www.benq.eu/en-uk/lamps/computer-desklamp/screenbar.html

I have one of these for doing work but an added benefit is direct light onto your keyboard!

 

[Pocket10s]

Of course, I realised this after I'd done a bit more research - I'm new to this type of keyboard. I got this one as an upgrade on a GMMK TKL, and the reason I got that one is because I was fed up of my previous Das Keyboard having no backlight.

Now I have a much better typing experience but I'm pretty much back in the dark. Look how bright those Tai Hao keycaps are on the GMMK TKL:


I've ended up wasting even more money on keycaps. I thought if I can't have lighting then I might as well get something arty, so I ordered a set and realised too late that it was a flat XDA profile, which I don't really want. I've also got two more sets on order from Drop, from last week's BOGOF offer on high profile MT3 sets. I'll get there in the end, and maybe eBay the surplus.


I think mine (two weeks old) is a newer revision, as it doesn't have the pads under the stabs, as shown in the cleaning instructions on the Glorious site. But they were still completely sticky and useless.

Tai Hao Cubic shine-through keycaps might be ideal for you.

 

[garnerx]

I've settled on this for now - it's an MT3 set from Drop in Jukebox colour scheme. I also got an Olivetti one, since it was buy one, get one free. That's blue on white with grey and blue highlight keys. Could possibly mix them up a bit but this looks good enough to me, and the key sound is deeper and more solid with these than with the Tai Hao ones. They're ABS rather than PBT, though.

Incidentally, this arrived from America faster than the unwanted XDA keys from a supposedly UK seller on Etsy, which still hasn't shown up. No extra customs charges either.