MaxKey SA profile O&B keyset review
Many firsts here… My first review, my first medium post, my first SA keyset, and my first experience buying something from China directly. So then, lets get on with it.
I ordered this set from KBDfans, made by MaxKey. I had not even heard about this manufacturer and thought that Signature Plastics were the only makers of SA profile keycaps that existed. A quick Google search did not seem to bring up any info on MaxKey other than a discussion on /r/MechanicalKeyboards. The price point seemed good, and I decided to take the plunge.
Ordering & Shipping
Once ordered, the package was shipped the very next day and had tracking from a Chinese website(I chose free shipping). Google translate helped me navigate and get updates from the shipment tracking site. They also had the USPS tracking number once it passed the customs checkpoint at the border, and USPS took over the rest of the shipping duties.
Packaging
The package came in great shape and was well padded. Although I was expecting a zip-lock bag of key-caps, what came was a key-set in a plastic case, padded and boxed. This was the same sort of packaging that GMK does, from what I have seen on youtube and other GMK reviews. My first GMK set will be Zambumon’s Nautilus, that I’m waiting for from the Massdrop GroupBuy.
Appearance & Feel
The keys themselves appear to be thick, and had a nice finish to them. The texture was smooth, without being shiny. A smooth matte or satin finish to the touch. I found it very pleasant. The matte finish is quite different than, the TaiHao ABS sets or standard PBTs, its smooth without being shiny. To me it looks like a few months of exposure to finger oils would give it some shine — only time will tell. Once I had then on my el cheapo keyboard, with Outemu blue switches, they had a pleasant feel and I’m instantly a fan of the tall SA profile. It would definitely take some getting used to, but I think I’m already on the way, as I type this on these keycaps!
Weird Stems
Something that’s probably of no consequence, but started bugging me was the weird stems. Let me be clear, they function perfectly well, but they are made of different colored plastic, and the double-shot process looks different. Take a look at the ‘S’ and ‘D’ caps. They are both alphas (obviously) and and from the top they look to be made similarly. However, flip them over and you see that the second shot seems to be made differently. The orange plastic covers the bottom of the S cap while for the D, you can still see horizontal black plastic, from the first shot. I’m not familiar enough with the manufacturing process to know if the stems are attached after the caps are made, or if the stem is a part of the second shot of plastic. There are differences between these two caps — for instance, if I shine my phone’s flashlight through them, the one where I see the horizontal lines are completely opaque, and the legend shines through vaguely. However on the other one, there the second shot of plastic completely covers the back, I see a small notch and light shines through this notch. This is an SA cap, and so with normal LEDs on keyboards I do not think you are going to get this shine through effect when placed on a keyboard — phone flashlights are pretty bright.
Legends
As many across the interwebs have already pointed out, the legends on these caps some inconsistencies. For instance, some keys like ‘O’ are thinner than others. The modifier keys also have inconsistencies like ‘TAB’ key having the ‘T’ placed lower than the ‘AB’. For CapsLock, the top of the letters are thinner than the bottom, and ‘SHIFT’ is really “SHIF T”. Overall I don’t think these are major flaws or make the set unusable, but the lettering can certainly be improved.
