here to stay!
Update: After the "honeymoon" period i still love these caps. Mine seem to be a bit faded though, many of the R4 keys seem to be not fully blue but fading towards white at the bottom (as if they are not fully dyed correctly).
Looks great! Very unique set, especially for the price.
The colors and quality are fantastic. I built a CSTM65 with the orange top plate with these caps in mind when they were first announced for pre-order. Overall, super eye-catching and fun to look at. (See my photo in the "Photos" section)
These are my first DCD profile caps (I have quite a few DCX), and they feel good to type on. I don't think I'll be daily-ing this board. It's a little too flashy for me to just have on my desk, and the Baby Kangaroos I have in it are not (personally) a switch I'd enjoy typing on daily. However, this board will look GREAT on the empty stand on my shelf. Definitely a conversation starter.
I've been looking forward to trying out DCD WLK-MN after being so impressed with the previous set of DCD Hundred Acres that I received. I found that the DCD keycaps were on par with the quality, legend sharpness, and sound of the Shenpo or XMI PBT keycaps that I typically go for.
DCD WLK-MN is my first set of reverse dye sub DCD keycaps and (based on my understanding of dye-sub PBT) I was surprised how vibrant the set looked in the photos and how clean and sharp the novelty set looked.
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First impressions were as expected, the blue and orange caps look stunning and really stand out. Just as vibrant and bright as expected, and surprisingly so from a reverse dye-sub set. The alert row is a really nice contrast as well that make the set really unique and I am always a sucker for any kind of sub legends.
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I'm typically not a big fan of "picture" novelties, but I had to throw on at least a few with this set because Mr. Bingo did an amazing job with the designs on these ones. They look sharp, clean, and really bring the whole aesthetic together for the theme.
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As I've come to expect from DCD, the keycaps are really high quality. They're thick, with a solid and full PBT sound. While they lean towards a smoother texture, they still offer a good amount of grit and definitely do not feel slick or overly smooth.
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While I’m really happy with the appearance and quality of these keycaps, since they are reverse dye-sub, they do have some of the common issues associated with this reverse reverse dye-sub manufacturing process (Most of which have already touched on in a previous article here: https://drop.com/talk/131796/what-to-expect-from-reverse-dye-sub-keycaps). As mentioned, there is slight vertical offset in some of the legends. While I didn’t find it to be too noticeable or problematic, it’s something to be mindful of depending on how particular you are. Also, one of my personal concerns with reverse dye-sub keycaps is fading that can occur near the bottom of the keycaps, which is a common result of this process. The fading wasn’t very noticeable on this set due to its brightness, it’s something worth keeping in mind.
Overall, Drop & Mr. Bingo nailed it with this one, an excellent set that I am really happy with. It looks, feels, and sounds great. I'm a Drop Keyboard Club member, so when paired with a DKC coupon, the pre-order price for DCD keycaps is always an absolute steal for the quality that you are getting.
[Obligatory butt pics]
Great keycaps, thick and very good quality. They look good and are pleasant to click on.
One minus - the keycap with the number 1 for the numpad arrived with a visible flaw. I replaced it with one from the novelty kit, so it's not a problem, but quality control should have caught something like that in my opinion.
A Gorgeous Keycap Set Hindered by Reverse Dye Sub (SEE EDIT)
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EDIT: I found out that this set was a pre production unit. I won't change the review, but keep in mind that these issues might not be quite as bad as my unit (or even better yet, fixed).
Disclaimer: Drop did send this set to me for review (thanks!) but clearly that doesn't affect my opinion.
This is a tough one. The TL;DR is basically this: This colorway and theme is awesome, but I can't help but feel like reverse dye sub holds it back a bit.
Let's start with the good. When I first took this set out of the box I was impressed that a reverse dye sub set can look so vibrant. I was under the impression that a vibrant colorway was only possible with doubleshot. The legends are also adequately crisp. Dye sub legends (regardless of regular or reverse dye sub) will never be as crisp as doubleshot, but I have seen much worse. I can't see any bleed when taking a closer look either. I'm sure that most people wouldn't see anything wrong with these caps from a normal glance. I also personally love the color combo even if we ignore the theme of the set. Blue and orange is cool, and I love sublegends. The kitting is also fantastic. The texture is nice, they fit nice and tight (but not too tight), They are thick, and I don't notice much (if any) warping on the modifiers.
Now for the bad. I need to preface this by saying that all my nitpicks are within Drop's acceptable quality standards (see this article: https://drop.com/talk/131796/what-to-expect-from-reverse-dye-sub-keycaps). With that being said, I am still a bit disappointed. I would imagine the majority of people won't notice these things, but I want to point them out because I notice them. Even though the legends are adequately crisp, reverse dye sub makes the slightly lower resolution of the legends stand out a bit more to my eyes. Not a huge deal, just something I noticed. The most disappointing parts for me are misaligned legends and potential discoloration/fading. I can't tell if its real fading or just how light hits the caps. Upon closer inspection, you can actually see this effect on the product photos (specifically #4 on the front of the bottom row). These aren't deal breakers for everybody, but I can't pretend like these things don't bug me.
In terms of sound, they sound like PBT keycaps. If you have used something like XMI, Shenpo, or even NicePBT, you already have a good idea of how these will sound. They will not sound as high pitched as something like GMK for example (which is doubleshot ABS).
With all that being said, I am enjoying this set on the build shown in the attached picture. The main reason I can't recommend it is the price. The $50 preorder price seems much more fair and enticing, but its a straight up pass for me at $80. However, if you have a good DKC coupon or this set goes on sale (and you are okay with the issues I mentioned), then go for it. Its a gorgeous set! (Again, please see the edit at the top of the review).
I was struggling to find a set to match a Keychron Q5 blue case. Took a gamble with this - looks good! Kinda annoyed that there wasn't a white "end" key or blue "del" or "home" all with the same R4 height which is why the colors are mixed in the pics, but it's fine. Included a pic of what RGB looks like, and underside of caps for whoever's interested :)