Does anyone know what is the manufacturing cost for this keyset? I will assume there is no marketing budget or licensing fees to account for in the sales price. My guess would be to be 5 to 10 US cents per key. So my question is what is the economic justification for such a ridiculous price? When I first saw the price I thought this drop was for a complete keyboard not simply a keyset!
I_love_stuffThe most simple answer would be because this is a specialty item, and are made in lower productions, I'm not defending their price, but I think your asumption that these keys cost only 5 to 10 cents is completely wrong, there are many additive cost than just the price of the plastic. And according to them not me these are supposed to be super high quality materials. But in short it comes down to the low production making them more desirable to collectors as they are rarer and being able to reach higher price in the long run for keyboard enthusiasts. Kind of like buying a limited run figurine from a well know maker.
Take for example the first superman comc, Action Comics #1 (if I'm not mistaken) the biggest reason they fetch such a ridiculous price it's because how rare they are these day. I would dare say that the vast majority buying these keycaps are mostly interest on this factor.
I_love_stuffThis is essentially a custom product. They will have to do R&D on the product and setup, they will have to retool their machines to make this, they will probably have to stop production of other products, and then clean it all up afterwards. That's a lot of overhead, and since there are so few units being made (probably no more than 300) the price per unit will be much higher than a product that is mass produced. Also, these are considered premium keycaps by everybody who owns them. Custom + premium = expensive, regardless of the material cost of each key.
I_love_stuffYour estimate is way off (low). Look at GMK Triumph Adler, run right here on Massdrop, if you want to compare prices (link at the bottom of this post). It was by far the cheapest GMK set ever run and still came to $99.99 US. GMK is considered the premiere key cap manufacturer in the world. Their caps are the thickest and best feeling, with the sharpest doubleshot legends, using the authentic Cherry profile (GMK owns the original Cherry molds) with exacting German precision. God, I sound like a marketing shill. :/
Anyway, they're nice caps. If you want to pay less for them then join the drop and tell your friends to help us get to higher order quantities. This will help reduce the price for everyone. Note that Alex said they have price tiers up to 500 orders if this gets that popular.
https://www1.massdrop.com/buy/triumph-adler-gmk-keyset
jacobemattTA is an outlier. I agree the set isn't completely up to GMK's earlier very high standards, but I'm willing to call it a fluke until I've seen more evidence to the contrary. Not going to condemn a company on one mistake. And you shouldn't jump on that bandwagon either. Besides, we are still waiting to see what they do about it.
Even considering the several QC issues with TA, it's still a better key set than you might get with some of the Asian manufacturers popular on Massdrop. :P
DataAfter the disaster known as GMK Triumph Adler, no thanks. I've picked up cheap sets from eBay for $20 that were thicker, better feeling, more consistent, and higher quality. Maybe I just got a bad lot or something, but if you want an indicator of GMK's "premiere key caps," go read the comments on the Triumph Adler drop. :(
DataThis is a funny contradictory statement. I was one of the people who got a terrible TA set, and I would buy my $20 set of Vortex Doubleshot PBTs every day of the week--hollow-sounding Spacebar included.
$20 keyset with some flaws? Oh well. $100 keyset forged from the heavens by the Lord Himself with 11 scratched keys, 6 with moulding imperfections, 4 with color bleeding, 2 with visible grit embedded, and 12 with visible swirl marks--plus swirls on basically every gray cap to some extent--come on now.
GMK Hyper Fuse will be on the way shortly, and I have high hopes for it. This Sky set looks incredible, but I don't have a use for it.
arithonAs Data said, Triumph Adler was a fluke. I attribute it to the new plastic supplier GMK used for the set, as well as the fact that it was the first set with not only one, but three custom colors. Don't just kick them to the can for messing up the first real "custom set" they ever produced.
JustDownloadMoreRAMI sympathize with your situation, but one comparatively "bad" key set that represents GMK stepping outside of its comfort zone for the first time in decades, doesn't completely undo a reputation earned through hundreds of quality cap sets. I have one of those Vortex PBT sets and it has its share of flaws. I wouldn't even consider it to be in the same league as a typical GMK set.
To each his own, I guess.
SteveennPeople keep making this excuse for them without any actual facts. Meanwhile there has been at least one post documenting the cheaper quality of various GMK sets produced after 2013.
As to this set, it's an uninspired rip of Hyperfuse and should die.
mtzgrI like it more than Hyperfuse. With the limited number of standard color options from GMK it's not hard to get overlap and why not call it a rip of Dolch just as well.