What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
No way I'm paying 200$ to cover a <50-keys keyboard.
Just compare with the SA Carbon drop : I paid only 36$ more to cover my Planck with only the keys I needed. With SA Godspeed, it was even less : 21$
Since GMK has a 100 MOQ, that requires us to bundle stuff in bigger kits and discard doing separate Ergodox and Planck/Preonic kits. This also comes with some perks, just check the $10 price drop when reaching 150 units on this kit. Or the almost $20 price drop for the novelties when reaching 1000 units...
By the way, 85 orders in 4 days for GMK is huge. To put that in perspective it took a successful set as Yuri about 8 days to reach that same number, with a total of 124 kits sold.
Base kit is likely ~1000 now. Ergodox kit is likely ~95.
Two weeks still to run and nobody mentioned the Asia proxy, which will add a big boost on the final day. The kit will tip for sure and may yet reach the first price break.
You could read back through the Yuri discussion and you might find precise numbers, and there are some graphics like the one in this post by @everyman : https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-t0mb3ry-gmk-yuri-custom-keycap-set/talk/1702392
Someone mentioned that Taobao stock was showing 76/100 base kits sold at the approximate time of the graphic, so maybe very roughly 10% would be a sane estimate to use, but allow a big margin or error on that.
The fact that with every GMK set, you are forced to buy a billion keys you won't ever use, is not a reason to be happy that it is again the case with that drop.
With every GMK drop, we can read "Great value ! The base kit features a full set and every key you'd ever need for any standard keyboard !" Yeah, that's another way to say that you're buying a bunch of useless stuff that will stay in a drawer forever. And that you're fucked if you don't have a standard keyboard, since alphas won't ever be sold separately.
If you only need alphas in it, this is getting ridiculous.
I'm happy for you that this set is successful, it's really gorgeous and I was waiting for it to drop to buy it. I'm not angry, just really disappointed, I won't be able to get this set although I'm still a huge fan of it, just because of that shitty grouping/pricing policy.
(maybe it's GMK's fault, not yours, but that still does not make it right)
The Base Kit technically already covers the Planck layout fine with a few mismatched legends. And the Spacebar Kit has a 2u spacebar. All we really need is a just few more caps to make it pretty. I don't see why Planck/Preonic users have to buy an entire Ergo/Planck Kit just to use a few 1u caps when these options *could* have been bundled with Base/Novelties/Spacebar.
I also think comparing the current 85 Ergo/Planck orders in 4 days to Yuri isn't fair because of the mass appeal Nautilus' colorway seems to have. Every kit is doing really well. You can't just say Ergo/Planck is doing well and assume it's just because of the legends. Saying that the 250 drop price is similar to past GMK Ergo/Planck kits is also misleading because those past kits do provide a lot more keycaps and are inherently more versatile.
I can understand you wanting to push for a kit with legends, and I think it's great that future GMK sets would be able to make use of these new moulds, but I personally think there could have been a better approach for spreading out cost rather than forcing it all on a single kit. It might not be your intention, but it really feels like Planck/Preonic users are being singled out here.