Keychron K6 iso de

[mapegl]

So...I pulled the trigger on an outlet Keychron K6 at almost 60% off and now I am having second thoughts due to the lacky keycap compatibility. 
I would have liked to have the option to eventually switch my keycaps to a PBT set or at least a fresh set of ABS. 
I cannot seem to find a suitable set which may give me the correct sizes and lettering on the keys. 

Whyyyyyy??? Apparently the mechanical keyboard gods hat Germans!!!

[manikyath]

i've found a bunch of german ISO offerings while hunting for a belgian period ISO layout keycap set that is not dawg shyte, so i can stop buying a new keyboard every year and a half because the backlit keycaps are rubbing off.

 

i'd have to go on a search again to find some, but when i do occasionally do my search again, going for "europe keycap sets" is usually where i get started.

 

this is a brilliant resource too:

https://gist.github.com/henfiber/a17c7b2a7053473fe37b1a6f80e58efd

[Alvin853]

He're is another list from a german keyboard YT channel: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rXRqqPXnqeKXgHhBMyj9QmdWzBW-Wf7GOsdJhHX8TNQ/edit

With 65% you're going to have to improvise (on the bottom right keys like right shift, right control etc), most ISO-DE keycap sets are for standard layouts. Some of the more common keycap sets offer "nordic" addons, that usually have all the keys you need for an ISO-DE layout. 

[mapegl]

10 hours ago, manikyath said:

i've found a bunch of german ISO offerings while hunting for a belgian period ISO layout keycap set that is not dawg shyte, so i can stop buying a new keyboard every year and a half because the backlit keycaps are rubbing off.

 

i'd have to go on a search again to find some, but when i do occasionally do my search again, going for "europe keycap sets" is usually where i get started.

 

this is a brilliant resource too:

https://gist.github.com/henfiber/a17c7b2a7053473fe37b1a6f80e58efd

 

9 hours ago, Alvin853 said:

He're is another list from a german keyboard YT channel: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rXRqqPXnqeKXgHhBMyj9QmdWzBW-Wf7GOsdJhHX8TNQ/edit

With 65% you're going to have to improvise (on the bottom right keys like right shift, right control etc), most ISO-DE keycap sets are for standard layouts. Some of the more common keycap sets offer "nordic" addons, that usually have all the keys you need for an ISO-DE layout. 

 Thank you my dudes. I actually found a set by KBD and it costs 89 bucks plus shipping. That is like a whole new keyboard. 
Very frustrating...especially given the fact that Keychron makes PBT sets for other keyboards. 

And then there are Keychron sets that are about 50 bucks (like 10 bucks less than what I paid for my keyboard in the first place) and they don't even shine through? 

Again, thank you very much for the lists and hints on how to fix my very specific problem (however I kinda thought this company was different). 

I am still hoping I can find something that fits my needs, but atm it seems a bit like I am either stuck with the original ABS caps or I give up shine through and pay like double what my keyboard was...not a satisfying outcome.

If I had picked up a K3, at least Keychron would provide new Keycaps for cheap...

[manikyath]

4 minutes ago, mapegl said:

 

 Thank you my dudes. I actually found a set by KBD and it costs 89 bucks plus shipping. That is like a whole new keyboard. 
Very frustrating...especially given the fact that Keychron makes PBT sets for other keyboards. 

And then there are Keychron sets that are about 50 bucks (like 10 bucks less than what I paid for my keyboard in the first place) and they don't even shine through? 

Again, thank you very much for the lists and hints on how to fix my very specific problem (however I kinda thought this company was different). 

I am still hoping I can find something that fits my needs, but atm it seems a bit like I am either stuck with the original ABS caps or I give up shine through and pay like double what my keyboard was...not a satisfying outcome.

If I had picked up a K3, at least Keychron would provide new Keycaps for cheap...

the problem with double-shot keycaps is that the market by itself is already small, and "people who dont use ANSI international qwerty" are an even smaller subset of that. and the smaller the subset, the higher the cost of a keycap set, because wether you make 100 or 10000, the cost of the molds is the same.

 

i'm currently considering buying a very high quality qwerty set, just for the alphabetical characters, and then buy a cheaper set for the ISO azerty specific keys.

[Alvin853]

39 minutes ago, mapegl said:

they don't even shine through

In the enthusiast keyboard market shine through is not really desired, most enthusiast keyboards have the LEDs "south-facing", so on the bottom of the switch. Since the legends on the keys are usually on the upper end of the keycap, for shine through to look good you would need the LEDs "north-facing". This requires the switches to be mounted upside down, and then standard keycaps collide with the switches. For proper shine through, keyboards and keycaps need to be designed that way, so shine through keycap sets are uncommon.

[mapegl]

32 minutes ago, Alvin853 said:

In the enthusiast keyboard market shine through is not really desired, most enthusiast keyboards have the LEDs "south-facing", so on the bottom of the switch. Since the legends on the keys are usually on the upper end of the keycap, for shine through to look good you would need the LEDs "north-facing". This requires the switches to be mounted upside down, and then standard keycaps collide with the switches. For proper shine through, keyboards and keycaps need to be designed that way, so shine through keycap sets are uncommon.

thanks for the info my friend. that is actually very informative. However, I was checking and the K6 actually has north-facing, so I would be set on that front. Doesn't help me much, but I am more and more leaning towards just keeping this thing the way it is and I will just plan my next keyboard differently. It bugs me that I already know that the ABS caps will look pretty bad after a while, but what can I do? 

[Alvin853]

Just now, mapegl said:

However, I was checking and the K6 actually has north-facing

Then you need to check if aftermarket keycaps are even compatible with your keyboard, it is possible the keycaps that come with the K6 don't use the standard profile.

 

1 minute ago, mapegl said:

It bugs me that I already know that the ABS caps will look pretty bad after a while

ABS doesn't automatically mean "wears out quickly", most high end keycap sets (like the GMK sets at drop.com that sell for $100+) are actually ABS, there's a huge range in quality for ABS keycaps. Of course mainstream manufacturers like Logitech, Sharkoon, Corsair etc. go with the cheapest ABS they can get, but your Keychron ABS keycaps may not be all that bad. 

[mapegl]

21 minutes ago, Alvin853 said:

Then you need to check if aftermarket keycaps are even compatible with your keyboard, it is possible the keycaps that come with the K6 don't use the standard profile.

 

ABS doesn't automatically mean "wears out quickly", most high end keycap sets (like the GMK sets at drop.com that sell for $100+) are actually ABS, there's a huge range in quality for ABS keycaps. Of course mainstream manufacturers like Logitech, Sharkoon, Corsair etc. go with the cheapest ABS they can get, but your Keychron ABS keycaps may not be all that bad. 

I guess I will find out then, won't I?  

Thanks again.