What is the opinion of Reddit about the
Black 108 Key Cherry Profile PBT Double Shot Side-lit Shine Through Translucent Backlit keycaps for MX Mechanical Keyboard Filco (Only Keycap)?

Here are some from amazon, I don’t know if they are compatible:

Black 108 Key Cherry Profile PBT Double Shot Side-lit Shine Through Translucent Backlit keycaps for MX Mechanical Keyboard Filco https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0opQCbHN8PHAH

Nothing wrong with going for the basics for your first keyboard. I had a Ctrl as well, and I highly considered that keycap set. With that being said, I assume you want something to show off the RBG of the keyboard? If you’re confident in typing on your keyboard without having to look at it, the POM Jelly keyset may interest you. Otherwise, any keycap with shine through will probably fit your needs very well.

The first keyset I bought for my Ctrl was a side-printed, shine through black keycap set (very similar, or possibly the exact same as this one).

Not many keyboard come stock with that, but sidelit keycaps are ~25 off Amazon here

This actually is a thing. I got these for a friend and I was pretty pleased. Keep in mind that if you have north side LED, the lighting may be inconsistent as the legends are on the south side.

Here’s the rub, the gmmk pro has south facing leds. This means any keycap with a top legend will not work, the light will get physically blocked by the switches you use. Your only option for shine through keycaps that actually shine are either top facing bottom edge legend (don’t exist), or side legend. If you get any of the normal shine through keycaps like the ones you linked they will be dim at best. If you use the PC plate with the linked keycaps you will get light shined from the key above it meaning the T key will partly light the legend on the G key which for people like me is entirely unacceptable. Pudding keycaps are a non-starter for me.

Here’s the only keycaps I’ve found that work, be aware that the cherry and oem sets have different fonts. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GTFY355

edit: you may have better luck with the transparent switches but not everyone has those. If you’re insistent on top legend you can try the DROP skylight keycaps https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FLDQK38

Look into front-facing or side-lit shine-through keycaps, there’s a few sets on Amazon and AliExpress.

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed breakdown!

My understanding was that the GMMK Pro uses south-facing LEDs for maximum compatibility with as many switches as possible. Maybe it’s just me, but coming from a Corsair K70, the difference between north- and south-facing is very noticeable. But, I am also an idiot (something to keep in mind). 😉

> The picture of the GMMK Pro with pudding caps is photoshopped to conceal the LED-bleed

Dishonest advertising is the worst. I think pudding keycaps look cool (generally); I wish the legends were usable on the GMMK Pro. Hopefully Glorious (or whomever) will make south-facing top legend keycaps or a version of this fantastic board layout with north-facing LEDs in the future.

> I am trying to find a decent set of caps with normal top legends

Ah, the eternal struggle. I haven’t found anything yet, either. There are these top-south-legend keycaps for KBDFans KZ60, but coming from a 60%, they lack a lot of keys. Plus, their ABS quality looks like hot garbage, judging from some of those reviews where the “black” has come off and let light through. Ugh.

I ordered YMDK front-legend backlit ABS keycaps from AliExpress. In a poorly lit room I need the lighted legends, but now I’m concerned that these are going to wear down, too. Plus, I cannot touch-type, so I like to look down and see the letters on each key.

> The [front-legend keycaps] I have now I have hardly had for 2 months and I have already worn off the corners of two of them

Oh no! Are all ABS keycaps prone to wear like that? From my very limited knowledge of browsing /r/MechanicalKeyboards, it sounds like double-shot PBT is the way to go. I found double-shot PBT side-legend keycaps, but I haven’t ordered these yet.

> I have to say though that the aqua kings are amazing [… but,] make very, very sure you [buy] REAL aqua kings (v2) and not copycat and/or old-first run set of keys ‘listed’ as v2s.

Ooh, I’ve had a few run-ins with copycat garbage in the past; I’ll keep that in mind, thanks. You’ve sold me on Aqua Kings, I’m a sucker for a good linear switch (the Gateron Reds just came with this board). All of the listings I’ve been able to find are for V3 Aqua Kings. Do you know of any differences between the V2s?

I looked on /r/MechanicalKeyboards, where KPRepublic seem to be the suggested vendor for Aqua Kings:

• AliExpress: KPRepublic sells sets of 10 switches for $7.03 USD
• KPRepublic.com: 90 switches for $67.90 USD (should I buy 110 switches for $77.90 USD instead?)

Thank you very much for your hep once again! I hope you have a fantastic day. 🙂

This is actually a huge can of worms regarding keycap profile and feel.

I got two sets of keycaps for Christmas (so they’re pretty new):

The Filco south facing cherry profile set you see in the photo, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/

And a Razer PBT Upgrade set in black.

As you noted, the Filco Cherry Profile keycaps do look fantastic, especially for a $25 set. Bright legends, deep blacks, and an excellent font that makes stylistic use of the gaps in the lettering (except O, D, and 0, but that’s impossible to improve.) In contrast, the Razer “black” set borders on gray and the legends are cloudy. However, I heavily prefer the Razer set because of how it feels. The Filco set has a small top surface area, a deep dish, and sharp edges on the left/right sides. The small size makes hitting a key dead-on difficult, so you’ll usually land on top of the sharp edges of the keycap or slide off the side of the keycap entirely, activating the adjacent key as well. In contrast, the Razer set feels wider, flatter, and with rounded edges. It doesn’t matter if I’m off center 99% of the time, because the keyboard has this weird quality of seeming almost flat, but my typing is very accurate. The F, J and numpad 5 bumps on the Razer set are also great, by the way. Since taking the photo above, I’ve moved the south facing keycap set to my column-stagger Corne, and moved the Razer set to my Corsair board.

Filco also sells an OEM Profile south facing set, but examination of the marketing photos reveals this to be an older design with a much uglier font. I would not recommend trying those.

This is my annoyance with keycap profile comparisons: I don’t know if this is the fault of the manufacturer, or part of the cherry keycap profile, because keycaps are always photographed and compared from the side, not the top.

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(One more thing: I can’t comment on the spacebar quality on either set. Corsair’s old bottom row doesn’t accommodate standard-width spacebars.)

Any way to tell where a keyboard switch is lit? Looking to use these keycaps and they require bottom-edge-lit switches.

here!

Black 108 Key Cherry Profile PBT… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

You could try ymdk side printed shine-thru or similar.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/

Here’s my first, easiest recommendation. If you just want to get them a prebuilt, I honestly can’t think of a keyboard better than the Roccat Vulcan TKL. https://en.roccat.org/Keyboards/Vulcan-TKL Unfortunately, its biggest strength is also its greatest weakness: it’s completely custom, so if anything breaks or wears out they’re totally at the whim of Roccat’s customer support. And when I say “completely” custom, I mean it: there’s no guarantee that you can swap the ABS keycaps with higher quality PBT plastic, the switches themselves are wider than regular MX-Style switches, and it has a recessed USB-C port.

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Recommendation 2 would be the Quefrency rev2 https://keeb.io/products/quefrency-rev-2-60-65-split-staggered-keyboard?variant=32026895482974 It’s split down the middle, has a rotary dial, and exposed circuit boards. Unfortunately, it lacks neon acrylic plates, OLED displays, and Per-key RGB; all things common among other split keyboards. Fortunately It does have pre-soldered RGB underglow and can do single color LED backlighting.

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Finally, Recommendation 3: If you and your relative are willing to jump off the deep end, here’s a list of materials you’d need to build a Lily58L, which does it all. The biggest issue for you is that you’d need to solder the RGB and SMD Diodes, while their biggest hurdle is learning how to type on a split ergonomic keyboard:

PCB https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/pcb/71/lily58l-split-keyboard-pcb

Sockets https://keyhive.xyz/shop/kailh-sockets

Plates https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/cases/82/lily58-acrylic-plate-case?number=KC10050 or https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/cases/86/lily58-pcb-plate-case-triangle-edition-gold/black

Keycaps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/

Elite-C microprocessor (get two!) https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/parts/99/elite-c-pro-micro-replacement-with-usb-c-and-atmega32u4

Elite C sockets https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081MPTWF6/

Magnetic USB-C cables https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LBFPKHP/

TRRS (headphone) cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M5FKEUE/

LEDs https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/parts/114/sk6812-mini-e-rgb-smd-led Comes in packs of 10, make sure you buy a few extra because you WILL break some even though these are the easy-solder version.

OLED Displays https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/parts/80/ssd1306-oled-lcd-display-0.91-inch-128×32-i2c-white

Rotary Encoder https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/parts/59/rotary-encoder-with-switch

Rotary Encoder Knob https://keycapsss.com/keyboard-parts/parts/105/aluminium-knob-for-rotary-encoder?number=KC10072_SI-A

That list has everything besides switches, solder, lube, and a soldering iron.

I honestly think I might just go with these:

https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Side-lit-Translucent-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07GTFY355

Then get some separate blank pbt keycaps for the shift keys.

well i browsed amazon a bit but couldnt find the micro text caps… but if you have a light up keyboard, these are pretty cool https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Side-lit-Translucent-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07GTFY355/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp?keywords=keyboard+keycaps+black&pd_rd_i=B07GTFY355&pd_rd_r=bd3852e1-7007-4e79-b79f-81c01bbeedf4&pd_rd_w=5r9SY&pd_rd_wg=O0LE3&pf_rd_p=a6d018ad-f20b-46c9-8920-433972c7d9b7&pf_rd_r=8S658DHHQAYRF9VK8WMM&qid=1573195634

Maybe?

You can try side lit keycaps like these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_MwdoFb7YCE5KB

I was actually lucky enough to find them on Amazon

I had pudding keycaps, but these look cleaner and feel a lot better https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GTFY355/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_CKeNQsaijiUdI

They will still be perfectly visible if you are using switches with clear housings. The light is diffused through the switch and keycap.

Aside from that I don’t believe there are any backlit keycaps with the legends printed on the bottom. There are side printed legends, but the light is still diffused, so they will be about the same brightness.

https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Side-lit-Translucent-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07GTFY355/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=backlit+keycaps+black&qid=1622832411&sr=8-16

https://www.amazon.com/Side-lit-Through-Translucent-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07GTFY355?th=1

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I think this would be it correct?