Since my AF SA experience has been so good, I ordered one of the other G-MKY sets last week, and it arrived yesterday: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005314385422.html (a semi-transparent red cherry profile set).
The quality is the same as the set they’re cloning (KBFans PYGA) and the cost was a very reasonable $23, including delivery and taxes to New Zealand.
Interesting story with those fake Pyga keycaps: they’re coming out with more colours.
But I am not sure what you are getting when you order. This retailer has a very blue-tinted “Cyan:”
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005594202865.html
Yet, this store, selling what seems to be the same lineup, has a charcoal-looking “Cyan:”
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005521545504.html
I don’t know what the deal is there. The darker one has a comment saying that it’s non-transparent. Whereas the bluer one has a comment saying that the real set is darker than is pictured.
So it could be the same set. The other sets all appear to line-up.
Since they’re only $20 delivered, you should grab a QX SA set to try. They’re a bit shorter than AF SA and have a sculpt which is maybe halfway between OEM and AF SA. They have a spherical-with-a-flat-bottom dish.
I’ve been using them for a few weeks, and I prefer them to AF SA. And I just received a Fishing set which is very nice looking.
Interesting! The “Fishing” colourway is not bad, although a bit dull. Reminds me of those dark ocean / rain sets offered by GMK, or some of the Tai Hao sets.
I should mention that the particular set you posted costs $40 CAD delivered. [Which is still not bad - the cheapest AF SA set probably costs at least $47 delivered during sales.]
Maybe there are even cheaper sets for delivery to Canada - I could take a look.
But certainly, it is possible that a set in this profile could allow my keyboard tray to close. Thanks for bringing it up!
This seller has a few of QX SA and AF SA. They are all called SA and you can differate them based on the ESC keycap, the pricing also differ for the same kit between the different listings https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/SA-profile/1102697378_40000003570476.html
They are also selling some new AF SA colors that I would say are copied from MT3 Jasmine and MT3 Cyber 
Good find! Really nice work.
I’ve always wanted Cyber, but not in MT3. So this could be perfect.
I noticed that Hyperfuse one the other day. Do you think that’s also QX SA? Or does the Esc key have to be a maple leaft for it to be QX SA?
I think the maple leaf is newer AF SA sets
Older AF SA have a rocket and some others
QX SA have an alien and multiple square smiley faces
That’s a good way of telling it!
Not many QX SA sets yet. Do you think this so-called “SPQR” one is one of them:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005868309843.html
For a brief period, these sets even registered as $30 CAD. I wish!
That’s QX SA - the giveaway is the number 4 has an open top & the delta arrow shaped cursor keys.
Definitely they’ve crept up in price now that they’re not pre-order. Shame.
There are a couple of QX SA sets at ~$26 incl taxes & delivery to NZ on AliExpress today if you have some coins.
e.g. https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ev5riJz
Also, I received the sea salt lemon set today & it’s beautiful. Unfortunately it’s not part of the sale, but still only ~$28.
KBDiy are doing QX SA sets for $21.28 with free shipping and 5% off with coins and $2 off for their sale here
BUT if I go to the coins section and collect the free coins, then the same set is listed in the section below (you might need to scroll a bit) for $21.28 with 15% off.
Total price to NZ, including taxes, was $18.75.
If you want some AFSA or QXSA then it’s a good day to buy.
I bought all the remaining colourways I didn’t have at this price.
The legends on these are not as nice as on AF SA. See for example the size and positioning of ^6.
You’re not wrong, and I dislike the font used for numbers too. For the WOB set, the overall effect is not great. For the coloured sets, I have no complaints…
…they have a really nice texture and feel, they sound nice, and $18.75 including delivery and taxes/duties.
I have a set of the QXSA keycap set in the GMK Monster colorway. Theyre overall okay for the $20 shipped I payed for em. I wouldn’t necessarily dissuade anyone from getting them as they’re definitely fine for $20 and its not like theyre messed up or anything. Colors look fine, legends are sharp overall. The compatibility being a ~170-something keycap set is really good. My only real gripe with them is well, for one they were advertised Double-Shot PBT & as far as I can tell their may be some PBT in here, but sound, feel, texture, etc I would say theyre entirely ABS or an extremely high % ABS plastic. & not very food ABS plastic either. Now that alone isnt really the issue, as we all know, some ABS is more than sufficient. My problem is either the quality of the plastic and definitely the thickness of the keycaps. The Legend Injection Shot doesnt come all the way to the end of the cap as quality DS usually do (but not always) & the thickness is a weak 1.3mm being generous. Plus the super smooth texture just gives a very thin sound and on higher end aluminum boards that arent foamed up all crazy the sound is, again totally imo; thin, hollow, highpitched, very similar to caps you’d get on no names “gamer” boards from with their shine through super thin caps. Its almost makes em unusable. On a plastic board thats all foamed up, you can def mask that sound profile (foam really makes things sound very similar and helps cheaply made plastics from sounding, well, cheap). Thats really my only gripe. I feel with just some better textured plastic or even just .3mm thicker mould they would be sooooo much better. Shame. Just figured ppl would want to factor that in if they’re making a decision on a set of these. They look great tho thats no to be denied.
Have a look at the first post - it has a picture of the underside of a few high profile caps & you’ll see it’s uncommon for them to be double shot all the way.
I swapped between QX and AF a few times, and I prefer the feel and sound of the QX - there’s definitely a different plastic mix. But for sure the quality control is better in the AF SA.
Yes im aware, however when they dont the cap shot is almost always sufficiently thick. Theres also plenty that do. Also theres some the extend half way with a solid and thick layer which impacts bottom out for that shot instead of just a thin insert without much substance at all with a thin primary shot.
Also first post shows mods. Its much more common for the mods not be fully layered on both shots and only halfway or so for best quality caps (again, altho varying) whereas the 1u/alphanumerics usually do. So the initial post aspect is wholly irrelevant to the point
I just treat AF SA and QX SA [should I receive any] as high-profile ABS.
Yes, it isn’t engineered for maximum thickness. I’d say it’s designed for typing considerations over most other things.
MT3 often sounds better than these profiles, especially PBT MT3. And their PBT is serious business.
But if I just want something for typing, especially something that can fit in an underside keyboard tray, I’d be drawn to AF SA / QX SA. As even MT3 is too tall. So they aren’t all for identical use-cases.
[It’s also hilarious that QX SA is being sold for less than a clone Cherry set. There’s something to be said for that.]
I also want to take this opportunity to complain about rising AF SA prices for Canadian customers.
You used to be able to get it down to about $52-53 CAD during sales, all-in. Once, I think I got it down to $47. [This was just testing for educational purposes, didn’t buy.]
Now, it’s like $47 + 11 shipping, which is really annoying. And I think they take the base price down even more and jack up shipping during sales, to avoid being eligible for discounts.
Meanwhile, QX SA starts at about $31, and goes down to $27 or so. Guess I should have bought that AF SA when it was $47.
I know AFSA/QXSA aren’t the thickest or best quality keycaps ever made, but just as a point of contrast…
I was inspired by this comment to drag out one of my favourite $$$ Signature Plastics SA sets, and I’m honestly surprised at how well a $20 set of QX SA keycaps compares - they’re in the same ballpark in terms of thickness and quality.
(pics of a 1u cap)
Has anybody seen a shot of the QXSA/QXA (the alien/smilies ones) with the kitting laid out properly per row? All the pictures I’ve seen have them in their shipping tray, a bit more jumbled up than is easy to intuit.
I’m working on a junkboard with a custom layout and would like it to be compatible with large clone and value sets in sculpted profiles, e.g. AFSA, QXSA, Akko, Womier/XVX, etc.
