Do you own, or will you soon own, a mechanical keyboard? If yes, then you probably care about quality. You buy a mechanical keyboard because you appreciate a solid button-pressing experience – a keyboard that is sturdy, comfortable, and gives the unmistakable clack of a quality keycap bottoming out.
But just because you own a mechanical keyboard, it doesn't mean you have the best quality keycaps, even if it's considered the best gaming keyboard. Cherry MX switches are great, but if the keycaps that sit on top of them aren't also great, you're not getting the most out of your typing experience. Most mechanical keyboards come with standard single-shot ABS keycaps, which are likely to become glossy over time, lose their markings, and produce a higher-pitched clack when bottoming out. Double-shot PBT keycaps are where it's at, and Bossi's 104-key double-shot PBT keycap set is pretty damn cheap.
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What is it?
PBT is a type of plastic, just like ABS, but it’s much more durable and doesn’t become glossy through use like ABS does. In short, it’s a much higher quality, better-feeling type of plastic. One that your mechanical keyboard deserves. Both PBT and ABS keycaps can be single-shot or double-shot. A keycap that’s double-shot is one whose letter markings are created from an entirely separate second layer of keycap plastic, rather than simply engraved or stuck on top of the one layer, meaning the markings shouldn’t fade or become glossy.
Why should you buy it?
Mechanical keyboards are a premium product, made for those of us that care enough about how it feels to type that we’re prepared to pay sometimes ludicrous amounts for the best experience possible. If you own a mechanical keyboard, you probably care at least a bit.
But most people don’t realise that the majority of mechanical keyboards come with sub-par keycaps, and that there exist keycaps that feel a lot better and last a lot longer. If that matters to you, then it’s definitely worth spending the little extra on a quality keycap set. Oh yeah, and there are some pretty great aesthetic choices you can make, too. These Bossi keycaps come in a variety of different colours.
What options do you have?
I’m listing the Bossi 104 keys PBT Keysets because they’re by far the cheapest double-shot PBT keycap sets that I’ve come across. They’re great value for the price. But any decent double-shot PBT keycap will be better than a single-shot ABS keycap, so if you want a colour scheme that Bossi isn’t offering, do shop around for a brand that has the right colour scheme for you (Tai Hao is a great PBT keycap brand, for instance, but its keycap sets are much more expensive than these Bossi ones). On the US site, all colour schemes are available from the same Amazon product page, but on the UK site you’ll have to search through the product pages for different colour schemes.