Welcome back to nearlucid. Today, we’ll be taking a look at 2 pretty popular in stock gmk sets,
gmk red samurai and gmk blue samurai. These were sent over by drop to take a look at,
and as always, that will not affect our opinion and statements in any way.
First let's get both of these out of their boxes. I’ve always disliked gmk packaging,
and this is just the nail in the coffin. Yikes. I really wish gmk would use some legitimate casing,
or at the very least use single slots for each keycap so they don’t get messed up like this.
Not only that, but the tray itself was super scuffed, and I can see this potentially leading
to keycaps actually getting damaged during shipping. Hopefully in the future this can
be fixed, as this is not the fault of drop, or any keycap designer or vendor, it’s entirely on GMK.
Onto some basic specs. These are going to be the same for every gmk set. These are cherry ABS with
double shot legends, and if you buy novelties, they’re going to be dye sublimated. Of course,
they have a great thickness, but a texture that I don’t quite like. If you’re coming from gaming
keyboards or budget boards with less premium pbt or abs keycaps, it’s a pretty drastic change,
and I think they make my hands feel extra oily, and are somehow rough and smooth at the same time.
The legend quality is very good, and there are no scuffs, besides this little mark on the back
of every keycap due to the molding process. It’s on every keycap produced by gmk, and I
just wanted to point this out because it doesn’t seem like very many beginners know about this.
Gmk colors are, of course, very high quality and vibrant. Red samurai is an interesting combination
of dark red, gray and yellow, and blue samurai simply replaces red with a medium dark blue.
Red samurai’s updated store listing includes more traditional GMK kitting, with an inclusive base
kit up to 1800 and Full size keyboard support. Separate kits include alphas with sublegends,
hiragana only alphas, novelties, text mods, yellow spacebars, and even a custom aviator cable.
Blue samurai’s kitting is the same, only with a color difference and slightly different novelties.
Even though there shouldn't be a sound difference, let’s still compare the two sets.
Gmk sound has been sort of ingrained into enthusiasts' heads and is, at this point,
the closest to “reference” it gets for testing keyboard sound.
It's really hard to explain, but as you explore the hobby more,
I think you’ll be able to start picking up on its sound signature in different boards.
As for which set you should get, it's entirely up to preference.
They’re the same $150, which is a fair price for an in stock GMK set, and have no spec or sound
difference. On black boards, I think either would look great, and if you’re really having trouble
deciding between them, just flip a coin. And yes, gmk does shine because it’s made
of ABS plastic, but if you keep your hands clean, you can avoid this for quite a while.
So due to Germany's lockdown and supply chain issues, I am personally avoiding buying gmk sets,
and I think most other people are as well. Lead times are simply insane,
and even the first custom keyboard related item I ever bought, gmk modern dolch,
has been delayed to heaven and back. Unless you absolutely love a certain colorway,
I would consider the countless alternative keycap manufacturers, some of which are in stock.
Not only this, but community members have been noticing that gmk’s overall quality
has been slowly deteriorating, experiencing more problems, namely, warped spacebars.
And while these aren't hard to fix, it’s annoying to have to perform another step
before being able to finish your keyboard build, and unacceptable for something of this price.
However, with new machines coming and lockdown getting less severe,
gmk should, and I really hope it does, get faster.
And that's all I have for you today. Thanks for watching this episode of nearlucid. If you liked
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