Custom keycaps are one of the best ways to personalize your keyboard and larger gaming space. Domikey has been a major player in this space, offering high-quality in-stock sets across many different themes. Today, we’re looking at its new Geeks Dolch set built with doubleshot ABS plastic and in tall, retro SA profile. At $96.99 courtesy of MechKeys and in-stock today, they’re a great set that fills a black and orange void, making them well worth considering.
Domikey Geek Dolch SA - What Is It?
Domikey has been one of the biggest players in custom keycap space for several years. It became well known for its many different SA profile keycap sets, making it a go-to choice for gamers wanting to inject a bit of retro flair into their keyboards. It has since broken into the lower-profile Cherry keycap space, providing high-quality in-stock options without the vintage look — and that’s become increasingly more appealing with GMK keycaps often taking up to two years to produce.
Geeks Dolch isn’t a Cherry set, however, and leans heavily into its terminal-inspired roots. SA profile is very tall, the same type of keycaps you would find on an old Apple II in the late 1970s. Dolch is also a classic colorway, referring to the contrasting dark and light shades of grey and black between the alphas and modifier keys. This set adds bright orange legends to the keys, reminiscent of GMK Skiidata, That color scheme itself based on a very unique point-of-sale keyboard terminal from the 90s.
The Geeks Dolch set initially caught my eye during my review of the Wind X R2 from Wind Studios. With its bright orange back, I needed something that would match and discovered that there really are very few black and orange keycap sets available, especially if you need keycaps for unusual layouts. Geeks Dolch is one of the very few that’s readily available, reasonably priced (for custom keycaps) and comes from a brand known for its quality. The name doesn’t make sense to me, but what’s in a name anyway?
The kitting on the set is excellent for the money. The base kit includes a full numpad and spacebar assortment, as well as accent keys and ISO support for our UK friends. It has wide layout support, which means that it will be compatible with most keyboards available today. That includes gaming keyboards with non-standard bottom rows like Razer and Corsair. It’s exceptionally supportive kitting!
Before pulling the trigger, I researched alternatives. Most only support basic full size or TKL layouts, which are no good if you have anything else (which is far more common today than even a couple years ago). Others are just tremendously expensive by comparison. A clone GMK Carbon set from Aliexpress was upwards of $130 and wouldn’t arrive for a month and presented major concerns for quality and consistency (it has since disappeared from the shop and I can’t find other sellers that offer it). Drop’s MT3 Skiidata set looks great, but achieving the same kitting would cost $235 before taxes. $96.99 is a good value in comparison for such a unique looking kit.
The quality of the keycaps is very good. They’re made of thick doubleshot ABS plastic. The legends are crisp with only very minor inconsistencies. The stems are straight and uniform. There are no sprue marks on the outside. The surface is smooth and very lightly matte. As they shine over time, it shouldn’t be as apparent as a set of textured GMK keycaps, which will keep them looking good for longer. They’re very well done overall.
Cherry profile keycaps (front) versus SA profile keycaps (back)
SA profile is an acquired taste. If you’re used to Cherry profile keycaps, you might find them too tall. A palm rest is just about required, at least for me. But, if you can enjoy the height, as many keyboard lovers do, they can make for a delightful typing experience.
Typing on them is very nice. SA profile has a more pronounced scoop, which guides your fingertips toward the center of each keycap. This helps make sure that every key press is centered and feels smooth and natural. The added height creates a deeper typing sound as sound waves move in the larger cavity beneath each cap. The thickness of the material also lends it a solidity akin to high quality PBT keycaps, though the sound profile is definitely that of ABS.
The spacebar can sound a bit hollow with this set. It’s not endemic to Geeks Dolch but is a quality of SA keycaps in general due to their size. Adding a layer of dampening beneath it absolutely helps however, so consider adding a bit of foam or other material to fill out its sound.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Domikey Geeks Dolch set is a good value at $96.99. I wish it were a bit cheaper, as always, but when you consider the limited alternatives with this color scheme, and that most of them are much more expensive or flat out won’t work with compact layouts, it quickly becomes one of the best ways to add this look to your desktop. If you’re in the market and enjoy high profile keycaps, I highly recommend taking a closer look at MechKeys.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes.
