New keycaps and stabilizers from MonacoKeys – A breath of fresh air for your setup

MonacoKeys Keycaps and Stabs

It’s time for a fresh introduction: Michael Köberl. Better known in the scene as kasperL. He is not only the founder of MonacoKeys, but also a true enthusiast and connoisseur of the mechanical keyboard world. With a great deal of passion and technical sensitivity, he has set about developing his own keycaps and stabilizers. Sophisticated, high-quality and with a clear focus on what the community really needs. The new MonacoKeys stabs and keycaps were kindly made available to me by him. And I can say that they won me over straight away. The workmanship, choice of materials and design are successful, which is precisely why they deserve a detailed mention in an article.

The keycaps – Disconnected Dark

MonacoKeys offers PBT keycap sets in a cherry profile, including popular designs such as Retro Beige, Athena (pastel shades with a Greek mythology theme), Sweet (playful color accents) and the elegant Disconnected Dark with a gray-black color mix and dark blue tones

These sets are characterized by high-quality materials (dye-sub or double-shot PBT), clean print quality and ISO/ANSI compatibility. Color combinations and novelties, such as special icons or accent keys, give each set an individual touch. Many designs support flexible layouts (e.g. Tsangan, 40 %, Split Spacebar) and thus cover different keyboard formats. They look really nice. I liked these caps straight away.

The MonacoKeys keycaps are praised in the community for their harmonious design, durable PBT quality and fair prices of around €79-99. Points of criticism such as slight translucency in some dark colors (which can lead to RGB lighting shining through) only occurred in isolated cases. There are additional keycaps on the second level. These include a numpad and smaller spacebars, such as those required on an Alice layout or on compact keyboards with split spacebars. As you can see, all the important caps are included in the set. The whole thing is also supplied in an attractively designed case. What more could you want?

The spacebars lie absolutely flat, as can be clearly seen on the marble plate. This means that there is virtually no warp, which is a great advantage, especially with more demanding stabilizers such as TX-AP. They also sit comfortably tight, which I personally like very much.

As you can see, the set cuts a really good figure. Not only do the colors look very nice, the sound is also convincing. I have now tested it on my board and it delivers a very pleasant, round sound. In my case, the caps even sound particularly interesting. They also have a silky matt finish, look great and feel just as good. Now let’s listen to the sound recording. It goes without saying that sound recordings can sound completely different from board to board and from configuration to configuration.

They sound rich and deep. However, the switches used here sound a little thin. That’s why they don’t go perfectly with such massive caps. But it’s precisely here that you can see that the caps still produce a pleasant sound. I think they look really good on the board and I just really like them.

How exactly can this development be described?

The KAP Legend System is a modern and versatile set of keycap legends in a cylindrical “cherry” profile for Doubleshot keycaps.

Philosophy
The legends of the KAP Legend System are the result of years of development work. The aim was to create an interoperable and high-quality new standard for keycaps as an alternative to existing, more traditional legends. Therefore, they will not suit everyone’s taste, but we are convinced that customers who test them personally will be just as satisfied as we are!

Materials & Manufacturing
KAP Legend System keycaps can be manufactured using various techniques and different types of plastic and have a thickness of 1.7 mm. In addition to the conventional double injection molding process, keycaps can also be produced using the hybrid dyesub/injection molding process (see sectional view below): A sectional view shows the production of the hybrid dyesub process.

In the hybrid dye-sub process, a first shot of white PBT is dyed for the legends using dye sublimation before a second shot creates the main surface of the keycap. This enables the razor-sharp edges of the legends, which are common in the double injection molding process, only due to the flexibility of the dyesub process for coloring individual parts of the legend.

“In addition, many other attractive sets are available, in what I consider to be extremely successful color combinations.”

Maiz – The special stabilizers

In addition to the regular version without factory lubrication (Unlubed), a factory-lubricated version (Factory Lubed) has also been developed in collaboration between Mocacokeys and Maiz. Thanks to their special design with a TPU silicone insert in the stem, these stabilizers can be used both with and without lubricant without rattling. For the unlubricated version, MonacoKeys recommends treating the Wires lightly with Krytox 205g0. The stabilizers are already pre-assembled and can be plugged directly onto the PCB. In addition, small plastic plates for countering and matching sticker pads are optionally included.

As you can see, the set is complete and designed not only for 6.25 but also for 7U spacebars. The small plastic plates can be used for countering.

Here you can clearly see how the pre-lubing was applied so that the stabilizers are theoretically ready for immediate use. Optionally, a syringe can be used to apply a little more 205 after they have been installed. In any case, this is a sensible option and is by no means a matter of course. It also makes the otherwise quite time-consuming lubing work considerably easier. I will test them on Igor’s new board. I think it’s very good that they are supplied pre-lubricated. This makes it possible for users who have never done anything like this before or who have never lubed rods, where you can do a lot wrong, to install proper rods. And it’s no problem to add a little extra with the syringe if ticking should occur. All in all, very helpful.

Sticker pads are also included, which I think is a useful addition. The stabilizers are available in both screw-in and clip-in versions. Clip-ins are generally sufficient for normal use and make assembly much easier.

The bottom line

The new stabilizers and keycaps from MonacoKeys are convincing across the board. Thanks to the TPU silicone insert in the stem, the bars offer stable, rattle-free performance. Even without additional lubing. If you still want to rework them, you can do so with 205g0. The factory-lubricated version saves a lot of time and effort. The keycaps are also impressive: high-quality workmanship, with a full wall thickness of 1.7 mm and absolutely flat spacebars. Plus a well thought-out layout with all the important caps, including variants for split spacebar boards. The overall package is excellent for the price on offer. A clear recommendation.

The prices are absolutely reasonable and are even comparatively cheap when you consider the quality and workmanship. You pay between 79 and 99 euros for the keycaps, which is more than fair considering the high material quality, the clean workmanship and the nice feel. The stabilizers are priced between 14 and 16 euros, which is also a very good price, especially as they are already pre-lubed and therefore also suitable for beginners who are unsure or have little experience with lubing sticks. In my opinion, both the keycaps and the stabilizers are definitely worth the money and a clear recommendation.

Link to MonacoKeys: MonacoKeys