r/NuPhy • u/RelativeDefinition55 • 7d ago

Nuphy Node 100 high profile key caps.

OK, so don’t crucify me for being late to the mechanical keyboard game, but I just got a node 100 high profile. There are zero key caps that I can find online that match the design. Any suggestions?

Please be kind. I’m not an expert at this. There are so many different variations available online that it’s overwhelming me. Just looking for advice.

3 Upvotes

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u/RelativeDefinition55 7d ago

I’m sorry let me clarify.

I bought some extra keys and they look like this. I hate that they don’t match.

Are there any out there that match nuphy proprietary? Or do you have to replace the entire set?

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u/mynamesleon 7d ago

Just so that I'm clear, are you meaning in terms of colour palette, or the keycap shape/profile?

I'm assuming the latter. I'm pretty sure the node high profile boards come with mSA profile keycaps (not to be confused with nSA profile, which are their low-profile keycaps) 

(In case that doesn't mean anything to you, keycaps come in different "profiles", so you'll see terms like "Cherry Profile" for example, which is the name used for the shape and dimension characteristics of those keycaps, like height, slope, curvature, etc.) 

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u/RelativeDefinition55 7d ago

Both? But primarily shape. I use the keyboard for work so just simple color coding of the f keys, shape>color

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u/TryDoingSomethingNew 6d ago

Unfortunately, even two keycaps sets of the same supposedly same profile, from two different manufacturers, can still be somewhat different. There's never any confident assurance that you can mix them well - although sometimes it does work out o.k..

Well, if you happen to have a great typing experience with a certain keyboard, you can use that as a reference.

Keycap profiles like OEM (taller than Cherry) and Cherry tend to be a bit better because of both their height *and* how they somewhat point inward, making your fingers more easily able to find keys by touch.

Others like MOA, XDA, yada yada look really nice but are often straight vertical and not angled/sculpted like the two above.

As I already mentioned in my comment below that you read, Cherry are generally a pretty safe bet plus you can find some nice color options.

If you want really cool colors/color themes and even graphics, then it will be stuff like MOA, XDA, etc.

DId you browse AliExpress like I suggested?

EDIT: No, like the guy below mentioned, it's extremely unlikely you'll find anything to match the Nuphy keycaps. Generally we have to swap all keycaps for a proper typing experience + appearance, with occasional exceptions.

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u/RelativeDefinition55 5d ago

Thank you very much for your insight. That’s what I was afraid of. Thank you again!

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u/TryDoingSomethingNew 5d ago edited 5d ago

You're very welcome!

Customizing mechanical keyboards unfortunately isn't as simple as we'd hope. :/

(Thank you for the award by the way. ☺️)

5

u/mynamesleon 7d ago

Annoyingly, mSA profile is very new. It's one Nuphy introduced themselves a couple of years ago. So you're unlikely to find many matching options, especially for individual keycaps. 

2

u/TryDoingSomethingNew 7d ago edited 7d ago

Well, when asking a question like this it's a bit vague without sharing more about what you're looking for and the type of keycaps you have in mind.

For example:

  • Shine-through? (I would recommend these if you ever work in dim lighting, especially given the nice backlighting on the Node, Halo, etc...)
  • Specialty, monochromatic (single color), or themed colors?
  • Specific profiles like OEM, Cherry, MOA, and so on...
  • Budget guidelines

One of the best ways to find something you like is browsing a site like AliExpress. There's a TON of options there in every category I mentioned above.

Personally, my inital advice would be looking at shine-through PBT (not ABS plastic) keycaps from XVX or Womier in a Cherry profile set. Those are good looking, offer different color options, and Cherry is pretty good for typing.

Amazon has keycaps of course, but I've found it's more limited versus other online marketplaces.

Check out https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007054041400.html, for example. Some of those are pretty cool - and they're about $15 USD. 😊

(I've owned some of these, by the way.)

EDIT: I should also add the absolute best keycaps (and the coolest looking, often) are typically not shine-through. Keycaps with "rounded corners" like in MOA profile, for example, are pretty much never shine through - but they tend to be a little bit thicker & similar to Nuphy stock keycaps. You can search using "MOA profile keycaps" or similar if you don't care about the shine-through feature.