11 Best Cherry MX Keycaps: Your Buyer’s Guide
Mechanical keyboards are the most exciting PC accessory to obsess over because you can fully customize both the feel of your keyboard switches and the look of their keycaps. If your mechanical keyboard uses either Cherry MX switches or off-brand switches with the same stem profile (such as Kailh, Gateron, Outemu, Razer, or Zealio), then you will find a wide selection of Cherry MX keycaps to deck it out with. Here are some of our favorite custom keycap sets available for Cherry MX keyboards.
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How to Choose the Right Keycaps
Though upgrading the keycaps on your mechanical keyboard is fairly easy, there are a number of details that you must be mindful of when you are selecting your new keycaps.
First and foremost, you must determine the profile of your switch stems, as not all brands use the same plus-shaped stem that Cherry MX switches use. Thankfully, a majority of the brands on the market use this standard, which is why we specifically focused on this profile for our roundup. These include Kailh, Gateron, Outemu, Razer, or Zealio
Next, you must determine your keyboard layout and key count. The two most common types are ANSI and ISO. ANSI is the de-facto U.S. standard, which has a flat enter key. ISO keyboards have a slightly taller enter key, as detailed by this comparison from the Deskthority wiki.
Counting your keys is a matter of determining whether you have a full-size, tenkeyless, or 60% keyboard. But while many insist on having a uniform set of keys, there is nothing wrong with getting a smaller key set then mixing and matching with your existent keycaps (unless, of course, they have a totally different profile).
You should also make a note of whether or not your keyboard switches are backlit, as certain keycap models are designed with translucent legends that allow LED light to shine through.
But the options don’t stop there. You may also find yourself debating top printing versus side (or ninja) printing) versus no printing at all.
How to Install Keycaps
Once you have your ideal keycap design picked out, you get to move onto the fun part: installation. Every keycap set we reviewed comes with a basic plastic key puller, though some may prefer to opt for a more durable metal key puller.
Gently remove your keys one row at a time and snapping the new ones one should be a piece of cake. If your keyboard is full of crumbs and dust then you may want to remove all the keycaps to do a full clean first.
The only tricky part of the process is attaching stabilizer keys, particularly the spacebar. In this case, a diagram really helps, which is why we suggest you reference this tutorial from HowtoGeek, which goes through the process in greater detail. It also recaps some of the information above about different keycap styles.
See Also
11 Best Cherry MX Brown Keyboards: The Ultimate List
9 Best Cherry MX Red Keyboards: The Ultimate List
11 Best Cherry MX Blue Keyboards: The Ultimate List
