Akko Carbon Retro Keycaps

Based on my 100% satisfaction with the company's keycaps to date, I will never say no to an Akko keycap set. This time, I have the Akko Carbon Retro, and in its ASA profile, too. Packaging is excellent, with a plastic wrap over a thick cardboard wrapper that does a great job showcasing the keycaps inside. Indeed, the entire packaging is color-coordinated to match the colors of the keycaps, with the logo, product name, and a close-up print of the keycaps on front. Akko, as with Epomaker, is a Chinese brand, and their contact information has been put on the back in Mandarin. On the side, we also see that the wrapper is placed over a sturdy plastic case that needs to be slid out for access. The black plastic case has the Akko logo in the accompanying orange color in the middle. Two substantial hinges are on one side, and a cutout notch on the other helps open the box. This is otherwise quite impressive and adds a lot of protection to what is a bunch of plastic bought purely with aesthetics, customization, and build quality in mind. So any chips or damages during shipping are bad, which now has the packaging make a lot of sense.


Opening the box, we are greeted by the entire keycap array of this set. I will also again draw your attention to the nature of the box, which folds into itself and is a substantial offering to store everything. In addition to supporting all relatively standard form factors from 60% to full-size, Akko provides extra keycaps to support different sizes for the bottom row of the alphanumeric section, as well as different sizes for the Ins-Del cluster and such intermediate form factors as 68% and 75%. This set is overkill for the GK61XS, but I am not complaining! Magnets keep the box closed as well, and there is a nice metal wire keycap puller, held tightly in place inside molded plastic notches, I was glad to use over the plastic ring-style keycap puller that came with the Epomaker GK61XS.


As per the company, the Akko Carbon Retro keycaps draw inspiration from vintage color combinations of carbon black, off-white and a hint of burnt orange aiming to draw a "sense of nostalgia from the Old West, like a steam train powering through the last leg of a long journey." The orange keycaps are thus representing the hot charcoal amid the carbon soot and colder charcoal around. Akko is also using its take on the all-spherical SA profile (hence ASA) in that it adopts a similarly rounded profile and less-aggressive contouring coupled with larger top surfaces for finger support, but it isn't as tall or angled from the side. If anything, the ASA profile is closer in height to the popular OEM profile, so much so that you get the better support (for most people) without the massive change in elevation from row to row with SA. This is one of my favorite keycap profiles personally, so I was happy to see it instead of the Cherry profile Akko has been using for its keycap sets.


I had to use the keycap puller even earlier than I thought since Akko has cross-stem molds similar to dummy switches in the case to hold all the keycaps securely. There may be some trial and error to determine which switches to use, especially for the modifier keys and some of the vanity keycaps of the set. Take your time, although you really should have done your research on the keycap set before purchasing it.

The keycap legends are doubleshot injected in a seamless manner similar to Ducky, with the bars on the underside where the loop breaks would otherwise be. There is basically no backlighting support because the colors and plastics are too dark and thick. These are thus very thick PBT keycaps with an average wall thickness of 1.45 mm instead of the usual ~1.3–1.35 mm, and in total, we have 158 keycaps, 108 for the full-size keyboard layout with media control keys and an additional 50 for different options and colors. The legends themselves are very clean and well applied, and the contrasting colors compensate for the lack of backlighting. The PBT keycaps are also smooth to the touch, which negates the issue with PBT keycaps being too grippy or rough.