Tai Hao Sakura Michi Keycaps Review

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for more mechanical keyboard content. Having switched over from Ducky's Halloween set to Tai Hao's Sakura Michi, I have been putting these new set of PBT key caps through the ringer as my work daily. Having posted my initial impressions of this beautiful set from the famed Taiwanese key cap manufacturer, Tai Hao, here are my full impressions of the set after one month of use.

Starting with the basics, the Sakura Michi is a set of double shot PBT key caps manufactured by Tai Hao released sometime back in April 2020. Because of the pandemic, initial distribution of these key caps were a little slow with my set only arriving sometime in August. The entire set consists of 140 keys hence, explaining the higher than usual NT$ 1,800 (65 USD) price point. Aside from a myriad of additional keys for compatibility across a wide range of keyboards, the Sakura Michi set also comes in a unique Eco-friendly packaging that I have never seen before on any of their keyboards.

Despite having 140 keys to choose from, Tai Hao did not include a 2 unit right Shift key that is utilized by the popular Ducky One 2 SF, our keyboard of choice for this review. This is hardly an issue as the "0/Ins" key can be put in its place without affecting the overall color gradient of the key caps.

Unlit, the Sakura Michi's have a very lovely pastel pink to peach gradient tone that was the main attraction for purchasing these key caps. Aside from the lovely color, these key caps also tick all the usual boxes when it comes to a high quality set of key caps that we expect from today's market such as double-shot injection and the use of PBT. Aside from being more resilient, PBT is also able to recreate pastel colors better than ABS.While they may not be as vibrant, the pastel keys have a very uniform and matte color that are very pleasant to look at.

As with most of Tai Hao's more premium PBT key caps, these are fully shine through with the SMD LEDs from the Ducky One 2 SF shining brightly through each of the key's legend and fonts. There is no change in the font used for this set although, they are colored pink to match the look of the entire set. As such, the color of the font may not necessarily match the color of the back light.

Under a good RGB back light like that of the Ducky One 2 SF with its white back plate, the Sakura Michi look exceptionally good as they are bathed in a sea of rainbow colors. All the while, the fonts themselves convey a slightly different color. What you end up with is an almost tri-tone of colors which, if done right, can convey a look rarely seen with other key caps.

One caveat does still remain though. As mentioned earlier, the choice of back light color are absolutely crucial in getting the desired look. Choose something too bright or overbearing and it may end up overpowering the set instead. Thus, losing the desired gradient look that these key caps comes with.As such, quite a bit of experimentation is necessary in getting the careful color balance.

The set comes with two space bar variants. One with the Sakura Michi katakana writing and another without it, I chose the former. Both space bars are absolutely identical. Neither, on my set, had any signs of warping and while they did allow some degree of light permeability, were neither too thin walled either.

The font and legends by Tai Hao are easily one of the best for double-shot PBT at the moment. Each one shines through clearly with sharp and clean edges. Coupled with a back light that can make the most of the pink fonts and you have a look that makes the font appear almost painted on!

Softer colors may struggle to penetrate the pink colored fonts but, I found that to be of little issue throughout my time with these key caps. Having used the 65% layout for the better part of a year now, I had no issue touch typing immediately upon switching to this new set. Key recognition was clearly not an issue and it did not prove to be one either for any of my other colleagues who had happened to use my keyboard too.

The unique modifiers on the Ducky One 2 SF did not have to suffer the same fate as my right Shift key as Tai Hao did have suitable replacements provided with the set. While I had pretty much remember many of the One 2 SF's shortcuts by heart. This was certainly helpful for other people who had not used the keyboard before.

In terms of typing experience, there is hardly anything I can fault with the Sakura Michi. They have the same chalky textured surface as most other Tai Hao PBT key caps. A surface texture that I really desire because it adds an added layer of tactility to my typing especially when typing quickly. The textured keys helped me stay with the home row more frequently and accurately.

That being said, I do certainly understand that surface texture is very much a subjective matter. Some typist prefer a smooth surface while some may even find that the Tai Hao ones are textured enough. Unfortunately, this is something that is a little too hard to explain in writing or pictures. I will say this though, if you have every felt a Tai Hao PBT key cap set before, the Sakura Michi is not too dissimilar if not, a little smoother.

When it comes down to objective measures, it is really difficult to fault the Tai Hao Sakura Michi in any shape of form. A properly constructed and durable set of PBT key caps which look good and are also fairly priced. It is hard not to recommend the Sakura Michi. The only trouble is getting your hands on one of these. 

With that, we come to the end of this review. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them in the comments section below. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!