Author Topic: FC660M Review  (Read 42491 times)

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Offline eyesmiles

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FC660M Review
« on: Mon, 03 June 2013, 20:07:27 »
Hello all.

Yes, you are not seeing things. Your screen does not need to be adjusted. Yes … this is a review for the Leopold FC660 M . You may be wondering, why is it not a FC660C? Why no topRAH? Well … the easiest way to put it is … EK is out of the FC660C, I didn’t feel like lurking Classifieds for one and I got curious regarding the Cherry MX version. If only I waited a few days, I would’ve ordered one through qtan instead of proxy-ing one through Bhiner. I know there have been a few reviews over at KBDMania, but I felt it wouldn’t hurt to see one in English. Anyways … here we go.



Unlike the FC660C, the box for the FC660M is quite plain. It reminds me of the box for the FC200R. Bhiner decided to wrap it in yellow tape for some odd reason, so bear with me and the pictures. I managed to peel off the tape on the label. For those who want to know, the 5 little boxes on the bottom right of the label are for switch choice. The 2nd from the left is for White shaft, or MX Clears, for those not in Asia. The mini USB port is on the top right side of the keyboard.

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The keyboard itself didn’t come with a plastic cover like TKL or full sized boards. It comes wrapped in plastic. The FC660M comes with the usual USB to mini USB cable, the manual to show what the dipswitch disables/enables, and extra PBT keycaps. It would’ve been nice to get thick keycaps, but I guess you can't have it all.

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I tried to do my best to get a shot of the profile of the PBT keycaps that came with the board. The keycap in the far back is OEM profile, followed by the FC660M keycap, GMK, and IMSTO thick. The profile for the 660M is slightly taller than cherry profile. It reminds me a bit of SP’s profile.

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Now on to what everybody wants to know: Did Leopold use its own random spacebar? The answer … They sure did. While the EK Universal spacebar comes really close, it’s not close enough.

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Mechanical keyboards are like Barbie dolls. We like to dress them up. Don’t deny it ;) . Here is the FC660M with IMSTO thick PBT with Hangul. If you have another 2.25x Shift key to match your set, you can make it work. The 1x Windows key is sandwiched between a 1.25x Control and Alt key. The Alt, Control and FN key are 1.25x as well. The spacebar is 6.25x. In the picture, you can tell that the spacebar is just sitting on the switch stem. I’ll probably harvest some stems off some spare keycaps and epoxy putty them onto a spacebar to make it fit.

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Overall Impression

I enjoy stock Cherry MX Clears so it didn’t take long to start typing away. The switches are plate mounted and as usual the plate gives the board that heft when carried. The stabilizers are Cherry plate mounted, like all Leopolds. The layout is starting to grow on me. While I do believe the Insert and Delete keys look out of place, you get to appreciate the Delete key instead of hitting FN Backspace like on the Poker. So far the only thing that has bugged me is the stock keycaps. The print already looked like they were fading once sunlight hit it when I removed the keyboard of the box. The tops of the keycaps are quite flat as well. Aside from the usual gripe of the non-standard spacebar, the FC660M is quite a nice 60%-ish (66% I guess) keyboard. I will probably take it apart later on to check out of the controller and see why there are notches/spaces near some of the switches. The plate is not a phantom plate per-say, but it got me curious as to why there are holes in certain places.

Hopefully this brief review can help other decide whether or not they want to purchase an FC660M. Thanks for reading guys. :)

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #1 on: Mon, 03 June 2013, 21:20:04 »
Nice write-up!

If I ever switch to a smaller board I know where to turn for clears.

Offline Lbeuol

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 04 June 2013, 02:32:41 »
Oh wow I didn't even know these came in clears, I really like the look of the 660s

Offline Latin00032

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 04 June 2013, 05:15:14 »
So to clarify, which space bars can I use?

You said it was its own random size but you were still able to replace it.

Offline aggiejy

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 04 June 2013, 09:22:56 »
Nice writeup!  I hope to get one soon.

Offline Grimey

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 04 June 2013, 11:29:39 »
So to clarify, which space bars can I use?

You said it was its own random size but you were still able to replace it.

Looks like a Leopold 500R to me.  He said in his review that the spacebar is juts sitting on their for looks, so it doesn't appear that he created on that works.

Making a spacebar for this isn't a terrible amount of work if it is the 500r version.  Epoxy, stem grinding if needed, and stem harvesting would do that trick, it just really is lame that manufacturers still do this though.
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Offline insilica

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 07 June 2013, 18:17:23 »
Thx for taking the time to review the 660M. I wish someone would do what you've done but for the 660C, showing key cap configuration and whether Realforce/HHKB keys can be substituted on the 660C.

When I get mine (hopefully this week) I will see whether the keys on my 87u fit so that I can order some RF keys for the 660C.
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Offline grips

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #7 on: Sat, 08 June 2013, 12:35:47 »
I also picked up an FC660M. I got the board on the same day that I got my Realforce and I was mostly interested in the Topre board. I played with the Leo for a little bit, quite sure that it wasn't at all my style of board. I had gotten it instead of the C version because I didn't want to spend more money than I already had and I thought it would be a good portable board for the times when I might want to take some decent typing interface elsewhere. The keys were too stiff for me after messing around on the board (without it being hooked up), and I was quite sure that I was going to sell it.

However, last night, I decided to give it a real chance and hooked it up to my PC, thoroughly expecting it to be unpleasurable for me to type on. What I found was that if I didn't bottom out (which was a very easy not to do with the stiff springs) then the board felt wonderful. It's still hooked up to my PC right now and I'm typing this post with it. Right now, I'm not sure when I will return to my Ducky with blues. It may actually convert me to preferring clear switches on my MX boards.

In short, the board was surprisingly great after I learned to adjust to the different type of switches. The only real negative that I have with the board is that if they were going to make a 60%+ board, I wish they would have added 2 more utility keys underneath Insert and Delete. Really, who needs a dedicated Insert button? Page Down and Page Up would have been good for my style of programming.


Offline blissdev

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 17:37:13 »
Hi, thanks for the review. I'm curious where you picked this up? Thanks!
Leopold FC660C - Maybe Ergodox?

Offline grips

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 16 June 2013, 18:26:03 »
Hi, thanks for the review. I'm curious where you picked this up? Thanks!

I picked mine up from qtan5370 who sells from China.

Offline TimIsABat

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #10 on: Wed, 19 June 2013, 16:00:50 »
You were right about he keycaps being different (compared them to the KBC Blank Black caps that I got from Feng [now waiting for my Poker X to put them on :P])

It is a pretty solid board and a good introduction into 60%ish boards (specially for those who don't want to do away with dedicated arrow keys just yet).
The flatness of the keys kinda throws me off a bit especially coming from a standard membrane board.
Leopold FC660M MX Reds | Poker X 62g  Ergoclear modded and plate modded (out of comission) | IBM Model M 1391401 | Dell AT101 | Compaq RT101 | HHKB Pro 2 | WASD CODE TKL MX Clears

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Offline kelske

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 02 July 2013, 16:09:35 »
Just got my one of these yesterday.

These really are built like a tank! More solid than the 660C even. The case plastic seems more robust. Interestingly the case plastic is black, where as the 660C is a dark grey. Significantly heavier too (all that solder on the PCB?  :)) )

If anyone's interested in a more detailed write up of the differences between the C and M let me know - there's already lots of great feedback on here about each one specifically.
HHKB Type-S 55g - FC660M - FC210TP

Offline Hypersphere

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 06 July 2013, 11:01:50 »
Hello all.
...

Hopefully this brief review can help other decide whether or not they want to purchase an FC660M. Thanks for reading guys. :)

On the FC660M (Cherry switches), the "Windows" key is 1.00X, but on the FC660C (Topre switches), it appears to be 1.25X. Will a 1.25X modifier fit in the Windows key space on the FC660M? Thanks.

Offline TimIsABat

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 06 July 2013, 22:26:18 »
Just got my one of these yesterday.

These really are built like a tank! More solid than the 660C even. The case plastic seems more robust. Interestingly the case plastic is black, where as the 660C is a dark grey. Significantly heavier too (all that solder on the PCB?  :)) )

If anyone's interested in a more detailed write up of the differences between the C and M let me know - there's already lots of great feedback on here about each one specifically.

I have one with reds. It is kind of awkward to type on because of the smaller keycap size so accidental keypresses happen alot at first, but you get used to it. I still prefer my poker x after changing the keycaps to PBT, and will probably like the ergo-clear mod that I will be doing in the future. They just started selling these on EK with mx blues and browns, but they are selling them with blank PBT which looks amazing. Tempted to buy them with blues for home just for the keycaps. Hopefully someone will sell the blank caps separately soon.
Leopold FC660M MX Reds | Poker X 62g  Ergoclear modded and plate modded (out of comission) | IBM Model M 1391401 | Dell AT101 | Compaq RT101 | HHKB Pro 2 | WASD CODE TKL MX Clears

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Offline SeriouSSpotS

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #14 on: Sun, 07 July 2013, 12:25:10 »
Good review ;D
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Offline Hypersphere

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #15 on: Tue, 09 July 2013, 16:46:20 »
Hello all.
...
I tried to do my best to get a shot of the profile of the PBT keycaps that came with the board. The keycap in the far back is OEM profile, followed by the FC660M keycap, GMK, and IMSTO thick. The profile for the 660M is slightly taller than cherry profile. It reminds me a bit of SP’s profile.
...

Now on to what everybody wants to know: Did Leopold use its own random spacebar? The answer … They sure did. While the EK Universal spacebar comes really close, it’s not close enough.

Mechanical keyboards are like Barbie dolls. We like to dress them up. Don’t deny it ;) . Here is the FC660M with IMSTO thick PBT with Hangul. If you have another 2.25x Shift key to match your set, you can make it work. The 1x Windows key is sandwiched between a 1.25x Control and Alt key. The Alt, Control and FN key are 1.25x as well. The spacebar is 6.25x. In the picture, you can tell that the spacebar is just sitting on the switch stem. I’ll probably harvest some stems off some spare keycaps and epoxy putty them onto a spacebar to make it fit. 

Thanks again for the review. This helped me decide to order the FC660M, which arrived today. Although the feel of the stock keycaps is okay, I would like to change at least the alpha keys to white or off-white with black or dark gray legends, and possibly leave the surrounding modifier keys as they are, at least for now. However, would there be too much of a difference in the profile to do this? What about replacing everything except the unique spacebar?

Offline TimIsABat

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #16 on: Tue, 09 July 2013, 22:55:35 »
Hello all.
...
I tried to do my best to get a shot of the profile of the PBT keycaps that came with the board. The keycap in the far back is OEM profile, followed by the FC660M keycap, GMK, and IMSTO thick. The profile for the 660M is slightly taller than cherry profile. It reminds me a bit of SP’s profile.
...

Now on to what everybody wants to know: Did Leopold use its own random spacebar? The answer … They sure did. While the EK Universal spacebar comes really close, it’s not close enough.

Mechanical keyboards are like Barbie dolls. We like to dress them up. Don’t deny it ;) . Here is the FC660M with IMSTO thick PBT with Hangul. If you have another 2.25x Shift key to match your set, you can make it work. The 1x Windows key is sandwiched between a 1.25x Control and Alt key. The Alt, Control and FN key are 1.25x as well. The spacebar is 6.25x. In the picture, you can tell that the spacebar is just sitting on the switch stem. I’ll probably harvest some stems off some spare keycaps and epoxy putty them onto a spacebar to make it fit. 

Thanks again for the review. This helped me decide to order the FC660M, which arrived today. Although the feel of the stock keycaps is okay, I would like to change at least the alpha keys to white or off-white with black or dark gray legends, and possibly leave the surrounding modifier keys as they are, at least for now. However, would there be too much of a difference in the profile to do this? What about replacing everything except the unique spacebar?

I changed the keys to a blank black PBT set one day and yeah the profile is different, noticeably different. You really get used to the keys after a while and would prolly feel a lot better with heavier springed switchs (i really should've ordered that board with clears). Suggestion is to just wait. Or try out SP caps since they are smaller in profile.
Leopold FC660M MX Reds | Poker X 62g  Ergoclear modded and plate modded (out of comission) | IBM Model M 1391401 | Dell AT101 | Compaq RT101 | HHKB Pro 2 | WASD CODE TKL MX Clears

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Offline Hypersphere

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #17 on: Thu, 18 July 2013, 15:41:04 »
I am really liking the layout, form factor, and feel of the Leopold FC660M (with Cherry Blues). According to feedback I received from EK, the FC660M was redesigned from the ground up -- it is not just an FC660C with Cherries instead of Topres.

The board feels really solid --at least as solid as my Filco TKL -- and I appreciated the Cherry stabilizers when replacing the keycaps on the stabilized keys.

Using 2 sets of gray Cyrillic and 1 set of white Cyrillic keycaps from Originative, I did a two-tone customization. The extra gray set was just to get a second left-shift (the right-shift is the same size as the left-shift on this board). The only original keycaps I left were the 1x Win, 1.25x Fn, and the 6x spacebar. I am not totally satisfied with the look (the gray is too dark and the 3 stock caps are much too dark), but the white alphas brighten up the board and make the keys legible. In any event, using 3 sets of keycaps for one board is expensive! 

The 66-key layout is just about perfect -- standard layout for typing, inclusion of arrow keys, and a highly intuitive and uncrowded Fn layer. The two isolated Nav keys (Insert and Delete) seem odd at first, but I actually use Insert and it is good to have a separate Delete key in addition to Backspace. I use a Mac, and I use System Prefs to remap the CapsLock to Command and leave the other modifiers as they are. The only thing I might want to change about the FC660M layout is to exchange Fn with right-Control, but I quickly got accustomed to the default.

The main issue with the FC660M for me is the current lack of availability of extra left-shift keycaps and the non-standard spacebar. This is enough of a problem to  create indecision between adopting the FC660M (or its Topre cousin, the FC660C) and a standard layout TKL board. I need to do some side by side comparisons between the FC660M and my Filco MJ2 TKL Ninja (with Blue Cherries and Classic Beige with Blue keycaps from Originative) to get a better idea of which form factor and layout I prefer.

It might be i interesting to run a poll to gauge layout preferences between the FC660M and TKL boards.





Offline eyesmiles

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #18 on: Thu, 18 July 2013, 20:24:20 »
I almost forgot I did a review of the FC660M :)) Apologies rjrich for not responding to your comments, or rather responding really late. Having to find another 2.25x Shift I think is one of the 660M's annoyances unless you purchase from WASDkeyboards a single key or like during lysol/ivan's GMK DS modifier GB and grab one of the extras he had available for sale aside from the sets. While it's convenient that I have 5 different sets of imsto thick pbts to play with, not many would be willing to blow that much on key cap sets. The key cap profile of the stock key caps can blend fairly well with anything that's cherry profile. I've harvested some stems off some spare caps for the space bar and epoxy putty'd it onto a thick pbt space bar I had. I'll post pictures when I get around to it.

They layout of the 660M is something I've grown to enjoy. I believe most people shy away from it purely due to a aesthetic viewpoint; that it's not as clean and simple looking as say the Poker X/II and Pure. I still have some moments where I miss having a function row though. Glad to see you're enjoying the FC660M rjrich.

Offline ImperfectLink

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #19 on: Tue, 23 July 2013, 14:17:11 »
Can anyone confirm whether it's possible to switch the Win/Alt and FN/Win simultaneously? The goal would be to have that small 1x key on the bottom left become 'alt' and the left alt become 'Fn'.

Offline eyesmiles

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #20 on: Tue, 23 July 2013, 17:56:09 »
Dip Switch 2 swaps the Win with the left Alt
Dip Switch 3 swaps Win with Fn

I think that makes it possible. I'll try it when I get home.

Offline ImperfectLink

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #21 on: Mon, 29 July 2013, 19:31:18 »
Did ya try it?

 ;)

Offline listokei

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #22 on: Mon, 12 August 2013, 06:51:43 »
Great review!
Thank you ^^

Offline PadawanGeek

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #23 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 06:30:18 »
Very nice review there! I'm stoked, more stoked than getting a YOTS which should be in by this weekend. I'd gotten someone to get me an FC660M and should be getting it in two weeks or so. It'd be my first Clear KB and I can't wait to give it a go....

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #24 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 07:02:55 »
Very nice review there! I'm stoked, more stoked than getting a YOTS which should be in by this weekend. I'd gotten someone to get me an FC660M and should be getting it in two weeks or so. It'd be my first Clear KB and I can't wait to give it a go....

Interested to see what your impressions are.

Offline Hypersphere

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #25 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 11:45:30 »
Now I've had more time to try out the Leopold FC660M and compare it with other keyboards. I have evaluated 8 keyboards (IBM Model M, IBM SSK, CM QF Stealth TKL, Filco MJ2 Ninja TKL, Leopold FC660M, Matias Mini Tactile Pro, Tex Beetle, and Poker II). All the Cherry-switch boards were blues except for the CM, which had greens. The Matias had Matias Alps-based switches. Based on speed and accuracy in online typing tests and my perceptions of build quality, typing feel, sound, and appearance, I found that the best of this group was the IBM SSK. The CM QF Stealth TKL with Cherry greens came in second, and the Leopold's position was in the middle.


Offline rowdy

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #26 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 17:27:24 »
Now I've had more time to try out the Leopold FC660M and compare it with other keyboards. I have evaluated 8 keyboards (IBM Model M, IBM SSK, CM QF Stealth TKL, Filco MJ2 Ninja TKL, Leopold FC660M, Matias Mini Tactile Pro, Tex Beetle, and Poker II). All the Cherry-switch boards were blues except for the CM, which had greens. The Matias had Matias Alps-based switches. Based on speed and accuracy in online typing tests and my perceptions of build quality, typing feel, sound, and appearance, I found that the best of this group was the IBM SSK. The CM QF Stealth TKL with Cherry greens came in second, and the Leopold's position was in the middle.

IBM must have done something right back then!

Have you tried Topre yet?  E.g. FC660C?
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Offline herbyscrub

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #27 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 18:09:27 »
I got mine from Qtan's store fairly quickly.  It's pretty nice, just slightly bigger than my Poker2.

Offline Hypersphere

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #28 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 18:23:35 »
My Leopold FC660C (Topre switch version) is still on backorder from EK.com. Because of my fondness for buckling springs, and knowing that in the Cherry family I prefer greens, I anticipate not liking Topres, but I need to find out firsthand. After it arrives, I will post my impressions.

Offline rowdy

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #29 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 18:38:53 »
My Leopold FC660C (Topre switch version) is still on backorder from EK.com. Because of my fondness for buckling springs, and knowing that in the Cherry family I prefer greens, I anticipate not liking Topres, but I need to find out firsthand. After it arrives, I will post my impressions.

When you do get it, give yourself a week or two with it.  Topre is somewhat different to MX, and quite different to BS.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

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Offline aggiejy

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #30 on: Tue, 20 August 2013, 23:45:30 »
I've been using the FC660C as pretty much my sole keyboard since April.  I've been using the FC660M for a couple weeks now and I'm nearly equally impressed.  I guess it's just the layout I'm in love with. :)  I do like the texture of the stock keys... I took them off right away on the 660M, but thinking about putting them back on.  Such a shame to have an MX board without different keys though. :)  Anyway... highly recommend this keyboard, *especially* for the price.

Offline Hypersphere

  • Posts: 1886
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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #31 on: Wed, 21 August 2013, 00:35:31 »
I've been using the FC660C as pretty much my sole keyboard since April.  I've been using the FC660M for a couple weeks now and I'm nearly equally impressed.  I guess it's just the layout I'm in love with. :)  I do like the texture of the stock keys... I took them off right away on the 660M, but thinking about putting them back on.  Such a shame to have an MX board without different keys though. :)  Anyway... highly recommend this keyboard, *especially* for the price.

Just curious: was your FC660M made by Leopold in Korea or by Leopold-China? I have an FC660M (Korea), and I expect delivery of an FC660C very soon. Having tried IBM buckling springs; Matias Alps-like switches; Cherry blues, browns, and greens; I am eager to try Topres for comparison.

For whatever reason, I find that my typing speed and accuracy on the FC660M falls in the middle of a group of 9 keyboards I have recently tested. Likewise, when I factor in such considerations as perceived build quality, typing feel and sound, and appearance, the FC660M still ranks in the middle of the pack.

The layout of the FC660 line is a step in the right direction, but I would prefer 4 keys above the right-arrow key (Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End), moving Insert to Fn+I, and moving Delete to Fn+Backspace. Perhaps programmability, firmware, or DIP switches could be used to enable users to select the identity of these keys. I would also favor moving the arrow cluster another half-key to the left, and accommodating this by shortening the right-shift to 1.75x and reducing the size of the right-side modifiers. These revisions would improve both the functionality and symmetry of the board.

What about keycaps? If I wanted to replace keycaps on the Topre-switch FC660C, where could I find them? As for keycaps for the Cherry-switch FC660M, this is not as problematic. The short right-shift key is the same size as a left-shift key, and so it is a matter of having an extra or using two sets. However, where can you get replacement spacebars with the correct mounting post spacing? Of course, you can harvest posts and epoxy them in place, but I would prefer to find a ready-made spacebar if possible.

In any event, with some appropriate tweaks, the Leopold FC660M and FC660C could be truly great keyboards.
« Last Edit: Wed, 21 August 2013, 11:09:27 by rjrich »

Offline Thimplum

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #32 on: Wed, 21 August 2013, 09:59:09 »
I REALLY like the look of that layout.


Good review!
TP4 FOR ADMIN 2013

Offline Hypersphere

  • Posts: 1886
  • Location: USA
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #33 on: Sun, 25 August 2013, 00:04:05 »
Just got my one of these yesterday.

These really are built like a tank! More solid than the 660C even. The case plastic seems more robust. Interestingly the case plastic is black, where as the 660C is a dark grey. Significantly heavier too (all that solder on the PCB?  :)) )

If anyone's interested in a more detailed write up of the differences between the C and M let me know - there's already lots of great feedback on here about each one specifically.
Yes. I would be very interested in a detailed comparison between the FC660M and FC660C. I would also be interested in information about how to get replacement keycaps for each. I have managed to replace the caps on my FC660M by combining two sets to take care of the shorter right shift key, but finding a spacebar with the correct stem spacing has proved difficult. Yesterday I discovered that a Keycool 84 spacebar will fit, and now I am looking for Keycool 84 spacebars that do not have the Keycool logo printed on them. Finding Topre keycaps for the FC660C is going to be even more difficult and expensive, I expect.

Offline Whovian

  • Posts: 4
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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #34 on: Sun, 25 August 2013, 16:34:10 »
I also have this keyboard with clears, and I love it for the most part.

I really do dislike these keycaps though. The profile is much more flat then I'm used to, and the surface is very gritty and rough. I'm looking for replacement keycaps for these, I think that would really make this my favorite board.

Offline Hypersphere

  • Posts: 1886
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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #35 on: Sun, 25 August 2013, 17:08:41 »
I've done a couple of keycap replacements on the FC660M. One used grey modifiers and white alphas from the dye sub Cyrillic sets from Originative. However, these keycaps have a similar feel to the stock keycaps. For a smoother feel, I harvested white on black doubleshot ABS keycaps from Cherry keyboards purchased from eBay. The board looks great with the Cherry caps, but I prefer the feel of PBT. The Cyrillic set looks too busy to me with both English and Cyrillic characters on the alpha keys, so I am looking for other dye sub PBT sets. I found that the spacebar from a Keycool 84 fits the Leopold FC660M, and I have ordered a blank white PBT set and a blank black POM set from the Banggood site, mainly for the spacebars.

Offline Whovian

  • Posts: 4
  • Location: California, US
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #36 on: Sun, 25 August 2013, 17:45:09 »
I've done a couple of keycap replacements on the FC660M. One used grey modifiers and white alphas from the dye sub Cyrillic sets from Originative. However, these keycaps have a similar feel to the stock keycaps. For a smoother feel, I harvested white on black doubleshot ABS keycaps from Cherry keyboards purchased from eBay. The board looks great with the Cherry caps, but I prefer the feel of PBT. The Cyrillic set looks too busy to me with both English and Cyrillic characters on the alpha keys, so I am looking for other dye sub PBT sets. I found that the spacebar from a Keycool 84 fits the Leopold FC660M, and I have ordered a blank white PBT set and a blank black POM set from the Banggood site, mainly for the spacebars.

Ooh, I saw that post the other day as well. I read that banggood is reliable but shipping takes like a month. I might get that set too, they were insanely cheap for a PBT set.

The roughness of the Leopold FC660M caps is a lot different from the thick PBT surface of the Poker 2 caps, which didn't have that gritty feel.

Offline PadawanGeek

  • Posts: 709
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #37 on: Sun, 25 August 2013, 21:32:03 »
I'd be getting my FC660M in a week or so, kind of stoked as it'd be my first Leopold and my first Clear KB. From the comments here, seems like I may have to look into swapping our the key caps.....but will decide only fatre trying out the stock key caps.

Offline TimIsABat

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #38 on: Mon, 26 August 2013, 21:35:05 »
I'd be getting my FC660M in a week or so, kind of stoked as it'd be my first Leopold and my first Clear KB. From the comments here, seems like I may have to look into swapping our the key caps.....but will decide only fatre trying out the stock key caps.

If you are used to SP keycaps then you should be fine. If not, you might have a learning curve. I switched out the caps except for the shift keys, and the spacebar. The profile difference is off, but I manage.
Leopold FC660M MX Reds | Poker X 62g  Ergoclear modded and plate modded (out of comission) | IBM Model M 1391401 | Dell AT101 | Compaq RT101 | HHKB Pro 2 | WASD CODE TKL MX Clears

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Offline Hypersphere

  • Posts: 1886
  • Location: USA
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #39 on: Mon, 26 August 2013, 22:48:42 »
I'd be getting my FC660M in a week or so, kind of stoked as it'd be my first Leopold and my first Clear KB. From the comments here, seems like I may have to look into swapping our the key caps.....but will decide only fatre trying out the stock key caps.
No need to swap out keycaps unless you really don't like the stock caps, which are PBT and feel fine. Some of us swap out caps just because we can, or to mark our territory, as it were. One of my reasons was that I wanted something more legible than the stock caps.

Today I got some dye sub thick PBT sets from Feng's eBay store. The white and gray set with blue legends looks especially good and, because it is PBT, it also feels great. The only issue is that this set has a white center-step caps lock instead of a gray one. In addition, it will take two matching sets in order to get the extra left shift to use as a right shift on the FC660M and, if you want to swap out the space bar, the only solution I have found so far is to use one from a Keycool 84.

In my case, I used the caps lock and left shift from another dye sub PBT set that I had from Originative; I also used the black on white arrows from this extra set to set them off from the light gray modifiers. Despite the fact that the Keycool spacebar has a slightly higher profile than the bottom row modifiers, I think that the end result looks good.

Before I did this latest swap, I had populated the board with doubleshot white on black keycaps that I had harvested from Cherry boards I bought from eBay. This looked good, but some of the keys were very shiny, and the ABS did not feel or sound as good as PBT. After the latest transformation using the dye sub thick PBT sets, the board looks great and feels good again. My typing speed and accuracy have also increased, as assessed by online typing tests. PBT keycaps feel better to me than ABS keycaps, but I can only speculate about why my typing is better with PBT keycaps.
« Last Edit: Wed, 28 August 2013, 22:35:06 by rjrich »

Offline PadawanGeek

  • Posts: 709
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #40 on: Thu, 29 August 2013, 22:20:12 »
I don't believe I'd be swapping out the key caps on the FC660M, I've always preferred PBT key caps anyway......well, OK, may be the Esc key. I'm arranging to pick it up from the guy who'd imported it for me tonight, will tinker with it for a while, but my attention is a little divided as I'm still having fun with my YOTS which I'd gotten three days ago......the lighting effects are da shizznizzle! :thumb:

Offline Whovian

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #41 on: Fri, 30 August 2013, 23:40:56 »
I don't believe I'd be swapping out the key caps on the FC660M, I've always preferred PBT key caps anyway......well, OK, may be the Esc key. I'm arranging to pick it up from the guy who'd imported it for me tonight, will tinker with it for a while, but my attention is a little divided as I'm still having fun with my YOTS which I'd gotten three days ago......the lighting effects are da shizznizzle! :thumb:

The PBT caps on the 660m are unusually rough to me, and they are pretty flat. Simple preference though! Enjoy your keyboard  :thumb:

Offline PadawanGeek

  • Posts: 709
Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #42 on: Sat, 31 August 2013, 00:55:18 »
You're right, it does feel flat compared to those on my Topre.....still, I like the feel of PBT key caps so I doubt if I would change much. Anyway, collected mine this morning and she's a beaut!  :thumb:

Offline anoxy

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #43 on: Thu, 29 May 2014, 18:19:53 »
edit: nvm
« Last Edit: Thu, 29 May 2014, 20:18:47 by anoxy »

Offline ideus

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #44 on: Wed, 04 June 2014, 21:51:54 »
Just for your information, the KC84 blank PBT set has a spacebar that fits the FC660M, I bought one and I can confirm it. Also, according with other GH member the KC87 set has the same space bar that fits the FC660M.

Offline anoxy

  • Posts: 216
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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #45 on: Wed, 04 June 2014, 22:08:18 »
Yeah, I just ordered a white PBT set from banggood for the spacebar. I'm still kinda bummed, because it won't match my off-white hellgrau set perfectly. I could mod always mod the spacebar, but that's more effort than I care to make.

Offline Fragil1ty

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #46 on: Thu, 26 June 2014, 02:09:18 »
Images are broken. :(
你搞砸了

Offline eyesmiles

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Re: FC660M Review
« Reply #47 on: Fri, 27 June 2014, 12:44:48 »
I think imageshack did something with my account. I'll re-up the images when I get the chance on the weekend with imgur.