Possible to like Cherry Blues AND Topre side by side?

[Wonko73]

Hi,

I got two Keyboards for my machines: A Filco minila air (blue) for my Macbook Air and a Filco TKL Ninja (blue) for my Linux machine.

Last days a read a lot of threads here, because I was searching for PBT keycaps for the Filco TKL. (-> I ordered some blank blue and grey Ducky caps now and they should arrive next week).

Reading a lot of postings I found, that often Topre boards are ment to be "the holy gral" of keyboards, especially the HHKB 2 and the Realforce keyboards.

Well - I thought about getting another keyboard, that might replace the Filco Minila Air. The Filco is great, but  somehow I don't like the idea, that I will never find fitting PBT keycaps for this very special layout.

Now my Question:

I like mechanical keyboards and cherry mx blue switches. I don't like the artifical feeling of cheep rubberdome keyboards (... I have to use such a crappy thing at work). On the other hand I like the feeling of the older Thinkpad-Boards, which have a kind of rubberdome.

Do you think, people who like blue cherry switches "can" like topre switches, too? Should I risk to order such a keyboard? There won't be a reseller in Germany for me, so it'll be quite hard to give it back if should not like it...

[henz]

Nova touch has topre switches with mx sliders, which means you can put whatever mx keycaps you want on a topre board.

[Veridis]

Do you think, people who like blue cherry switches "can" like topre switches, too? Should I risk to order such a keyboard? There won't be a reseller in Germany for me, so it'll be quite hard to give it back if should not like it...

There is no reason that someone who likes any MX switch cannot like Topre.. They are too different to be compared IMHO. The only way to know is to use one for a few weeks.
If you don't like it after a few months, sell it off and take the small loss as a learning experience.

[Sent]

There is no reason that someone who likes any MX switch cannot like Topre.. They are too different to be compared IMHO. The only way to know is to use one for a few weeks.
If you don't like it after a few months, sell it off and take the small loss as a learning experience.

Very much this.  This hobby is subjective as all hell.  Take all of the opinions you read here as just that.  Opinions.  They're not the end all answer for every member.  Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to bite that bullet and order a board with certain switches to really figure out if you'll like it or not.

[saturnotaku]

My favorite Cherry MX switches are Browns and Reds, but I prefer Topre over them. For a while I used my MX Filco at work and a Realforce at home and had no issues going back and forth between them.

[Rewind]

If it means anything to you, I'm a Topre user and my favorite Cherry switch is MX blue.

[hwood34]

Really no way to know unless you try it. There are plenty of people here who like both topre and MX. And don't belive the topre propaganda, MX is the true master race

[a_ak57]

I don't think it's really a thing where all the topre users hate cherry, they just prefer topre.  I would say that's probably true of those who prefer cherry to topre as well.  Things usually aren't so binary.

[esoomenona]

.

[rowdy]

I like Topre (HHKB), buckling spring (Model M) and various MX (mainly black and green) equally.

At least I rotate them out regularly, and don't experience feelings of loss when I switch from one to another.

[tbc]

i'm a hardcore mx blue lover at home and both clears and topre are my switches of choice for the office

[qihqi]

You can like several, and often quiet different, things at the same time. I like blue a lot (coming from my love for buckling spring) and use a topre at home.
Just try it.

[epzy]

I like 45g/55g Topre and MX Blues, so yes, it's very possible. I also like ergo clears, linears and capacative buckling springs.

[jameslr]

Buy all the keyboards and try them all! I love topre and mx both. I prefer topre to mx though. Favorite mx switch is clear. Current daily driver is my novatouch. My filco is modded with stock clears.

[Jokrik]

I know a few people who can adjust from Blues to topre pretty fast and own various boards with various switches
I myself is a clicky guy and can never understand or get into the tactile,liner or topre world
so it's the matter of personal preference . You might wanna give it a try first if possible (although judging from your post it's not possible )

[soleusrex]

I'd be somewhat surprised if anyone who played games preferred Topre exclusively. Obviously you can make Topre gaming work if you really want to--you can game with any keyboard, that's not saying much. But Topre switches strike me as so obviously sub-optimal for gaming that, when I find people who use only Topre, I assume they're just interested in text. At any rate, for me it's Topre for work, MX Blue for play.

[frosty]

What about me? I dislike mx blues and topre side by side so.... yea hehe. Since it's possible to dislike them both side by side I'm sure there's someone (and that may be you!) who likes them both side by side.

[jacobolus]

Feelings about MX blue and Topre switches are entirely orthogonal: personally I don’t like either of them!

(By the way, don’t try e.g. a Model F, a beam spring board, an SMK “monterey” blue board, or a clicky Alps board, or you might never be able to go back to MX blue.)

[Hypersphere]

Tastes can vary. They can be all-encompassing or highly selective, and they can change over time.

It's possible to like fast food sometimes and at other times to prefer haute cuisine.

In my own case, I started with a Filco Majestouch 2 TKL Ninja with mx blues. Then I discovered the IBM Model M. Later I was charmed by an IBM SSK. More recently, I realized I much preferred IBM Model F capacitive buckling spring switches, and so I bought an XT on eBay and converted it to USB with Soarer's converter.

Currently, my favorites are Topre switches. I have a HHKB Pro 2, which I like for its 60% form factor and great layout; I also have a RF 87ub 55g, which I like for the overall build quality, superb sound and feel of the 55g Topre switches, and beautiful dye-sub PBT keycaps (I have replaced the dark gray alpha and number caps with black on light blue).

Now I rotate among my two Topre-switch boards and my IBM Model F XT. These are very different switches, but each is excellent in its own way.

Earlier I was trying to find a Cherry mx-switch keyboard that I liked. After trying blues, browns, vintage blacks, greens, and clears, I have just about decided that I just don't like Cherry switches of any kind. However, I have not yet tried reds, and I might try one more board before giving up on Cherry switches.

BTW, at various times I tried a variety of other switches and found some that I liked better than Cherry but not as much as IBM capacitive buckling spring or Topre. These included NMB Hi-Tek black and white "space invaders", Monterey blue Alps, orange Alps, and Matias tactile/clicky Alps-inspired switches.

There's certainly more to keyboards than blue Cherries, but you might discover that after trying them all you prefer the boards you started with. Only you can decide.

[absyrd]

Have an MX Blue QFR and a 55g Topre right next to each other. No complaints/problems here!

[Wonko73]

Thank you very much for all the answers. Well - and I tink "no risk no fun": Yesterday I placed my order:

Soon I will be a prowd owner of a Happy Hacking Keyboard 2 Pro Type S (ordered at Elitekeyboards).

Now there is the next question: Where to get cool Keycaps for it?

[Smasher816]

Good luck. AFAIK different colored keycaps are no longer produced. Even just the red/blue Ctrl+ESC event set goes for a pretty heafty price.

[Hypersphere]

Thank you very much for all the answers. Well - and I tink "no risk no fun": Yesterday I placed my order:

Soon I will be a prowd owner of a Happy Hacking Keyboard 2 Pro Type S (ordered at Elitekeyboards).

Now there is the next question: Where to get cool Keycaps for it?

As you probably know from looking at the EK site, you can get four types of keycap sets for the HHKB: black/white unprinted and black/white printed. In addition, sets for the Realforce 87u/104u will fit many of the keys on the HHKB Pro 2. The RF sets are still being produced by Topre in Japan under contract to Leopold in Korea, and these are being resold on eBay.

The stock dye-sub PBT keycaps on the HHKB Pro 2 and RF boards are so nice they are fine as they are. Nevertheless, in my case, I have a black HHKB Pro 2 with white alphanumeric keycaps and black modifiers. On my RF 87ub, I have replaced the black alphanumeric and arrow keys with blue keycaps and black legends, leaving all the other keys black.

[MahBoi]

Thank you very much for all the answers. Well - and I tink "no risk no fun": Yesterday I placed my order:

Soon I will be a prowd owner of a Happy Hacking Keyboard 2 Pro Type S (ordered at Elitekeyboards).

Now there is the next question: Where to get cool Keycaps for it?

That seems to be the GeekHack motto, at least for people like me who are constantly buying keyboards!

To answer the thread topic, my first and second keyboards were a Filco with blues and a HHKB, respectively. Since then, I've tried dozens of other switches. Some I disliked, but most I really enjoyed. Even still, I love coming back to the Cherry MX Blues and the Topres. They're still two of my favorite keyswitches today.

For me, variety is the spice of life.

[Hypersphere]

For the sake of variety, today's mail brought my new Kul ES-87 with Cherry mx reds. I put a set of thick dye-sub PBT caps on it along with Buna 50A-R O-rings and then spent the afternoon typing on it. After a few hours, I switched back to my RF 87ub with 55g Topres. What a difference! (In favor of the RF, by a wide margin).

Now that I've tried mx reds, the only Cherry mx switches left for me to try are contemporary mx blacks (I've tried vintage blacks and I liked them a bit, but not enough to give them serious attention).

The Kul will probably be going up for sale soon, along with several sets of Cherry mx keycaps.

So, it appears I am not one of those who can like Cherry blues (or any other Cherry mx switch) alongside my Topre-switch boards.

However, I can and do like my IBM buckling springs (Model F more than Model M) side by side with my Topre-switch boards (HHKB Pro 2, RF 87ub 45g, and RF 87ub 55g).

[Sygaldry]

I alternate between Topre and MX constantly and love them both the same.