Every time I see a thread about Topre, everyone neglects to mention it's a capacitive switch that you don't need to bottom out for the keypress to measure. And to address James' statement, I got my first Topre board because one popped up at a steal for 170 in the classifieds. I had only tried MX Blues and Reds on actual keyboards, blacks on a tenkey, and two of those three were PCB mounted (which I truly hate) before I got my Topre. In comparison to other rubber domes, Topre is much lighter, smoother, and makes a much better sound. The boards ooze quality out of every seam, and they're just phenomenal products.
You have a very similar situation and opinion as I do. Personally I have only owned a MX brown filco and a north-gate with white alps before purchasing the Topre. What I have to say is that the sound is what really made the purchase for me; when gaming with friends over mumble or skype, my microphone was catching the loud sound of the mechanical switches.
I will say that my Topre is a 55g. When I first bought it over a year and a half ago I was worried that - coming from experiencing white alps - the high actuation force and metal plate might cause a heavy impact. My fingers felt RATTLED when typing on white alps. In retrospect the shock was actually created by the short key travel after a high actuation, this gave too short of a time for me to slow down my keypress. However after a few weeks of typing experience on a 55g Topre the impact turned out to not be a problem. I remember when I was actively lurking on the geekhack forums two years ago there was a widely quoted analogy - 'Cloud of Boobs' - which is more accurate than I expected (I realize that this analogy also refers to the shape of the rubber domes
). I think I should highlight the fact that it took 2 weeks of heavy use for my fingers to adapt to the high actuation force of this keyboard, in that time my finger muscles grew. Because of my stronger fingers I had a new love of the now relatively VERY light mx-brown switches, but I unfortunately had to sell the Filco to finance this purchase. It is not my belief that the 2 weeks of heavy use acted to break in the rubber domes since I purchased my board used.
Another one of the perks that come with this keyboard I only first experienced just a few weeks ago. At the time I decided to clean my keyboard of all the gunk that had accumulated between the keys from the past 1.5 years. I took apart the board with no problems, and found that you could unscrew the circuit board from the metal plate (and plastic keyswitches) to easily access the rubberdomes and copper coils. This design philosophy allowed me to wash the metal plate as well as the insides of the keyswitches with no worries of harming the circuit board or rubber domes that had just been removed, and then quickly dry them out with a hairdryer. (Sadly when I reapplied the metal plate I miscovered the numberpad enter's rubber dome, so it no-longer actuates. To explain; the domes are not all stuck to the circuit board allowing some to shift around on the circuit board when the metal plate is removed. I had forgotten to re-position the rubberdome and copper coil of my numberpad enter key upon reapplying the plate) This design also allows an easy mod which involves DIY soft landing pads. If I can find a silicon sheet retailer in Canada I will definitely try it (upon which time I will fix the aforementioned key). I have little memory of the time I cleaned my Filco, but I believe that the keyswitches were soldered into the circuit board making it harder to clean or mod out different mx switches.
The few complaints I have with this keyboard is the lack of Topre keycap group buys, the lack of an ABS plastic spacebar (which is now sooooo shiny), the hard to read dark keycaps (I have the black version and wish I had the white one), and the sad fact that availability of such an awesome product is so scarce (or unaffordable) in Canada. At the end of the day I have been using this keyboard for a year and a half - which was bought used - and have had very few problems or wear to the keyboard itself.
In retrospect I realize that apart from the noise level and a few perks of the build quality, between this and my previous Filco there is little differentiation in appreciation. That being said I paid only $20-$30 more (This is outstanding considering that I live in Canada), which justifies the purchase. It would be hard for me to recommend this board to someone else without a similarly outstanding deal. However if the sound of mechanical keys is a problem for you it would be hard to find a better keyboard experience than a Topre to fit those extenuating circumstance (to my knowledge). Remember this is a premium product and there is little reason you should buy it if you are not: 1. An avid keyboard collector, or 2. In heavy need of a quiet high quality keyboard (a large budget doesn't hurt either).
The more I post in these Topre review forums the more I realize they are circle jerking people's opinions and previous decisions, I would support having a stickied thread to answer the question of MX vs Topre so we as a community can move on.
tl;dr Only read this if you need anecdotal evidence and my own personal experience with Topre keyboards and keyswitches before you make a decision. If you don't feel like reading it before making a decision, then I personally believe you are far too careless with your expendable income. If you have all ready made up your mind on the topic, don't bother wasting your time reading mine. Of course, the decision is yours
