Opinions on Leopold w/Topre

[Linkbane]

Hey guys, I saw the Leopold FC660C retailing at $189 on EK, and the price seems very attractive as all of the Topres I see sell for $225 and up, while I wouldn't want the full-size Type Heaven. However, I'm not sure how the Topre switches inside it feel, or the quality of the board itself.
Also, I've never really tried a mini keyboard before; I have two TKL and one full-size, but as my desk is limited in size I would have little space for a mouse with a full size Type Heaven. Would you say that the $40 or quality justify getting one over the other?

Thanks a bunch!

[zoolzoo]

Its an awesome board, very good build quality. The switches are plate mounted and feel very snappy. I would buy the 660 before it sells out again.

[rowdy]

Read the reviews and make up your own mind:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42825.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42825.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47947.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=42501.0

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=44070.0

About the only negative I have heard about them is that the arrow keys are lighter to press than the other keys.

[SpAmRaY]

Hey guys, I saw the Leopold FC660C retailing at $189 on EK, and the price seems very attractive as all of the Topres I see sell for $225 and up, while I wouldn't want the full-size Type Heaven. However, I'm not sure how the Topre switches inside it feel, or the quality of the board itself.
Also, I've never really tried a mini keyboard before; I have two TKL and one full-size, but as my desk is limited in size I would have little space for a mouse with a full size Type Heaven. Would you say that the $40 or quality justify getting one over the other?

Thanks a bunch!

They show up in the classifieds fairly often for much less than EK's price.

Just recently one went for $165 and I think another for $135.

But like rowdy said there are ton's of threads about the FC660C.

Personally it was my first topre experience and I kind of wish I still had it for comparison purposes but many people are very happy with it.

[Mr. C]

I've had one for a month now. Very nice typing experience.  We'll made.  Nice keys.  However, I've figured out that I'm happier with standard TKL layout.  I have to type on a lot of keyboards in my work.  I don't really like non standard layouts.  The Leopold is pretty easy to adapt to. Now the Kinesis I bought last year :-(. I gave up on that in short order. 

[Hypersphere]

I've tried many keyboards, including the Leopold FC660C, which was my second-favorite next to my IBM SSK until I got my HHKB Pro 2, which is now my favorite keyboard. The Leopold FC660C is a mini-keyboard, but it has a nearly standard layout that is very easy to use. The Topre switches are superb, and the keycaps are PBT, which feel great. The only negative is that there are currently no dye-sub PBT keycap sets available for this keyboard, which is one reason I decided to go with the HHKB Pro 2.

[spiceBar]

The FC660C is a really great keyboard, one of the best you can find on the market at this point. When I say one of the best, I mean it could very well be in the top 5 (let's say... Model M, RealForce TKL, SSK Model M, HHKB, FC660C, in no particular order). OK, this is controversial...

I think it is easily at least in the top 10, whatever is in this list.

[Linkbane]

The FC660C is a really great keyboard, one of the best you can find on the market at this point. When I say one of the best, I mean it could very well be in the top 5 (let's say... Model M, RealForce TKL, SSK Model M, HHKB, FC660C, in no particular order). OK, this is controversial...

I think it is easily at least in the top 10, whatever is in this list.

Wow, high praise indeed. I think that I shall set this to be my next thing to order, when I get the money as a jobless teenager. I still will knock on the HHKB because of its price and lack of arrow keys, though. I personally think that I'd like the FC660 over the HHKB, so there it is! Next item to order, and especially if I could find a nice price on the classifieds.

[rowdy]

The only bad thing I have heard about the FC660C is that the arrow keys are a bit lighter than the other keys (in terms of force required to activate).

[Linkbane]

About the only negative I have heard about them is that the arrow keys are lighter to press than the other keys.

[rowdy]

About the only negative I have heard about them is that the arrow keys are lighter to press than the other keys.

Must be an echo ...

[daerid]

I never experienced lighter arrow keys on the 660C. Is that common or something?

[soleusrex]

I never experienced lighter arrow keys on the 660C. Is that common or something?

I didn't notice it before, but now that rowdy has pointed it out my FC660c arrow keys do feel slightly lighter.

[terran5992]

Its a good board with good topre switches but bad keycaps.

[rowdy]

I never experienced lighter arrow keys on the 660C. Is that common or something?

I've read here of a few people who have experienced this.

Someone was going to measure key resistance with a stack of coins, not sure if that idea came to fruition.

[AuRinBei]

The only bad thing I have heard about the FC660C is that the arrow keys are a bit lighter than the other keys (in terms of force required to activate).

I think this might be a YMMV kind of thing. My arrow keys are about the same as half my alpha keys, which are in turn noticeably lighter than the other half. I don’t think the lighter arrow keys were intentional on Leopold’s part though, I think it just turned out that way. I’m probably one of the few people with a lot of bad things to say about this board though. First, the legends are absolute crap. Like just ridiculously bad. I’ve never had legends wear off quicker than these. I honestly don’t know why they even bothered. They should have at least offered a blank set. It’s not like it would be that much more work. Second, a lot of the keys on mine felt either lighter or heavier than the keys around them. I actually got an RMA from EK for this, and I’m going to try my luck with that. Everyone else I talked to is saying that there’s was very uniform, so either I just have really sensitive fingers or I got a bad board. But as to whether I would pay $40 extra to get it over a Type Heaven, I would say yes, if you’re OK with never being able to tolerate ABS caps again. That’s my opinion on PBT vs. ABS at least. Knowing what I know now though, I think I might have gone with an HHKB. I would lose arrow keys, and I’ve heard the HHKB can slide around easily (how hard is it to put some good feet on there?), but I think that would honestly be worth it to get the dyesub caps, even if it would be like $70 more. It would be close though. Leopold really needs to release some blanks…

[Hypersphere]

I did not notice any lightness to the arrow keys on my FC660C, but I did not measure the actuation force.

If I had not tried the HHKB Pro 2, the FC660C would have been fine for me. The only issue I had with it was the current lack of complete sets of high-quality dye-sub PBT keycaps for the keyboard. Otherwise, the form factor, layout, and typing sound and feel are great. It just so happened that I liked the HHKB Pro 2 even better, and it has displaced the Leopold as my daily driver to rotate with the Leopold and my IBM SSK.

It will be interesting to see if keycap sets get released for the FC6660C. If so, this keyboard will be very hard to beat.

[rowdy]

I did not notice any lightness to the arrow keys on my FC660C, but I did not measure the actuation force.

If I had not tried the HHKB Pro 2, the FC660C would have been fine for me. The only issue I had with it was the current lack of complete sets of high-quality dye-sub PBT keycaps for the keyboard. Otherwise, the form factor, layout, and typing sound and feel are great. It just so happened that I liked the HHKB Pro 2 even better, and it has displaced the Leopold as my daily driver to rotate with the Leopold and my IBM SSK.

It will be interesting to see if keycap sets get released for the FC6660C. If so, this keyboard will be very hard to beat.

Given the popularity and generally overwhelmingly positive feedback on the FC660C, I would be surprised if Leopold (or whoever) did not eventually release a keycap set.

[kenmai9]

I just received a 660c and it feels much better than my board with ergo-clears.. sadly.

[Sniping]

I never experienced lighter arrow keys on the 660C. Is that common or something?

It seems as if Topre switches are weighted a bit less uniformly than MX even though its advertised as a uniform board. I can't tell the difference at all, but some say they can.

[s0ckpupp3t]

I have one of those Leopold FC660C whose arrow keys are slightly lighter than the alpha keys.  In no way does it ruin my enjoyment of the keyboard.

I also have a RealForce 87U all-45g and I would say that the FC660C arrow keys are weighted closer to 45g and the alpha keys are actually heavier than 45g.  I think this is a common characteristic of both the HHKB and FC660C which both are often described as having keys that are in between 45g and 55g when compared against RealForce keyboards.

[Linkbane]

I feel as if I would enjoy a non-uniform board. There really isn't any need for the switches to be all the same, and I feel that having differently weighted switches is a solution, not a problem.
I also think that I'd like to start a WTT with a Corsair K60 + QFR Stealth with Greens for an FC660. However, given how much love the FC660 is getting, that might be difficult.

[Mr. C]

The FC660C is a really great keyboard, one of the best you can find on the market at this point. When I say one of the best, I mean it could very well be in the top 5 (let's say... Model M, RealForce TKL, SSK Model M, HHKB, FC660C, in no particular order). OK, this is controversial...

I think it is easily at least in the top 10, whatever is in this list.

I would agree with this, but my universe of keyboards might be more limited than yours. I have Model Ms,  SSK, RF87U, FC660C and  a few cherry switch boards. I like typing on the FC660C the best with the SSK in a close second. I like the keycaps, even. It is a great choice for someone to try both a compact layout and Topre switches.  Mines a keeper. Next year I will probably try to get down to five or six keyboards and it stays.

[Matt3o]

great keyboard.

worst keycaps ever. legends wear off after 1 week. and there's no way to 100% change them due to the weird layout (and of course difficulty to source topre keycaps).

[alosec]

great keyboard.

worst keycaps ever. legends wear off after 1 week. and there's no way to 100% change them due to the weird layout (and of course difficulty to source topre keycaps).

this will vary with use. I've had mine for a few months and I'm only recently noticing my wasd cluster fading while all others are fine.

[Matt3o]

of course it varies with use, but even it were 2 months it would be ridiculously low quality anyway. My left shift faded away in few days.

[zemp]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

[Linkbane]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

[Air tree]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

Wait, 200$ more? Where did you get that from? It's only 70$ more on elitekeyboards.

[terran5992]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

Wait, 200$ more? Where did you get that from? It's only 70$ more on elitekeyboards.

I think he might be thinking of the Type-s

[Sniping]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

The cost difference between the two isn't that big. I think the $80 markup on the HHKB is justified because of better looks and keycaps. The thing that it really comes down to is the layout, the buyer should determine which one would work better for them, and just go with that. Function over form.

[Linkbane]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

The cost difference between the two isn't that big. I think the $80 markup on the HHKB is justified because of better looks and keycaps. The thing that it really comes down to is the layout, the buyer should determine which one would work better for them, and just go with that. Function over form.

Corsair looks better than CM imo. Doesn't cost more for a fullsize vs a fullsize. Leopold looks better than HHKB imo. Costs less. Looks are completely subjective, and the only difference is PBT caps, which cost less than $20 a set, as can be seen by Keycool's manufacturing and quality. No excuse.

[zemp]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

The cost difference between the two isn't that big. I think the $80 markup on the HHKB is justified because of better looks and keycaps. The thing that it really comes down to is the layout, the buyer should determine which one would work better for them, and just go with that. Function over form.

Corsair looks better than CM imo. Doesn't cost more for a fullsize vs a fullsize. Leopold looks better than HHKB imo. Costs less. Looks are completely subjective, and the only difference is PBT caps, which cost less than $20 a set, as can be seen by Keycool's manufacturing and quality. No excuse.

Then i guess your just paying for the brand.
Corsair? Ive never tried corsair so i would not know

[Linkbane]

HHKB all the way. In my oppinion Leopold is cheaper because the cut costs on production

Leopold is one of the best keyboard manufacturers out there. Just feeling by weight, the HHKB could be made out of better materials.
The HHKB costs ofter over $200 more, and is even smaller; it's obviously inflation when they can't even offer an aluminum case for the price.

The cost difference between the two isn't that big. I think the $80 markup on the HHKB is justified because of better looks and keycaps. The thing that it really comes down to is the layout, the buyer should determine which one would work better for them, and just go with that. Function over form.

Corsair looks better than CM imo. Doesn't cost more for a fullsize vs a fullsize. Leopold looks better than HHKB imo. Costs less. Looks are completely subjective, and the only difference is PBT caps, which cost less than $20 a set, as can be seen by Keycool's manufacturing and quality. No excuse.

Then i guess your just paying for the brand.
Corsair? Ive never tried corsair so i would not know

Your descriptor contains the word 'swag' in a non-comedic use. I have nothing further to say to you.