Finally convinced myself that I need to try a Topre keyboard after having owned Cherry MX Blue, Brown, and Black (All Filco Majestouch TKLs) keyboards. I've finally reached my Cherry MX nirvana after rotating through my keyboards for three years...only to decide to pursue the much talked about "thock thock thock" that Topre fans seem to love.
Blues - The blues have become my daily driver (at home) and I game with these almost exclusively now. I can type the fastest with these switches as well. The click doesn't bother me, but I really need something to use at night when the wife goes to bed. Likewise, I can't take these to work but I totally would if I thought I could get away with it.
Browns - Contrary to what some think, I think browns have a very pleasant bottoming out sounds (plate mounted Filco). To me it kind of sounds like typing on a piece of bamboo (bamboo-mounted Cherry MX Blues anyone?) However, I find my accuracy drops significantly when trying to type as fast as I can, probably due to the lower actuation force. I can game with these, but something about the Blues just feel much more authoritative.
Blacks - I appreciate the smooth action on the linear style Cherry MX switches for gaming. Input feels very responsive and I used these at work for awhile (database and application developer) as they're pretty quiet. I typed with these for about a year, and I think they really strengthened my fingers. But I prefer something lighter for typing.
I ruled out HHKB pretty quickly, as I dislike function key combos, and the lack of arrow keys seems disconcerting to me. The tenkeyless Realforce 87U's on Elitekeyboards.com offers just about every weighting (minus 30-35g uniforms). Ergo distributed weighting (35g, 45g, 55g), uniform All 45g and uniform All 55g weighting is offered in both Black and White cases/keys. There are only 3 options for full size keyboards (Realforce 104U) at this time, so it was a pretty easy choice going with tenkeyless models.
I knew that I liked Cherry MX Blues the best. The tactility and the actuation force to me is perfect. So I knew that I wanted something around 50g of force. I knew I wouldn't really appreciate the ergo distributed weighting (35g,45g,55g) because I know that I prefer heavier switches (although I find the blacks a little too heavy to type comfortably on). Also, the uniform weighting appeals to my inner OCD mania. Wouldn't you know it, Realforce offers two variants of uniform weighting that are +- 5g of my ideal, 45g and 55g. I know that the Topre's have a different force curve than Cherrys (most of the actuation force is required at the top of the switch rather than the middle) but I worry that I will find 45g too light or 55g too heavy.
Confronted with this dilemma I revived my GH account and tried to figure out what to get. So here I am to beat the dead horse some more...Should I get a 45g or 55g unifrom weighted Realforce keyboard? I will most likely end up with a black Realforce 87U in either 45g or 55g uniform weighting (unless Brian at Elitekeyboards.com suddenly discovers a stock of 104U keyboards with all unifrom weighting). If anyone has owned both, I'd love to hear why you prefer one over the other...or if I should just buy both
Many thanks.