45g Topre Keyboard Comparisons

[captaineleven]

Hey y'all!

I recently uploaded a video of my take on Topre board silencing mods and am here to share what I've done. I know that there have been a lot of comparisons about various topre boards and other such modifications, but I wanted to contribute as well for those who may want to see more information.

Here's the video:
(Sorry for the stabilization of the video. I'm not sure what's happening with it, but will get it fixed)

The boards I focused on were:
fc660c: no silencing mods; pbt keycaps
rk rc930: factory o-rings; vortex pbt keycaps
novatouch: hypersphere rings; epbt keycaps, abs spacebar
rf87u: 3/16" dental bands; pbt keycaps

I made some notes on the Youtube page, but wanted to go more in-depth here.

I'll repeat some of the main points of my experiment:
- Typed the same sentences +/- five words from toptyper.com
- 30 seconds each clip
- Used CAD U37 USB microphone no more than 8 inches from the topmost part of each board
- Feet risers for all boards were down'
- I averaged ~110-115 wpm for the 30 seconds I was typing
- Folded the microfiber cloth into 3 sections to isolate enough noise away from the desk reverberation
- Boards were sitting on a thin desk mat beside a wooden full size palm rest

I didn't have the HHKB because that money funded buying the 87u LOL Someone on IG asked about the lack of HHKB and that's why.

The Royal Kludge is an electro capacitive topre clone, but figured might as well put it in the bunch as a possible alternative for those who may be interested with clones.

I know there are a lot of people who are fans of the 55g Topre and I've yet to experience that, but I have found that I quite enjoy the weight of 45g because I can still type for long periods of time without getting fatigued. As a point of reference, I've typed on mx blacks and fatigued within thirty minutes of use. At the other end of the spectrum, I've tried gat clears and they were far too light that it frustrated me to no end when I made typos all over the place. So that's where we are.

I found that based on typing experience, I would put the stock fc660c and the novatouch in a tie. There's good resistance but there's still that smoothness that comes with typing on genuine topre. I enjoy typing on the 87u but the dental bands eliminated a fair bit of that tactility and reduced the key travel. The Royal Kludge is nice to type on, but it's not my favorite - that's why I'm gonna gift it to my boss later this month  )

From the sound comparison standpoint, I would put stock fc660c and the 87u in a tie. The Royal Kludge's scratchy and bubbly-like water sounds is not exactly my favorite. I usually use to type on it when I'm listening to music. The novatouch, when I really got typing sounded a bit like boiling water as well. It's not bad, but it distracted me more than once. The fc660c's clack upstroke didn't sound harsh and the 87u gave me a soft thock and soft thud upstroke.

When it comes to the silencing mods, the quietest board to type on was the novatouch with the 87u coming in a very close second. If I get too enthusiastic while typing, the modifiers rattle, as is the curse of the novatouch, but when I'm just typing up an email or something, it's fairly quiet. I've brought all the boards to my classroom for the last week to do an off-video testing of the actual silent mods and during the quietest moments of the day, the novatouch and 87u were most effective. I brought the Royal Kludge to work and I had to be more aware of my typing because of the bubbly water sound was more noticeable and fairly loud in a very quiet setting.

So in the end, the silencing mods for the novatouch and 87u were successful. The dilemma, of course, would fall more along the lines of price and loss of tactility and key travel. If the former is not as much of an issue, then go with the rings because they do well to fight that clack upstroke. If you are like me and don't mind the minor loss of tactility and key travel and price is an issue for you, dental banding might be worth a try.

Next time, I'll compare the hypersphere rings on the novatouch versus keycap o-rings on the novatouch.

I will probably edit this post in the future because I'm finishing up the workday during my planning period (terrible teacher, I know) and may have missed anything, but feel free to ask questions that you may have about things I didn't address.

Thanks for reading and watching!

[losing_ctrl]

This is really great, thanks for sharing this. I have several Topre-switched boards but I am super curious about the Topre clones as well. This video is very helpful!

[captaineleven]

This is really great, thanks for sharing this. I have several Topre-switched boards but I am super curious about the Topre clones as well. This video is very helpful!

Cool! I'm glad I could show a somewhat different angle on topre. I know it's a highly covered switch type, but there's always more to learn about these things. What kind of topre boards do you have? The clone has its own feel to it that isn't topre, but otherwise feels nice, especially if you don't wanna shell out as much on committing to topre. I liked it for a time, but after fully switching to other topre boards, it was hard for me to go back lol

[losing_ctrl]

This is really great, thanks for sharing this. I have several Topre-switched boards but I am super curious about the Topre clones as well. This video is very helpful!

Cool! I'm glad I could show a somewhat different angle on topre. I know it's a highly covered switch type, but there's always more to learn about these things. What kind of topre boards do you have? The clone has its own feel to it that isn't topre, but otherwise feels nice, especially if you don't wanna shell out as much on committing to topre. I liked it for a time, but after fully switching to other topre boards, it was hard for me to go back lol

Currently I own a HHKB Pro JP Type-S and a RealForce 87U 55g (both white). I also used to own a RealForce 104U-S (silent) 45g in a JIS configuration. Out of these three I would say that the feel of the HHKB’s keystrokes are my favorite. I love the feel + how quiet they are – it’s a fantastic combination. The 87U 55g is also right up there in feel – right now I am trying to raise funds to possibly buy a version of the 87U 55g that is silenced I've seen for sale on smartimports.net, as I think that could be a great combination.

But if I can dream a little, oh how I would love a full-size 104 ANSI keyboard built by PFU that would use the awesome Type-S, case-mounted Topre 45g switches, providing the feel of my HHKB on a standard format. That will probably never happen though. 

[captaineleven]

Currently I own a HHKB Pro JP Type-S and a RealForce 87U 55g (both white). I also used to own a RealForce 104U-S (silent) 45g in a JIS configuration. Out of these three I would say that the feel of the HHKB’s keystrokes are my favorite. I love the feel + how quiet they are – it’s a fantastic combination. The 87U 55g is also right up there in feel – right now I am trying to raise funds to possibly buy a version of the 87U 55g that is silenced I've seen for sale on smartimports.net, as I think that could be a great combination.

But if I can dream a little, oh how I would love a full-size 104 ANSI keyboard built by PFU that would use the awesome Type-S, case-mounted Topre 45g switches, providing the feel of my HHKB on a standard format. That will probably never happen though.

How's the JP Type S? I'm getting the 91u Realforce and I know it's not the same, but I'm curious about trying out such a different layout. I have been looking ages for the silent versions, but to no avail. LOL that's definitely an interesting option to have a standard-sized HHKB because the realforce offers such a different feel that it's almost apples to oranges. I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to 55g even though so many people swear by it.