Sorry. Unfortunately, you'll have to bite the bullet and save up for the Pro...the Lite is no substitute and you won't like it.
Well, unfortunately if it has to be the Pro, I am not ever going to have one unless someone just gives it to me (SIGH!). In my introductory post I mentioned, that I considered the Keytronics to be the minimum usable keyboard, how would the original HHKB Lite compare in feel to them?
As someone who learnd to type on a pre-WWII mechanical portable typewriter --My mom got it as a HS graduation gift in 1939, and let me use it as a kid as long as I used all ten fingers-- I like the idea of what is basically a typewriter layout keyboard. However, even if I could afford it, I am not going to pay $300+ to find out if I like using one as much as I like the idea of one.
There does seem to be some new-old-stock Lites available out there at reasonable prices. The Lite-2 seems to me to have been designed by the marketing department, to do away with the "problems" the unwashed "thought" the Lite (and the Pro) had. In other words, they thought it would sell better to the hunt-and-peckers of the world.