Royal Kludge RC930

[Limewirelord]

So I was looking into the Topre clones since I wanted MX keycap compatibility and am too cheap for a full price Topre board and buying a Novatouch for sliders.  I've been reading about both the RC930 and the Noppoo EC-108 Pro and reviews point to them being okay for the price.

Since the RC930 is up on Massdrop again, anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

[SpAmRaY]

Personally I think the RC930 is a great board. I'm typing on the 104 key 55g board right now.

[saturnotaku]

I've tried just about all variants of genuine and cloned Topre, including Realforce, HHKB, Novatouch, and the RC930. For its feature set and price, the RK is a solid keyboard, and IMO, what the Novatouch should have been in the first place. I said this in the Massdrop discussion thread about the keyboard, but the "55g" RK delivers 75-80% of the feel of a 55g Realforce but at half the price, not taking into consideration the Kludge's MX compatibility and available backlighting. I put 55g in quotes when describing the RC930 because those rubber domes don't feel nearly as snappy or heavy as the ones in the Realforce I'm currently using.

All that being said, if MX keycap compatibility is important, I wouldn't hesitate to pick up the RC930.

[Limewirelord]

Alright, sounds good.  How does the backlighting on the RC930 work?  I've been trying to read more about it but any information seems rather limited.  I want it but I'm fine without it if it's a relatively limited feature since I don't use my CODE's backlighting right now anyways.

[dante]

A Royal Kludge programmable capacitive 60% would be completely awesome.

[saturnotaku]

How does the backlighting on the RC930 work?

Watch and learn. (Not my video, btw)

[bryan11]

How does the RC930 key switches feel compared to Cherry MX switches?  I've heard great things about Topre keyboards, but it's hard to compare for someone who's only used buckling spring, cherry mx, and cheap Dell keyboards.

[livingspeedbump]

Has anyone tried putting the sliders from one in an HHKB or RF?

I'm going to pick one up if it is compatible like the novatouch's just for parts.

[SpAmRaY]

Has anyone tried putting the sliders from one in an HHKB or RF?

I'm going to pick one up if it is compatible like the novatouch's just for parts.

Why not just get the sliders from ctrlalt?

[njbair]

Has anyone tried putting the sliders from one in an HHKB or RF?

I'm going to pick one up if it is compatible like the novatouch's just for parts.

Why not just get the sliders from ctrlalt?

Has anyone tried these yet? I'm not a Topre person but I've heard that even modding the RF with Novatouch sliders doesn't compare in smoothness to the stock RF sliders. So I've personally been wondering if JT sliders will be any better.

I've actually been kind of surprised nobody is asking about this. I think everyone's hopeful because it's BunnyLake and he always delivers, but still I'm surprised nobody's asking about the feel.

[livingspeedbump]

Has anyone tried putting the sliders from one in an HHKB or RF?

I'm going to pick one up if it is compatible like the novatouch's just for parts.

Why not just get the sliders from ctrlalt?

Are they on sale yet? Regardless I'd be buying some from them to support those guys 

Having the domes and springs would also be something I'd use, god knows it is really easy to loose those springs haha.

[livingspeedbump]

Has anyone tried putting the sliders from one in an HHKB or RF?

I'm going to pick one up if it is compatible like the novatouch's just for parts.

Why not just get the sliders from ctrlalt?

Has anyone tried these yet? I'm not a Topre person but I've heard that even modding the RF with Novatouch sliders doesn't compare in smoothness to the stock RF sliders. So I've personally been wondering if JT sliders will be any better.

I've actually been kind of surprised nobody is asking about this. I think everyone's hopeful because it's BunnyLake and he always delivers, but still I'm surprised nobody's asking about the feel.

Yeah, I have no doubts about the sliders from Bunny at all, I'm sure they will be great.

Ive stuck the oens from a Novatouch in both a RF and HHKB, and they aren't quite as smooth, but fairly close.

[Polymer]

Do you think they're not as smooth because there is some friction somewhere there?  As in, it doesn't fit quite right?  It is a size thing or something else?

[livingspeedbump]

Do you think they're not as smooth because there is some friction somewhere there?  As in, it doesn't fit quite right?  It is a size thing or something else?

Hm, i have a feeling it has to do with the part of the slider that actually makes contact with the case being a slightly different size, perhaps just being a bit larger. Honestly I should pull them both back out and take some good comparison photos.

[njbair]

Do you think they're not as smooth because there is some friction somewhere there?  As in, it doesn't fit quite right?  It is a size thing or something else?

Hm, i have a feeling it has to do with the part of the slider that actually makes contact with the case being a slightly different size, perhaps just being a bit larger. Honestly I should pull them both back out and take some good comparison photos.

Take macro shots. It's amazing what they reveal. See Zeal's MX vs. Gateron macros in the Zealios thread. It could be a similar issue with the smoothness of the plastic itself.

[livingspeedbump]

Do you think they're not as smooth because there is some friction somewhere there?  As in, it doesn't fit quite right?  It is a size thing or something else?

Hm, i have a feeling it has to do with the part of the slider that actually makes contact with the case being a slightly different size, perhaps just being a bit larger. Honestly I should pull them both back out and take some good comparison photos.

Take macro shots. It's amazing what they reveal. See Zeal's MX vs. Gateron macros in the Zealios thread. It could be a similar issue with the smoothness of the plastic itself.

Yeah those pictures said it all. And will do  Ill throw in some of Matt3o's 3D printed ones for kicks and giggles as well

[jamster]

I'm in on the drop. Even though I am pretty sure that my end board is a RF55, this ridiculously-named Kludge is inexpensive enough to try out.

POM though. 'Cause backlighting looks like unicorn barf.

[Limewirelord]

I'm in on the drop. Even though I am pretty sure that my end board is a RF55, this ridiculously-named Kludge is inexpensive enough to try out.

POM though. 'Cause backlighting looks like unicorn barf.

Well, you'd probably want to replace the keycaps entirely considering how crappy the legends look.

[saturnotaku]

Well, you'd probably want to replace the keycaps entirely considering how crappy the legends look.

The legends on the POM caps aren't bad.

[Niomosy]

Well damn.  I've been contemplating this one since I got the email from Massdrop on the availability.  Thinking 45g (currently on MX reds and love that). 

So, is the NovaTouch as good?  I ask because I'm accumulating Amazon credit and would just be able to buy a NovaTouch outright with said credit.  Saves me a good $110 or so that could be used for, say, SA keycaps, my guitar amp that needs replacing, etc.

Decisions, decisions.

[saturnotaku]

Having used both, I like the Kludge better than the Novatouch. At the same time, if you can get the NT with no money out of your pocket, get that.

[Niomosy]

Having used both, I like the Kludge better than the Novatouch. At the same time, if you can get the NT with no money out of your pocket, get that.

I was figuring that to be the case but that price on the Kludge is mighty tempting.  I'd probably have jumped on the Kludge had the guitar amp not gone out.

[jamster]

I've tried just about all variants of genuine and cloned Topre, including Realforce, HHKB, Novatouch, and the RC930. For its feature set and price, the RK is a solid keyboard, and IMO, what the Novatouch should have been in the first place. I said this in the Massdrop discussion thread about the keyboard, but the "55g" RK delivers 75-80% of the feel of a 55g Realforce but at half the price, not taking into consideration the Kludge's MX compatibility and available backlighting. I put 55g in quotes when describing the RC930 because those rubber domes don't feel nearly as snappy or heavy as the ones in the Realforce I'm currently using.

All that being said, if MX keycap compatibility is important, I wouldn't hesitate to pick up the RC930.

I've been on an RC930 55 for a couple of days now, and the feel is very muted compared to a Realforce 45 board. Comparisons have been made to "very smooth MX browns" which I'd kind of agree with, the RK is nowhere near as snappy or as tactile as what I've experienced on a Realforce. It's nice, definitely higher 'quality' feel to it than MX brown, IMO, and for a stock board I would take this before anything with MX switches. But I'm not sure if I will get used to the muted feel of this board.

It'll be interesting to compare this to a RF 55 which should be arriving in a a couple of weeks.