This is from a Reddit Post I made reviewing this HHKB Pro 2, contains some images and videos comparing it to a Poker 2.
About a week ago this
http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/2vffpn/the_natural_course_of_buying_mechanical_keyboards post started to haunt my curiosity about Topre again. I remember the first day I started shopping around for mechanical keyboards, typing in "Mechanical Keybaord" into Amazon and seeing the HHKB Pro 2 on the front page with its ridiculous price tag. Ever since then it's been bugging me... "What could possibly compel a person to spend $300 on a keyboard... I watched a few vids, and read some reviews and no one seemed to regret the purchase but I just couldn't justify the price. I picked up a Poker 2 with MX Cherry Blues on /r/Mechmarket about a week later and it was simply sublime. I loved every second of it but it just felt way too loud after a while. The previous owner specifically sold it because it was "too loud". This honestly intrigued me at first because I was looking for the clickiest & clackiest thing known to man at the time to really see what everyone was raging about. Over time it became overbearing though. I spent all this money on good fans and water cooling, only to adorn my desk with a keyboard that could be heard from 40 feet away. Part of this was due to the ABS keycaps and their thin plastic, the metal plate, and the general acoustics of my room (hardwood). For the next few months I put it all behind me and basked in the glory that the German Gods of Tactility bestowed upon me.
Work started picking up and I was saving a considerable amount of my income. The price tag no longer seemed that ridiculous. The curiosity of Topre started to haunt me again. I originally wanted a Leopold FC660C but after reading reviews I went back to the HHKB pro 2; the layout really intrigued me, as did its mystique. Around the net not many seemed to prefer the FC600C over the HHKB Pro 2. I stumbled upon the Elite Keyboards website looking for an FC660C and had no luck. They did however have HHKBs in-stock for $230. I made the purchase and even splurged for the $30 pack of red and blue modifiers. It really completed the look for me as the blank model just looked far too bland. I had never typed on a keyboard without legends before but I went ahead with it to really maximize on aesthetics & force myself to learn how to properly touch-type (Currently I touch type 79WPM, but only utilize 6 fingers).
It arrived. I even splurged for the 2 day shipping (which came in 3 days and FeDex reimbursed fully since they didn't keep their promise. score). At first it was pretty damn underwhelming. It felt kind of squishy compared to my Poker and the feels just weren't there. Plus the location of the backspace was really bugging me at first, but I fought through. With each passing hour the enjoyment rose, by hour 3 the Poker 2 was no longer adequate. The characteristic that originally drew me to the Poker 2 all of a sudden became its biggest flaw; the click. After some time typing on the HHKB my brain characterized the tactile click as a feeling of the stem about to snap off as I typed. It really became unpleasant and the sharper sounds of the Poker 2 really became a nuisance. They almost felt pretentious in-a-way because of how loud they were comparably. (Keep in mind as this is a characteristic of
this particular keyboard, my friend owns a Ducky with Blues and it is
much quieter). Most of the time I typed with headphones on and the muffling caused by the foam on the earphones gave the Poker 2 a much more pleasant sound as it sounded "thicker, and duller". With the HHKB this was how it sounded without earphones, always
thick and always pleasant.
The other characteristic that really bugged about the Poker 2 after typing on Topre was the lightness at the top of the switch. With the HHKB all of the resistance is at the top of the switch, this makes it much easier to not accidentally press the a key next to the one you're trying to hit. The Poker and HHKB are both rated at 45G but the Poker's spring-rate is only maxed-out at the bottom of the switch, whereas the HHKB has all its resistance at the top. This makes for a much safer typing experience since it feels like there's 10g of resistance on the blue switch before you reach the click.
It's been about 24 hours since I've owned this keyboard and I can safely say that I cannot stand to type on Mx Cherry blues. I feel like I would enjoy browns with PBT keys more now since after trying Topre the clicks legitimacy feel like the switch is breaking as a I type on it and it's a really unpleasant feeling.
The feels: The best comparison I can make to compare these 2 keyboards is to compare them to cars. The Poker 2 feels like a '96 Integra Type-R, fully stripped out with race suspension; super stiff and responsive with tons of feedback from the road and a tight steering rack. The HHKB feels like a 2015 BMW 5-Series with stock road suspension, straight from the lot. On the track both are equally as fast, but the BMW can drive from a day at work straight to the track and run similar lap-times without feeling all of the harsh intricacies of the road on the way there. One is fast because it's bare-bones, pure, and light; the other is faster simply because it's utilizing newer technology and better methods. The HHKB simply
feels newer, more lush, more comfortable. It feels like a super car, whereas the poker feels like a stripped-out track car. Enough about analogies, in terms of actual build quality the Poker
does win, the steel plate and general construction is slightly more sturdy, but I much prefer the acoustics of the plastic shell/mount on the HHKB compared to the sound of the keys reverboaring against hard steel, this was a surprise to me.
The quality of the way the keys are mounted is
much higher on the HHKB, the stabilized keys are simply a joy to press, Space, Enter, and Shift in particular really have that thonk sound and it's very satisfying. The keys on the HHKB rattle a lot less and feel significantly more premium than the ones on the Poker, especially the stabilized modifiers.
In conclusion I would rate the HHKB a 9.5 out of 10. I did have to purchase some rubber feet on Amazon to keep it from sliding around and knowing that eventually my ABS spacebar will start to shine is disconcerting, especially knowing that individual white Topre spacebars can't be purchased. The lack of key sets available are also a bummer since I'd love to have a colored arrow cluster, but I might just resort to dyeing mine to my taste in the future. The layout was very easy to get to, the arrow cluster is much more friendly than the one on the Poker. Sadly, the USB Hub only proves .5A and is pretty much useless with everything I've tried.
I hope this review has been helpful to anyone on the fence about purchasing an HHKB. I say go for it, especially if you live in the states. 230 really is a good deal and if you're not a fan, for whatever reason you should only lose a few dollars reselling it on the second-hand market.
I have uploaded a video:
to compare these characteristics, as well as an album
http://imgur.com/a/0l8P2.
