(I wrote most of the text below a few weeks ago and I still agree with it)
I bought a Leopold FC660C on Ebay for trying it out and reselling it. I'm so regretting this decision. My favorite switch was the Cherry Blue MX with red o-rings. Until now that is. Thanks to the Leopold they now feel so cheap...
The board is much smaller then I expected (which is a good thing), if feels like one solid device. I bought the one with the blank key caps, advertised as PBT (spacebar material looks different, probably ABS). It looks very dark gray, darker then on the pictures.
So after unpacking I pressed a few keys, to see if it really lives up the hype, expecting disappointment so I could get this keyboard of my list and resell it. First impression (standing up, touching one key at a time): quite nice.
Impression after connecting the board, sitting down, starting to type with all fingers: damn, it really feels good. Better then Cherry. I think I'm really unbiased and not influenced by the psychology of the steep price ("it's more expensive thus it has to be better") as I intended to resell it anyway. €200 is what I paid including shipment from Korea to The Netherlands.
There have been numerous attempts to describe the Topre switch and I will give it at try too: the actuation point is higher then an Cherry MX. The closest Cherry equivalent in feel would be an MX Clear. The force of both feels around the same. I'm not sure why that is, as the Topre is 45g, vs 55g for the MX Clears. I am basing this on a single MX Clear switch, I don't own a board with clears. I've heard stories that the clear can be tiring, the Topre on this board certainly is not.
The Topre switch will suck your finger down and after the bump pulls your finger up. It's a very comforting feeling.
Furthermore, after using the Topre all the Cherry Browns now feel scratchy, thanks Topre...
For what it's worth, my preference:
Topre @ FC660C > MX Blue /w red orings @ Filco and WASD V2 > MX Brown /w red orings @ Kinesis Advantage
I haven't used other Topre keyboards, so I'm not saying Topre > Cherry.
And still the Kinesis Advantage (with Workman layout) will become my daily keyboard at the office (I prefer formfactor above key feel) and the Leopold I use at home with QWERTY layout (as I still want to keep my QWERTY skills while I'm learning Workman).
Extras:
- Purple WASD keys
- Plastic keypuller
Pros:
- Key feel
- Solid
- PBT keys, space bar probably ABS
Cons:
- Not programmable
- Missing right command key (workaround: leave dipswitches to off, swap Command/Alt in OS X)
Update:
Clarification on the tilte: I regret buying this board as it ruined my experience with Blue MX