Any interest in a 55g HiPro?

[XMIT]

At home, I've got a 55g Realforce 87U 55g board, and a HiPro.

I'm considering selling the HiPro with 55g domes, using those for the 87U which I would keep. The HiPro would have 45g domes on the keypad and 55g everywhere else.

Does anyone here have experience with a 55g HiPro? I'm wondering if this is even worth my while. Dome swaps do take a little while after all. But the 87U is not available in uniform 45g at all!

Moderators: This is not a "sale" thread. I'll post a formal sale thread if I decide to proceed with the sale.

[SpAmRaY]

I think it'd be worth trying. To me the hi-pro feels lighter so that extra push back might be nice.

[XMIT]

The HiPro irks me because of bottoming out - clacking - at the bottom of the stroke. Specifically, the taller stabilizers under the keys, smack against the underside of the key caps. It's not consistent across rows due to different profiles. It is, however, unwelcome.

You can simulate this by e.g. putting Cherry profile (low!) caps on a Novatouch. Same thing. Topre keyboards are beautifully naturally damped at the bottom of the stroke by both the spring and the membrane, so long as the key cap doesn't hit something first.

[mobbo]

I actually am looking for a Hi-Pro just to harvest the switch housing and caps. I want to try and put them on a 55g TKL board with a 10th Anniversary Case I have coming in.

[FrostyToast]

I can say that hi pro caps with 55g domes is the best topre experience I have ever had.
It's an absolute joy to use and I cannot imagine using hi pro caps with anything but 55g.

[jerue]

I would buy it if it were tax refund season.

Livingspeedbump could give us some more in-depth use detail, though I think he got rid of his too he had a 55g HiPro HHKB which seemed nothing short of sublime 

[XMIT]

Fascinating.

Well, I'm really itching for another Topre board that I can use on a daily basis. I'm loving my Novatouch with Hypersphere's damping rings and Vortex PBT caps (tall enough to clear the switch housings). I love my 87U as well but find that the 55g domes result in too hard of a bottoming out and some pain on the fingertips. I've seen some others complain about this too.

My wife has a 45g 87UB which feels great (would feel amazing with some damping rings I bet) but I don't love the black dyesub keys. I like contrast!

I've seen some amazing deals on the Type Heaven (like $112 shipped on eBay right now) but I love PBT too much. I'll wear an ABS Space bar shiny in about four months at work.

So maybe I'll do a dome swap this weekend, if I find the time.

[XMIT]

Well, I did it. I swapped domes between my 104UG-HiPro YK2100 and my Realforce 87UW55 SE08T0. It took a couple of hours and required re-seating a bunch of springs a couple of times, including one extra time when I knocked the keyboard with my elbow. I also had to open the 87UW55 a couple of times to move some domes around.

There were some issues. On the 87UW55 two switches have LEDs at their corners: LCtrl and Scroll Lock. These require special domes, or modified domes with a corner cut out. Without the correct domes the switch action is not correct.

So, now, my 87UW55 has 45g domes everywhere except LCtrl and Scroll Lock (those are 55g), and my HiPro has 55g domes everywhere except Esc, Scroll Lock, and the number pad?

The verdict?

It's glorious.

I think the HiPro should have been a 55g keyboard from the start. Somehow it feels so much more natural with the heavier domes. The board is not as clack-y; the keys don't bottom out on the tops of the housings nearly as much. I think it suffices to say that I was going to get rid of my HiPro before, and now, I think I have a keeper.

I'll get some photos when I rip the boards apart again. I may likely do this if I get a chance to play with Hypersphere's rings for these boards.

Thanks again to jou for passing on his HiPro to me. Granted, I did pay for it, but I would have paid more otherwise.

[retrochick]

Glad you did this and that you are loving the feeling. I've fallen in love with my HHKB again after lubing the sliders. What's next? Are you going to source more 55g domes for the numpad for the hi pro?

[XMIT]

What's next? Are you going to source more 55g domes for the numpad for the hi pro?

I don't think so, no. I use the HiPro relatively infrequently and the numpad even more so. I'd like to experiment with ways to dampen the bottom of the key stroke on these keyboards.

I forgot to mentioned earlier that the 87U has a matt3o PBT space bar. One of my rules is that my daily driver at work needs to have PBT key caps since I wear through ABS pretty quickly.