It is well known including by myself that the Topre RGB does not seem to be at the quality level of Realforce. It also seemed to me that this is not a route Topre would follow. Being strictly for business. So it came to my attention from a reliable source that the RGB is made by SeaSonic in China. Which prompted me to open one here and take a look around. PCB says SeaSonic in a spot and there was a little sticker with SeaSonic and a barcode on it loosely attached to the backside of the PCB. You may know SeaSonic as a manufacturer of all manner of computing devices but best known for quality inexpensive PSU's. It is completely Legit that the sticker on the back says "Made in Japan". Japan, subscribing to Global trade regulations. That literally means they can do anything from put one screw in it in Japan, Check it's operation, Place said sticker on the back among other very minor things. Basically if it stops in the "Country of origin" before it heads out to distributers it is completely legit. Many people may think this is horrible that they can do such a thing but they did not make the laws governing global trade. Feel free to research this on the internet and you shall see I tell no lie here. Unless many of you are already aware of these laws. The truth is very few things are completely sourced from one country with the exception of China. Most things have more involved at the Country of origin than these kind of deals however. RealForce remains completely assembled in Japan with mainly Japanese components.
So that explains a lot. I figured Topre was not about to make anything like this themselves. Made in China is not necessarily a bad thing.This might seem misleading but they are completely in the right. I knew from the get go that this was not a Realforce from Japan. It does not have the sound, which has nothing to do with the Cherry stems. The case is not the same quality. Topre does not manufacturer double shot ABS keys should be a dead giveaway. Overall it is okay but it is not my go to board and not because it is made in China. It is due to it being lower quality overall than a real Realforce(no pun intended).
I am not trying to start a problem. This is just a FYI and should be right up any Geeks Alley to have knowledge of this fact. It is okay, there is much worse. It is unique, the only thing like it. If you want one it is reasonably decent and this may or may not stop you. If you own one there is no reason to be disappointed. Since you are already aware it is not built like a Japanese Realforce. Unless you have never handled one. Even a Leopold is somewhat better built but does not offer what this does. RGB is mainly aimed at gamers and I probably would not suggest these switches for gaming. If you are any kind of typist I would recommend a True Realforce from Elitekeyboards. Or some high quality cherry board. There are many from which to choose. I would not recommend the likes of Razer or Steel series for instance and the Topre RGB is in my opinion better than those s well. It just not what I would expect for $260+. The made in China part does not even bother me. It is just the overall quality is subpar. I do not by any means mean terrible. I just mean it is not a top example. Plus right from the beginning it was obvious for a number of reasons that it was not what one expects a Topre board to be. I just figured this was newsworthy if someone else did not already figure it out and I am unaware. If this is old news, my bad but I am just trying to help our community make informed decisions. That being said I would not care about the made in China but rather the overall quality. Although for $260+ I am not sure why they cannot make it in Japan. It is because tooling up for that is a fortune.
I apologize that this is so long. I just thought it might be of interest to some here. If not, please carry on........
