people always forget that topre keyboards are intended for the japanese domestic market, and thus most prices in the west are inflated because of logistics and other import-related fees
brand new realforces/hhkbs are available starting at ~$170-175 - obviously that still isn't 'affordable' by comparison to most low-mid range options but it seems like people base their pricing off of what smartimports charges and pretend that that's the rrp topre themselves set or something.
it's incredibly easy to get used topre for very cheap in japan too, think perfectly clean 87us around the $110 mark and older standard jis stuff for even less
also if you're wearing out your abs spacebars in a month i would suggest taking a shower
That's a shame! Why doesn't Topre do as Cherry make them worldwide avaliable? Thank you all for all the answers. Funny thing this only makes this decision to get a Topre keyboard even harder.
i think they're working on it actually - fujitsu is handling distribution for them in the us as of recently, and they established themselves in china too with the release of the pfu r2. whether they'll continue the process officially in europe remains to be seen, but for now i believe there are a couple of third party options. obviously prices are notably higher in all of these places though.
Anyone can copy topre because there's no patent on that.
It isn't available somewhere else or sold by other brands because no one cares about that inferior technology.
uhhhh okay? i mean they wouldn't have made the move to american and chinese distribution centres if no one cared about them
also, topre keyboards are some of the most reliable period, especially when it comes to chatter and dirt resistance. their lifespan is also super long because of their contactless nature, so they're far from inferior, even if you haven't made it clear what they're inferior to??? clones??
there are plenty of clones out there that can emulate the topre experience, but none of them match the quality of a realforce, fcxx0c, etc. so people are gonna continue to buy the genuine article.
Mmm super long lifespan what? Do you think that lasts more a spring or a rubber membrane? What's the most common failing point of a 40 years old model f or of a beamspring? And beside the obvious answer, topre simply sucks.
not sure if you're trolling at this point, but yes they absolutely last longer than a standard membrane keyboard... they're rated at 50m+ actuations
when you have to draw on two of the most revered and over-engineered keyboards/switches in history to prove your point you're only complimenting topre and doing me a favour (thanks), but honestly i would say topre is more reliable than at least beamspring, whose switches have an insane amount of moving parts - if you want to carry out a comprehensive restoration you often need to disassemble each and every one of them in order to do so. the mounts for the caps break, the contamination shield breaks up and gets inside them, they get overcome with rust etc...
topre is a modern switch that's still in production and available to this day though, so spouting the virtues of industrial keyboards that cost at least a dozen times as much back in the day makes about as much sense as your irrational hate for it
I can't reply to such a big number of idiotic ramblings. What do you think that lasts longer, a rubber membrane or the spring of a cherry switch?
you can’t reply because you have no actual arguments, you sit there and type one sentence in response to my actual points after all your comparisons fall flat. the fact that you’re calling topre a ‘rubber membrane’ only further proves that you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, the switch doesn’t involve a membrane in any way.
and yes, topre and cherry are pretty much the same in terms of reliability. i’ve already explained why, but it’s pretty clear you’re way too devoted to riding the topre hate train without even knowing why. keep it up champ, maybe you’ll find happiness someday.
@rowdy - ansi is actually quite popular in japan, due in no small part to the astronomical success of the hhkb - a good example is the recent announcement of realforce for mac on the realforce twitter page, there are quite a few japanese people requesting a US layout version in the comments. obviously you’re right though, the ansi stuff has the added bonus of international appeal too.