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> You’ve seen people test Topre boards such as the HHKB, Realforce, Leopold, and some Topre-clone boards too, and many rave about the way they sound and feel.
by memco 5y ago
> You’ve seen people test Topre boards such as the HHKB, Realforce, Leopold, and some Topre-clone boards too, and many rave about the way they sound and feel.
No, I haven't heard of Topre or seen any reviews until now.
> Topre boards, why are they so expensive? ... $250 ...
Although I suspect many keyboard enthusiasts might usually hover in the $100-$200 range for their pieces, $250 for parts and labor isn't that expensive. The Kinesis Advantage is $350, the Ergodox Moonlander is $370, even Apple's magic keyboard for the iPad is $300 so a $250 isn't cheap, but certainly isn't astronomical compared to what's out there. A lot of cheaper keyboards can be had, but they usually come at the cost of poorer quality or require additional labor and customization.
- donio 5y agoDatahand keyboards used to cost $500-$1000 depending on the model and time of purchase.
- memco 5y agoThanks for the interesting rabbit hole. I’ve been using a split ortho keyboard and while I’m quite happy with it I think there’s a small bit of FOMO whenever I see a unique design. Applies to the Topre and the Datahand equally: would be curious to try them, but probably not enough to procure one.
- donio 5y agoYeah, hard to get them nowadays. They never made very many of them and the remaining ones are 20 years old now. There have been attempts to re-create it over the years, getting the switches to feel as good as the originals is probably the most difficult part. These might be the closest ones yet: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard and the v2: https://hackaday.io/project/178232-lalboard-ergonomic-keyboard https://hackaday.io/project/178232-lalboard-ergonomic-keyboa...
- ouid 5y agoThat's because this post, and I suspect many of the comments here, are advertisements.