The Realforce 104 Euro Tour

komar007 · 21 Dec 2012, 12:01

Thanks!

cinch · 22 Dec 2012, 01:11

Topre should endorse 002 as a reseller. i bet they'd make loads of profit with tours such as this. i for one will be ordering a Topre

:>

igro · 22 Dec 2012, 01:32

I must say that i really like it even though it is not what i expected. Some of my colleagues liked it too. Some of them even stod up to the challenge to guess the actuall cost. The highest i got was 30€ and very suspicious looks when the price was revealed to them.
I will probably buy a tenkeyless version some time in the future.

002 · 22 Dec 2012, 10:37

igro wrote:The highest i got was 30€

ahh well to be fair, if I knew nothing about keyboards I suppose I'd give a similar guess. Topre make pretty unassuming looking keyboards.

cinch · 22 Dec 2012, 17:19

LOL highest was 30
wait till they hear about click clacks

dirge · 22 Dec 2012, 21:53

cinch wrote:LOL highest was 30
wait till they hear about click clacks

They don't need to know about that nonsense. There's argument to spending a bit more on a quality device, but they are just bits of plastic..

002 · 07 Jan 2013, 12:17

I know it's been the holiday season but where are we up to?
I take it that you've forwarded it on long ago, igro?

igro · 07 Jan 2013, 12:23

Yes i've forwarded it to gorkypl. I think he should have it by now.

gorkypl · 07 Jan 2013, 20:17

According to my wife it it has arrived today, but I'm not at homa at this moment. Will pick it up in two days and provide an unboxing photo

gorkypl · 12 Jan 2013, 16:22

As promised, the photos from unboxing are below - even including the view of my unshaved face

After a few minutes of use, the Topre switches seem really great, but I will try to use the keyboard as much as possible in the next week and will provide a more detailed opinion...

002 · 22 Jan 2013, 10:56

Haha cool!
Really surprised to see the box still holding up well. Let us know your thoughts when you can

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 11:59

002 : I'd like to add a SurpriseBag to your Realforce 104. If you PM me the name and address of the person currently holding it ( gorkypl? ) I can send the bag to him and he can then bundle it.
The SurpriseBag will be started off with either a Mrinterface TopreTester or IBMModelM tester.
What do you think about it?

002 · 22 Jan 2013, 12:27

That'd be awesome

Happy for it to happen, but first I need to find out who exactly has the board at the moment because I don't have anyone's address details and I'm relying on the participants to exchange that with each other. I suppose it's either still with gorkypl or has been posted to komar007. Given that it's nearly the end of the tour, would it be OK to park the board with one of the DT admins (yourself?) until more interest is generated perhaps?

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 12:58

002 wrote:That'd be awesome
Happy for it to happen, but first I need to find out who exactly has the board at the moment because I don't have anyone's address details and I'm relying on the participants to exchange that with each other. I suppose it's either still with gorkypl or has been posted to komar007. Given that it's nearly the end of the tour, would it be OK to park the board with one of the DT admins (yourself?) until more interest is generated perhaps?

Yes, you can park it at my place. We can then re-start a new round. I can then put my SurpriseBag in.

dirge · 22 Jan 2013, 13:46

That keyboards got some miles on it now!

Mrinterface · 22 Jan 2013, 13:49

dirge wrote:That keyboards got some miles on it now!

I think my first STN got around 20k?

komar007 · 22 Jan 2013, 15:45

002 wrote:That'd be awesome
Happy for it to happen, but first I need to find out who exactly has the board at the moment because I don't have anyone's address details and I'm relying on the participants to exchange that with each other. I suppose it's either still with gorkypl or has been posted to komar007. Given that it's nearly the end of the tour, would it be OK to park the board with one of the DT admins (yourself?) until more interest is generated perhaps?

I'm waiting for the board now. gorkypl is sending it this week.

dirge · 22 Jan 2013, 19:53

lol your video skills are awesome bud.

hottrout · 23 Jan 2013, 10:54

Is it too late for me to get involved? I would love to use this keyboard just to see if it is worth buying. If possible please count me in. I am in Northern Ireland.

gorkypl · 25 Jan 2013, 12:53

Yes, sorry for the delay, I was absolutely overloaded by working 12h/day this week.
The keyboard has been sent to komar today, when I'll get home in the evening I'd share my opinions

Jmneuv · 25 Jan 2013, 13:01

Wow, nice video editing!

002 · 26 Jan 2013, 03:12

The Realforce's last stop on round one of this tour is with Mrinterface, during which the Surprise Bag will be added to enhance the tour for round 2.

The format and rules will be *similar* but I will make a new thread detailing all that and archive this thread once the board reaches its final destination. Thanks everyone for taking part and sharing your opinions and photos and I hope we can get more interest for round 2!

komar007 · 28 Jan 2013, 15:20

I got it a few hours ago and I'm comparing it against cherry mx browns, greens and reds.

: IMAG0174.jpg (845.13 KiB) Viewed 29411 times

EDIT:
first impressions: I'm not a fan of typing on it. There's no way not to bottom out and it's making me slower and less accurate.
But I got down to debugging my code for the GH60 and it's a wonderful coding keyboard. It's nearly as good as my Model M, but super-silent compared to it.

second impressions: typing got much better after a bit of getting used to. I'm getting to like it more and more.
At the beginning I thought that I don't like the weighting, but after time I also got used to it and it's fine.

domin8r · 12 Feb 2013, 10:59

It just arrived at our office!

First impression.. it types really nice!
I was kinda hoping the Topre switches would be very overrated but I'm immediately liking them..
This is a problem since now I might need to buy one!

I think the other people in my office like this too instead of the rattling Ducky 1087XM!

Using a fullsize keyboard is a bit weird though

Jmneuv · 18 Feb 2013, 14:57

Is it still possible to get in on this tour?
If so, i'd very much like to join.. thank you.

domin8r · 18 Feb 2013, 15:01

Jmneuv wrote:Is it still possible to get in on this tour?
If so, i'd very much like to join.. thank you.

It gets 1 more stop after me and then it's getting parked. A new tour will be planned soon after that

domin8r · 21 Feb 2013, 13:35

I've sent the board on so here is my little review:

I was always curious about Topre. It was the only switch I wanted to try. I thought my ergo-clears were the absolute best switches. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't like the Topre. Just because liking them would mean I would want to buy one

Well to be short.. I absolutely loved it! I love how these switches feel and I also love the variable weighting.
The board is really constructed well and feels nice and heavy. You just set it down on your desk and type away.
Sound is also nice when you're typing on it.. feels solid and subtle. I don't understand why there's a silent version of the Realforce since this one hardly makes any noise. No rattle, no click or clack. Just subtle thud thud thud

There is only 1 point of critique: the caps. I love how they feel, but for such a expensive keyboard they could have put more effort into the printing. Some prints are positioned weirdly, different font sizes, etc.

This backspace could definitely have been more elegant:

Kurk · 21 Feb 2013, 21:07

The board has arrived in excellent condition at my place. I will post my impressions in a few days. And now I'm going to enjoy some private moments with these rubber domes

01-Mar-2013: quick update: the keyboard is at my work, I am at home having cought the flu

Sending the board to MrInterface will be delayed by a few days.
05-Mar-2013: sent to Mrinterface, my review will follow soon.

Mrinterface · 06 Mar 2013, 17:18

The board arrived at my place today and is parked. 002 -> just give me a PM when you know where to send it to next.

dirge · 06 Mar 2013, 21:27

At this point I'm wishing I'd unscrewed it and hidden a message in there for someone..