REALFORCE RGB Revealed at Computex 2016

[zslane]

From your pic, zslane, it looks as if Realforce went for Costar-style stabs on the RGB rather than the more regular Topre-like ones on the Novatouch. Since you have both, would you say that there is a difference in feel between the stabilized keys on the two?

The stabilizers on the RGB are unlike any I've seen before. Completely different from those on the NovaTouch. My RealForce 104UK Hi-Pro doesn't even use stabilizers, so I don't know what a Topre stabilizer is supposed to be like.

RealForce RGB stabilizers

rgb_stabs.jpg (325.55 KiB) Viewed 4126 times

[zslane]

From what I know the noppos are red little O-Rings, not comparable with silencing rings made of foam.

Yes, they are little red rubber O-rings.

Of course, my problem now is that I might want to get another one of these RGB boards, but I don't know where to get silencing rings.

[Muirium]

Yuck. Costar stabs are a pain in the arse. The one good thing they have going for them is a snappy feel compared to (the much more convenient) Cherry stabs. But a Topre board isn't in need of that, the dome feels just fine with Topre's regular stabiliser design. Guess this is cost cutting.

[cookie]

So you actually bought the rgb, okay.

[Muirium]

Not me. Zslane. I'm far, far too mean! Something's got to be frickin' spectacular to beat my 55g TKL and tempt me to fork out Topre bucks. Truth is—besides HiPro caps which I've zero of, and Clacks—I'm good. I've already got the two apex Topre boards for my tastes. HHKB and 87U.

[zslane]

The stabilizers in this RGB are silent, so they have that going for them. They may have been developed to cut costs, I couldn't say, but they feel fine to me. Only time will tell if there are any long-term reliability issues with them.

[zslane]

From what I know the noppos are red little O-Rings, not comparable with silencing rings made of foam.

Yes, they are little red rubber O-rings.

Of course, my problem now is that I might want to get another one of these RGB boards, but I don't know where to get silencing rings.

Okay, thanks to the almighty Google, I found Hypersphere's eBay page and ordered a bunch of his rings.

[Findecanor]

My RealForce 104UK Hi-Pro doesn't even use stabilizers, so I don't know what a Topre stabilizer is supposed to be like.

BTW. Normal Realforce and HHKB have stabiliser bars inside the switches themselves. AFAIK they are the same on Novatouch except that there are no sliders to the sides of the main slider - the wide housing is flat except for the slider in the middle. On Realforce (but not on HHKB) even the 1.75 Caps Lock key is stabilised this way.

The Space bar should have stabiliser-sliders though. Novatouch and Realforce use switch housings with a different slider.

[zslane]

Interesting. Yeah, I did notice that on my Hi-Pro. I'm not sure how that helps since the whole point is to stabilize the outer ends of the keycap for when fingers apply pressure there instead of the center. But I don't notice any stabilization issues on the Hi-Pro so obviously it works (somehow).

[002]

One bad thing about the Novatouch stabs is that the plastic encircling the mount itself interferes with additional stems on the multi-compatibility spacebars. I had to snip mine off which is no big deal for me as I only planned to use this set on the Novatouch but maybe not so great if you move your caps around to other keyboards I guess.

[livingspeedbump]

i wouldn't ever buy one of these, but I did have a prototype for a while. It actually had a mix of Topre and MX sliders. I need to go back and look at the pictures to see what stabs it had, but I'm quite sure they were different than the final product.

I think the real winner with this board is just that Topre is branching out and trying new things. I wouldn't mind seeing the variable actuation make its way over to other RF boards. I'm not a fan of ever wanting to swap out Topre caps for MX caps, but I'm sure the possibility of getting MX sliders with Topre boards in the future also excites many people.

[zslane]

By contrast, I like the board so much I ordered another one.

For me, a board that can't take MX keycaps is practically useless because a board that can't take DSA or SA keycaps would just sit in its box unused (like my Topre Hi-Pro). My KBP V60 mini sits unused in its box until someone puts together a DSA set with Alps stems (it was going to be LightCycle DSA until that GB got scrapped), which is sort of a shame because Matias Quiet Click switches are pretty good.

The RealForce RGB board may not be perfect, but nothing else out there hits as many of my end-game bullet points as it does. All it takes are silencing rings and a white paint job and it becomes a prime contender. Its only competition will be a white Varmilo VA108M with MX pink switches. These two will determine whether linear or tactile is ultimately what I am looking for in an end-game keyboard. Whichever one wins that title will get the honor of carrying my Round 6 Space Cadet keycaps (I still can't quite warm up to the aesthetic of a black Space Cadet board).

[livingspeedbump]

By contrast, I like the board so much I ordered another one.

For me, a board that can't take MX keycaps is practically useless because a board that can't take DSA or SA keycaps would just sit in its box unused (like my Topre Hi-Pro). My KBP V60 mini sits unused in its box until someone puts together a DSA set with Alps stems (it was going to be LightCycle DSA until that GB got scrapped), which is sort of a shame because Matias Quiet Click switches are pretty good.

The RealForce RGB board may not be perfect, but nothing else out there hits as many of my end-game bullet points as it does. All it takes are silencing rings and a white paint job and it becomes a prime contender. Its only competition will be a white Varmilo VA108M with MX pink switches. These two will determine whether linear or tactile is ultimately what I am looking for in an end-game keyboard. Whichever one wins that title will get the honor of carrying my Round 6 Space Cadet keycaps (I still can't quite warm up to the aesthetic of a black Space Cadet board).

I find SA nearly unbearable to type on with standard MX switches due to the wobble. It wasn't really much better on the Novatouch either. I honestly love the stock Topre profile and caps, and Matt3o fixed the spacebar issue. As fun as keycap sets are, I generally never use anything remotely flashy on a daily use keyboard either.

And switch lighting is just something I don't ever use either. I used to install white LEDs in all my builds, just because, but I eventually stopped doing that because I'd never use them. I can see how many parts of this board could be appreciated, but for me I'm just hoping some aspects work their way over to a more standard Topre board.

[zslane]

The backlighting is off by default on the RealForce RGB and I intend to leave it that way. I just ignore it and try to forget it even exists (which is pretty easy to do, actually).

I don't really notice keycap wobble. I realize it exists, but it is simply something my brain doesn't register when I'm typing. Heck, there's wobble on any RealForce board; it's just a matter of degree, and when I compare the wobble between my RealForce RGB and my RealForce Hi-Pro the difference isn't even worth reporting, AFAIC. I understand that others are hyper-sensitive to such things; I'm just grateful that I'm not and that it doesn't prevent me from indulging in the sublime world of custom SA keycaps (like Cadet, Honey, PuLsE, and Dasher).

But make no mistake, my neuroses afflict me in other ways. For instance, I can't stand to pair any keycap set with the "wrong" color keyboard (case). And I really need my numpad (except with my iPad). And I'm discovering a growing impatience with unsilenced switches.

Some folks can't stand spherical key tops, or high-profile keycaps, or sculptured rows, or wobbly keycaps, or TKLs, or non-standard layouts, or whatever. Like I've said elsewhere, we're all weird in our own way.

[Elrick]

Like I've said elsewhere, we're all weird in our own way.

We are ALL quite weird, spending time in a public forum typing about our 'sick' keyboard fetishes .

[sems]

All the talk about keyboard aside, how is the software of it?
Looks pretty lame in the first post compared to other rgb keyboard softwares...

[002]

Topre is going to send me one hopefully this week -- I'll do a review before Christmas if I can.
I think the software is a bit more polished now. It's up for download on their Realforce page: http://www.realforce.co.jp/index.html