Which topre board should i try out?

[nennenball]

Never step into the world of high-end membrane keyboard before,
which one of the rubber dome should i get? Topre, Realforce, Leopold?
what are the main different between them?

[kekstee]

Membrane refers to the sensing mechanism. Topre keyboards aren't membrane keyboards, but rather use a capacitive sensing PCB.

Membranes are the foil sheets you find in most cheap boards or Model Ms, which have problems separating keystrokes and mostly (always?) only offer 2KRO.

/edit
Oh and Leopold C*, Realforce and PFU all use Topre switches. So the question is layout, keycap and case build quality.

[andrewjoy]

For your first topre i would stay away from variable , it feels a bit strange ( at least it did to me).

Just go a standard realforce, but make sure you lube the spacebar them bitches rattle ( again at least it did for me)

You could try to see if you can still find a novatouch, that my personal top pick due to the layout and MX stems

[wobbled]

Buy a plum and some light BKE domes and do the swap. Then you have a board that feels arguably better than stock topre keyboards and you get the experience with working on topre boards. Oh and they are pre-silenced and MX compatible.

If you just want a basic topre board then get a realforce or a type heaven

[mike52787]

I would go with a realforce. They are solidly built, feel great, and can be had relatively cheaply on yahoo auctions japan. As andrewjoy said, stay away from the variable ones. 45g is best in my opinion.

[czarek]

Why stay away from variables? That way he can try all the weights available in Topre keyboards

Also typing on that is quite unique. You don't really feel the variable weighting unless you really look for it. Otherwise it's just easy on fingers, making the keyboard feel a bit lighter overall.

I think the only issue with that could be for some pro gamers where outer switches are pretty mushy and super light but for average gamer like me, it's more than fine. By average I mean someone who used to play about 10-20 hours a week before baby was born and now plays 4-8 hours a week max

For me personally variable Realforce is the only way to use Topre as all others are just too heavy on ring and little fingers. So nawadays, I can only use light Cherries (Red, Brown, Blue) and variable Topre. Everything else is too heavy after couple days of coding.

[andrewjoy]

Each to his own , i only 4 finger type and i could feel the inconstancy across the board .

I am sure if i forced myself to touch type ( i can but its slow ), then i would feel the advantage.

[evoman]

I had a RF and I thought the build quality was great - it felt nice and solid to type on and had a good weight. But I didn't like the keycap profile (and I had one with dark print, which I could not get along with), so I ended up with a Novatouch. It is not as solid feeling as the Topre model, but it is still quite nice and I have a set of hi profile caps that make it more usable for me. I have a RF RGB waiting for a new set of keycaps and I am hoping that will be the ultimate Topre desk keyboard.

So if you like the keycaps on a RF, then that is a great choice. But if not, go with one of the MX compatible ones and do a swap