Ursa

[Muirium]

I've been waiting a while for this.

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Proper, no-shit, authentically good caps for Topre that aren't Topre's own creation. Caps with solid colours and a superb shape. At last: Andreas and FKcaps delivered!

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Needless to say, I placed quite an order when I heard about Ursa. Then much time passed and I very almost forgot about it. An email showed up telling me that pre-orders had started shipping, and mine just showed up in stormy Scotland today. Without any UK customs fees on top, I might add, to my sincere relief! What was past me thinking ordering all this? Well, it turns out he done pretty good.

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Sphericals on Topre? Do I like them? Is the Pope Catholic?

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These boys are incredible! The shape is magnificent, especially the convex front row which I just love. That looks so classy on an old school Realforce 87u. And the colours, dayum son, they'll take your eyes out…

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I pulled out my Canon and flash just to make the best of these. They absolutely deserve it. They're fantastic!

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Back when I was getting into fancy caps, back in the days of Round 5—ask your grandparents, kids—how I wished there were caps that good for the keyboards I really loved the most. I had no idea it would take so long, but now we're here on Topre I am bloody loving it!

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The texture on these comes across very nicely. The feeling of the caps—they're doubleshot PBT, a thing which did not exist when I was first into this—is different to Topre's classic dyesubs but still definitely PBT. They're just the kind of classy I expect on my HHKB and Realforce.

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Yes, I threw a silver "artisan" into the mix. It's certainly shiny. Rides a little high for my liking, though. But how am I to trim that stem a bit to make it flush with its brothers?

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Did I mention the convex mods yet? They're brilliant! I’m sure I was asking for these here 12 years ago!

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My 55g Realforce 87U has never looked better! Ya beaut!

The black HHKB Pro 2 doesn't look half bad either…

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Compared to the black-on-black ninja look this keyboard has rocked since its inception, the colours on these are just outrageous, in the best possible way!

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Now, anyone old and crotchety enough to remember what I’m like will tell you that I’m a fussy bugger when it comes to caps. It's not just looks, it's function. How are the homing bumps on these, for instance?

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Very nice. They feel much more pronounced than you might think, stuck at the side of a dish like that. Not that they're over-done, either, just that I like them. I can feel where they are when I go to home-row, and they don't annoy me while I’m typing in earnest. I like them a lot better than Round 5's deep dishes, actually. These are the best homing markers I've encountered on spherical caps.

The legends are downright scrumptious.

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Spot the one OG Topre dyesub hiding in plain sight. The mounts on these—unlike certain other attempts—are a perfect match for Topre keyboards. Even the metal one fits quite nicely, if a bit too proud for his own good.

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Oh yeah, and this one key is such a relief to see: a 90º rotated mount 1.5 unit Control key, just for the oldschool "R1" Realforces out there, like mine. Phew! If it weren't for that, I'd be buggered.

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Past me did a fair job in kit selection for this order. I figured I could make do with the classic colour way, for the Realforce, and the black colour way for the ninja HHKB. Chuck in some red mods and blue mods for variety, that silver artisan, some domes…

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The downside being I've now two rather nice numpads worth of keys and nary a Topre numpad to put them on. Don't tell me I’m on the hunt for one of them after all?

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I have like six of these…

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I’m sure I'll put them on my beloved workhorse HHKB Type-S soon, too. It'll pop in its own way with these.

So aye, that was my "review" of Ursa. This was not paid content, I’m the one who did the paying! But damn these are lovely caps! They're the stuff that dreams are made of. Topre dreams…

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[andrewjoy]

Hi mate, been a while. I forgot how good your photos always are . I love that HHKB it looks like a BBC Micro!

I am assuming that a set would fit an R2 realforce ? If so it may be time for my novatouch + black on grey dyesubs to be retired as my work board and for the R2 to take its place.

[Muirium]

Thanks, Andy. These caps were Christmas come early—I'd almost forgotten all about them—and I couldn't contain myself. Had to take pix and had to flaunt them! It was actually a good thing they came after dark as they look just magnificent in flash instead of pale winter daylight.

The BBC Micro thing might be some 1980s memories coming back. "This is a BASIC system. I know this!"

The caps work on R2 and R3 Realforces too, says here. Be careful to buy the right kits, though. I got the Mods kit in red and blue, but only sprung for the Extension kit in blue; which is enough for a red trimmed HHKB but not my Realforce. I should have gotten a wee red Highlights kit as well but, tbh, I'd rather they did more colours for the alphas. You know the wild combos I did with Round 5.

Ursa essentially *is* Round 5 for Topre. One for the ages. Well done Andreas!

[kbdfr]

Nice pics indeed.
[Hi µ]

[Muirium]

Hey Kbdfr, nice to see the old gang is still, despite it all, still around. I even see rumblings in Model F development. It's somehow like 10 years didn't even…

Something I should point out regards Ursa: it'll fit all manner of Realforces, HHKBs and Leopolds so long as yours is ANSI. Now, all of mine are, so no issue to me, but if you're rocking ISO or even Topre's native JIS then you're in for a bad time. Such is small run production.

I'd like the numpad keys to better accommodate Topre's modular 23UB and RT1 numpads, too. But they are what they are: purely to cover the numpad on a fullsize Realforce. The very thing Topre's in no hurry to update these later generations…

[andrewjoy]

I believe if i want to cover a R2 i would need mods and extra ? Looking at the site at least that is what it appears i need.

You did however make me get my round4 out of retirement and put them on my novatouch. I remeber back in the day people trying to produce cherry mount sliders but i dont know if that ever happened.

Boy this round 4 space bar makes the rattle of the novatouch even worse , i think i need to get myself some lube. What lube do the cool kids use nowadays for stablisers ?

[Muirium]

Yeah, your R2 would need the Extension, Mods and Alphas kits. The mods kit is just this:



Enough for an HHKB or FC660C but not a Realforce's worth of keys.

I'd recommend the red or blue mods over the classic greys, myself. The first ones I put on my "R1" Realforce were the Classic colourway. While nice, it was the heavy temptation to try the blues that made my camera irresistible! I’m so chuffed with that blue set. The reds are hot as well. I’m almost tempted to buy the red Extension set, they're so nice.

[Muirium]

So I looked. The Realforce R4 is just out and all the more compelling for me now I have these caps.



https://www.realforce.co.jp/products/series_r4.html

This one's ANSI, Bluetooth, damped, and uniform 45g. I'd like to try 30g but that’s only for Japan. Mind, for now, they're out of stock so I must be patient anyway.

Going to have to do something about the extra four above the numpad though. There's always something…

[wobbled]

Can’t decide if i like the r4 design, its extremely minimal.
R3 was nice, similar shape to R1 but looked way more modern, i still need to pick up a full size black r3 for work. Thankfully the prices are coming way down, especially for used units

[Muirium]

I certainly like the R4 features. I like an understated design so this one seems to call to me, especially in black, now I've killer caps for it.

If you see some discount Realforces from previous generations, do share. R4's sold out in Japan so I'll be waiting a while to strike lucky.

[andreas]

OH WOW

Thank you, Muirium for taking the time to write this post and take these awesome looking photos.

The forum has been troubling to post to, so I added my discord contact to my profile, as I really wanted to get your opinion on your order. Anyway, here we are, and I am happy to read every single word of your enjoyment with URSA. Lovely, jut lovely.

Overall, we are getting good feedback and the project is a success. This opens up opportunities for the future. Just last week I have completed designing the ISO enter key, which I held off for the past year. We still have to define future kits, but JIS is definitely on the list, not so sure about full ISO support, though.

Please, everyone looking at the R4 or other 'full-size' RFs — we do not currently have dedicated keys for the four media keys above the numblock in our kits today. With the first mold design, we had to cut costs. The tooling turned out differently in the end, so we may have future full-size sets that include them. While there are left-over keys in the kits to fill that gap, they are not R1 keys.

Again, my sincere thanks for this review, it means a lot coming from you, Muirium.

Andreas

[Muirium]

I opened up Discord for the first time in an age and added you by username. It's… a fidgety app for my liking, but evidently everyone's gone somewhere.

Any more (characteristically well considered) colour ways for these caps would be a godsend, and those tricky four new keys for the R4. Now you've sent me two good Topre numpad sets, I’m itching for a Realforce to put them on. Keyboards want caps want keyboards…