Topre Type Heaven 104

So I bought this today. The Topre Type Heaven 104. I'm typing this post with it now. Reason why I bought this? Well, those who followed my blog will remember that I bought some orange key caps which I've used in the Leopold FC660C. However I discovered that I much prefer the original keycaps of the Leopold. It has a more "thunkier" and softer feel which I'm simply in love with. As far as I'm concerned it has the nicest feeling Topre switch of them all. I can't help but type on them even when I have no reason to lol.

So now I'm left with a complete set of unused PBT dye sublimated orange keycaps. This is where the Topre Type Heaven comes into the picture. When I was using the orange keycaps on the Leopold, I fell in love with the orange keycaps on black chassis colour combination. I thought I would buy a cheaper Topre keyboard with a black chassis to use them on. Initially I thought of the black Realforce 87U but they are much too expensive. Although I prefer a Tenkeyless keyboard like the Realforce 87U, I thought it doesn't hurt to try out the less expensive Topre Type Heaven. I also get the chance to use all the orange keycaps since it comes in a full set.

Out of the box, I didn't really expect much from the Type Heaven, what with it coming with ABS keycaps and all the videos on YouTube showing it to be a lot more clackier and noisy than those which comes with PBTs like the Realforce, HHKB and Leopold. I guess I shouldn't be so biased. The Type Heaven really surprised me. The keys are noisier and clackier no doubt, but it is actually really really nice to type on. I think if this was my first Topre keyboard, I think I would have stopped there. It has that Topre feel, in fact it feels "Topre-ier" than the Realforce 86U. Maybe its because of the uniform 45g keys weighting? I don't know. All I know I love typing on them. I put this second to the Leopold typing experience.

This brings me to a dilemma. Should I change them to the PBTs? After much thought, I said, "The hell with it." I did buy it to use with the orange PBTs. And if I don't like it, I could always change back to the original keycaps.

So do you like it?

As for the feel, it is less clackier and noisy than the original keycaps. I never thought I'm going to say this but I actually prefer the clackier and noisier original keycaps. But these are not too bad themselves. Reminds me of the feel I got when I was using them on the Leopold. The original Leopold keycaps still feel the best. These comes a very close third. I put this just, oh so so slightly less than the original Type Heaven keycaps. I guess you can't really trust those YouTube videos. They cannot convey the feel when you are typing. Just the amount and type of noise that they make. Even then, they are not accurate. Some feel louder and some feel softer even when they are exactly the same keycaps and keyboard. All I can say is that the original keycaps are really not that loud. I would have no qualms using them in the office. Now that I've put the orange PBTs on them, they are even quieter (well maybe not as silent as those S-types) but seriously, you will have no problem with them in the office.

I'm going to make this my primary keyboard. They are really very nice to type on. I'm a happy camper.

Next stop. The Holy Grail of keyboards. You guys know which one I'm talking about hehe.

UPDATE 1 : I've changed back the keys to the original ABS keycaps. I don't know what they did but I can pretty much confirm I prefer the feel of the original keycaps. They are a bit more clackier but not by much. The clack also does not have a sort of "ping" that the orange keycaps can have when typing fast. The feel is also slightly heavier than the orange keycaps which can be a bit too light at times. It is also a bit more "thunkier" but not at the level of the Leopold which has an excellent level of "thunkiness" which I just adore.

UPDATE 2 : You know what? After typing with the default keycaps for awhile, the keys are actually not as clacky as I thought. In fact I now feel that it is actually less clacky than the orange keycaps although the orange keycaps sounds deeper yet do not feel as thunky as the originals. I don't know if that makes sense.