Revisiting the Leopold FC660M

So I got bored and decided to play with my other keyboards which I have been neglecting. One of them is the Leopold FC660M. Those who followed my blog will know that I am not exactly too enamoured by the Cherry MX Clears on the Leopold FC660M. I love their tactility but not their stiffness. As I also have a Cherry MX Blues Armageddon Stealth Raptor, I decided to play with the keycaps by swapping them around. Based on my experience with swapping keycaps on my Topre keyboards, I know that the keycaps plays a part in the feel of the keyboard. I figured I have nothing to lose. I was bored after all hehe.

The result is what you see above. Not perfect and not all the keycaps are an exact match. What I did not expect however, was an improvement made on BOTH keyboards after I had finished switching the keycaps. If you remember, one of my complaint of the Leopold is that the keys are hard to see with the gold-lettering on the white background. They are also stiff on entry and very stiff when bottoming out. The ABS keycaps of the Armageddon are not exactly that much better legibility-wise but it is an improvement. The biggest improvement however, is in its feel. I was caught by surprise how great these feels on the Leopold. The Armageddon keycaps are lighter (more flimsy actually) and also a bit taller than the original keycaps. In one stroke, it solves the problem of the stiffness and fatigue on your fingers. I mean the stroke is still stiff but not as stiff as before. It actually changes the character of the keystroke quite a bit. These are lighter on entry and because it is taller, the stiffness on bottoming out is also much lessened. Is it perfect? No but I sure as hell can live with it. Now even typing is a pleasure. Also because it is taller, the tactility is even more pronounced which is a real delight. I think ABS keys have been given an undeserved reputation. Maybe the lettering quality may not be as good but in terms of feel it is not necessarily worse than a PBT.

I really enjoy typing on the Leopold FC660M now. Initially I was thinking of using soft landing pads or o-rings to solve the stiffness problem. I was also thinking of lubing the stem to further smoothen the entry when typing. I may still do them but as it is now, these are really great to type on. At times I even enjoy typing on them more than the Topre. Never thought I'd say that.

P.S. I forgot to say something about the swapped keycaps on the Armageddon. The Leopold keycaps actually improved the feel of the Armageddon. Where previously the typing experience can be a bit wobbly, the new keycaps tighten up the experience. If anything, the keys are even more clicky than before making it quite enjoyable to type on. I still prefer the Cherry MX Clears though.

The Holy Grail (or is it?)

Yep. It finally arrived.

Initial impressions. Very light keyboard. Key feel is typical Topre. Better than the Realforce 86U. It's definitely more "thocky". Is it more "thocky" than the Leopold FC660C? I'm not too sure about that. It's a different kind of "thock". I still prefer the "thock" of the Leopold. It's more crisp and the "thock" is deeper. The HHKB Pro 2 keycaps are also slightly lighter than the Leopold which offers a bit more resistance which I like. When typing fast, the "thock" on the HHKB Pro 2 is very pleasurable and I can see why people get addicted to it. Still preliminary impressions though.

I've configured the DELETE key to be BACKSPACE by flipping on the SW3 DIP switch and changed some keycaps to highlight the location of the cursor keys. The current keyboard arrangement is throwing me off a lot and I think it will take some time before I get used to it.

Did it meet my expectations? Not really. I mean, it did not disappoint me but it does not feel like what I thought it would feel like either. I guess I just have to give it more time.

More impressions later.

UPDATE 1 : I'm slowly but surely adapting to the keyboard. My typing speed has increased by at least 10 wpm and I'm slowly familiarising myself with the new layout. I've actually taken out the orange keycaps to wean myself off them. What I'm struggling with though, is the effort that I have to exert to hold the FN key to trigger my often used keys like the cursor keys, the PGUP / PGDN keys and the HOME / END keys. It's taking its toll on my fingers. In short, finding them is fine but to trigger them is becoming a problem.

I'm slowly getting a hang of the keyboard and I now find the typing experience to be at least equal to the Leopold FC660C. The HHKB might even be a bit superior. Overall I find the experience to be quite different. The HHKB has a very nice "thock" and less of the "thunk" that the Leopold has. The keycap quality is also excellent with big letterings on a beige background. All the keys are fine except maybe for the DELETE key which I've made into my BACKSPACE. That one has a bit of a "ping" on the upstroke which I'm not particularly thrilled with.

My biggest bugbear is still the layout and although it is a lot better now, I keep getting tripped by the location of the BACKSPACE key which is a row lower than what I'm used to and the CTRL key which is now 2 rows above where it used to be. I'm ok with the location of the cursor keys even though it was my biggest worry initially. I also keep forgetting to press the FN key in order to trigger the DEL key.

I hope I can adapt.

In short, the keyboard feels fine (if not fantastic) but the layout is driving me nuts. I can't help but wish the keyboard was a TenKeyLess. It would have been perfect.

UPDATE 2 : Is there a break-in period for keyboards? I don't know but the "thock" on the HHKB is becoming more and more prominent the more I type on it. Maybe it's all psychological but that "thock thock thock" is damn addictive. I just want to keep on typing. At times I feel it to be superior than the Leopold. I still type faster on the Leopold but I attribute that to my familiarity with its layout. The HHKB still trips me up at times.

Both the Leopold and HHKB are a pleasure to type on and you can't go wrong with either. Depending on my mood, my preference will swing from one to the other. Overall I still have to give the edge to the Leopold due to its more conventional layout.

One thing I noticed, the more I type on the HHKB, the worst I become when I go back to my other keyboards. My fingers seem to remember the position of the BACKSPACE and other keys on the HHKB. Takes me awhile to get myself acclimatised back to the other keyboards.

Realforce 86U Keyboard Modification

I've been trying to put a few of my keyboards up for sale. I've not been successful. Nope. None at all. Only got 1 query and after that nothing. Nada. Zilch. This is quite depressing. I know where I'm from, not many people are into keyboards. But what I'm experiencing is pretty bad. I do stuff like these all the time. I would buy and sell stuff to try them out. Usually I will be out of a little bit of money. I take that loss as some sort of rental for me to try out the product. This is expected. On very rare occasions, I can even make a little bit of profit. On the whole though, I have no problems selling. Unfortunately I can't do that with keyboards. This is turning out to be a really expensive hobby (if I can't get rid of them). Looks like that HHKB keyboard I recently ordered will be the last one for awhile.

One of the keyboards I've been trying to sell is the Realforce 86U. If I can't sell this, I'm very tempted to modify it into the silent version. Although with modification, I know its resale value will plummet even further. It may not even turn out as I expected. But you'll never know if you never try.

I intend to get some soft landing pads to modify the keycaps on the upstroke. The modification does not look to be very difficult and there is no soldering involved which is great because I sucked at it. Actually I've never done any soldering in my life! Lol. The modification will just be a bit tedious as it involves removing the bottom plate and the individual keys to insert the pad. We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Dilemma

I've been playing with all my keyboards these past few days, putting them through their paces. I really really like the Leopold FC660C. It is a very nice compromise between a tenkeyless and the small form factor. I've gotten used to the size and it no longer feels cramped. The keyboard is more or less perfect except for 2 things. The redundant INSERT key and the poor gold laser-etched lettering of the keycaps. I don't think they can do anything for the INSERT key and to be honest, I can't think of anything to replace it with. They can of course do something about the keycaps. Something like the Topre produced dye-sublimated PBT keycaps. However I do worry that it will change the character and feel of the key. The current original keycaps are perfect except for that ugly laser-etched gold letterings. I did not realise how much keycaps play a part in changing the feel of the keyboard. I get to experience these first hand when swapping keycaps among the various compatible keyboards. I guess there is something to be said about manufacturers fine-tuning the keycaps to the keyboards.

Now to the dilemma.

I don't know if I should get the Happy Hacking Keyboard Pro 2 (or HHKB for short) as I am more than happy with the Leopold. I'm very tempted to get another one in either the same colour (I like black!) or one in another colour. Not that I'm afraid that the HHKB would be a disappointment but the character and key feel will be different from the Leopold and I'm afraid that it will not see much use. My plan is to settle down with 1 or 2 keyboards and sell the rest. Either get 2 Leopolds or 2 Leopolds and 1 Cherry MX for gaming.

But the HHKB Pro 2 is the "supposed" holy grail of keyboards and if I don't get it, I will always be left wondering. And being the OCD person that I am, it will tear me to pieces. It's very likely that I will get it anyway just to satisfy my curiosity. That is why I bought the Leopold FC660M with Cherry MX Clears on impulse. Just to satisfy my curiosity. Some people will say just get the HHKB and if you don't like it, it is easy to sell away. I don't know where they come from but where I'm from there isn't a big pool of people who are into keyboards. So chances are I will be stucked with them. That's not a good thing. Currently I'm trying to sell off 4 of them but have not gotten a single bite.

Oh what the hell, I'll just get it. I've been into worse and more expensive hobbies before. Keyboards in comparison seem to be very tame.

UPDATE 1 : The will is still strong. Manage to resist the urge to buy immediately. The absence of dedicated cursor keys in the usual inverted "T" layout is a real turn off. I realise I use them constantly. I tried to simulate the HHKB FN cursor keys combo with my current keyboard but it feels really awkward because I will automatically try to use my 3 middle fingers to press the cursor keys. It's just not possible.

We'll see how much longer I can hold out. Wish me luck!

UPDATE 2 : I've utterly failed. :(

Lego Colours

So the extra keycaps I ordered for the Leopold FC660M with the Cherry MX Clears have arrived. PBTs with laser-etched letterings. They looked quite nice. Not as nice as the PBTs with dye-sublimated letterings though. I've put them on as you can see in the pictures below. A friend commented it looks like Lego.

Possible keycaps.

What I eventually went with.

So what do you think? Too much? Or should I go for any other colour combination?

Leopold FC660M Cherry MX Clear

Just received this today from Qtan keyboards. I'm typing this post on it. Shipping only took 4 days which is very fast. Usually items shipped from China will generally take 2 weeks to more than a month when the shipping is free or cheap. The shipping for this is quite reasonable.

This was an impulse purchase. Before I got into Topre switches, I actually wanted to try the Cherry MX Clears after buying the Armageddon Cherry MX Blues. I almost bought the Browns instead of the Blues when buying the Armageddon. I liked the Browns a lot but felt that they were kinda shallow. More research points to the Clears being a deeper version of the Browns but with more tactility and equally as quiet.

I did not expect the Clears to be so stiff especially when bottoming out. Other Cherry MX switches gets quite hard when bottoming out but the Clears due to their stiffness towards the bottom makes it less likely for you to bottom out hard.

Initial impressions of the keyboard itself.

It has the exact same layout as the Leopold FC660C. Not as well built but generally still very very good. Somewhat lighter and it also comes with gold letterings but this time on white keycaps. I got this in white because the Leopold FC660C in black was hard to see with its gold lettering on black keycaps. I thought this would be easier to see but I find this even harder to see with the gold lettering on white keycaps. Damn.

A visual comparison of the Leopold FC660M and its cousin, Leopold FC660C.

Typing on individual keys gets an average feel and feedback. But once you start typing proper it's actually not too bad. I like the tactility and I prefer it over the Armageddon's Cherry MX Blues. I still have to get use to the stiffness. The Buckling Springs are not as stiff on entry as these are. My fingers are also more fatigued on these. Due to the stiffness I am having problems pressing the left shift key which I use my left pinky to trigger but due to the stiffness, I'm not pressing it hard enough which results in more mistakes being made.

I'm still quite conflicted on the Cherry MX Clears. I like the way it types but I'm making way too many mistakes primarily due to the hard to see keys and tripping on the left shift key. Its stiffness are also killing my fingers. I hope I get use to this fast.

Sigh.

I think I am meant more for Topre.

UPDATE 1 : I'm still adjusting to the keyboard. Typing is not too bad now. The stiffness is still there but I'm slowly but surely adjusting to it. Typing speed is much improved. The tactility is very very good. I just wish it is not so stiff on entry and on bottoming out. I think my fingers will be fingers of steel at the rate I'm going.

UPDATE 2 : I have found a way to type comfortably on this keyboard. The key thing is to type softly without bottoming out. Due to the stiffness towards the end, this is easily achieved. This will definitely take some getting use to. I'm so used to bottoming out especially when typing fast that I don't know whether I will be able to adjust. We'll see how it goes. One thing is for sure. This definitely makes for a very different typing experience. Very unlike the other Cherry MX keys that I've tried.

More Bling! Bling!

Since I still had some additional orange keycaps, I decided to spice up the Realforce 86U. See which one you prefer. 

Also bought an extra red ESC key from some forumer in VR-Zone. Wanted to use it on the Leopold but didn't find it as nice. Decided to use it on the Realforce instead and it looks great.

My first attempt. This is as minimum as I wanted it to be.

My second attempt. Added to both the PAGEUP/PAGEDOWN keys. Nice.

My third attempt. This makes it too busy. Looks nice in the picture but in real life, not so great.

My fourth attempt. Still find something amiss. Can't put my fingers on it. It somehow feels unbalanced.

Finally decided to keep my second attempt. It looks great. A friend commented as much. And it has a nice balance to the colours without making it too busy.

So what do you think? Which one do you like best? Any other keys you would like me to change to the orange keycaps?

Bling! Bling!

So I decided to have some fun with the Leopold FC660C keyboard. Bought these keycaps second hand. It is really meant for the Topre Realforce keyboards and as you can see I did not replace all the keys. Primarily for aesthetic reasons and second, because not all the keys are an exact match.

It cost me a bomb but I really did not want to wait for shipping for a new one and it would have been slightly more expensive anyway. In any case these has never been used before and are practically brand new. So why orange? Because it's the only colour available. After putting them in, I actually liked the orange keycaps on the black chassis. My first preference was blue on black or white keycaps on black but those were not available.

Primary purpose is to replace the original black keycaps which was very hard for me to see with the black on black. Yes, yes. You are supposed to be touch typing and whether you see the keys are irrelevant but I wanted to spice things up a bit.

Now it's simply bright and colourful.

Not good for someone my age but then again who cares. I like it.

It also changes the feel while typing. I prefer the feel of the original keys. This one makes it feel more like the Topre Realforce. Actually it feels somewhere in between the original Leopold keycaps and the Topre Realforce. Still very good to type on though so it's not a deal breaker.

So there you have it.

UPDATE 1 : I think I'm slowly falling in love with this keyboard. The looks. The feel. Yes. Even the feel I'm slowly taken by. Somehow I type faster on these than on the original keys. Maybe because I can see the keys better with the orange keycaps lol. I'm starting to feel that this feels more like the original keycaps instead and not like the Realforce.

The Leopold has always been my favourite. This modification makes it even better.

Unicomp Classic 104 Buckling Spring

My current keyboard is a Cherry MX Blue keyboard from a local company called Armageddon. It has been serving me well and I love its clickiness. However I was told that nothing beats the original IBM Model M keyboard when it comes to tactile and clicky keyboards. These keyboards last very long and are rated to last way longer than the average PC.

So thus began my hunt for one. However they are very hard to find as they are no longer manufactured. Those that do sell are asking for high prices that I'm just not willing to pay. I find out that the original design was bought by a group of ex-IBM engineers who set up a company called Unicomp. They currently manufacture the design as the Unicomp Classic 104 Buckling Spring. I've managed to grab one such keyboard from a forumer in VR-Zone. Instead of the traditional beige, this comes in a black chassis with grey keys. The grey keys makes it harder to see but boy do I love the colour scheme. I think it looks fantastic. Better than the beige or the white keys on black chassis that I saw on the Unicomp website.

I thought these would be harder to type on as I heard that they go deeper and has a higher actuation. I guess I'm just a heavy typist because this suits me perfectly. I'm actually typing this post with it. Great tactile feedback. Initial impressions seems to be that I type on this better than on the Cherry MX Blues. Never thought that would be possible as I'm so used to the Blues. Like a duck takes to water. Strangely I thought this would be louder than the Cherry MX Blues but because the tone is deeper I find the Blues to be louder as they have a higher pitch.

So the hype over these keyboards is justified as far as I'm concerned. One of my better purchases.

UPDATE 1 : Hmm...maybe I spoke too soon. This do sound louder when typed hard and fast.

UPDATE 2 : I wish this keyboard is backlit like the Armageddon. I like typing and playing games in the dark. But then again the original IBM Model M never had a backlit option (I think) and I don't think this ever will too. Looks like the Armageddon Stealth Raptor is here to stay.