I realized there was no review of the Topre Type Heaven, at least as far as I can tell, and since I've been using one as my daily driver for about two years I figured I would write one. I quite like it. Out of all the keyboards I've tried so far, it's my favorite, although I don't think it would necessarily suit everybody.OVERVIEW
The Type Heaven is Topre's lower-cost alternative to the Realforce. It comes only in uniform Topre 45g. The only available layout is 104-key English ANSI. The keycaps are black ABS with Topre's "gold" laser-etched legends. It has the same type of metal mounting plate as the Realforce, and the case is made of thick, hard plastic. It has an attached cable with a USB-A connector and a two-way left-or-right gutter. The case can be found in four colors, with black being the most common, but white, red, and pink also available (I have a pink one). Overall it feels like a keyboard designed to give the best possible experience-to-price ratio for typists with a light touch, but the switches aren't gaming-unfriendly.
It seems to be very hard to find new now, but I've seen it go used from between $90–$150 or so, whereas a standard 104-key Realforce seems to go from $160 used at a minimum up to $280 for a new one and even more for one with unusual features. I paid $140 for mine new and I definitely wouldn't pay any more than that for one used unless you really want a certain case color and you have no other options or something like that. It seems very similar to the Realforce, with only a few specific changes to cut down on the cost that were carefully chosen not to diminish the keyboard's quality. Whether they succeeded in this or not is of course subjective; the decisions they made don't negatively impact the keyboard hardly at all for me, but depending on your priorities you may feel differently. I'll go into more detail on this throughout the review.
In general, I feel like Topre's reputation for extremely high cost is a little undeserved because of the existence of this board. $140 new isn't cheap, but it has plenty of competitors in that price range, and I've seen used Type Heavens going for under $100 within the last year. Usually when people talk about the expense of Topre, they consider only the Realforce and HHKB, and forget that the Type Heaven even exists. So if you're dead-set on Topre but don't have $300, you're not out of luck, provided you can track one down.
It's also worth noting that Topre offers one of the few 45g alternatives to MX-style switches out there, and they're far smoother than any MX-style switch I've ever tried. This was actually the main draw of this keyboard for me because I greatly dislike scratchiness in a switch. As tactile switches go I'm not sure it gets much smoother at this weighting.
SWITCHES
The main draw of this keyboard is probably the switches, since otherwise it's a solidly-built but no-frills keyboard. These are Topre's regular capacitive rubber dome with slider switches in the 45g weighting. Generally they feel built to a very high quality, with a refined, uniform, comfortable, and rather delicate and unassertive feeling.
Here is the force curve. You can see that although they have a decent-sized tactile bump, it's more of a gradual stiffening and loosening than a sharp drop-off. Furthermore, being such a lightweight switch, the tactility is by necessity less dramatic than is possible in a switch with heavier weighting. As a result, the tactility is noticeable but not nearly as pronounced as on a strongly tactile switch. Because of this, anyone who craves an assertive tactile event is likely to find these underwhelming, and probably would be disappointed in them given their cost. If you're looking for a switch that is light, relaxed, and "easy on the fingers", you may find these quite agreeable. They bounce up springily when released which contributes to their easygoing feel.
The sound they make is the classic Topre "thock" as the key bottoms out, then a snap from the keycap as the key is released. It's a nice sound with an almost woody character, and not too loud, definitely acceptable in an open office.
The switches are made to be similar to those used in more expensive Topre boards, with the only difference being that some of the switch parts are made in China, as opposed to being made entirely in Japan as is the case with the switches in the Realforce and HHKB. Despite the cheaper manufacturing cost, everything about the switches suggests high quality: they go down well regardless of where on the keycap they're pressed, the feeling is uniform across the board, and the functionality of the switches hasn't diminished in any noticeable way during the two years or so it's been in daily use even though I haven't opened it up to clean them or anything. It's hard to think of any obvious way in which they seem to have fallen short of the intentions of their design.
The key travel is quite smooth; I get little-to-no feeling of scratchiness in normal use. If you press a little-used key on the edge it's possible to get it to feel kind of scratchy, especially if you do it very slowly, but it isn't something I usually notice, especially since it doesn't seem to occur on frequently-used keys. I imagine it's due to the plunger rubbing on the housing, which would help explain why this effect is mainly noticeable on little-used keys—the sides of the housing that can contact the plunger probably get smoothed out over time. In fact, with regards to their durability, I'd say as a result of this that the more heavily-used switches on the keyboard feel a bit nicer now than the infrequently-used ones.
They're Topre-mount, so finding custom keycaps for them is hard and generally unreasonably expensive. The Type Heaven can take the same keycaps as the 104 ANSI Realforce, but since both keyboards are fairly uncommon, keycap sets for them are not widespread. It's too bad, because I'd love to get a set of lime green keycaps to go with my pink case, but I don't know if that will ever happen, since the only set of lime-green Topre keycaps I've ever seen for sale was significantly more expensive than the actual keyboard.
I love them for typing, which is the primary thing I do with them. The light weighting, lack of binding, and mid-travel actuation point make them extremely comfortable for me for hours and hours of constant typing. I've used this keyboard for tasks as demanding as all-day transcription work and it's always remained effortlessly comfortable to use. I also use my keyboard in general as my primary input device to the computer, editing text in Vim, using a tiling window manager, running programs mainly from the command line, etc., and it's been lovely for that. Often when I'm pressing just a single key, say J to slowly move down a web page, I'll press it softly just past the tactile bump but not all the way to the bottom, which is a nice thing to be able to do. If you're used to regular rubber domes, the bottom-out can feel a little harsh due to the metal mounting plate and light weighting, but I found that once I got used to them that feeling went away, and it's infinitely better than the switches feeling mushy. Overall the typing feel has a very delicate air, with a sense of lightly brushing the switches to get them to actuate.
On that note, some people have complained that they accidentally actuate these switches from time to time just from the weight of their fingers. I haven't ever had that problem, but I would guess that my hands are smaller and lighter than most of the people on this forum, and I hover them over the keys to touch type rather than really resting them there, so your mileage may vary.
The actuation point is just over the hump of the tactile bump, which gives a nice, relaxed feel for typing, but for some games it can be a bit of a bother. Due to the gradual nature of the tactile event it can be hard to predict exactly when the key is going to actuate, and it's difficult to hold the switch right over the actuation point as you can with linear switches. In games that require extremely precise timing, like shmups or rhythm games, this can add a subtle extra element of difficulty, although it's something you can adapt to with practice. In other kinds of games, even relatively twitchy ones like FPSs, I've barely thought about the keyboard at all as I'm playing, and I even came across a professional Overwatch team that uses Realforces so the switches clearly aren't much of an impediment in that kind of zone. It has n-key rollover too.
Overall, if you like light tactile switches and don't mind gentle tactility, these are glorious, especially for typing. I think for what they are it would be hard to do all that much better.
KEYCAPS
The keycaps are made of ABS and are colored black. The keycap surface is a bit rough to help the keys grab your fingers; when I first got the board it felt quite grippy, almost uncomfortably so, but the surface has smoothed out some with use to a level that's actually much closer to optimal. They're fairly thin although not wispy.
They haven't gotten shiny and the color hasn't yellowed or faded at all. I imagine they have some sort of coating that prevents this. If so, it's pretty unobtrusive, since it doesn't seem to have degraded with time or anything and the keycaps have a nice texture. The sides feel smoother than regular ABS caps, which may be due to the coating.
The legends are laser-etched and have a slight gold tint, which Topre likes to advertise, although they look more off-white than gold to me unless I'm really paying attention. I wish they were more durable, as they've started to come off on some of the alphanumeric and modifier keys. They have a nice font though, same as the Realforce. The legends have crisp edges, but are low-contrast owing to the color, so if you like legends that really pop these may not exactly thrill you. To be honest, I might rather have had these caps as blanks, since the legends seem like their weakest aspect and they feel fairly nice otherwise. Type Heavens don't come with blanks, though.
For whatever reason, the edge of the spacebar dug uncomfortably into my thumb at the angle I like to put the keyboard at, which is a slight negative incline. Some other people have also experienced this spacebar discomfort but not everyone; I imagine it has to do with your preferred keyboard angle, hand anatomy, and typing technique. Luckily, I found that taking the spacebar out, turning it around, and putting it back in the board resulted in a very comfortable feel, so if you do run into this there's an easy fix. There's also an extra spring in the spacebar that increases its weighting, and you can take it out if you like to make it the same weight as the rest of the board, but I found that it felt harsher this way and decided it was nicer to leave the spring in.
Overall I'd say there's nothing super special about the keycaps. They do the job adequately, and the comfortably grippy surface and resistance to shine and yellowing are nice features that put them a cut above bog-standard lasered ABS caps. Even so, those fond of the Realforce's dye-sub PBT keycaps will probably find this to be the most disappointing part of the board.
LAYOUT
It's just normal 104-key English ANSI. There's nothing else available as far as I know, so those who prefer ISO or want a board designed for a language other than English may dislike the lack of choice in this regard. Strangely, I don't think there's even a JIS version, although Topre is a Japanese company.
Also, there's no tenkeyless version or anything, so if ergonomics or desk space are concerns of yours you may find this a dealbreaker. However, I've managed to get around this by placing my Logitech Marble Mouse on the nav cluster and/or numpad, moving it around as needed.
This might sound a bit silly but it's worked great for me and is one advantage of using a trackball.BUILD
The keyboard feels quite robust—I honestly feel like I could hurl it at the wall repeatedly and it would still function. I've travelled with it a lot and aside from a barely-noticeable bit of missing paint along a section of its edge the case looks good as new. The switches are set into the case, so they're protected from it on the sides and by the keycaps on the top, not that the switches seem especially fragile anyhow.
It has two flip-out feet of pretty standard height. They're pretty wide and don't seem too vulnerable to coming off although you might be able to break them if you put some effort in. I don't use them so I can't comment on them at length.
There's little-to-no flex in the case. It weighs 1.4 kg or about 3 lbs, with much of the weight probably coming from the metal mounting plate although I'm sure the thick plastic of the case contributes. It has a smaller footprint than the Realforce, which probably helped reduce the cost, but still feels sturdy, which might ultimately make it an improvement over the Realforce's case for space-concerned people.
The case is held together with a few screws and a few tabs. I've read it's fairly easy to disassemble although I haven't tried.
There are little frictive squares on the bottom of the backside to help prevent the keyboard from slipping, although I'm not sure how well they work because I have the bottom of the keyboard resting off the edge of the box it sits on. The top of the case curves over and contacts the surface underneath which I imagine also helps to prevent slipping.
I found the two-way left-right cable gutter easy to use and it holds the cable firmly. If you like to route your cables straight out of the back of the board, though, you're out of luck.
The cable itself is a USB-A cable in an uncoiled but pretty thick plastic sheath. It's attached to the keyboard and a few feet long. Nothing special but very functional. It hasn't developed any signs of wear during the time I've used it.
COMPARED TO OTHER BOARDS
Its price puts it in the same realm as Matias's Alps clone offerings, a mid-range gaming board, a Cherry or used Alps board in decent condition, etc. in terms of tactile alternatives. If you're trying to pick between these sorts of options, I'd say consider what kind of tactility you like in a switch and how important extra features are to you. If you want an aggressively tactile switch, especially if you prefer a bit of a heavier weighting, I'd give this a pass. Similarly, if backlighting, media keys, programmable macros and the like are top priorities of yours, one of the $100–$200 gaming boards is likely to be more up your alley.
If you're trying to decide between it and a Realforce, I feel like for most purposes the Type Heaven is the better choice, but this is very subjective. If PBT keycaps, non–ANSI layouts, or different switch weightings than 45g are a high priority for you, you'll want a Realforce for sure, but otherwise the differences don't seem very significant to me in terms of the actual functionality of the board, and the Realforce is far more expensive. Also, the smaller footprint of the case is if anything more convenient than the Realforce's, although there's not a significant difference. Some people have a strong preference for Topre's 55g or occasionally 30g switches over the 45g ones found in the Type Heaven, and if you feel that way I believe the Realforce is your only option; there's also an "ergonomic" variable-weight variant although not many people seem to like it. Of course, if the sheer luxury of the Realforce is its biggest draw for you, you'll probably turn up your nose at the "budget" Type Heaven. Realforces are also easily available new.
If you want a board primarily for gaming, the Wooting One is $140 and sounds to me like a better choice in terms of a lot of the features that can really affect gaming, although I can't speak from experience since I haven't used one. It doesn't come in a tactile version though, just linear and clicky right now. If I had $150 I didn't need for anything more important I would love to preorder a Wooting Two with linear switches for playing certain kinds of games.
If you specifically want Topre switches in a gaming board and are willing to pony up enough for a Realforce, the Realforce RGB is $230 and designed with gamers in mind. I think its most notable gaming-specific feature might be variable key-by-key actuation point settings, although there's only three possible settings.
Compared to the most popular 45g tactile switch I'm aware of, Cherry MX Brown, I'd say the 45g switches in the Type Heaven are far better. MX Brown switches feel clunky and scratchy to me, nothing like the smooth and refined feel of Topre. MX Brown has a sharper tactile drop-off, but the tactility is still not that pronounced, so I wouldn't say that gives them an edge even for people who like assertive tactility. There's probably someone out there who prefers MX Browns but I can't relate.
Many considering a Topre board may wonder how the switches compare to cheaper but well-regarded rubber dome switches like BTC dome with slider. I have a BTC 5140, so I can compare them side-by-side, and I'd say the BTC is quite nice and may be preferable for some. For me, the switches feel too heavy, but many will actually prefer the heavier weighting, and the tactility is sharper and more dramatic. However, you have to bottom out to actuate them, unlike Topre. All of this results in a switch that is more "intense" and better-suited to those who hammer their boards. The Type Heaven also has considerably better build quality. Considering that I got the 5140 new-in-box for $35 shipped, though, it's really worth comparing Topre and BTC side-by-side to see which you prefer, because if your main goal is to get a high-quality rubber dome board you'll save a lot of money if you find you like the BTC better. I kind of feel like the BTC 51* series are the best boards you can get for under $40, at least of the boards I've tried.
Compared to more everyday rubber domes, the Type Heaven's switches don't feel wildly different, just optimized in a lot of ways. The bottom-out feels very solid, not at all mushy, and they don't suffer from binding on off-center keypresses like a lot of cheaper rubber dome boards do. They also have a 4mm travel, which seems longer than most rubber dome switches, especially modern ones. And of course, they actuate mid-travel and have a much lighter weighting than the common 60–70g, which makes them feel "elegant and delicate" compared to other rubber domes.
As a final side note, if you're for some reason trying to decide between a Type Heaven and an HHKB, that seems like a strange quandary to me, although I have seen people wondering about things like this. As far as I can tell, the main appeal of the HHKB is the layout and form factor, with the switches as a nice side benefit. If you're dead-set on having a tiny keyboard and spend the bulk of your computing time in Vim, Emacs, or at a *nix shell, then I think you should probably be picking between the HHKB and a cheaper keyboard with a similar form factor. (It's worth remembering too that if you're in Linux, which is one of the most ideal environments for a board like the HHKB, you can customize the layout of your keyboard in software to your heart's content.) If you're just looking for a keyboard with Topre switches, trying to decide between a Type Heaven and a Realforce makes a lot more sense to me, since the unusual layout of the HHKB will probably make your life harder if you're not specifically interested in it. I have similar feelings when I see people trying to choose between a Realforce and an HHKB. There are also tenkeyless Realforces out there if you just want a space-saving Topre board; they cost about the same as an HHKB.
VERDICT
I really, really like this board. I wanted a board with high-quality, comfortable, light-weight switches that wouldn't be fatiguing to type on all day, and that would be durable enough to hold up through years of heavy use and travel. It's been exactly that for me.
I wish I had been able to get it at a cheaper price, of course. $140 new isn't absolutely terrible for a keyboard, but normally I could never afford something like that—it was only thanks to a lucky windfall that I was able to buy it at all. That said, the quality of the board lives up to the price tag, so if the cost isn't too much for you and the design of the keyboard appeals to
your tastes, you're likely to be satisfied.
I don't have a super-nice camera, just the one on my phone, but it should do okay.