First thing first. The packaging is amazing
They did a really great job giving the Novatouch a pro look. The box even has magnets to hold the box closed. Now, I know few gamers are environmental aware... but the packaging has really a lot of waste material. Honestly I would have liked a more conscious material selection (but this has little to do with the keyboard itself).
A full gallery can be seen on imgur.
The keyboard is nice and sober. Solid and stable. The case is definitely better than a realforce.
And the branding reduced to the minimum.
The typeface selection is also nice, but the right hand modifiers are aligned to... well... nothing. Look at backspace, return, |\, Shift. It's like the designer sneezed and placed all legends by accident. I believe they wanted to align them to the right, but it really didn't come out.
Also most legends seem aligned to the left... others to the right... other to the center. Make up your mind!
Keycaps thickness is 0.9mm. Material ABS, legends printed in "I wear off by just looking at it". Nothing to be proud of.
The cable is very high quality. Sleeved and gold plated.
Again, it seems Cooler Master really wanted to target the PROs market... and given the price point (€179) I don't blame them. The USB port is micro USB and cable management is a bit silly imho (with angled connector), but it works.
The case is rubberized, but the grain is incredibly fine and you can hardly say that it is actually rubber. Definitely better than the prototype I tried few months ago. So to me this is not an issue anymore.
Ok, how does it feel?!
I'm sorry to say... not so well.
I'm used to a Leopold FC660C and the typing experience is so much better that typing on the novatouch right after the leopold is like scratching your nails on a blackboard. Here below a comparison.
Keys are a little rattling, especially the big keys (spacebar, backspace, return) and the sound not very pleasing. The problem is very likely with the stabilizers. Cooler master did a great job designing them but more time for fine tuning was definitely required.
Cooler Master included some o-rings (also tested in the video above) but I really don't understand what's their purpose. Due to the topre switch configuration an o-ring does very little to the overall feel.
It is true that maybe the keys are a little more stable and they wobble less with o-rings, but the sound doesn't change much. So o-rings are more of a marketing thing honestly.
The keyboard is not silent at all. MX Green are probably less noisy
(as you can hear from the sound test above).Actuation point is perfect. I'd say basically the same as a Realforce, while the Leopold has a slightly higher (=shorter key travel) actuation point.
Switching keycaps
Another selling point is the cherry mx keycaps compatibility of course.
The prototype had very loose stems, but the final product seems just fine. Still less firm than standard cherry MX switches, but it works.
One may think that replacing keycaps would impact the typing experience. I tried any kind of keycaps I had. Signature Plastics DCS, Cherry profile, PBT, ABS double-shot. Thin, thick, medium...
Keycap thickness seems to help a bit. Unfortunately DSA PBT doesn't change much in terms of switch feel. 2-shot DCS is a pinch better, but the best experience you can have on a Novatouch is Signature Plastics SA. Maybe it's because the keycap goes deeper into the stem. Maybe it's because of SA thickness. Fact is if you have a Novatouch get yourself SA keycaps!
Do I like it?
It's a $199 keyboard, with ABS keycaps and subpar topre implementation. For the same price you get a Realforce that is less pretty and the case is less sturdy, bust still has a better overall typing feel and PBT keycaps (!).
If you never tried Topre, the Novatouch is just fine, probably not worth $199 but still it's the first Topre keyboard that will be globally available. Cooler Master merit is that they made Topre easily accessible. Getting a Topre in Europe has been always a problem (I got mine from Korea via a proxy) but not anymore. And don't forget the fact that it will be available in both ANSI and ISO and with multiple languages support (UK, NL, DE, IT, SP, FR).
So if you desperately want a Topre keyboard, the Novatouch is fine, but if you are in the market with $199 to spend in a keyboard, maybe there are better alternatives.
How about gaming?
This is an important factor. Cooler Master main target is definitely the gamer. In this scenario probably the Novatouch is a better investment. Apart from the "repeat" functionality (you can multiply your key presses by 2, 4, 8 times) a topre switch at 1000Hz is probably the best you can have for fragging.
The refresh polling is set at 1ms and the topre switch grants a higher "resolution" than a standard cherry switch (that has to deal with a nasty deboucing). Theoretically a 1000hz topre should be faster than a 1000hz Cherry mx, but if this difference is actually perceivable... this has to be proven.
Anyway to that you can add that the actuation point is very close to the top, if you get used to it you may become extremely effective during the gaming session.
---
I'll use the keyboard for another week or so and update the review accordingly.
I will be also dismantling the keyboard for science and post more pictures.
I have a cheap and ugly rubberdome around for that 
