How long does a keyboard last.

fossala · 02 Feb 2013, 10:33

I was thinking the other day about my topre keyboards and how long they will last. The capasative side will last for a very long time, so it's just the RD part that will get suffer. I then thought about the other keyboards in my collection, my IBM keyboards.

Out of my model M's non of them feel the same, I have quite a few from different times, but I also have a handful that came out of the same factory in the same year. If you feel some of my boards the are really dull and mushy and yes they still have most of their rivets. Why do we say that model M's will last forever but topre won't? Do we know of any topre boards that have failed, non of mine have.

I just want you guys to think about how we judge how long a board lasts, be it topre, cherry, alps, BS or any other switch. I know cherry switches that have failed, but still no topre even though cherry are rated at 50m and topre at 30m.

002 · 02 Feb 2013, 12:13

I guess the real question to be asking is how long a keyboard maintains its feel.
Even the shittiest of shitty rubber dome keyboards that I've owned in the past really can take a beating. My crappy Saitek Eclipse still works - my brother was using it up until last year when I felt sorry for him and gave him a 103U. The Sony NEWS boards (1987) that I have still feel OK, granted they are nowhere near as snappy as a brand new Realforce but they're still nicer than an el cheapo RD keyboard. I'll dig out the Sony NEWS tomorrow and see if I can record something that might give you an idea of how tactile they still are.

Peter · 02 Feb 2013, 15:50

fossala wrote: I just want you guys to think about how we judge how long a board lasts, be it topre, cherry, alps, BS or any other switch. I know cherry switches that have failed, but still no topre even though cherry are rated at 50m and topre at 30m.

Actually, it's 'only' Cherry's Linear switches that are rated @ 50m BMF .
(Yes, I know you can find that number in the product-sheets for 'clicky' switches as well,
but if you think about it for a moment or two :

Obviously, there is simply less to wear out in a linear switch, compared to a 'tactile' ..

mbodrov · 02 Feb 2013, 16:13

A sure-fire way to kill a rubber dome is to store the keyboard for a year or two with some keys pressed down, like if you keep it in a pile of stuff instead of a proper box. The domes will permanently collapse, or at least never feel the same. Otherwise, the capacitive rubber dome IBM I have is still going strong after 20+ years.

fossala · 02 Feb 2013, 17:01

Peter, I agree but in that case are cherry just lying with there 50m on tactile? They changed it from 30m a while ago.

002, I am just wondering why people say topre have a short life, the seem fine to me, just turn a bit mushy but by no means bad.

mbodrov, This is the same with most keyboards, get a model M and do that, it will feel like shit.

Jim66 · 02 Feb 2013, 17:35

I had a 86U that I used quite a lot for just under a year. I thought it felt great, but when I bought another variable 87U and tried that the difference was night and day. I thought that the used 86U was significantly less tactile than the 87U.

To be honest, since feeling how much difference I felt after a year, it kinda put me off sinking so much money in to these boards.

fossala · 02 Feb 2013, 18:08

Remember 86u is 30-40-45g. 87u is 35-40-45g. It makes quite a difference.

jabar · 02 Feb 2013, 18:11

There is definitely a build quality difference in decade(s)-old rubber domes. My 2000 Dell el cheapo is still a decent keyboard to type on and withstood a full 10 years of hammering (I actually sunk the time to clean the sucker recently).

I am a bit worried about my Topre board RD layer aging with time though.

Jim66 · 02 Feb 2013, 18:57

fossala wrote:Remember 86u is 30-40-45g. 87u is 35-40-45g. It makes quite a difference.

Hmmm, I was always under the impression that even though they marked the pinkies at 30, they were in fact 35. Just like the 87U, EK say in the advert that the pinkies are 30; the 87U anniversary that I had even marked the pinkies as 30 on the box.

fossala · 02 Feb 2013, 19:00

Jim66 wrote:
fossala wrote:Remember 86u is 30-40-45g. 87u is 35-40-45g. It makes quite a difference.
Hmmm, I was always under the impression that even though they marked the pinkies at 30, they were in fact 35. Just like the 87U, EK say in the advert that the pinkies are 30; the 87U anniversary that I had even marked the pinkies as 30 on the box.

I've measured both and 86u does seem to be 30g where as 87u's seem to be 35g.

Jim66 · 05 Feb 2013, 07:30

I think a lot of this "topre don't last very long" is down to that silly thread on GH which measured a couple of HHKBs (using a questionable measurement procedure), performed now formal analysis and then generalized to the whole population of topre keyboards everywhere.

Annoyingly, I'm sure this thread influenced my opinion in one way or another.

Gilgam · 05 Feb 2013, 23:21

FUD works undoubtly.