Throughout the history of mechanical keyboards, the community has always been divided between many things, like beam springs and buckling springs, mx browns or clears, Foam and F0il keyboards, however while we can be able to agree on the cons; there has always been a keyboard so polarizing it has 1 side being religious fanatics while the other hating it like Nazi Germans to Jews. Meet the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 or HHKB Pro 2 for short. Of course, as always I will be keeping things with full honesty and this was not sponsored, so I am allowed to bash as much as I can and want since I am a proud owner of
one.
But before we talk about the keyboard itself, I should be clear and point out that Topre switches are just very tactile rubber domes, I mean seriously, it uses a rubber dome/cup for tactility and resistance. The actuation is only done by the metal conical spring that is underneath the rubber dome. Which since it is capacitive, provides full n-key rollover.
So Let’s start with the review. The HHKB was first created by Professor Eiiti Wada. But later bought and made by PFU which is a division of Fujitsu, yes… that Fujitsu but instead of using the peerless switches or excellent leaf springs, Instead they use Topre, which is as I said. Is essentially a good rubber dome keyboard. But it has N-Key rollover, which for the Top 1% who breaks the 200WPM barrier, would appreciate from this, because there will be no delay.
Lets start with the iconic layout, Coming from a full size TKl and then all of a sudden a 75% layout person. It was hard at first to remember all of the layer commands, Until 1month later; Then all of a sudden, I got used to it all and then I bought a Hasu Controller from our community member whom I shall not name for the sake of his/her/it ‘s privacy and after molesting his project split boards, which mind you is really cool. I quickly rushed home and installed it and then remapped it to a layout to more of my liking, which moved some of the keys and commands to different places.
But anyway, getting a little side-tracked here, When you first receive this very expensive keyboard, which you could buy a Ergodox EZ for a little bit more. Which says a lot more than needed, Why? Because, the build quality when you first receive the HHKB and take it out of its plastic bag after you remove it from the cardboard box from whence it came. You will feel, scammed… No seriously, you will feel 100% that you were scammed almost as if it was a joke to your face. Because of the plastic construction which is a double edge sword. Because it makes the keystrokes different from other boards, and while the case may feel good but it’s not 200+ Dollars good. Something that PFU had remedied with the HHKB HG which was sold for a whopping 4000 American GREEENN backs… which if you opt for the Japan edition you will get some really nice keycaps which is coated in urushi lacquer, which and I quote “made with brushes using hairs of virgins”… Ohhhh Japan. But since its discontinued and will most likely be still expensive than ever before, Good luck finding one at MSRP prices. But still you will be more likely to gain a normal HHKB that will never hit those prices so yeah. The build isn’t something I will always say quality from such a high price point. If only there was a Metal bottom case to make it better than it already is. Why cant we have something good? *play sad OST*
With your included purchase you get a nice long mini USB cable. 20th anniversary stickers and some document work, and the keyboard itself. The Feet is not rubber tipped, which further infuriates me more if it weren’t for the Tada 68 with its poor design choices.
While you can deck out your pc or laptop or phone with the stickers to show that you are a proud owner of one and have decided to dive into the deep end of the Mechanical keyboard scene in which 90% of the world population will not know why and what keyboard it is and why you would want to bring it with you instead of using the chiclet keyboard on the laptop. But instead you will plough through all that criticism and enjoy it what it is. A well made Rubber dome 60% ish keyboard that costs way more than it probably should be.
But that is not what I would also say for the keyfeel. Unlike cherry mx _$HIT- *Ahem* browns. It has a very defined tactile bump. And a nice feeling without all that mushiness you get with membranes. And most notably the nice 45g weighting that comes as a standard in most keyboards with some exceptions.
The keycaps are a thin 1.1 mm abs Dye sub affair but if you get the blank keycap ones, there is no dye sub legends. So theres that. Still I expected a 1.5 mm affair but hey, if you do not want those keycaps, you could either harvest it from other Topre clones that have mx sliders on them or buy them from someone or some place like KBD fans and try and get some silencing rings and lube while youre at it.
Onwards to my conclusions, after owning and using this keyboard for a year now, it is safe to say that there are many things that I really do not like. Like the feet and plastic case. But for what its worth, it is so far as I only know, the only Topre 60% keyboard that I can use so far, until either one, someone makes a group buy for an alternative 60% Topre board or I get the funding needed to make one myself which I probably would go overboard with a JP layout with some changes, this keyboard would most likely see day to day travel as a travelling companion; i mean seriously who would bring a tkl or full size around with them to anywhere? Would I recommend it, Its hard to say, If you want a tactile switch and want something more tactile than MX browns, and have that dough to shell out, sure you may try it out. But before you do dive in. try and buy some Topre clones first, while they may not be true Topre’s they should be close and be what it would be like to own a Topre keyboard. But if you aren’t looking for a Topre keyboard, then don’t. If you’re interested. I’d say just take what I said just now and see how it goes for you, if you don’t like it, give it to your parents or sell it for another *insert meta keyboard build* Lubed,stickered 80g Zealio DZ/GK 60 build.