Seasonic Topre REALFORCE RGB AEAX01 USB Wired 108-Key Keyboard

Background: I have owned 3 mechanical keyboards using Cherry Mx blue, green and red switches. I have also used many standard membrane switches on office computers. I tend to have heavy fingers and usually prefer switches that provide more resistance like mx green. Looks: They keyboard is really nice looking. The colors on each key really "pop" and the light reflects off the material between each key which lends a nice ambient glow effect. There is a small glossy area on the top right surrounding the volume keys that attracts fingerprints and doesn't really fit with the rest of the keyboard, but in the grand scheme of things it is small and doesn't really detract enough from everything else to matter. Feel: This is incredibly sturdy and has a nice weight to it. If you used it as a weapon you would do more damage to the other person than the keyboard. However, the switches and keys are the real start of the show. The Topre switches are very different from most mechanical keyboards. With a Cherry mx green or blue, as you push the key down you feel more resistance up until you hear the "click" and the switch actuates. With a Topre switch it stiffness is at the very top. You feel a little surface tension right away as you start to press, and then the key gives way and smoothly goes down to the bottom. The easiest way I can describe it is to imagine the keys floating on top of a few inches of water. If you start to push a key down the surface tension gives you a little resistance, but once it starts sinking the motion becomes smooth until you hit the bottom. It is definitely unique compared to other mechanical keyboards. Experience: I have been using this for about 2 months, and I can say it has quickly become my favorite keyboard. The adjustable actuation point is really useful, especially being able to do it on a per key basis. Do you have keys you hit accidentally all the time? You can just set them so they don't register a key press with a light touch. They keys are a standard layout, so if you want to replace keycaps it is no problem. Keyboards are very subjective, and the one downside to Topre switches is that they are very rare, you will have a hard time finding one to test. In my opinion it is probably the best blend blended feel out of anything I have tried. Value: I bought this for around $230. Very expensive compared to other mechanical keyboards, even some that are considered top of the line. It really boils down to what you need. If you want tons of macros, or a tenkeyless, or something with a million gaming presets this is not for you. If you can't really tell the difference between keyboards and a dell keyboards feels the same to you as a mechanical one, then don't waste your money. This is more for the person who prefers a luxury car like a BMW or a Cadillac compared to an expensive sports car. The fit, feel, and finish are all perfect. It is not the fastest and doesn't pack the most features, but everything it does have feels "right". Edit 12/21/18 - I have now owned this for over a year and it is still a joy to use. Everything has held up beautifully. The standard cherry mx stems have allowed me to try a variety of different keycaps and I ended up changing them to all white, which looks even better with the backlighting. All in all I am very happy with my purchase.

Update 2: Another LED has gone bad. I now have three keys I need to turn the light off completely or they will be a different color to what I have set. Update: removed a couple more stars because two of the LEDs have started to go bad. One of them only shows green and another will not show any green at all so I basically cannot have the keyboard all one color without seeing odd coloring on those two keys unless I use all red... No thanks. I have seen led issues mentioned by other people around the internet. It absolutely should not be happening and to me indicates they used very cheap components to make this very expensive keyboard. This is the first keyboard I have owned that has developed led issues and is the last keyboard of this brand I will ever buy. First things first. You are basically paying double the price of any other keyboard for the switches alone. Other than the switches this keyboard is nothing special. It is a plastic build and not overly strong plastic really. The keycaps are ABS. They are doubleshot ABS so they do feel nice but they are still ABS. For this price I think PBT would have been in order. The lighting effects are cool but every major keyboard company has similar lighting effects. That leaves the switches as the main thing increasing the cost by at least $100. One standout feature is that you can change the actuation point of the keys. So you can have them actuate at 1.5mm, 2.2mm or 3.0mm. The key travel is the same but the key presses will register at different points. It doesn't seem like much but it is significant. It's like the equivalent of being able to switch between Cherry red switches and cherry mx speed switches whenever you want. The topre switches do feel unique. They are like the smoothest mechanical switches you have ever used combined with the best rubber dome you have ever used. Are they worth the price? Well I would say you should really try them out to see for yourself. I could easily see someone being just as happy with some Cherry Clear switches or or whatever and saving $150. I really like them though. Overall I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The reason it loses a star is because for the price I think the case should have been made of metal and the keycaps should have been PBT. At $150 it would be a 5 star keyboard. On a side note Amazon sent this to me and the packaging was terrible or should I say non-existent. They simply slapped a shipping label onto the keyboard box and shipped it to me. All the corners were smashed. The keyboard was fine but if I knew they were going to send it like that I wouldn't have bought it through Amazon. If you buy this make sure to click that you want it sent in an Amazon box. I didn't care if the contents of the package were known but I had no idea that meant they would use the product package as the shipping container which I think is completely unacceptable for something that costs this much.

The keyboard is very well constructed, and the switches are a delight. The software to program the tactile and color effects is excellent. Unfortunately the LEDs seem to either be of a very poor quality or installed very poorly. In the attached image, all of the LEDs are turned on, so every key should be white. As you can see, there are the following problems: F1 and F6: red bulb out PrtSc and Ins: all three colors out ScrLk, left arrow, and right arrow: red and blue bulbs out Pause: blue bulb out Home and +: red and green bulbs out PgUp, PgDn, End, down arrow, and num pad Enter: green and blue bulbs out 9 on num pad: green bulb out In all, the leds on 17 keys are now defective! In addition, not all of the indicator lights (e.g., Num luck) have the correct color. It was too much trouble to show that. The failures began about 2 months after I purchased the keyboard. I kept juggling the colors to try to get around this. Now it is intolerable. I am a 70+ research scientist, and I need the backlit keys to help with my vision. I am not a gamer. In its current state, the keyboard is not usable for me. I use color coding to find my way around the keyboard quickly. I did contact the manufacturer. The person with whom I spoke said to send the keyboard in and they would repair it. I have two problems with that: 1) at my cost??? 2) what should I use in the meantime???? To me this was a very poor response. As I said, mechanically the keyboard is great. The keys feel good and the construction is solid. It is a shame that a $200 keyboard doesn't have better lighting. David -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update May 23, 2018 As I said above, the manufacturer was of no help. However, the seller, Mechanical Keyboards Inc, was the exact opposite. Originally, I spoke with Lee Turcotte who was very understanding and helpful. Lee contacted his supervisor, Justin Sweet, who also was very understand and helpful. Bottom Line: Mechanical Keyboards sent me a new keyboard! I cannot sing their praises high enough. If only all customer service and tech support people were as helpful as those two were! I am changing my review from one star to five stars because of them. Again, thank you Lee and Justin. I would give you 10 stars if I could. :-) David

Horrible software. One of the worst. Aside from the preset of rainbow, you cannot program anything animated at all. Software can only do custom static colors. Nowhere near the customization of Corsair, Logitech, or Razer despite costing A LOT more. Also extremely loud clack on the upstroke! Didn't believe the reviews of people on reddit mentioning that this keyboard (the RGB version of Realforce) sounds different because there were so many youtube reviews saying this is the "best keyboard ever." You can buy orings for it, but they cost close to 90 dollars (look it up, there is a huge debate on people complaining about the silencing oring price for Realforce keyboads). Not only that but the Realforce RGB is different so you have to buy the regular Realforce orings and THEN modify it. The silencing orings are NOT the same as those cheap MX Cherry ones, which dampens the downstroke. These orings (flat washer shape) dampen the upstroke and are horrendously expensive. Not to mention the vague return policies are in place specificly to hide the fact that there is a 10% return fee, minus 9 dollars it cost the company to ship it to you, minus your own shipping fee! Basically costing $40 to return it. Also the keyboard has a lot of dead weight in the base of the frame for no reason. The top frame can be bent just by pushing slightly (as a youtube video will show) because it uses some sort of cheap plastic. Transported it once in its own bag without placing anything on it and the windows key cracked at the stem and also damaged the Ctrl key. Again the dead weight to make this keyboard seem like it is worth 200 actually hinders any transportation and adds to the risk of damage. More tactile than Cherry brown but less tactile than Cherry blues. Much quieter than the blue though (but blues are the loudest period). Despite videos out there of people lubing this, due to the loud upstroke i wouldn't recommend it. The quicker the key slams upwards in the upstroke the louder it is, and the keys are already smooth on the up and down. Silencing it does change the feel of the keys, just because this is a membrane KB. Such that putting the oring on will keep the keys in a depressed state due to the nature of the switch. The membrane will be depressed a little already with the silencing orings, changing the feel of the keyboard completely. You can use a deeper actuation depth (ie 2.0 instead of 1.5) but you cannot get back the feel of it. Why? The membrane is harder to depress at the top of the stroke, but once you break past that point, the keys depress much more easily (which is also why the keys feel tactile). This is why the Silenced version of Realforce keyboards have longer stems! Doesn't make sense until you look at the structure of it any why it was designed that way. The back plate is white, so the RGB LED will shine through around the keycaps much more than i expected. Some people prefer this to an extent but I dont like how bright the bleeding around the keycaps is, because it is literally contaminating the key colors next to it! Logitech has the best RGB design in which only the letters are bright, allowing you to quickly locate keys. There is just way too much light contamination to adjacent keys. The Realforce RGB has a very loud high timbre upstroke if even typing at 60 wpm. Many people have said this! It is not the same as the nonRGB Realforce KBs! For all of the reasons above, i would recommend getting a silenced Realforce if you absolutely must have a membrane keyboard. I love the stock feel of it, way better than MX Browns and more quiet than MX Blues. The ability to change the actuation point makes both typing and gaming with this keyboard a breeze.

Topre keys are amazing, they give you a quality mechanical keyboard feel with out all the noise typically associated with mechanical keys. The software is great; multiple actuation points for sensitivity for key pressing is a very nice feature indeed, and being able to modify the LED's in various colors/settings/back-light conditions is very nice. The build quality is solid and feels premium. However, the LED's (either how their wired, or the quality of the LED's) are garbage. First off, the brightness of the back-light leaves much to be desired. To make matters worse, the LED's started failing to properly mix colors within just 3 months of usage, and now I have small sections of keys that refuse to light up anymore. I really enjoy having back-lighting on my keyboard as all my other accessories including my desk itself is black, making the keys all blend together. The fact that the LED's are failing on a almost 300 dollar keyboard is disappointing, to say the least. On top of that it doesn't seem easy to get this keyboard serviced from the manufacture, and from the sounds of it I would be without the keyboard for a long period of time until it would be repaired. Not ideal for something that is used many hours on a daily basis. Its worth noting that no liquid has been spilled on the keyboard, I'm not hard on the keyboard either, it just sits here and takes daily use for gaming. In-fact, most of the LED's that have failed are on keys that are not even used. What to know: PROS: Quality build, Quality feel Semi-intuitive RGB color Software --Multiple actuation points set per key when programmed with software Extremely pleasurable typing experience Very Quiet for mechanical keyboard Puts cherry MX's to shame Small footprint, no extended edges CONS: Backlighting not very bright on highest setting LED's prone to failing Sits kind of high, wrist wrest may be necessary (I myself use one) Topre's website is confusing, customer service may be subpar/hard to get repaired

Keyboard feels really good to type on, and sounds fine as someone who isn't accustomed to a particular topre typing sound. While it is a plastic housing, it has a good heft to it and feels premium. That said, I don't feel great about such an expensive keyboard having a non-removable cable, and a large part of why I bought it was for the RGB, and the selection of color modes is very limited and their software offers /no/ way to do an animated custom mode, just static colors. I'm happy with it but wish it did more.

I was searching around for a new keyboard as the sound of my Corsair K70 RGB was starting to get to me and after watching a few videos on Topre switches and how much more tolerable the sound was, I definitely wanted that but with some nice lighting as well. After finding the Topre Realforce RGB I was intrigued as was RGB, used Topre switches, and after first time setup was a plug and play keyboard from then on. As I type this review on my Realforce RGB and only having it for about 2 weeks, I'm absolutely stunned at how well this keyboard is made, how much easier it is to type on due to the customizable actuation points, and how pleasant the sound of the switches are as well. The only "loud" sound the keys make is when they pop back up after pressing them which can be fixed by modding the keyboard by following some tutorials online if you wish to do so. The keys make a soft, low tone, "thud" rather than a clack like Cherry MX keys are known for. Otherwise I'm enjoying typing, gaming, and working on this keyboard than on my K70 by miles. Even for the price that this keyboard sits at, it's completely worth it if a majority of your time is spent on a machine where a good keyboard matters. After owning this keyboard for only a week it makes me ashamed I spent around $170 on my K70 RGB 2 years ago. No video or words can describe the joy of this keyboard/these switches. If you're in the market for a new keyboard, definitely take a look at this on your travels, you absolutely won't regret it.

I've done a lot of research regarding what my next keyboard would be after I noticed my older CM Storm Quickfire starting to fail after nearly 5 years of heavy use. I ended up picking this one because of the high praise for the Topre Realforce product line. The first thing I want to clarify is that the keyboard makes a "clacking" sound that many people are used to hearing from mechanical keyboards. I've watched plenty of reviews regarding this particular keyboard and a lot of them have a section where the reviewer will type on the keyboard to show viewers how it sounds. A few of the reviews had this keyboard sounding very loud, just like a mechanical keyboard. However, it actually sounds more like a "THOCK" than a "clack". The Topre switches are also substantially quieter than a majority of the mechanical switches I've tried. Coming from Cherry MX Browns, the keys feel a bit heavier to push down, but very smooth throughout the whole process. It feels fantastic and I'm enjoying it as a first day owner. I would have a pretty hard time describing exactly what it feels like, so I think some people may see that as a gamble unless they can buy a switch tester online for Topre. The RGB LEDs are beautiful as expected and the optional software gives the user a bit to customize. I'm not personally a fan of the text choice on the key caps, but you can always swap them out with whatever you prefer. All in all, I love the keyboard so far. Hope this helps.