> You’ve seen people test Topre boards such as the HHKB, Realforce, Leopold, and some Topre-clone boards too, and many rave about the way they sound and feel.

No, I haven't heard of Topre or seen any reviews until now.

> Topre boards, why are they so expensive? ... $250 ...

Although I suspect many keyboard enthusiasts might usually hover in the $100-$200 range for their pieces, $250 for parts and labor isn't that expensive. The Kinesis Advantage is $350, the Ergodox Moonlander is $370, even Apple's magic keyboard for the iPad is $300 so a $250 isn't cheap, but certainly isn't astronomical compared to what's out there. A lot of cheaper keyboards can be had, but they usually come at the cost of poorer quality or require additional labor and customization.

donio

Datahand keyboards used to cost $500-$1000 depending on the model and time of purchase.

memco

Thanks for the interesting rabbit hole. I’ve been using a split ortho keyboard and while I’m quite happy with it I think there’s a small bit of FOMO whenever I see a unique design. Applies to the Topre and the Datahand equally: would be curious to try them, but probably not enough to procure one.

donio

Yeah, hard to get them nowadays. They never made very many of them and the remaining ones are 20 years old now. There have been attempts to re-create it over the years, getting the switches to feel as good as the originals is probably the most difficult part.

These might be the closest ones yet: https://github.com/JesusFreke/lalboard

and the v2: https://hackaday.io/project/178232-lalboard-ergonomic-keyboa...