Cougar 450K: discount "Topre" with spill resistance?

[Crazy Canadian XXIV]

So, as some of you may or may not know, Cougar is coming out with the 450K, which uses a slider-over-dome switch that is fully waterproof (along with the rest of the case). There's rumour of the feel being similar to Topre. Given that the switches themselves look very cheap, I'd think the comparison to Topre to be dubious, but there's a chance they could be decent. The waterproofing is what really caught my eye here - I tried a waterproof keyboard before, and the switches were just rubber domes - really bad ones at that. Slider over dome is, at least, much more promising than plain ol' rubber dome.

This video touches on some important parts, and has a sound comparison for good measure:

And, of course, the product page: http://www.cougargaming.com/products/keyboards/450k/

It'll retail for $60 USD upon release, which seems awfully cheap for something that feels "similar" to Topre and is waterproof. The prospect of a Topre knockoff that's actually reasonably priced AND high quality gets me excited, but this all reeks of marketing spin to me. 6KRO also indicates a non-capacitive design, which is somewhat worrying.

So, thoughts? Will anyone be picking one up for review?

[infodroid]

@2:03 Looks almost like Alps mount

[Crazy Canadian XXIV]

@2:03 Looks almost like Alps mount

I was thinking that, but I'm not familiar enough with Alps switches to really say if it's compatible. If it is, just about any other set of caps would ruin the backlighting, but that's nothing impressive anyways.

[Findecanor]

In the "specifications" on the web site, it says "Anti-ghosting keys: 26 keys".

I doubt that this would be any "hybrid" switch at all. Slider over dome over membrane is what I think.

[Crazy Canadian XXIV]

In the "specifications" on the web site, it says "Anti-ghosting keys: 26 keys".

I doubt that this would be any "hybrid" switch at all. Slider over dome over membrane is what I think.

Yep, I pointed out that it's slider over dome and membrane. Hardly "hybrid mechanical", but at least better than regular domes, in theory.

[Muirium]

Strange how anything rubberdome gets heralded as an alt Topre, when I've never every clicky keyboard, no matter how janky, described as "IBM Buckling Spring". I know and love both switches. There's more to either of them than hope and a prayer. They're classics because of design and build.

[Ray]

It is probably because they can't advertise a higher price for being as good as vintage hardware you can buy for 40 bucks second hand.
If somebody claims to be as good in sound and feel as IBM Buckling Spring, you would check how much is the original and have no reason to buy the new product. There is just no way a new product compares in price to the second hand market IBMs.

And if you want to sell keyboards to non-enthusiasts, it is mostly only one argument at all: price. You know, there's a reason for those crappy rubberdomes. And the masses forgot the virtues about the older more quality generation of keyboards really fast.

Topre is not only premium in feel, but also in price - even in second hand market. So theres an argument left for the cheap contender.

[bhtooefr]

I'd argue that there are still reasons to go for new over used.

Model Ms are aging keyboards that don't get along with a lot of newer motherboards (I mean, 10-15 years ago we were talking about compatibility problems), have issues with the readily available PS/2 to USB adapters (we've got source code that works damn well, of course, but you can't just go buy one from a store), have brittle heat stakes, and don't have some keys that are expected of modern keyboards (which is a mild complaint on Windows, but is a huge complaint on OS X).

[Muirium]

SSKs are the most prized of Model Ms. No modern competitor there. And Unicomp is far from IBM's original quality in everything it does now. You can see that effect on the price of original APL caps vs. Unicomp's remake.

Similar to the SSK, Topre has no competitor. Just crap, frequently compared to it by people who have money to make.

[Crazy Canadian XXIV]

Strange how anything rubberdome gets heralded as an alt Topre, when I've never every clicky keyboard, no matter how janky, described as "IBM Buckling Spring". I know and love both switches. There's more to either of them than hope and a prayer. They're classics because of design and build.

Well, not every rubber dome. Mostly slider over dome, specifically. And I'd say it's more cautious hopefulness than heralding. I guess we're all just too hopeful for a halfway decent Topre knockoff that isn't completely overpriced.

Ultimately, it's exciting to imagine the possibility. It probably won't happen, but still, imagine exactly that existing. Wouldn't that be something? Speculation is fun, if nothing else.

[Ray]

I'd argue that there are still reasons to go for new over used.

For sure there are. They are not that important to the folks around here though.
And it isn't what I wanted to say. I wanted to say it's not a great marketing strategy to compare products to Model M buckling spring. Because when a potential customer looks up for what prices they sell, they will mostly find low prices from the second hand market.

SSKs are the most prized of Model Ms.

Oh, I totally overlooked that. If one would compare their product to SSKs instead of regular Model M, suddenly we are in premium price category as well. And the disadvanteges of fullzise Model Ms are easy to grasp and marketing could point out better layout.

[Stabilized]

Had a quick listen to this on Youtube, and I think that it sounds pretty similar to Noppoo topre clone.
Don't really know what makes it "hybrid mechanical" though, other then to just reference Topre. In the reviews I have seen and read, it appears to really just be a slider over membrane.