[Review] CM Storm NovaTouch TKL

MindWipe.MY · October 1, 2014

Hi guys! I’m here for a review of the Cooler Master NovaTouch TKL keyboard. Thanks to Cooler Master for giving me the chance to do so (and for the review unit of course)

When we say mechanical keyboards, the most common question that we’ll always ask is: ‘What switch does it use?’. First of all, let me tell you guys that the NovaTouch TKL isn’t any Cherry MX mechanical keyboards that you can find off stores. Originated from the land of the orient, or, Japan, the Topre switch is considered the master race of all mechanical keyboards. Unlike Cherry MX keyboards where you can find in tactile, linear or the (pretty annoying) clicky switches, Topre switches are only available in tactile variants but comes in different weights like 30g, 45g, 55g and variable weights whereby the modifiers (your caps lock, control, alt, shift, tab, backspace) uses different weight compared to the alpha numerics. Weighing in 45g, the NovaTouch TKL is the first Topre board among gaming peripheral brands.

Without further ado, let’s get into the review for this keyboard!

The Unboxing

The box, hands down the most premium retail mechanical keyboard box among all other gaming peripherals maker.

Very nicely done Cooler Master branding at the top of the box.

Then the side which has the NovaTouch TKL wording.

At the bottom of the box, it states that it’s Topre Electrostatic Capacitive Switch Keyboard. Even though CM Storm market it as Premium Hybrid Switches, rest assured that it’s actually Topre switches.

The packaging inside the box looks very nice too! Thick soft foams that keeps the keyboard nicely.

Upon removing the keyboard from the box we can find 4 things.

(From left to right) A wire keypuller, USB cable for the keyboard, O-Rings for the keyboard, and last but not least, the manual for the keyboard.

Zooming into the USB cable; it’s actually an L-shaped connector, with gold plated ends (both ends actually) to prevent corrosion.

The keyboard

Tenkeyless ANSI QWERTY layout. Pretty standard issue. What I like about this is that they have standard bottom rows where 1.25u (units) of Control, Alt, Winkey, FN key and 6.25u spacebar is used. Normally, gaming keyboard layouts would have 1.5u Control and Alt, 1u Winkey and FN and then 6u of Spacebar in which it is a pain in the ass to look for replacements or keysets which has such layout.

FYI, units is a kind of measurement to represent the length of a keycap. Sometimes people use x as well. like 6.25x key.

Also, if you didn’t realize, this keyboard has no numpad on the right. That’s right! (No pun intended) Tenkeyless keyboards (which includes the NovaTouch TKL as well) lives up to it’s name, tenkeyless. If you’re an avid numpad user the you’ll have to get used to not using the numpad. Tenkeyless keyboards are actually more ergonomic. You wouldn’t have to span out your arms further to use the mouse hence putting less strain on your shoulders compared to using a full keyboard layout.

Artsy shot of the keyboard.

Moving forward; the keyboard’s very minimal approach is very beautiful looking. There isn’t any major branding on the top side of the keyboard (which we personally like). There isn’t any branding on the left and right sides of the keyboard and also the side that faces you. The design of the case is also similar to what we can find in CM Storm’s QuickFire Rapid-i. Unlike the QuickFire Rapid, the top part of the case isn’t interchangable or easily removable. The surface of the NovaTouch’s case is very nice and smooth, since it’s not glossy, leaving down greasy finger prints won’t affect the look too much. You’re going to clean your keyboard daily, right?

The left side of the keyboard right here

Overview of the top side of the keyboard (that normally face your monitor)

However, there is a pretty minimal (and nice) CM Storm branding here.

The USB connector used is Micro USB. In case that you didn’t bring your keyboard cable to work, you can still use your sync or data cable for your Android or Blackberry phones with the keyboard with no issue.

There are 4 rubber pieces at 4 edges of the bottom for gripping your keyboard against the table. Also, do not remove this sticker if you still want the warranty for your NovaTouch TKL.

Even the ends of the legs has rubber on it so that your keyboard wouldn’t slip even if you raise your keyboard with legs.

With the legs raised up, it does give a more comfortable typing, same with other keyboards.

Features

If you’re a gamer that’s looking for the extra bling for your peripherals, sorry to say, this keyboard doesn’t have the cool LED features like what Rapid-i would have. The biggest problem is due to the design of Topre keyboards, it is actually pretty hard to implement on switch LEDs. Even the biggest Topre keyboard manufacturer, Realforce, don’t have a Topre keyboard with full backlit feature. With that said, there isn’t any Caps Lock or Scroll Lock indicator found on this keyboard as well. Personally, I do not mind not having indicator LEDs for Caps Lock and Scroll Lock since you and I can know when is Caps Lock on without indicator LEDs.

Anyways, this picture depicts that the NovaTouch TKL is the first Topre board to have NKRO (N-Key Rollover) over USB! For those who play o2jam or any RTS games, you’ll fully utilize the NKRO that this NovaTouch TKL offers.

One of the main features of this is that the NovaTouch TKL is the first Topre keyboard to have repeat rate tweaking.

So, what is repeat rate tweaking? When you hold a key on your keyboard and the key gets repeated over and over, the speed in which the key gets repeated is the repeat rate. There’s mainly 4 repeat rate modes that you can tweak. 1x, 2x, 4x, and lastly, 8x. Our average keyboards (be it membrane or mechanical) on stock settings are using 1x repeat rate. With the NovaTouch TKL, you can tweak the repeat rate on the fly (which means without rebooting) so that you can input commands faster than you normally would be. 1x would be good for normal typing usage eeelssee yyyoouuuu wwwoouuuulllldd eeennnnd uuupp tttyppiiinnng llliiikkkee iii ddddo.. To use this, you would have to click on the FN button located on the right side of the Windows key on the right side and click on which repeat rate you would want and you’re good to go! What’s bad is that there isn’t any indicator that let you know what repeat rate that you’re currently in.

The FN key is located on the right hand side of the right Windows key.

Next up, we’ve multimedia keys such as Play/Pause, Stop, Previous and Next that is found on the F5 to F8 cluster and it is activated by using the FN key as well.

Whereas on the F9 to F12 keys we can find Winkey lock on F9, Volume mute on F10, Volume down on F11 and lastly, Volume Up on F12. And, same as before, you would have to use the FN key to activate them as well.

Upon removing the keycaps from the keyboard, the next obvious thing that you can see is the Topre MX sliders. This is the main feature of the NovaTouch TKL keyboard. The NovaTouch is the first Topre keyboard to have MX sliders so that you can use your Cherry MX keycaps on this keyboard. Topre keyboards like Realforce 87u or HHKB doesn’t have such sliders. This means changing keycaps is a pain in the ass as you can only use Topre keycaps which sometimes can be limited in terms of design and local availability.

Becareful when you’re trying to remove the spacebar because there is a spring right on the switch slider for the spacebar

The stock keycaps used is of ABS material and the legends are infilled. Among all other Topre keyboards out there, the stock keycaps that the Novatouch uses are considered to be the least best among all. ABS get’s shiny faster compared to PBT (PBT hardly shines even with heavy usage) and the infill legends are going to get dirty easily too. Since that this is a Cherry MX keycaps compatible board, you can easily get other better keycap sets and use it with the NovaTouch TKL.

So, with the Cherry MX sliders means you can customize the keycaps of your NovaTouch TKL to your liking!

Keycap set used: Taihao Doubleshots

Keycap set used: Sanctuary. In case if you guys are wondering, yes, this keycap set is based on Diablo 3. Pretty, right?

Typing test

Topre, hands down, the best tactile switches that you can find. The tactile bump is crisp compared to Cherry MX Browns, Cherry MX Clears or even modded switches like Ergo Clears (some claim that Ergo Clears are on par with Topre too)

One of the best thing that you can feel with this keyboard is that the spacebar is really good. Your Cherry MX stabilizers (be it Costar or Cherry stabilizers, tuned or un-tuned) can’t keep up with the feel of the spacebar that this NovaTouch TKL has.

As for now, the Novatouch TKL is available in 45g Topres. Personally, for me, 55g Topres is the sweetest spot of Topre keyboards as 45g feels light for me. It might be your sweetest spot since everyone have different needs. I certainly hope that there will be 55g NovaTouch TKL in the future.

[Link to Youtube video]

Typing without the O-Rings on. The bottom out sound is nice. You wouldn't get anything like this with Cherry MX switches.

[Link to Youtube video]

Another typing test done on the NovaTouch TKL, this time with o-rings. Notice that the sound with orings is more silent compared to typing without orings. And the amount of sound produced isn’t going to be as much as Cherry MX Blues as the switch for it’s famous clicky sound is because of the slider that produces sound the most.

Verdict

Cooler Master’s NovaTouch TKL Topre switch keyboard is truly in it’s class. Topre switches with Cherry MX sliders for keycaps compatibility, beauty of keycaps and the feeling of typing combined into one keyboard that we have; the NovaTouch TKL.

The SRP is to be set at $199.99. Why so expensive you may ask? Topre switches are expensive. Cooler Master couldn’t produce the PCB for the Topre switches as the components for the Topre switch (which includes the PCB, the rubber sheet and the springs) is still under patent but the price tag of $199.99 does bring you a few good thing:

-Best typing experience that you could have (Topre master race guys!)

-First NKRO Topre keyboard over USB. For those who’s looking to use NKRO but don’t have any PS/2 ports, this keyboard is for you!

-First Topre board to have repeat rate tweaking ssso yyyoouuu cccaaann tttyypppeee llliiikkkke iiii dddo… iiiittt”’ss cccoooollll rrriggghtt???

-First Topre board to have Cherry MX sliders so that you can use your Cherry MX keycaps

-Winlock and various multimedia functions so that you can turn down volume while you’re playing game without minimizing

-Tenkeyless layout which is easier for you to reach your mouse without straining much on your shoulder

-If you’re a fan of minimal design, then this keyboard is the one! No visible branding anywhere that you can see.

-Very nice keyboard case surface, leaving fingerprints isn’t a problem anymore!

If I’ve got the chance to improve the NovaTouch TKL, I would:

-Put in LED indicators for Caps Lock, Winlock, Scroll lock and also which repeat rate that the keyboard is currently in (Personally, the absence of LEDs didn’t affect me much)

-Have 55g Topres since it’s the sweetest spot among all Topres

-Doesn’t come with good stock keycaps such as dyesubbed PBT keycaps.

-Would like to see the case designed in such a way similar to the QuickFire Rapid whereby the top cover replacement is purchasable and can be replaced easily for further case modifications.