I didn't really NEED a new keyboard, but when I saw that I'd been using the same one for two years it felt... wrong.
If you want to read the background on where I came from you can start here as it covers my keyboard journey and how I came to love low profile keyboards. Then there's this post from two years ago where I talk about moving through a few more keyboards and finally landing on the Razer Deathstalker V2.
Lemme start with a review of the Razer Deathstalker V2.
The good: I liked how it looked on my desk. It felt premium. I liked the lighting a lot. It was... fine. Not really any better than the Logitech 915 (which I guess is my gold standard?).
The bad: The USB C cable that connected it to the computer was wonky. It'd slip in and out at the lightest touch. I didn't touch it all that often, but if I'd slide the keyboard down closer to me, I'd often hear the computer beep that it's lost connection and then beep that it gained connection again. The media buttons all being on one single button (one press for play/pause, two for next, three for previous) is less than ideal. It's not great. It's better than there being no media buttons, but not by a lot. The biggest deal breaker though is their software. Synapse 4 and ChromaRGB. They're shite. They're huge and bloated and take forever to load. They fail to load plenty of times. When they update, they tend to crash. They forget their settings for no reason.
And finally there were the keys themselves. Not good OR bad. They sounded fine, they felt fine. They might have been just a touch to sensitive (needing to little force to actuate), but I got used to that. The only problem came with the 'J' key as it got a LOT more sensitive. When I'd place my hands into the 'ready' position I of course am not looking at my hands and am instead feeling for the little dimples on the F and J key to line up my index fingers. Well when I'd line them up I'd barely press the J key but almost always actuate it.
It wasn't a deal killer, but it was damned annoying.
Add in the software and the fact that I'd had it for two years and I was ready to move on.
I mostly remembered what I wanted in a keyboard, so I didn't read my own posts. Instead I looked at what was available. Razer still only had the Deathstalker V2. Logitech had the updated G915 but all it updated was the USB connection (from micro USB to USB C). A BIG improvement, but it certainly wouldn't feel new. I didn't look at Corsair as I just refused to move on to software I hated and I knew that Corsair's Cue software is in the same league as Razer's Synapse.
Next up was Keychron. I feel like I've been chasing Keychron for a long LONG time. They seem to be the entry point for 'custom' keyboards in that you can get a high end keyboard with easily replaceable keycaps AND keyswitches. So if I get one with the 'clicky' keys I don't have to buy a new keyboard to replace that noisy clicking sound, I can just buy new keyswitches and go for that buttery smooth sound. And whenever I look at keyboard accessories (keycaps, cables...) it feels like Keychron is the brand that there are the most accessories for.
Lemme tell you, Keychron makes a LOT of different keyboards. But it's fairly easy to narrow down the field as they make variations on everything. As I want low profile, that takes it down to a small handful. When I say I want wireless (NOT bluetooth but 2.4Ghz wireless) and a full size layout it narrows it down to a single keyboard. The Keychron K5 Max. The only problem with the K5 Max is that it doesn't have a volume knob or slider. It has programable media keys above the keypad, but no volume knob.
So I stepped back and made sure I was narrowing down the Keychron keyboards properly. The K Max line was the only line with low profile keys AND 2.4 GHz wireless. Most of them also had the option of RGB lighting. So yes, from Keychron, it was K Max or bust.
With that in mind, I brought up all the low profile K Max keyboards and looked at all of them with volume knobs. The first two were easy to dismiss.
The above keyboard is the Keychron K11 Max. The angled keys don't bother me. What bothers me is the loss of the number pad and the loss of teh extra keys above the arrow keys. That's the Delete, End, Page Down, Page Up, Home, Insert, Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause keys.
Next up:
The Keychron K17 Max. I've talked about the previous 'Pro' version of this keyboard before. It's almost a full keyboard, as it includes the num pad but it's still missing some of those extra Delete, End, Home... keys.
But then my eyes caught this little baby:
That is the Keychron K0 Max. It's a standalone wireless numberpad with media keys and a volume knob. It does have macro keys, which I don't like, but otherwise it opens up a whole host of other keyboard possibilities.
In particular, it let this little number enter the conversation.
This is the Keychron K1 Max. It's a full size 'Tenless' keyboard. TKL. 80%. It's a little squeezed together, but I really like the minimalist layout. And it addressed a problem I've had but just assumed I'd have to always live with. My mouse hitting my keyboard. Lemme explain.
Using a full size keyboard with a numberpad means my keyboard is 'long'. I use a single deskmat that goes under my keyboard and my mouse (as well as a bunch of other knick knacks). Here's basically how they're set up:
I can't stress this enough, my desk is NOT that tidy (or well lit). Anyway, you can see that I either have my keyboard in front of me where it's easy to type OR I have the mouse where it will easily sit in my right hand. One or the other.
Here's how a lot of gamers do it without the number pad to get the mouse closer to the keyboard.
This little difference would work. They keyboard can be just a touch off to the left and the mouse would be just a touch off to the right. A great compromise. BUT I need that damned numberpad!!
Without providing a photo, my setup has been to push the keyboard further forward and give it a slight tilt with the numberpad further away and the left slide slightly closer. Then the mouse can sit a little closer and only occasionally would it's natural sweep hit the bottom corner of the numberpad area of the keyboard. Not great, but it's worked.
But if I have a separate numberpad, I can push it way forward as I don't use it ALL the time. Or I can put it further to the right than my mouse. Or literally set it under my desk on a shelf and pull it out when I need it. I could actually use a TKL keyboard!!
I didn't think too much of it beyond that. I looked around but couldn't find they keyboards anywhere except for Keychron, so I ordered it right from their site. The Keychron K1 Max and the Keychron K0 Max. And for shits and giggles, since I love customizing things, I added a set of 'Royal' keycaps that would let me have blue/black/yellow keycaps and a blue aluminum volume knob. YAY!
A little shipping aside. Amazon's 2nd Day, Next Day, and Same Day shipping has truly spoiled me. As I'm ordering this straight from Keychron I first have to pay for shipping. What? That's BULLSHIT. But whatever. The shipping cost? $40! And how long is this $40 going to take? Well, per their site, it will take 1-2 days to process the order and then 4-6 business days to ship it to the US.
I don't know why, but I just assumed Keychron was in Canada. Maybe because I've ordered a Dbrand leather skin for my new phone and it's coming in from Canada. Anyway, that felt like WAY too long, but it's not like I had a choice. So I hit order and waited.
Its when they shipped it and sent the tracking number that I got the whole cost and time issue. They were shipping this from just outside of Hong Kong. With that in mind, the 4-6 days was actually quite fast. All told, it only took them 4 days total to get it from their Chinese warehouse to my door. I did, however, have to pay an additional $35 in tariffs. Thanks Trump!
Anyway, it came. The quality I've heard about Keychron is true. They are very well made. It took me all of twenty minutes to pull most of the keycaps off and replace them with the 'Royal' set. The first problem came up at that point. Lighting. If I'd just read my previous post I'd have remembered about the RGB lighting of Keychron NOT going through the letters. It looks nice enough, but it just spills out around the keys. And as dark as I keep my room, that means I can't see my keys all the time.
I let that problem sit for awhile and played with the numpad placement. My first idea was to have it to the right of the mouse. The first time I went to use it, it worked fine. Having it there also worked for the media keys as I always take my eyes off the screen when I use those anyway.
The next use I had for the numpad was something I'd never considered. Using my mouse to select a text box and hit 'enter' so that I can start typing there. By pure habbit, I clicked the text box and reached my right thumb out to the edge of my keyboard where the enter key is... only the whole number pad, including the enter key, is now off to the right of my hand. I ended up hitting the right arrow key on the keyboard.
It's a small thing, but I thought about it and realized I do that action a LOT. I have to have the num pad close to the mouse and specifically to the left of the mouse.
So, I moved it there and placed it further away or 'above' the keyboard. Sure, I'd have to extend my hand a bit, but that's just a slight change in the muscle memory movement and not a wholesale change. It didn't work great, but I wanted to give it some time. Then another problem cropped up. While using the numpad in Excel, I'll have my right hand on the numbers typing away. When I have to move cells I just slide a bit over to the left, put my fingers on the arrow keys, and move the selected cell to where I want, the slide back to the right to the numpad and continue typing. Yeah, the arrow keys are no longer there. It's a wholesale change in movement to go 'down' that far.
So, now I have the numberpad right next to the keyboard, practically in it's 'normal' position except it's pushed just a bit further away, giving the mouse a touch of room on that bottom corner. And you know what... it works. It's early, but I don't hit the numberpad or keyboard with the mouse. I can go from the mouse to the enter key without problem. And I can go from the number pad to the arrow keys and back without problem. They're all just slight changes to the muscle memory I have and I'll only get better at them the longer I do it this way.
That is, I could get used to them if I keep them. Let's go back to the lighting.
It's more or less a dealbreaker. Sitting here right now, at 2:40 PM on a sunny day, I keep my room so dark that the primary light on my keyboard is my monitor. I can easily read my keys, but that's because I have a HUGE Google Chrome window open and it's background is white/grey/pink. If I have a very dark desktop background and a dark set of windows open, or am watching a movie or YouTube video that happens to be dark there won't be enough light from my desk lamp and colored Govee lights to illuminate the keyboard. Or rather, not illuminate it enough so that I could see the printing on the keycaps. I can spot the keyboard, and easily do so with it's background light... but I can't know where my fingers are supposed to go. I certainly can't reachout and immediately tap the space bar or hit the enter key without knowing which one it is.
In other words, I NEED new keycaps. Thankfully that's not too difficult. Evidently if I wanted to change every single keycap, I'd be in trouble as the stabilizers on the longer keys (the spacebar, the shift keys, the return key, capslock...) are pretty hard to match up. BUT, if I get a decent set of numbers and letters, and just replace those, I can figure out the rest. And those keycaps should be standard 'cherry' type keycaps.
A quick shopping trip to Amazon found me two sets that I bought. The first was a really cool gradient purple that started with the F keys being an almost light violent and the space bar being an almost dark purple. Each row in-between gradated between those two extremes. BUT, the letter cutouts had no coloring whatsoever. The light shone through them brilliantly, but when there was light ON the keys, you couldn't read them. The problem was actually reversed. So they were a no go.
The next set was just regular old black keys. Not my favorite, but it fit in well with the 'Royal' set that remained on most of the other keys that included blues, dark greys, and even yellow. I didn't bother changing the numpad keys as I hardly ever look at that when I'm using it. It's easy to line my middle finger up with the little dimple on the 5 key and then I can type fast without looking at the keys.
One little issue came up at that point. Keychron doesn't have good software. Now this isn't nearly as bad as Corsair's Cue software problem or Razer's Synapse software problem where they're bloated and fail. No, these you program by going to an online site and connecting your keyboard there. That requires physically connecting them to your computer. Not a HUGE deal as I can reach down and grab a spare USB A to USB C cable and plug it into the front of my computer and then into each of the keyboards to program. And realistically I shouldn't be programing them all that often. Just set up their settings and set up a lighting pattern I like, and go from there.
The lighting pattern was easy. I'm not about the fancy patterns any longer. I wouldn't say no if they were an option, but they aren't here. So, since it's Michigan Football season, I have all the keys in Blue with the letters and numbers (since they'll shine through) in Maize (yellow). It doesn't look bad.
And for a single day, all was good.
Last night I went to use the numpad and noticed it not only went to sleep (turned the lights off), it fully turned off. I had to hit the key several times to wake it up. But once I finished typing, the lights turned off in like twenty seconds. They should stay on for twenty minutes. This is where the software problem comes up as I don't have an installed piece of software that I can use to check on the battery level. So I plugged it in and saw that it was taking a HUGE load. It had to be near empty (that turned out to be right as it took about two hours to fully charge it, which you can tell by a little LED light net to the charge port). The keyboard itself at least has a clever trick. Hold down the function key and hit the 'B' key to check the battery. When you do that, all the lights turn off on the keyboard then they'll light up one by one starting at the one key then moving forward to the 0 key.
When I hit Function B, I saw the lights turn on for 1, 2, 3... and then they turned red. In a little less than a day, I'd used 70% of the main keyboard's battery and all of the number pad's battery. I charged it up fully last night, unplugging it only when I went to bed and right now (2:58 PM) it's at 60% battery. That is unacceptable. I can't be charging my batteries every single day.
Now, realistically, once I start working regularly again, I won't be using the keyboard as much as I am right now. It'll just be those couple days off a week. Maybe another day a week. But as I think about it, that's still too much. Too often.
It SHOULD be an easy decision at least... fix it. I haven't used they keyboards long enough to 'get used' to them so it shouldn't be a problem moving to a different keyboard again. But then you come to 'Thonk'.
Keyboard sounds are something that's not exactly new, but has become more important to me in the last few years. When I moved from membrane keyboards to mechanical keyboards it was primarily for the feel. Typing felt a LOT better on a mechanical keyboard. Then I found out about all the different types of switches, from linear to tactical to 'clicky'. I remember getting one of the clickiest keyboards and loving it... for all of a couple days. It was just to fucking loud. But I DID love it for a short time.
Since that time, good keyboards have developed a new sound. The 'Thonk' or 'Chonk' sound. This is almost the opposite of sound as it's the keyboard manufacturers trying to make as quiet a keyboard as they can. Using heavy materials, using foams to insulate the sound inside, using pieces inside the switches to deaden the sound, and lubing the switches so they don't rattle. And when you put it all together it has a very specific 'Thonk' sound. None of my low profile keyboards have had 'Thonk' and all of my mechanical keyboards before that were going for noise, so they didn't have it either.
These Keychrons have Thonk.
Here's a video of the Keychron K1 Max typing sound:
And for comparison, here's a Logitech G915 typing sound (specifically the linear one):
I'm sorry... but the Keychron just sounds better.
Let me just lay out some options.
No Change
Accept that I'm basically going to charge them once a day. Not good.
Change the lighting options
Turn the lights off after a minute and see if that keeps the battery better.
Plug them in
Permanently attach the cables and have them run to the computer.
I did it before, but this would now be two cables instead of the one.
I'd also be losing the clean 'no wires' look that I have now.
Replace them both with a Logitech G915 X Lightspeed
I've had the keyboard before and like it.
It's upgraded to USB C so I wouldn't have to run a new cable.
It still has those annoying 'G Keys' on the left side that I hate.
Replace the Keychron K1 Max with a Logitech G915 X Lightspeed TKL
It's a direct replacement for the K1 Max in that it doesn't have a number pad.
It also does NOT have the 'G Keys' on the left side that I hate.
I could plug in the Keychron K0 Max and leave it on the desk OR charge it daily
Before I wrote this up, I was fairly sure I was going to be buying a Logitech keyboard. Either the full one or the TKL. But the more I typed on this, the more I like the sound. I also like the 'newness' of it and even the TKL seems like a step backward. And I really like the replacement keycaps. That's just cool.
So... I think I'm going to change the lighting options. Turn the lights off on the K1 Max after a minute or thirty seconds. I don't have that type of granular control on the K0 Max, but I can literally turn all but a few of the lights OFF. Again, I don't really need to see it.
Let's play with that and we'll see how it falls. I'll either update this post, comment to it with an update, or make a new post and tell you how the Logitech keyboard is.
No comments:
Post a Comment