Keychron Q1 Review - A CRAZY good keyboard for the price!
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2021
- Keychron just released their Q1 keyboard, a 75% hotswap mechanical keyboard you can buy complete or barebones. But how does it stack up against the GMMK Pro? Check it out in this review!
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I don't know if Frank edits his videos or if he has an Editor but it's extraordinary work.
ikrrr
He's a one man show
I believe he mentioned recently he does everything himself which is incredible hustle
thanks, i work hard
@@itsbandar what
Been waiting a long time for them to come out with a QMK version of their boards... makes them far more useful for those of us that do customization for our keys. Nice review as usual.
Been a K2 user since launch, so glad to see Keychron constantly improving their design and still being generous in terms of value
I enjoy my k2 a lot and use it daily and I accidentally pour 250 ml orange juice into it and it never power up again.😢
Thanks for your reviews Frank. I watch a lot of reviews but yours is seem the most honest and to the point. Many youtubers completely bashed the sound and exaggerated. Love how down-to-earth you are. Keep up the good job!
Thank you for your amazing videos Frank! ❤️
I've been waiting for months for this review!!! I would LOVE to see the aqua king switches with the polycarbonate plate!
amazing quality in these videos so happy i came across the tech 10 series last year him and Brian are my go to for tech now
I've been eyeing this one for a while now! Thanks for the review 🙂
What most people keep forgetting is that Keychron has always been marketed towards entry level enthusiasts. It will never be perfect. But then again even with expensive customs people will still mod it.
Good review!
Yes. Almost feel like Keychron boards are meant to be modded. They are very user friendly to dissasemble and with some easy cheap mods they can sound amazing. Using Keychron stock is so much lost potential.
Was wondering if I would prefer this over my gmmk pro, but given I prefer a firmer typing experience, better acoustics and a rotary encoder, I don't see a reason to upgrade, will watch out for mods and the coming encoder though and see if it becomes a must have!
I love my K2 but this seems like a cool upgrade to it. Looks very cool!
Would have loved a polycarbonate plate sound test. Might have helped the ping
Does the q1 have a pc plate already? I believe the only option is the alu plate atm
@@headassvegan I think u can get it on the custom options where u get the badge, keycaps ect
@@sandor4 well fuck my life I had no idea. And I already checked out and paid $30 for shipping lmfao oh well
@@headassvegan There is a PC plate option. I just checked it 😅
@@headassvegan Q1 comes with aluminum by default, but you can add a brass, polycarb and FR4 plates in the customizations page. If you're wondering, the FR4 plate falls between polycarb and aluminum. HTH
Looks like Drop really needs to step-up their game: They need a V2 of the CTRL and ALT with screw-in stabs, gasket mounted, foam included, Via compatible and whatever they need to be in the game again.
I love the ALT High Profile, but it is no longer a viable option with keyboards like these (GMMK Pro and Q1 on one hand, KBD 67 Lite and NK65 Entry on the other) in the market.
Or just scrap it all together and make something new
Honestly, if they’re lazy, cutting the price down to something like $150 for a high profile CTRL or ALT or $100 for a low profile would also be viable. Having plate mounted stabs isn’t a death sentence (Durock plate mounts are quite good, and the NK65 EE also has them), and you can get some precut foam from something like Stupidfish pretty easily.
Another gripe I have with Drop is their keycaps. For example, GMK Red Samurai. It’s a fantastic set, and easily the cheapest GMK set you can readily find, but it only being built to support Drop’s lineup is pretty annoying. It’s why it’s so cheap, but adding an extra 3 keys so the 65% kit actually supports a 65% board like the Tofu 65 would be nice.
NK65 imo is as bad as the drop stuff. Overpriced and sounds mediocre. Only thing it has going for it is the south facing 5 pin.
@@user-kz9rz8ui1c it was novelty (first-ish cheap hotswap board (while first hotswap being gk61 without enthusiast features) with enthusiast features) but aged bad
Especially at the price, I'd totally get the Drop Alt if the high profile wasn't the price of a fully customized barebones Q1 but with crappier stabs
So excited for mine to arrive 😁
take my money. Been waiting for a review for the Q1 since the announcement. Im completely sold.
i have a keychron c1 and its a fantastic keyboard for $50. This company is great and love seeing more of their products showcased
I love your videos. Keep the good work.
Also can you review the gundam headset, mouse and keyboard? 🙏
As someone who still hasn't dipped his toes into the mech keeb hobby, this seems like a perfect way to get started. It may have some kinks, but I can overlook that for $170 prebuilt.
I was thinking of getting it but really wasnt sure if it can/would replace my current custom/my gmmk pro. thakns for this
That swipe disassembly is fire! :D
Really great work on this video both from the information, entertainment and editing side. Thanks for another great video!
Watched your vid and bought this thing and slapped some ink blacks and after some mods, the thing is a thocc monster thanks for the review
Was waiting for this❤️
first - you the bedwars ytber right?
14:05 Dammit shoobs, you're one lucky man to be seen there
Lol
mech merlin? no? ok
This board is just a huge flex on the GMMK Pro, literally.
This board just let the GMMK Pro flex on it*
@@Jake_cub what
on specs, maybe, but with that sound test gmmk pro was clearly so much better..
@@malakachino so tbh, gasket mount sound is never really that good consider the space it needed to flex, and i believe with a lil tape mode q1 will have a better result than gmmk in both sound and typing feeling.
@@user-wb5by5yr7p exactly what I was going to say stock gmmk pro is better sounding, but with the car dampening mod or tape mod as you said can make so much better.
This keeb seems awesome. Great video Frank
I just ordered the q1 knob version very excited for it, ordered some pbt keycaps and some lub for it hopefully it will be worth it
Have you done a review of the glorious full silver heavy aluminum keyboard I'd love to see your thoughts on it if you haven't.
Darn. I can't wait to see how those will with aqua switches and clear plastic plates.
That Navy Blue is sick.
that vibrating phone in the soundtest xD i first thought someone would blow into a bottle
Great review. Need your suuuupppppeeeerrrr clean mod of the Q1 next
please
Also worth noting for the GMMK Pro, they have released new firmware that allows you to lower the input latency as well.
Can u link it pls?!
@@WanuLopes just look it up????
@@Toopavix ^
@@Toopavix I saw nothing of them releasing a new software / fixing the input delay. So i am asking for the link
@@WanuLopes You should probably join the Discord. I’m pretty sure that’s where you can download the latest firmware or new ones.
couldnt decide which keychron keyboard i was going to buy. Now i know which one :D
I need this with wireless and a split spacebar and I will be happily done shopping for keyboards for the next few years
9:27 I do get the additional foam. It is thick as hell and entirely negate all the keybaord flex.
I ended up removed them anyway in order to get gasket to work.
Typing Q1 is like typing a normal keyboard in a cave
In my country, there are GB going on for $152 for the full kit Q1 including switches and keycaps, shipped. What a steal!
Nice touches on the editing indeed :)
Your quips and edits are so spot on. My gawd, I had just about as many chuckles as I've had all covid season - dayum
I just got mine and damnnn its soo good with added foam and tape mod!
Amazing review dude!
The q1 literally sounds like tapping on a glass vase
It's definitely off-putting. I think people might come up with solutions, though.
is there a way to lessen that dip in the board? maybe puttnig more foam or a plastic spacer inside of the case?
Gotta love how the tweets explained the hat 😅
not even trying to blow my own trumpet, but I am an editor and the edits that frank does are pretty impressive
How do the keycults sound so good if they don't use any foam? The weight and amount of material?
I am so exited for the Keeb community to grow. Not only are there going to be more options, its going to be cheaper
YES!
That is sleek and clean. 🧼
I would love to buy this, but there is no FR layout, and there isn't on their previous keebs either
ISO only comes in barebones, and they do no offer AZERTY keycap sets, so... well I guess I'm gonna wait for Glorious to ship to France their ISO version of the GMMK Pro with their AZERTY layout keycaps eh?
We Belgians and French are fucked when it comes to Keebs. I am from Belgium but Azerty layouts are so difficult to find, as well as ISO ffs. Thinking about to Qwerty ansi
Frank, are you going to make a video on the new starlight final mouse? People need to know about a $500 wireless mouse that they won’t buy.
No matter how hard I try, there's no way I'd be able to overlook that hollow-ping sound to the Q1. As soon as you started typing on it I was like "Holy Snikes - that's pingy AF!"
All that being said - this is absolutely a huge contender for top-tier budget gasket mounted 75% keebs, super impressed with the level of customization on it too - especially that 1u badge!
That's why you add another layer of foam
@@randomfrankp absolutely agree with you! I mean aside from the stock pingy-ness of the board, it's an absolute banger! A little extra foam would go a long way in resolving that ping for sure. Also those switches and stabs being factory lubed up the wazoo is pretty legit too. So from what I saw/heard in your review, this really is at the top of my list for my next board. Thanks for the great content as always dude!
This is so cool I might buy this
One downside I’ve noticed is that Keychrons shipping cost are pretty high. Not sure why they only use DHL as they can get quite pricey. I ordered a K4 from Amazon even though it was $10 more because shipping directly from keychron was $36.
Now if I want their custom retro key caps though you have to order direct from them and it makes it hard to justify ordering when the shipping cost is almost an additional 50%
Honestly I don't care about price, I just want something of quality I can actually buy! If its $20, $50 or $100 more or less than another competitor is much less important than availability and implementation. This one seems to hit the spot! Remember, the norm in this hobby is to spend $500 on something you wont see in a year.
please make a sound test on the different plate, I think that could be a big game changer on what people think about this keyboard, what you just showed is pingy as hell and if the pingyness goes away by using a PC plate then its really gonna be my go to instead of the gmmk
But where is that encoder option... If you look closely at the diagram it mentions the encoder pcb... But I don't see that anywhere.
I wish the knob was more offset, as they made it too close to the PAGE UP button.
The quality of these videos are just too good!!!
gmmk pro is my favourite board yet. i absolutely adore it. i love how thoccy it is with marvel black panther key caps and gateron lubed yellows. super comfortable and never been happier.
granted the keychron keyboard is super tempting. i wish i could have gotten that instead of gmmk pro because of the price difference and the better accessory pack
the q1 is actually 180 because they charge you for shipping which is 30 usd
so its a 180 keyboard vs a 170 that it's better aesthetically, has an encoder and side RGB.
There will be more keyboards like these two coming out in the next months, be patient.
@@notusingthis600 Thing is, the GMMK pro has some bad input lag, and it doesn’t have that much flex to the board, and it doesn’t support VIA or QMK. So, paying more, you can get a better gmmk pro by getting the Q1
@@schminkydink is it really that bad? I just ordered a GMMK pro
so excited to receive my review sample!
Reckon the polycarbonate plate would help with the ping/hollowness?
Damn that keyboard looks fire! 🔥
"really budget friendly"
me: *cries in blue switches*
blue switches are a type, and not a brand. There are very good linear smooth switches that are ultra cheap like gateron yellows.
199$ fully assembled ((((
i thought it's gonna be like 40/50 bucks, not 180
@@o_o7751 Yeah, I saw the price before watching this video so when he said "budget-friendly" I was confused. I remember not too long ago, people were calling the drop alt/ctrl keyboards expensive but this one is more expensive / around the same price range.
Its pretty budget friendly in the sense that some of us are willing to pay 120 for keycaps, 90 for some switches, and easily upwards of 300-500 just for the board. But thats just some of us being ridiculous lmao
Seems like an awesome keyboard! Keychron Keyboards are great value
That sounds so metallic they needed alot more foam, maybe a tape mod would help? But its like the grand canyon of echo in that case. The ID80 is a much better option at the cost.
I think the shitty ABS keycaps help.
wow this is some crazy good editing
The ping would definitely be taken care of with a bit more foam and even tape on the PCB.
I have a much cheaper keyboard atm, Red Dragon K556, which had a massive ping to it. But foam+tape and it was gone. Huge difference.
Isn't that a plastic chassis? If so, seems like an entirely different situation.
Those are some insane amount of case ping, nonetheless is one of, if not, the best value for the price I've seen
Hey @randomfrankp, so how much cost fully builded?
I don't know how accurate the sound is through headphones even, but I think that "pingy" characteristic could be improved by: 1) The force break mod, i.e. adding something like soft tape between the top and bottom half of the case, OR leaving the screws a bit loose. This would make it much harder for the case halves to ring together, and 2) having some slightly heavier sound deadening material in the case. This would absorb the vibration from the case a bit. Or you could just have more material, but as said a thicker material would eat into the flex.
I'm waiting on mine from the mail, eager to try how it sounds in real life. :)
Does this keyboard come with the coiled cable? I really want to get myself in the game but am not sure what the deal is with all these options lol. ALSO hilarious that my name is also FrankP so its a 100% sub from me
Could you perhaps do a review of the Corsair K70 RGB TKL Champion Series keyboard? Saw it on Corsair's website yesterday, but couldn't find a review on your channel. Not sure when it released either. Perhaps recently :?
This review is great too! I'm actually trying to find a RGB TKL Wireless Keyboard, but I'm still looking around currently.
Tbh I’d buy this instead of the K70
Crazy that they got way better coiled cables than a big company like razer.
1:50 ooh that bloody red switch :3
I love that it is VIA compatible since that makes it so we aren't reliant on proprietary and bad software.
Waiting for this review for 3 weaks
I read about the rotary knob. Seems like you will need a PCB swap from Keychron. Maybe it will come in a second wave.
Could you explain more on this please?
Yea seems like it. I'm surprised no one is talking about this. They show the encoder knob option in the diagram and mention an encoder pcb... Some people are claiming $10. No idea where they're getting that info. And the site mentions nothing about it upcoming that I could find. Makes me wonder if it will ever release.
@@adamcbowen1 People are probably saying 10 bucks because when you buy the barebones kit it's likely 10 extra dollars to get the rotary knob pcb. (don't quote me on this I only vaguely remember seeing it on the store page but I didn't pull the trigger on the Q1) But I'm guessing if you want it later its much more expensive with a full pcb swap.
@@chee2722 According to Dave2D, the rotary knob won't be able to plug into the hotswap socket on the board and will need a different PCB, which isn't available right now. So if you're planning on using a rotary knob, you might want to wait for Keychron to release the new PCB
@@justinli826 It's flat out not available right now is the problem, and who knows if it ever will be. They shouldn't even have shown it. They also still have it on the diagram pic.
12:10 OH MY GOD AS SOON AS HE SAID THAT LIGHTNING STRUCK AT MY HOUSE
That keyboard is the coolest on shelf keyboard. Tape mod and add more foam ? That keyboard is a treasure. Btw can annyone recommend me a good 65% ? I am thinking about kbdfans acryllic 65. Need them underglow.
I’m looking for anything other than the GMMK Pro. Ordered one and the RGB died after a week. Got a replacement and the stand-off screws were stripped and I couldn’t even switch the plate.
Just take the top off flip it upside down and take every flat surface on the perimeter and apply some tape then all ping disappears.
sound is definitely not at the best but the board is definitely top tier for its price in terms of structure and material. only complain i rly hv is that the complete version and the barebones kit is the same price which doesnt rly sit well with me, hope this is just an error on the website that hasnt been updated since they hvnt released the barebones kit to the public
dang this is amazing! i wish i could get my hands on one soon
The bottomrow isnt standard size i suppose? looking at the 3 keys right to the spacebar.
Props to the editor seriously
Now we await the Pulsar Gaming Gears barebones kit and see what it's like.
The case definitely requires some modding. I think if you get a much thicker foam under the PCB and go with some thicker PBT keycaps this Q1 should sound pretty good.
did keychron say when they are releasing the version with the rotary knob?
Sound test 6:51
Thanks
tbh that was pretty good but hollow at the same time. but when u compare it to gmmk, gmmk sounds more thocky, is it because the different keycaps?
Did you literally just stop watching the video the second he did the sound comparison? Keep watching after the sound test. He explains it several times
@@xenonnati i did finished the video, but if he used the diff keycaps the sound might be diff too
I wouldn't call it a "buzzword" so much as just a matter of fact unfortunately. This board has potential, but I'd say of the board reviews I've seen of similar boards around the $100-$200 price point, this one has the most case ping by far. Definitely an easy fix, but something I'd say should be addressed if possible by QC. Definitely a nice option though!
I would guess that is more of a design issue, so only thing they can do is r2
production quality is top notch
So how different are these phantom switches compared to their regular counterparts?
They are prelubed so they're smoother than stock gaterons and a different stem and springs are based on their newer pro variants that are also prelubed.
hi frank love your videos
One thing that none of those reviews talk about is the latency input of these custom keyboards. Most of them have 20ms ish of input lag which makes playing competitive games inviable.
“Unlivable” dude stop lying to yourself, I bet 3 years ago you didn’t even know what denounce time was or what 1000hz polling was and you were playing without any issues
-you don’t even know the real latency of it
-nearly everyone buying this doesn’t give a shit about latency
I can't get over the ping of this board, was watching the Glarses livestream of it and it was worse than a D60, (known for its ping), I feel that if you put in foam to dampen the sound you will get the same flex that the gmmk pro has, also keycaps are shown to have some inconsistencies and are OEM profile, (higher profile than cherry). Its all preference at the end of the day but I don't regret buying the gmmk pro, just that I haven't gotten some better stabs for it yet.
I think if you put foam in the Q1 you will still have more flex than the GMMK Pro. Hopefully by adding another foam sheet or 2 that's included you can get much less ping with still more flex than GMMK Pro. If adding more foam completely removes flex then that would be a little disappointing.
Give me my budget Space65 Keychron and I'll come back to you. I had to forgo K6 despite loving it because I've evolved as an enthusiast. Also arrow blocker. Please and thank you
a primary color and an accent color on a keycap set can't be 'cloned,' it's the artwork that should be protected
the rotary knob is not listed at the website. is it hotswappable as well?
hi Frank, the Rotary Knob Encoder u bought from Keychron?