Review on Keychron K3 V2: Ultra-Slim 84-Key Wireless Bluetooth/USB Wired Mechanical Keyboard, White LED Backlit, Low-Profile Gateron Brown Switch - Mac Windows Compatible by Asahi Sato ᠌

Name: Keychron K3 V2: Ultra-Slim 84-Key Wireless Bluetooth/USB Wired Mechanical Keyboard, White LED Backlit, Low-Profile Gateron Brown Switch - Mac Windows Compatible
Item: Keychron K3 V2: Ultra-Slim 84-Key Wireless Bluetooth/USB Wired Mechanical Keyboard, White LED Backlit, Low-Profile Gateron Brown Switch - Mac Windows Compatible
Rating: 5

November 30, 2022

Reliable purchase, guaranteed to be a good purchase.

If you fundamentally want to buy low-profile mechanics, then there is not much to choose from. Among analogues, I liked Keychron the most. It can be modified little by little, and switches can be changed, and it costs much less than "branded gaming" ones. I advise you only to think carefully about the format, whether the "stub" will be convenient for you or not. I had to suffer for a while.
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Pros

This is my fifth mechanic, the third low-profile. I bought version 2 on blue switches (there is a set of brown and yellow ones for replacement, I liked the brown ones the most). My switches are lubricated, the soundproofing of the case is made. The typing experience is pleasant, after three years with linear switches, I miss the blue ones. The tactile feedback and click help, the typing speed increases noticeably, even if you are not used to it on a new layout. Please note that blue switches are not for everyone, it is better to take brown / red ones. If you like a small tactile response and are used to the membrane - brown, if you want the most silent and without tactile response - red, but with them I usually have a lot of miss clicks. Compared to past low-profiles, the Keychron both sounds and feels nicer. Stubs don't rattle. The sound from the seal is like heaven and earth. I will eventually change the switches to brown ones, the clatter of the blue ones really infuriates the household, although, frankly, they are not so loud. What do you like: - very small and compact, takes almost no space on the table; - the build quality is pleasant: the case is metal, everything is done soundly, there is no backlash and no dangling; - it is possible to change switches! Yeeey; - a beautiful font on the keycaps, the letters are very clear and beautiful, minimalistic, no "play around with fonts" for you - they took the most pleasant and readable, and that's it; - the backlight is perfectly configurable: the type, colors, and animation speed. There are plenty to choose from; - I was worried that without my favorite volume knobs and separate multimedia keys I would suffer, but no: Keychron allows you to swap values on the F row by default: without Fn, multimedia buttons are pressed and only with Fn the usual F1-F12. Hooray!

Cons

- Lighting is quite dim. It is not very visible even at maximum brightness. If you work in complete darkness, then all right, but at dusk I would like it to be brighter, as a result I bought myself a lamp for a monitor. I compare with previous mechanics, but there the switches were different, they let in more light; - the Cyrillic alphabet does not glow almost in any way. The LED is located at the top of the switch, which is why the 2022 letter does not receive light at all and looks like it was printed with light gray paint. Not that it was a huge downside. There will be a reason to improve touch typing. But if you can’t live without highlighting and Cyrillic, this can become a problem; - without the numpad is unusual. If this is your first keyboard with a similar layout - think about whether you are ready to suffer and miss the buttons for the first couple of weeks, or is it worth taking the K1 model; - the keys pg up, pg dwn, home, end (to the right of the enter, above the arrows), prevent hitting the enter from the habit. Still, the TKL layout (85%) would be more convenient and familiar if you want to save space on the table. Compactness would no longer be the same, of course, but here what is more important: size or convenience; - the backlight switching button is located in the upper right corner, it's easy to hit it by accident, and then let's scroll through 100500 backlight animations))) Ideally, of course, swap them with del; - I would like to see the fn key to the left of the space, and not to the right; - Keycaps are not replaceable for this keyboard. I would like to try pbt plastic, or a different color, but no. Not only can you not find low-profile ones, but also the keys with a stabilizer have a non-standard mount, asymmetric. We'll have to wait until Keychron native releases something; - the battery is rather weak indeed, we are waiting for the third version with a dongle / increased battery.

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Comments (1)

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Anastazja Skorek ᠌

November 30, 2022

Pros below: - Quiet - Many backlight modes - Agnostic about the device and the type of connection Its cons: - After turning off the power, the backlight mode sometimes flies