Keychron K1 Version 3

[amgff84]

Curious to know if anyone has version 3 of the Keychron K1 keyboard. I own Version 1, and it's okay. I love it as much as I hate it. Just wondering what people are saying about the 3rd version. Version 1 has a good feel to type and the click is solid, but mostly there for sound and has no real mechanical function... I don't think. Just lightly resting a finger on the key will input to whatever you're typing. My only real complaint, there are also weird things that happen from time to time, like lights randomly blinking off when connected via cable, so I just use BT. The battery was another issue, but resolved on it's own. When I first got it, it wouldn't hold a charge for long, but now can go days without charging as long as the keyboard backlight is kept on low and auto sleep is turned on.

I'm hoping they release a BT mouse soon to compliment their keyboards.

Keychron Website. Picture below, taken from there website.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[amgff84]

I have K1 Version 3. I haven't owned any Keychron products before this one so I cannot provide a comparative analysis. There is a pre-click travel distance so resting my fingers on the keys doesn't register as input.

Mine is connected to my Mac mini via USB cable; I do not use Bluetooth for this keyboard. The backlight appears to be very reliable, no weird disconnections nor flashing. Naturally battery life is irrelevant.

My only wish is that the backlight had more levels of brightness including very low levels (like the backlight for my MacBook Air 2019). The first brightness level on the K1 is already pretty darned bright.

An LED for the Caps Lock key would have been nice even it were on the keyboard itself and not on the actual key.

I am toying with the idea of buying another one to use with a lightly used Wintel PC in the house; it would remain a backup for the one I have.

Overall I am quite satisfied with the keyboard. I'm not a gamer nor am I using it for extensive typing sessions.

Awesome to hear. Love the keyboard but strongly dislike my concerns. It seems in version 3 my issues have gone away, so I will probably pick up a new one soon.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[amgff84]

It turns out that Keychron has already addressed my annoyance about the lack of a Cap Locks indicator with the K1 keyboard (V3).

The current firmware (version 2.72) has a mode where the Cap Locks key can be decoupled from the rest of the keyboard's backlight scheme. On my K1, that means that key is dark (caps unlocked) when the rest of the keys are illuminated. It only lights up when the Caps Lock feature is enabled.

One can find the newer firmware on the Keychron website. Amusingly, the firmware flashing utility only runs on Windows systems.

Thanks for that buddy! That's why I keep a 2006 Dell Lattitude with Windows 10 kicking around upstairs. I'll be sure to flash that tonight! Maybe it will fix a few others issues I have too.

 

[amgff84]

It turns out that Keychron has already addressed my annoyance about the lack of a Cap Locks indicator with the K1 keyboard (V3).

The current firmware (version 2.72) has a mode where the Cap Locks key can be decoupled from the rest of the keyboard's backlight scheme. On my K1, that means that key is dark (caps unlocked) when the rest of the keys are illuminated. It only lights up when the Caps Lock feature is enabled.

One can find the newer firmware on the Keychron website. Amusingly, the firmware flashing utility only runs on Windows systems.

Thanks for that information. It seems, for the most part, that my major issue was addressed with the firmware update. They keys are not as light to the touch anymore. They must have added a very very slight delay to the switch because now simply resting my fingers on the keys do not input anything, but rather, a push of the key does the trick. I will say that it still inputs data prior to the click, but now I am picking on it. This is great! Thanks bud. Also, the caps lock fix is so much nicer. My only issue is that I thing the RGB switch doesn't work with the FN they way they are describing it... This is good though, thanks again.

 

[DerKommissar]

Related question- does anyone know if the RGB version of this keyboard has a white backlight mode? I'm interested in the 104 key version (too many spreadsheets), but I really don't need the colors. They're ok as a novelty, but I'm sure I'd like to revert to white backlighting for actual long term use.

 

[amgff84]

Related question- does anyone know if the RGB version of this keyboard has a white backlight mode? I'm interested in the 104 key version (too many spreadsheets), but I really don't need the colors. They're ok as a novelty, but I'm sure I'd like to revert to white backlighting for actual long term use.

I'm not sure, but I am guessing it would as most RGB controllers do. Could you imagine flipping through all those colors though just to get white? I recommend the white... Highly. It's more traditional MacBook Pro than RGB. However, I bet their website has manuals you could download to verify this if you are that interested in RGB.

A link to the manual.

 

[DerKommissar]

I'm not sure, but I am guessing it would as most RGB controllers do. Could you imagine flipping through all those colors though just to get white? I recommend the white... Highly. It's more traditional MacBook Pro than RGB. However, I bet their website has manuals you could download to verify this if you are that interested in RGB.

A link to the manual.

Thanks- I don't see anything in there specifically about the light modes. Unfortunately, the 104 only comes in RGB. I can't give up the 10 key. I'm a professor, and I do too much entering of grades to live without it.

 

[amgff84]

Thanks- I don't see anything in there specifically about the light modes. Unfortunately, the 104 only comes in RGB. I can't give up the 10 key. I'm a professor, and I do too much entering of grades to live without it.

I am willing to bet that white is there too, but I can't find any reviews saying so.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[amgff84]

I love this keyboard, but I am looking into seeing if these switches are soldered in. I don't think they are. If they aren't I would like to remove the click. It's not even a necessary part of the switch, just added to make it feel like a mechanical... that's on the blue gateron switches. I think the others are either soft or true mechanical. You can tell by the price when selecting which switch you want.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[DerKommissar]

I have the 87-key version with the white backlight.

I looked at a couple of YouTube reviews before purchasing and at least one reviewer showed that there are indeed solid color schemes on a RGB backlight model.

The instruction manual actually covers this in the Backlit Setting paragraph. You just press the "light" key to toggle through the 18 various lighting effects, one of which is solid, like a MacBook keyboard backlight. The other 17 are the seizure-inducing disco patterns. I bet some of them will impress your nerdy friends though.

To change the light color, you short press fn and 'left arrow' or fn and 'right arrow.'

Of course, it would be best to contact Keychron's technical support desk directly to verify this.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. I wish they made white led version with the keypad. They seem to make almost every possible combo in the K4, so I wonder why not here.

 

[amgff84]

Well, I think because the K1 was their first. Actually, during early production of the K1 they had to change their name from Keytron to Keychron due to legal reasons. I just like this one too much to get a different model and there isn't a whole not of keyboards on the market capable of being a direct replacement for Mac, as you already know... but, I am curious to know if I could slap in different switches and keycaps... ya know, just because. lol!

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[amgff84]

Well, I've decided that I like the K1 enough to buy another one for the Wintel PC in the house; I just placed my order.

In playing with the various lighting patterns, I actually found another that I like. The backlights remain solid, but if you touch a key, that key's backlight briefly fades. Nothing obnoxious, just a minor visual cue that you pressed a certain key similar to the way that iOS pops out the pressed key to confirm input.

I'm a touch typist so I'm typically not looking at the keyboard, but it is sometimes helpful if I'm inputting numbers or using the function keys.

That's what I have mine set to pretty much all of the time.

I broke my board, I need to either get new keycaps or just get the version 3, so I ran to the local PC shop and picked up a Red Dragon mech board for $40. I hate the keys, but the switches are decent so I ordered replacement PBT side printed keys and some dampers along with lube. I might use the extra keycaps and use the K1 on my set up upstairs. When removing the keycaps use caution. A number of mine broke while popping the caps off for a proper cleaning, with one key having both key cap stems breaking off inside the switch. Of course I can just use super glue, but I don't like having stuff kinda rigged together and it's too old to warranty.

Doesn't change my opinion on the quality of this board though, this is a great board. I suppose next time I will have to find a better way to clean it.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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