Marathon battery life makes Keychron’s Ultra 8K keyboards its best yet

Keychron’s expansive keyboard catalog covers the whole lot from primary full-size mechanical boards to area of interest layouts like southpaw Alice or a one-handed half-keyboard for gaming. Its Q and V sequence are amongst our go-to suggestions for off-the-shelf keyboards, and the newest iterations — the Q and V Ultra fashions — are a simple improve to the lineup, with advantages for normal customers and deep-in-the-weeds keyboard nerds alike.

I’ve been testing two Ultra keyboards: the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K and Keychron Q1 Ultra 8K. The $119.99 V5 Ultra is a near-full-size 1800-layout board with a quantity pad in a plastic case, whereas the $229.99 Q1 Ultra is a 75-percent format (my most well-liked dimension) with a a lot heavier milled-aluminum chassis and way more strong construct and typing really feel. Aside from case materials and format, they’re very comparable keyboards which can be each glorious.

The Ultra 8K strains are the highest-end variations of the V5 and Q1 keyboards up to now, preceded by the Max variations (which added 1,000Hz 2.4GHz wi-fi) and Pro fashions (which first went wi-fi with simply Bluetooth). The 2.4GHz wi-fi connections have been upgraded from 1,000Hz polling to eight,000Hz (therefore the 8K suffix) for sustaining quick response occasions — particularly when gaming. Most individuals gained’t discover the distinction, however that’s not the explanation to get the Ultra anyway.

Unlike the older Q and V sequence boards, the Ultras run on ZMK, an open-source firmware usually utilized by superior keyboard fanatics (absolute sickos) for constructing their very own customized boards. ZMK is highly effective, however updating keymaps generally is a ache, and ZMK’s remapping software program is much less polished than the choices like Via or Vial which can be out there for QMK-based boards. (Keychron’s older keyboards run on QMK.) Fortunately, the Ultra boards use Keychron’s browser-based Launcher software program to remap keys, dial in custom-made lighting patterns, or set macros, similar to different Keychron fashions.

ZMK’s most blatant profit for most individuals is its battery effectivity. It’s the explanation Keychron claims you’ll be able to stand up to 660 hours of use on an Ultra 8K board — about 4 occasions longer than its claims for the Max fashions. If you utilize your keyboard for about eight hours a day with the backlight off, that’s 83 days earlier than you’re bothered to plug in — or longer, in case you’re utilizing Bluetooth. It’s not the one to 2 years of battery some membrane keyboards provide, however this type of battery life in a mechanical keyboard was unparalleled not way back. Even among the best wi-fi mechanical keyboards from current years normally require charging each different week or so (relying in your utilization).

This marathon-level battery life goes a protracted technique to making the V5 Ultra and Q1 Ultra my favourite Keychrons to date. And now that I’m spoiled by it, I hope different producers comply with swimsuit with ZMK boards of their very own. The V sequence and Q sequence had been already superb keyboards out there in tons of layouts, so not having to cost them as continuously is a pleasant plus. The 8,000Hz polling, however, is a “Sure, why not” type of profit. Maybe esports champs utilizing the quickest screens can inform the distinction between 1,000Hz and eight,000Hz. Maybe.

As for the typing expertise of the brand new Ultras, they’re every subtly improved over their predecessors. Both the V5 Ultra 8K and Q1 Ultra 8K have upgraded screw-in stabilizers for much less wobble on bigger keys (enter, house bar, backspace, and so forth.) and a greater really feel on their return motion. The Ultras additionally use new Silk POM (polyoxymethylene) switches supplied in crimson (linear), brown (tactile), and banana (extra tactile). Full POM change housings are sometimes utilized in switches to scale back scratchiness in key presses.

In the V5 Ultra with Silk POM brown switches, the brand new switches have a barely deeper yet clackier typing sound in comparison with the V1 Max I examined final yr. The last-gen Max’s Gateron Jupiter brown switches and their nylon housings sound extra subdued. I feel the brand new Ultras sound higher whilst you’re hammering away — so long as you don’t thoughts a barely louder board. The Ultra’s new switches and stabilizers additionally really feel smoother. The solely draw back is that the tactile bump of the brown switches is now barely there. They really feel nearer to linears. If you need a tactile change with precise tactility on this board, go banana (or swap in your favourite switches).

I’ve been testing these tactile banana switches on the Q1 Ultra 8K, and it sounds deeper than the final gen with Gateron bananas with out dropping tactility. And the Q1 Ultra is definitely a contact quieter than the Q1 Max. It’s nonetheless removed from silent, however it sounds and feels smoother. The revised stabilizers make a noticeable distinction on the house bar and enter keys, which really feel extra tightly tuned and quieter on their return. Underneath the case is a backplate with an etched sci-fi / celestial design. It’s handsome-looking, even in case you’ll hardly ever see it, however it doesn’t add any further weight to the Q1 Ultra such as you usually see on backside weights from different boards — it’s a hefty 3.8 kilos / 1.72kg, precisely the identical because the Q1 Max, and heavier than a 14-inch MacBook Pro. (The V1 Ultra 8K is 1.7 kilos / 770g, for reference.)

The Ultra technology is a transparent improve from earlier Keychron fashions. The Maxes are sticking round, as a result of Keychron appears to hardly ever discontinue or absolutely exchange something, however for simply $10 to $20 extra it’s price spending further on the Ultras for the unimaginable battery life alone. The improved stabilizers are a pleasant bonus.

Keychron will possible trickle out the ZMK-based Ultra options to extra of its strains and broaden its Q and V Ultra choices to incorporate extra layouts, because it at all times does. And it’s solely a matter of time earlier than different keyboard producers catch on to utilizing ZMK, hopefully giving extra mechanicals the same large battery enhance. I really like competitors as a lot as I really like nice keyboards, with which we’re actually flush as of late.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge