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Art et designTranscription
00:00All right, so three years ago, I made a video on this channel, on this product, the Massdrop
00:08Control Keyboard.
00:09And I titled the video, I found the perfect keyboard, because at the time, this thing
00:13was super special.
00:14It had a USB-C connection, it had hot swappable switches, it had cool RGB lighting, it was
00:19a metal build and wasn't super expensive.
00:21This was very special at the time, it was very suiting to that title.
00:24But three years later, it's completely not the case.
00:28This is remarkably overpriced for what you're getting, and it's like an underwhelming product
00:33considering the market.
00:34Because over the past few years, the whole mechanical and custom keyboard market has
00:38just blown up.
00:39We've seen so many players come into the game, so many companies making good stuff at better
00:44pricing.
00:45And this here is the Keychron Q1.
00:48And this is the epitome of what happens to a hobby when you have a big enough audience
00:54and enough competitors coming into the space to try to make and outdo each other with
00:59better products, cheaper products.
01:01And this keyboard, at $150 for the bare bones kit, is what I would consider to be the best
01:05value you can get in the custom keyboard market right now.
01:08So if you've ever been interested in the whole custom keyboard world, like you want to personalize
01:12or modify your keyboard or tweak it to make it sound a certain way, look a certain way,
01:16this is what I would consider to be a really good starting point.
01:18And the question is like, why would you want one?
01:21For me, and I think for a lot of people that get into this, the biggest difference is sound.
01:37So I'm going to talk about this keyboard in its stock form first.
01:39I'm going to show you some things I like about it, some things I don't like about it, and
01:42then I'm going to show you a mod that I've done to it that I think just makes it a better
01:45overall experience for the average person.
01:48So for the $150 price tag, you get a bare bones kit, or if you're inclined, you can
01:54pay an extra $20 and you'll get switches and the keycaps as well.
01:57Now the Keychron Q1 is a 75% gasket mounted keyboard, it's got hot swappable switches,
02:03it has a USB-C connection, it also has a switch to swap between Mac and Windows.
02:07The paper specs of the Q1 is great.
02:10Now the lighting is not the main focus.
02:13If you look on the outside, there's no exterior light bars or underglow or anything like that.
02:17It's only a subtle RGB lighting system, and you can tweak it on the software, you can
02:20use either Viya or QMK to control it.
02:23Now if we take a look at the insides, there are a few things I want to draw your attention
02:26to.
02:27The first is the backplate.
02:28So this is an aluminum backplate.
02:29I do believe that they'll be offering other materials down the line, but on the starting
02:33launch it's going to be just aluminum.
02:36And then we're looking at a piece of Poron, so this is the PCB foam that they're using.
02:40And then we're looking at the PCB itself.
02:42Now the first thing here is the stabilizers.
02:45I much prefer the stabilizers on this than what was seen on the GMMK Pro.
02:51So this is a very popular keyboard, I was sent to review it, and I never did the video
02:55on it, but the stabilizers on these were weirdly sticky.
02:59And even if you did mods, like removing the lube, it was just weird that a company like
03:05Glorious would deliver a product that had stabilizers like that.
03:09I like the keyboard, but the stabilizers on here, way better.
03:13They're Gateron, they're properly lubed, they're good.
03:15And then the PCB itself uses a 5-pin modular type, so you can swap out whatever switches
03:20you like in there.
03:21It's a very widely compatible type of pin, as well as a south-facing LED, so you can
03:28use most switches and just have a proper shine through in this type of keyboard configuration.
03:33Now, in the top right corner, there is an interesting thing going on.
03:40So, if you look at the keyboard itself, like the constructed keyboard, you'll notice a
03:45badge there, like it's got my logo that they put on it, but this is a customizable area.
03:51So you can put a badge in it, if you so choose, you can add another key there, or you can
03:57add a rotary knob.
03:59So this is something they showed on their website in the earlier stages of their launch,
04:03this idea of a dial that you could attach to the keyboard.
04:07It does not exist yet, it's something that they plan on adding supposedly, but it's not
04:11as easy of a swap as you might think.
04:13It doesn't just hot-swap in, you have to replace the PCB because the current board
04:18can only support the badge or a key.
04:21It can't do that rotary knob, it needs a separate piece of PCB to do it, or just a
04:26completely different board, so I don't like that.
04:30I feel like that image was a little bit misleading in the beginning.
04:33I love the idea of the dial, because on the GMMK Pro, this is awesome.
04:36The ability to control your volume, or if you're in Premiere, you can program it to
04:39do whatever you want.
04:40It's awesome, but it doesn't work, or it doesn't exist right now on the Q1.
04:46So the switches you can get on the pre-builds right now are Gateron Phantom switches, and
04:50they're essentially lubed versions, factory lubed versions of the Gateron switches.
04:54You can get them in brown, red, and blue.
04:56I have all three, in terms of just the variations of the switches.
05:00I have a strong preference for the brown switches.
05:03I will show you one thing though.
05:04So, if you'll notice right here, this is the Phantom brown switch.
05:11It's got this brown tint to the whole switch, so if you have any kind of lighting, it has
05:16to shoot through that brown tint before you can see it, and it just colors the lighting
05:22in this weird way.
05:23And you'll notice it on the red, and the blue, and obviously the brown versions, and I really
05:27don't like that.
05:28I feel like your RGB lighting is going to look off.
05:31And also, the keycaps.
05:34These are not good.
05:35They're supposedly double shot PBT still, but there's something about them that just
05:39feel really sloppy.
05:40They're slightly askew, and there's a little bit of bloom on all the characters.
05:44I don't love them.
05:45Now, if I was making a suggestion for you guys, if you're interested in this keyboard,
05:49if you can swing it, I'd skip the $20 addition for that kit.
05:53I would just go for the bare bones and use your own switches and your own keycaps.
05:57The switches are good.
05:59I like the way they type, the reds, and the browns, and the blues.
06:01They type like a lubed version of whatever you'd expect, right?
06:04Factory lubed, but it's not for me.
06:08It's not for me.
06:09Okay.
06:10There's one other thing I want to show you.
06:11Underneath the PCB is, let me get this off, a piece of Poron.
06:16Okay.
06:17Now, before we do the sound test, I want to mention one thing.
06:19I do not like the sound of the Q1 at stock.
06:23It has this resonant ping to it that I don't particularly like, but it is very easy to
06:27fixe.
06:53So I tried several of the popular mods people do to improve the acoustics of the custom
06:57keyboards.
06:58Like I tried PE foam on the top of the PCB.
06:59I tried taping on the bottom, and none of them produced sounds that I really liked.
07:04And then I stumbled upon this.
07:05I used a thicker piece of PE.
07:08This came from a laptop package, actually, and it's probably, what, three, maybe even
07:13four mils?
07:14And I placed it on the bottom, like on top of the case foam, and then the PCB goes on
07:18top.
07:19This is super untraditional.
07:20I would never have even thought of doing this, but the only reason I tried is because there's
07:23so much space on the bottom, I'm like, maybe this will work.
07:27And I think it sounds really nice.
07:40That's a nice sounding keyboard to me.
07:41I particularly like the space bars, this nice, deep thonk.
07:48I like it.
07:49And I think it sounds better than the GMMK Pro.
07:50So I've spent a lot of time modding this thing, tweaking it.
07:54I could never get this thing to sound the way I wanted it to, so, and the stabilizers
07:58are a little bit weird.
07:59I just, I never loved this device for my personal preference, but yeah.
08:05This sounds nice.
08:06It doesn't sound as nice as Tejas Bauer, the thing that Nathan made me from Teja Types.
08:11This thing is, uh, that's on a whole nother level.
08:14That's a lot more expensive.
08:15But there you have it.
08:16Keychron Q1.
08:17It includes a coiled cable in the box with an aviator connection that's seemingly included
08:22with the Q1.
08:23But if you picked up like a GMMK Pro, it's a separate additional purchase.
08:27So there you have it.
08:28Keychron Q1.
08:29It's got a lot of stuff going for it.
08:31And at that price point, I feel like you can't go wrong.
08:34And I think that if you're interested in picking up a keyboard, like a new keyboard, you're
08:37looking at something high end from another brand, like, I don't know, like a Razer or
08:41Corsair product or like a Logitech product, you're going to spend 150, 180 bucks anyways.
08:46Take a look at the customs.
08:49It's a cool world out here.
08:50Okay.
08:51Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
08:52Give it a thumbs up if you loved it.
08:53See you guys next time.