K1 Max QMK/VIA Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard

I think I'll go the easy way and settle with a keychron K1 max (hotswap) with brown low profile gateron switches fors starters. I really like how it looks. Thx for your input.

Harstem on keyboards: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQfRs2PcUEA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQfRs2PcUEA) \> I have pretty old Keychron K2 I personally use a Keychron k1! With blue switches though. Not great for gaming, but I like them for typing which is still my main use :)

Keychron K2 Max. It has RGB, but you can disable it. RGB tends to be a feature you pay more to remove, not less. It's also available in ISO, if you needed that. I think it's over your budget, though.

Well... Keychron has many 100% and 96% (1800?) boards but their quality is not all that great with the Max models. If you buy Keychron, buy it from Amazon / local seller, not directly from Keychron because their warranty policy is lacking. V5/6 Max might work (gasket mount), or K10 Max (tray mount), perhaps J5. Q5/6 Max is over the budget. I have a V6 Max and no issues but I don't use it much (having multiple Q boards).

I'd say it's an OK choice. Don't buy direct from Keychron though, as their customer support is awful. If you can find it on Amazon, that's the way to go.

I like the Keychron K lineup for a more reasonably priced KB, and their Q lineup for high end. I have a Q10 Max and I adore it. Sitting behind me is the K10 Pro. The K10 Max is on sale for 140 right now. Don't think you'd get much better than that for less.

My first recommendation would be to look at Keychron. People do have their valid criticisms but their mid-tier lineup is pretty exceptional for the price. Recently I picked up a TKL from their R line, which has an 1800 layout, and I tried to be as critical as possible and walked away really happy with it. It has backlight, a tri-mode pcb, decent switches, and keychron put out acceptable keycaps with their prebuilts. The boards are hotswap so if you want to experiment with other switches it is easy to do so. I also have a Q6 Max and both of these boards are pretty well foamed out so you're going to get a muted sound. Not silent but also not loud. Their K10 Max I also feel is excellent value for the features.