Q1 HE QMK Wireless Custom Keyboard

Keychron Q1 max is built like a tank and is really nice, but any metal chassis custom keyboard will weigh a ton. Depends on budget.

If you go with a Hall Effect board (and it’s a solid choice) just make sure to research what magnetic switches the board you are interested in uses. Keychron/Lemokey, HE boards for example, can only use a specific Gateron dual rail switch along with Glorious switches. For me personally, the stock Gateron dual rails are not very pleasing. A spring swap though brings them to life. I enjoy doing that work but you may not. Wooting and any board that uses the same polarity will have the most switch options available. This includes popular switches like Geon Raw and Gateron Jades. I have owned ad Keychron Q1 HE, Wooting 80, Wooting 60, Keychron K2 HE, Maggard 68 Pro and Nuphy 75 Air. The Wooting is the most premium option. As others have said, the software blows all others out of the water. I was really impressed with the Nuphy. It’s a low profile keyboard so different switches / keycaps than the others but it’s a fun board. The software on all the boards I’ve used lets you set actuation per key, rapid trigger, SOCD, dynamic keystroke and macros (plus more). The Wooting is the most intuitive and best for RGB if you care about that. I could not get dynamic keystroke working on the Nuphy but didn’t try after the first day as I replaced it with a macro for what I wanted. The Nuphy and Keychrons you are limited to 3 profiles. Maggard is 4 and the Wooting is unlimited, but only 4 active profiles (all your other profiles are archived within the online software). There’s a database of other Wooting profiles that you can easily copy/paste a code for yourself to utilize that users profile. Finally, I’m pretty sure Keychron boards have gamepad support and I know Wooting definitely does. This would allow you to set keys as controller functions for things like racing games / GTA driving / etc.

Couple things to note here. When the GMMK 3 Pro HE was released I had a bunch of Best Buy credit so I bought the board and literally returned it within 2 hours. It was that bad for the price and the SW was hot garbage by any standard. I haven’t followed it since so I don’t know if anything changed. 1) The Glorious HE board will only take the Glorious HE switches and the Gateron Dual Rails that Keychron/Lemokey uses in their HE. Wooting and Luminkey use the Gateron Jades + alternatives. Really need to pay attention to what type of switch a certain HE board takes. 2). As others have mentioned, there are much better alternatives. I don’t know what the price is now on the GMMK 3 Pro HE, but if it’s still north of $300 USD, you could return that and buy literally any other HE board which will be cheaper and better. Wooting 80 for example. The Keychron K2 HE is not a bad board at all and has the compact 75% layout which is different. I have the Keychron Q1 HE and I have 2 Lemokey non-HE boards that I really like and would have no problems with a Lemokey HE (which is Keychrons gaming division). Luminkey Magger 68 Pro is another board I have that is fantastic. 3) One of the reasons, IMO that Keychron and Wooting are better than anyone else is the SW. The SW matters for HE. If Wooting is a 10/10 for Software, Keychron would be 9/10 and Luminkey an 8.5/10. Glorious honestly would be a 1/10 for SW. In the past year the HE scene exploded with a ton of options. IMO if you are willing to drop coin on whatever GMMK 3 costs now, just go get a Wooting/Keycrhon/Lemokey and be done with it.

I have the Aula F75 and the Keychron Q1 HE, I personally bought a second Aula F75 after trying it and put away the HE for now. Out of all the keyboards I've used, I dunno I just love the Aula F75, especially for the price point on sale... The Keychron is built like a tank and very premium, but for mostly gaming and chatting on Discord I have to say the Aula F75 is peak.

If you're feeling adventurous... Keychron q12 southpaw has been a game changer. I don't have to take my hand off my mouse EVER. Jumped on the left feels off at first but once you get used to it it's amazing. Keyboards at work are weird now

keychron Q series i have a Q1 and the fame is literally a 2kg chunk of aluminum, its actually ridiculous how heavy and solid it is.

around 3 years, never had any issues with it.

I’ve used the keychron q1 he, not the q3, and also the wooting. I definitely prefer the wooting for typing and gaming

My first keyboard was the Keychron Q1 Max and although a nice keyboard, even with all the mods, I never got it to sound the way I wanted. It's a solid board though. Works right out of the box, has never given me any issues, looks nice and fits your price range. And FYI, they have one on close out for $89 but it's blue. Not sure if he's in to blue but that's amazing price. As far as my favorite, hands down anything by Qwerty or Neo. I have Meletrix boards too, in fact four of them, but QK or Neo, in this price range are my favorite. If your budget expands any, the Mode Sonnet is slick. I have a coworker that has one and I'm very seriously thinking of selling a few boards to purchase one or the Mode Evo. I've kinda gotten to where I prefer 65% keyboards. I don't use F keys that much in the work I do but that could be important to others. Good luck. Be sure to post pictures of what you get.