Keychron - V6 Max

Keyboard: Keychron V6 - Open source with QMK/VIA support for configuration (web based or download an app) Mouse - Old Cougar Minos Gaming mouse

I just switched from razer to keychron for a few reasons that cascaded out after my blackwidow v3 died over night. For starters, it's incredibly frustrating that the contact support option on their website opens a chat window that's just a bot filling out a warranty request form that I could have filled out faster on my own. After that it took 2 days to get an email response to the form and from the questions asked by the actual support rep, they didn't read the ticket at all making the whole exercise a grand waste of my time when I'm already frustrated with an unusable PC because their hardware just up and quit. After a few days of chasing emails with the rep, it finally came out that I was two months past the 2 year warranty window so they are not offering a replacement product but also that they no longer provide repair services for PC peripherals. There's no reason that it should have taken 4 days for a service rep in another hemisphere to tell me I was outside of warranty when the date of purchase and proof of receipt were the second and third questions asked by the chatbot less than a minute after starting the chat. I bought a Keychron V6 on sale from Amazon for $70 with a set of switches to try a setup with a heavier throw and a louder click, which I'm actually really enjoying, for another $30. With tax it was about $115 all told, a firm $15 under the MSRP for a baseline blackwidow v4 pre tax. Their RGB control, driver updates, and button programming is all handled through a webpage app rather than another proprietary bloat ware app that slows my computer and harvests my data for resale and it works on mac and linux for whichever route I choose to go when windows 10 ends support in October. tl;dr Razer has shitty customer service, requires a bloatware app, and is more expensive when compared to an entry level offering from a mid market brand like Keychron which also offers hot swap customization and user serviceability and repair It's not for everyone, but for me it's the far better option on every front

I would avoid the Keychron C2 and Redragon boards. Redragon have a couple of recent boards that are pretty nice but that's one of their horrible old legacy ones, and the Keychron C series are their cheapest and dodgiest kit. The Pro boards are wireless with Bluetooth. The Max boards are wireless with Bluetooth and a 2.4 GHz USB transceiver. The K boards are tray mount, and stiff. The V boards are gasket mount which makes for a nice typing experience. You can get the V6 though Amazon for about $80.

If you want low profile, get an odd-numbered K Max line board. Make sure it's hot swap. Otherwise, get V or Q (although I would avoid Q cuz it's heavy, as you said, and you plan to travel with it). I would avoid the Razer because it's membrane and loud. Since you're traveling with this board, I doubt the people around you would like to hear the board, too.

You can get a V Max on Amazon and return it if you don't like it.

I really wouldn't recommend either of those boards. Keychron V/Q6 Max, Monsgeek M5, QK101. All available in ISO except the M5, if you needed that.

Keychron V/Q6 Max, Monsgeek M5, QK100 (wired-only PCB). You would have to get separate switches for all of these options.

Keychron V/Q6 Max, QK100/101

Keychron Q/V6 Max, QK100/101, Monsgeek M2 V5 VIA. For the QK100, only the wired-only hotswap PCB has RGB.

Keychron V6 Max, *innit brav*.

Just get a keychron v6

IMHO a screen is another component that may spoil, so I'd recommend against getting one with a screen If you need a numpad, Keychron V6 Max is one of the best value for money. No over-the-top stuff like metal body, but comes with a good amount of bells and whistles like a volume knob, 4 extra keys you can use for macros, a browser-based software called VIA that lets you program macros and expand the functionality of your keyboard (not all keyboards have support for such software, especially at lower budgets), hotswappable switches (although most keyboards from decent enthusiast brands will have these, even at lower prices), gasket mounts, etc etc If you don't need a numpad, there's whole lot of keyboards out there that can fit across a wide variety of budgets. I ruled all these out in my research so no specific recommendations though IMHO get a keyboard not for what switches it comes with (because you can change these easily), but for the value and features you get for your money. Keychron isn't the cheapest, but they're probably one of the biggest brands out there that don't break the bank while having a lot of options - you're bound to find one that suits you

V6 wired / V6 Max if you want wireless (also comes with the problem of built-in battery that will eventually degrade / fail). K10 Pro is a good basic board, but... it's basic. No gasket - it is much harsher with less dampening than the V6 / Q6. I use mine as a backup / testbed board for new switches and keycaps. Also, no knob.

Keychron Q6 HE (linear Gateron HE only) or normal Q6 / Max if you want better switch compatibility. The normal (non-HE) Keychrons also have ISO layout and localized keycaps for most EU languages believe.

Keychron V6 Max (gasket mounted and has ISO layout and localized variants) + Outemu Silent Ice Snow switches (from Ali, about €25 for 110) if you find the default (non-silent) reds too loud. Q6 if you want metal case.

Keychron V6 Max or Q6 with Outemu Silent Ice Snow (linear) or Silent Tom (tactile) switches. K10 (I have a Pro) is decent but very basic, no gasket and no knob, a simple tray mounted board. I have Outemu Silent Peach V2s in that. Edit: the quietest silent switches I tried are Outemu Ice Snow and TTC Frozen V2. Both are 40-45g linears, I replaced the springs with 60g ones. Haimu Heartbeat is incredibly loud (for a silent), so is Kailh Whale TTC Bluish and anything that uses those weird plastic bits on the stem instead of silicone pad inserts.

I had a bunch of Redragons, K580 was pretty decent (95% work, 5% game), but I leveled up since. Now I would not want a "gaming" keyboard and all the things I research are well over that budget. I think Redragon has a few gasket mounted keyboards with 5 pin hot swap now in that price range. I, personally, for $100-ish budget would get... well, I don't know, I only ever use 100% ISO layout boards, and that limits me to a few models from Keychron, Ducky and perhaps 1-2 more manufacturers. Keychron V6 Max - plastic, gasket, foams, VIA, 3-mode wireless, hotswap. RGB - forget that with custom and most advanced-like boards. If the board has VIA, you will not have per-key backlight setting (because VIA does not have support for it), and if it has south facing LEDs (the majority of modern keyboards) you won't be able to use north print shinethrough keycaps (the switch is in the way), unless you replace all switches to fully transparent ones. But you'll probably have better options once the pros arrive and start recommending things I never heard about :)

Keychrons with the Gateron Jupiter Banana are awesome. You can theoretically get the Bananas separately from Gateron, whenever it's on stock.

Custom boards and keycaps (and even switches) don't like RGB, so I have no idea. I'd get a Keychron V6 Max for the gasket mount, internal foams, VIA, hotswap and generally good quality (maybe used if the new is too costly).

dude got q6 max a few months back and complained it wobbles too much, picked the board apart and added extra silicone pads to un-gasket the gasket mount movement, and no one in the entire production team took the effort to research what a gasket mount does. jay is a nice dude but he's like a very enthusiastic and totally clueless 12yo in so many cases i'm pretty sure he has no idea that the keychrons q6 he massacred is hot swap and he could pop some outemu silents in there for $25

Tray mount basic board. Get a V6 Max instead with gasket mount and knob.

V6 Max, rather. But only from Amazon or local shop, never order it directly from Keychron.

My condolences. BTW, K10 Max vs V6 Max: the latter has knob and gasket mount. Otherwise they are pretty much the same, I think.

I prefer it, makes bottom-out softer. Like a car's suspension.

As long as it works, it'll be much better (gasket mount, foams, VIA). Unfortunately recent Keychrons don't work, their quality has taken a nosedive.

Quality of Keychrons dropped since 2024 or so. Just go over r/Keychron and see how brand new Q6 Max boards are broken out of the box. If you get one, make sure to get it from a local shop or Amazon. Ordering from Keychron means ordering from China and shitty support / no refund if it comes broken.

Few months back my sturdy, reliable SteelSeries Apex M400 started playing up after years of excellent service. Random key misses, trails of letters after just one key press, etc. Gave it a fairly good clean but no joy so relished the opportunity to get a Keychron V6 Max. Absolutely loved the Keychron until a red wine spill the other day. Disassembled it, cleaned/wiped everywhere, dried out the gaskets, etc, but no joy. In the meantime I'd bothered to deep clean the M400 - properly this time - and put fresh Matcha green keycaps on it. Working again with no probs. So, I'm back to using the M400 which I've always loved for its heft but debating whether or not to buy a Keychron Q6 Max and just, y'know, sort out my drinking problem.

That's what I was gonna suggest. Big bump, and it's very high up, so there's essentially no pre-travel. I put them in my C2 and liked them, so I ordered a V6 Max with them already installed

My one complaint is that it's an RGB board, but didn't come with shine-through caps, even on keys like Caps Lock, Num Lock, etc. so you don't have an easily visible indicator

The stock ones sound and feel fantastic, but I did the same thing. Southside illumination, not full 360, so I got side-printed caps and I'm still happy enough with them

I have the V6 Max, which is a 105% version of the same thing, plastic case, USB/2.4G/BT, etc. even down to the same switches. My one complaint is that it does get a little finicky if I leave it going for a while in USB mode, most notably the volume knob will get "stuck" so it just spams the input until I unplug and replug. Otherwise it's a great board, the battery life is more than sufficient, and I'd gladly recommend it.

I know mine had 3 options, but I went with the Jupiter Bananas because I have them in a C2 at home and I like them a lot. I know there was an option for Keychron reds, and I think there was an option for browns. Being a chopped down version of the same board, I have to imagine you'd get the same choices.