Keychron V10 - My first mechanical keyboard
Intro
I have been wanting a mechanical keyboard for a while. Starting about 5 years ago, I did some research on a “quiet” keyboard, mostly because I was trying to be a considerate person as a coworker. I was at a company where we had about 12 people in an old upper manager office…and then we added another 12 people, even though it was already very cramped. Doing some research someone suggested a mechanical keyboard. I had no idea what a mechanical keyboard was, and I started to research what it was.
In short, a mechanical keyboard has a mechanical switch under the keycaps that sends the keystroke electronically when pressed. The alternative is what we have been using for decades. These keyboards would have a silicon or rubbery membrane that would complete a circuit directly on a circuit board which then sends the keystroke signal. The difference is the piece under the keycaps. Typical keyboards essentially go from the keycap to the circuit board almost directly. Mechanical keyboards have a mechanical switch in between that gets “plugged in” or soldered to the circuit board. These mechanical switches come in 1000’s of varieties, each are different with different feel and sounds and more. There are modifications you can do to mechanical keyboards as well.
For those brave enough, this is an expensive hobby, as you can get sucked in easily and prices can go from reasonable to down payments for a mortgage.
However, I still highly recommend everyone to get one. More importantly I recommend everyone to get an ergonomic keyboard.
After being a longtime lurker, I finally took the plunge and bought a mechanical keyboard. Its about 4 years past the point of being in that office setting, and 5 years past wanting to be polite to everyone there. If I bought a mechanical keyboard back then and brought it in to work, at first I would have the quietest switches imaginable, but shortly after all that I would change it to these switches that sound like shotguns being reloaded.
Originally, I had a list of “requirements” for a keyboard that I want to share in another post. More recently, I wanted to think more about my health and ergonomics. I ended up buying a newly released Keychron V10.
About the Keyboard
The Keychron V10 is an ergonomic design with mechanical switches. The switches are also “hot swappable” which is something that I really wanted. This means that I can physically pull them out and replace them with another switch, possibly a different style.
The Keychron V10 is a 70% layout, and though originally I wanted a full size or 110+ keyboard as where were certain keys I can’t live without and I use the numpad constantly, this seemed to be a good compromise. Often you can’t find too many full size mechanical keyboards, many come in 65% or less, most being 65%. Its not impossible to find them bigger, just hard. I have also not been able to find a full size ergonomic keyboard and ergonomics was bigger than the full size keyboard for me. In the end I did end up getting a wireless ten key / numpad, but that is another topic.
The V10 has an ALICE layout, and by some its not a true fully “ergonomic” keyboard, though many of those people will argue about how far you can go. It really comes down to comfort for the user. I found that the ALICE layout was a good beginner step to ergonomic keyboards.
Some other layouts are ortholinear and columlinear. These are meant to be better for your finger movement, but also do require a little bit of relearning how to type, which I already needed to do slightly with the ALICE and the new thumb key.
I also want to mention about the thumb keys as well. I have only really heard this mention in the split designs, but you never realize how little action your one thumb gets until you have a split setup. Whether that split setup is something like the ALICE layout or something more. I was aware of this years ago, but with traditional keyboards there is nothing you can do. For this layout there is two space bars one for each thumb, which is great. Additionally there is a function key, which opens up a new “layer” for your keyboard and that is at your thumb. Many split designs will have 2, 3, or even upwards of 8 thumb keys. Right now I am good with just 1 on this ALICE layout, but having a second third would be great.
The V10 was just released a couple days before I ordered it, but Keychron has a similar one called the Q10. The Q10 is essentially the same board, except it has a CNC machined aluminum case. I did originally want that for the weight factor, so it does not slide on my desk. However, after feeling the V10 and using it, this is not going anywhere. I opted for the V10 over the Q10 simply because of the price point and this was my first board. Seeing that the Q10 is almost double the V10 I could not initially justify it. In retrospect, I am sure it is more than well worth it, but I am very satisfied with the surprising weight of the V10.
Something that wasn’t a factor for me was the RGB lighting. Having a board with or without it is does not change anything for me. I really enjoy it, and it has about 15 different “modes” which is nice. I have been enjoying going through them and seeing what works best for me. My kids actually really like the different modes, and I will show them the responsive ones where you touch a key and an effect happens. There is also an option for different colors, which is nice. The RGB LEDs on this keyboard are also what is called “south facing”, meaning that the lights illuminate towards the typist instead of away from the typist or in all directions. You can still see some of the color in all directions, but the light is directed in that way. They are not that bright to annoy me while typing, especially in a dark room or have some eye glare. So not having a distracting light is very nice for me. When looking for a board, if it was a cost, I was looking only for boards that did not have it or were just white light. The RGB board does not have plain white that I have seen yet, but I am sure I can adjust the color to get that.
Some notes about RGB lighting…
If you get a board without any LEDs, you can’t upgrade later. That is something that maybe one day they will think of. I have not seen any switches with a built in LED, but that might be cool to include with the customization. Another thing to think of is that if you do get an LED board, when you go to replace the switches, make sure you get ones that can have the LED shine through. Most standard switches are not meant for LEDs, and you have to find ones that have a clear housing made for LEDs.
Customization and keyboard programming is something big with Keychron. They help with the open source project QMK, which allows you to map every key on your keyboard. There is a great interface to help you program every key if you want and setup “macros”. I am not a huge macro fan, but I see their benefit and can see how some people use them. Just having the ability to program and change the keys, especially the function keys and the second layer is huge. I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did, but this really was a bit of a game changer for me. I have found myself wasting hours trying to get things “just right”, and I might have an addition problem.
The Keychron V10 does have feet to angle upward and downward. The board alone already has a 5 degree angle, and this will let you adjust up to 15 degrees. I use to really like the more upward angle, but I am trying to get more ergonomic, and so far all these angles are very comfortable. I believe all the Keychron boards are wired, which is fine for me. If you prefer not to have cord clutter than you either have to make an exception or find an alternative. There is also a switch on the board to go from “mac” to “windows” setup and layout. I use both, but I do have some software on both machines to make the same key layout, so I am not sure I need that, however I do understand the desire for that. In the package came the tools to take the board apart. I love this, though I have a chest of tools that fit specifically already, having something from the manufacturer that is designed is great to keep on hand. It beats a butter knife to take off keycaps.
I chose the Keychron Browns for the board I picked up. I wanted a tactile feel, while also being a bit more quiet. The feeling of the browns is amazing. Stating which is better is a huge preference and grounds to start a nuclear war. There is so many options to choose from, but each of them do have their purpose. I originally wanted the Gateron Silent Box Browns, again for that quiet aspect, but the build at the time did not come with it. In the near future I will be buying some though. There is a dozen major companies that make each “color” and they are all slightly different. Each “color” having its own characteristics, and there are over a dozen different “colors”. If you are not certain what might be best for you, then just get a generic set like I did and go from there. Make sure your board is “hot swappable” so you can easily change those switches in the future.
You can also buy a “switch tester” which has anywhere from 9 to 25 keys (or sometimes more) that you can test at a time. The switch tester is not meant to be plugged in, but just a case to put switches in and give them a feel. They are not that expensive, and you can find some that come with a bunch of switches already. The problem I found with switch testers is that they don’t mimic the feel of a keyboard enough, layout and having all they keys with the same switch. You could do that on a switch tester, but then you are looking at the cost of getting a keyboard anyway and buying a few sets of switches. Just my opinion.
When I get a chance, I think I will also do a review on my preferences for different switches and how I like them and how they compare. There is already millions out there, so why not add to the mess.
Service and Shipping
First, before I get too much more into the keyboard, let me talk about some of the service. Keychron shipped the package from China to me, a US based resident on the East Coast. It came in only about 4 days. It was expected to originally take 10+ days, and I was fine with that. I am not sure if this is normal (the shipping time) or not. I did not ask for it to be rushed either, just their standard shipping. I do remember seeing that the company has a US office, and thought it would be shipped from there. Seeing it come from China was a small surprise.
I received some updates from the company itself about the shipping progress, and being so excited about it I also signed up for updated from the currier, which happened to be DHL. I was very impressed with their service. As a typical mail service like FedEx, UPS, or USPS, they had an online portal and you could signup for emails and texts to get notifications. What was different was that when it was “out for delivery” I could see where the truck was and how many more stops it needed to make before getting to my house. That was really cool. I did stalk it a bit, but only because I had a kid home sick with me that day and we were in the middle of a movie marathon and that seemed more productive than whatever cartoon movie we were watching.
When I did get the package, it was loosely wrapped, and the box was damaged. It was crunched on both sides, and it was pierced in the upper right corner. My heart sank, I was upset, and I had no idea what to do. I did email the company right away, and they did not get back to me immediately, it took about 36 hours to return the email. Any correspondance was between 24 and 36 hours, however what they lacked for in timeliness they made up for in curtesy. They were more than prepared to ship me another keyboard for free and had one ready to go, as I had not unboxed or tested things just to make sure. When I did unbox it, the crunched sides barely were anything because of how robust the actual keyboard box was. The pierced part did make it through part of the box and some other internal packaging, but the keyboard was unscathed. The company was also nice enough to let me know that IF I experience anything in the next year, they will replace it 100% no questions asked. The place where it was punctured also happens to be near the space between the insert key, delete key, page up key, and the backspace key. Not really an area that is used too much for me (yes I make mistakes), so I wasn’t too worried about that.
Usage
The keyboard itself was a very weighty thing. In a good way. Originally, I was worried about slowly pushing the keyboard out of place, and so I wanted the Q10 which is the same thing but with a heavier aluminum case. I was also thinking of some mods to make it stay. But right now, it is not needed at all. It has a very satisfying weight to it, especially for the price. I feel like the concern about the damage to the package is a non issue with how heft it is, in a good way.
Using this keyboard now, all I can say is “wow”. I didn’t think I would like mechanical switches this much, but the feeling of them is unlike anything else. I highly recommend them. Personally I wanted the “browns”, which are a “quieter” type of switch that also has a tactile bump and feel for them, making them great for the office. I did also modify my keyboard by putting o-rings on the caps to help quiet them, as well as some other dampeners. It really didn’t need any of that, but it does make a huge difference.
After thoughts
Some other observations are that I wish I sprung for a split keyboard. After buying this, Keychron V10, I love it, but I also bought an Anker Ergonomic mouse and I find myself knocking it over when I reach for it. I feel that if I had a split keyboard, I would place the mouse between the splits and that would mitigate this issue.
Additionally, I can feel the difference in the ergonomic design already and I feel that a split design would be even more natural and ergonomic. Add to that, that most split keyboards allow “tenting” and “tilts” as a customization that allow it to be more ergonomic and natural feeling. That is what I would love even more.
Conclusion
Get an ergonomic keyboard. Bottom line, get one.
Bottom line, get a mechanical keyboard.
The Keychron V10 is a great entry level, and a decent price at just over $100 depending on how you get it.
Its even better than just a “barebones” entry level. The “entry level” for something like this is at par or above the “higher end” of standard keyboards, so don’t take that lightly when I say “entry level”. There is so much more beyond this.
Nothing is wrong with keeping something like this for life, which I think I will (or maybe get a full split board in a few years). However, I also feel the itch to get more, and I see the rabbit hole people fall. The ergonomics are great and I have no complaints about the board itself. The service is very nice, though a bit delayed. The accident on the shipping and the delay are the only things I would consider fixing.
Well worth the money and well worth the buy.
