If you love mechanical keyboards, it might be shocking to hear someone say they finally tried one but weren’t impressed. But many keyboards designed for beginners in this hobby don’t do well with all the possibilities behind a mechanical keyboard. The V1 keyboard, which keyboard company Keychron began selling on its website on Wednesday, seems to be struggling to make a mechanical keyboard shine for less than $100.
Keychron makes a variety of keyboards (19 models from 2017, according to a press release this week) with mechanical switches, including the enhanced Keychron Q2 and the wireless Keychron K14 suitable for Mac. However, the wired Keychron V1 is a little different. The board is available fully assembled or as a basic kit (meaning you’ll need to install your own switches and keycaps), the board is for people who haven’t completely fallen down the rabbit hole of a mechanical keyboard (if that’s you, we’ll check out See our guide to mechanical keyboards).
“Unlike previous Keychron keyboard models, which have slight variations to meet the many unique needs of advanced mechanical keyboard users, the V1 is ideal for entry-level users,” Keychron said in a post.
The V1 lacks some of the luxuries found in other keyboards, such as the double padded mount found in the Q2.
But it hasn’t been cut completely. You still get sound-absorbing foam, a detachable USB-C to USB-C cable, and the ability to include a handy volume knob that can be reprogrammed for other functions, including zooming in and out and entering macros. However, for people who haven’t done keyboard programming, it can be difficult to navigate VIA, a configurator based on open source QMK firmware that can be clunky and far less intuitive than the more polished software from mainstream brands.
The V1 is hot swappable, which is a nice touch considering the price of the board. It makes sense to offer hot swapping in an entry-level keyboard, but many cheaper models like the $80 Logitech G413 SE overlook this. Mechanical keyboard beginners have a plethora of switches, and a hot-swap keyboard is the perfect way to try it out and then tweak it just like your keyboard.
Entry-level keyboards tend to come with budget switches. The Keychron V1 switches (linear red, tactile brown, and clicky blue) are good enough to start with, but you may end up wanting something with a smoother sound or other specs.
The fully assembled V1 has PBT keycaps. Done right, keycaps should attract less sheen than cheaper ABS plastics, while still providing more strength and texture. Since the keycaps are double, you can be sure that the legends will not disappear. Improved keycaps help improve the usability of a mechanical keyboard, so it’s nice to see these upgrades in a sub-$100 keyboard.
Keychron uses a non-traditional form factor called the OSA profile for keycaps. OSA combines the height of the OEM profile with the spherical angular shape of the SA caps. We haven’t tried these keycaps on the V1, but when we used the OSA keycaps on the Keychron K14 keyboard, they were a bit heavy. This may require an adjustment period for people accustomed to typing on, say, a laptop keyboard.
The V1 may not be the ideal mechanical keyboard, especially for more advanced users. But it does seem to have enough thoughtful features to allow newbies with mechanical switches to really understand mechanical keyboard operation and decide if it’s worth the fuss.