Keychron K2 Hot-Swappable

For work-from-home sanity and in anticipation of an upcoming holiday road trip, and after stumbling upon the newly released Keychron K2 wireless hot-swappable keyboard, I took the plunge. I’m tapping this post on the keyboard, hooked up to my Hackintosh via USB. (It wasn’t being seen via Bluetooth, but, this machine is about 9 years old and I don’t even know what version of Bluetooth the cheap dongle^‡ I stuck on it is using... I’ll play with Bluetooth more at home, with the 2013 MacBook Air and/or 2015 MacBook Pro it’ll be used with mostly.

So far, so good. I opted for the white backlight, blue switches model, which is $79 ($99 shipped). Shipping was from China, via DHL, and happened quickly; I placed the order late in the night of Thursday, October 29th, and it was delivered this afternoon, November 4th (Wednesday).

In the box are:

• The keyboard (duh)
• Windows style key caps (it comes with “option” and “command” key caps, for Mac / iOS users)
• A keycap puller
• A keyswitch puller
• The USB-C cable (USB A male on the other end)
• A user manual

Here, you can see it compared to my Unicomp SpaceSaver M (v3_21). The keyboard comes (as I ordered it) with Gateron Blue switches.

I got this board specifically because it’s hot-swappable and I want to experiment with other switches. I’m trying to get as close to that buckling spring behemoth as I can, and have high hopes for the “Thick Click” switches like the Kailh Box Jade, Navy, or Pale Blue switches. I’ve ordered a tester kit before I commit to a $50 or so order of whatever switch I choose. (The Blues are clicky, about the same as the volume on the buckling spring, but higher pitched. The “activation force” (I think I have the right terminology), however, is a bit lighter than the buckling spring, and lighter than I prefer.)

One neat feature of this board is you can easily switch it from cabled operation to Bluetooth, and the layout from Apple to PC/Android.

I love having the Mac layout in hardware, so I don’t have to remember to go into the control panel in every machine it’ll be used with to toggle the modifier keys - and I’m not even sure if that’s possible at all in padOS / iOS?. Also, this keyboard can be switched between three (3) different Bluetooth hosts, by hitting fn-1, 2, or 3. Slick. (Other than that, though, you’ll probably want to keep the manual handy somewhere, as there are several non-intuitive key combinations necessary to, e.g., toggle between the function keys and the media control keys in the top row, etc.)

As with the newer Keychron revisions to their other keyboards, the backlight under the Caps Lock key turns red when ACTIVE. The backlight modes are simple: Solid on, off, and annoying. :) 

The media keys worked out of the box with my ’hack running High Sierra.

 

The white keys are crisp, the darker keys’ markings are fuzzy. Detracts from the visual presentation of the keyboard a bit, but it’s really only apparent if you’re looking for that. At a glance, and in use, I don’t notice. But, I’m used to the quality control (or lack thereof) on Unicomp boards, where the printing on the key caps is inconsistent at best, and so too are the key heights (?!), so, the bar is set pretty low.

 

It’s an easy board to type on. I did this “review,” and some light coding, on it, over half a day, and after a few hours with it I felt right at home.

Not really sure what else to write here, so far. I’m going to use it to get some hacking done, ttfn...

 

Update: It connected effortlessly to a 2012 MacBook Air (High Sierra):

 

One thing I’ve noticed, comparing it more closely with the buckling spring Unicomp, is, the keys seem to “float” a bit, they have more play (more of a “wobble” from side to side) than the SpaceSaver’s keys. That, plus the lighter weight action of the Blue keys, contribute to a keyboard that feels a bit sloppier to me. Will be interesting to see how my impression changes (if at all) with different switches swapped in.

Update again: I swapped in Kailh Box Navy keyswitches. Very stiff. Very clicky and tactile. The keycaps are so much more stable with these, vs. when mounted on the open sides stems of the Gateron Blues. I may be in love. This may be my new favorite keyboard. Looking forward to traveling with it. Feels (and, though a bit louder, sounds) almost exactly like the old Alps Apple Extended Keyboard II units I fell in love with in college. In any case, extremely accurate; I don’t miskey like I do on Blue switches, like the original equipment in this keyboard, or the used eBay das Keyboard I picked up for the iMac. I’m a believer.

^‡ It appears to be a Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd. (vendor ID 0x0a12) CSR8510 A10? Bluetooth 4.0?