It is what it is. | Keychron Q1 Custom Keyboard Review

Keychron Q1 is a budget 75% hotswappable gasket mounted keyboard available for $150-170. I am hilariously late to reviewing this keyboard. This review was originally 20 minutes long, but jeez that's a long review video. People aren't going to sit through that, so I cut out all the modding parts, the cut parts can be found here: • Keychron Q1 Modding | ...
All the sound tests: • Keychron Q1 Sound tests
It's pretty good for what it is. I didn't like the silver at first, but it has grown onto me after a bit (though I definitely would need to change the keycaps...). Too bad though, I'm never really going to use it. Because it's not white.
Buy the Q1 keyboard here: www.keychron.com/products/key...
Timestamps:
00:00 Info and functionality
01:31 Things relating to the looks of the board
02:49 How's the stock sound?
02:57 Stock sound test
03:14 The keyboard stock is...
04:01 Gateron Phantom switches
04:43 Modding info and switch choices
06:30 Modded sound test
06:44 How's the keyboard modded then?
09:21 PE foam sound test
10:03 (back to) How's the keyboard modded then?
10:18 Conclusion and stuff
I spent way more time than I should've on this review
My Things:
Patreon | / tokaku_
Instagram | / c.tokaku
skype | / discord
Business Email | [e-mail]
Ending Song | Omoi - Teo (remix by rN www.yuugenp.xyz/)
Thanks for watching!

[@ameladaptivedaydreamer949]

She had to do SO MUCH *TYPIIIIIIIIIIIIIING* Appreciate the time and effort she put into this video people

[@tokaku]

yeah! thank you ;w; this video is massively underperforming, so this comment really makes me feel a lot better it was a lot of tests to realise 'oh, keychron Q1 is one of those boards that makes switches sound the same'. I wish I said that more clearly in my review though. At the same time, I'm extremely late to this review, so most people won't pay it much mind. Thank you for watching!

[@JotkotGTX560ti]

@@tokaku I really appreciate these fun and in depth videos, thanks for putting so much time and effort into making them!! Can't wait to see what you come up with next! Much love

[@nicoleong2036]

By far one of the best and most comprehensive Q1 keyboard sound test broken down across different switches on different mods. Thank you for the hard work putting this together!

[@ElasticoOFCL]

I actually got the keyboard nearly a month ago for both general use and playing rhythm games like Etterna and Osu!Mania. I use my Akko Waves keycaps and Durock POM T1 sunflower switches lubed with Krytox 205G0 and filmed with KBDFan's PC film (Sometimes stock Kailh box whites cuz... Clicky gang). I did heavy mod my Q1. Replacing the included case foam with 2 layers of PE foam (one is 1mm thick and the other is 0.5mm). Added tape mod (2 layers of Masking tape and one layer of electrical tape at the bottom). Put some KBDFan's Switch and stabs foam pad as well. And I put some rubber tape between the top and bottom housing and the sound test really blew my mind because it's my first ever custom mechanical keyboard. It's a huge difference from my old reddragon keyboard. As for my experience on rhythm games with this kb, I hate that it's 125hz out from the box cuz VIA but I'm glad that it's also QMK compatible because I can flash the KB for a better polling rate no problem (I also need to turn off the backlit because if I leave them on, the polling rate is still 125hz even after flashing which isn't much of an issue since I don't really plan to have my kb's backlit turned on). There's still some noticeable chord splitting when playing Etterna but it doesn't really affect my scores and skills much since I'm not a top accuracy player or speed player (My MSD in Etterna is around 22-23 except for jack being around 30). Overall, really solid custom mechanical keyboard for beginners! Also pretty usable for rhythm games as well as long as you flashed the kb with QMK and I can finally test out all of my switches in my collection. Atm, my fav switch for rhythm games has to be the Gateron Milky Brown's housing and spring with panda stems. Pretty light and the tactile feel is pretty good along with the sound is pretty clacky which I need because I always listen to the keytaps when playing any VSRG instead of hitsounds of the game! ^^

[@ruiruiosu]

I had the Keychron Q1 for a month now, flashed it and still had the backlighting on for osu... I always thought after flashing it its already 1000hz

[@user-bx9sg1qr9x]

@@ruiruiosu you have to make sure you set a couple of things in the firmware itself to make sure it is 1000hz, it's in this tutorial kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHmYfK16mKyYftU, but after that, it's the hz rate yep!

[@ElasticoOFCL]

@@ruiruiosu Yea I really thought so too until I realized that I saw the lines at the distribution chart after playing a map in Etterna and ik that's 125hz. It took me a little while until I realized that the polling rate has been bottle necked by the back light for some reason.

[@xuanbachpham9752]

After flashing and turn on the backlit with VIA, it will still be 1000Hz. Edit: This is the first time I have encountered a problem like this, so I will ask my friend HorrorTroll from VNMK about this problem, he is good at QMK stuffs!

[@xuanbachpham9752]

Update from HorrorTroll: He tested it on different devices, and he said (in Vietnamese): "This problem is really weird. I tested it on 4 different devices with RGB on, and all of them was 1000Hz: 1/ Akko 3061 WTT R2 (T/N: He changed the firmware from the stock one to the QMK/VIA one) with RGB on: 1000Hz. 2/ Pila87 (T/N: A budget QMK kit by Xiaomiao), RGB on: 1000Hz 3/ MW65 with backlit and underglow RGB on: 1000Hz. 4: TM680, RGB on: 1000Hz. All of them are tested in osu!std" My opinion is this problem is so freaking weird, and I don't have a Q1 to test. I think you should contact Keychron and ask them about it.

[@Xeronyx0]

0:06 tokaku : Oh man i don't have any sfx anymore! also tokaku : *Look at her osu! skin * that one osu skin : My pain is... immeasurable

[@frostysplicer3200]

Although I’m not into all the stuff with custom keyboards/modding and usually come to your channel for challenges/game videos, I found this really educational and useful :) thank you! It’s a shame that this isn’t being promoted on the explore page so much as I think others would really benefit from videos like this.

[@user-bx9sg1qr9x]

awww thank you, you're being really sweet. I get why this is not very popular, since this keyboard has been covered to death and most people watch me for fun rhythm game content. Thanks!

[@TelesphoreArt]

Incredibly useful video! Thank you for the incredibly useful sound test to illustrate the mods!

[@jeryinpain]

this didnt go into my recommended for some reason Very high effort video very cool

[@sgist7824]

Wow, I absolutely loved this. So helpful to see ink blacks, banana split and Boba in the same video to compare.

[@SurePeaPea]

Looks nice and the sound is so satisfying

[@tr_walkway1933]

The osu hitsound really got me at the start

[@AJ_UK_LIVE]

You put so much effort into this and it shows. This is 40+ hours of editing and obsessing. It must suck to see that you don't get as many views on these videos as FNF vids for example. But look at it this way - every time you make a video like this your editing and performing to the camera gets better. You make better videos that a huge portion of youtubers. You should be proud!

[@mysiph]

good video I love how you got straight to the point in under 10 seconds unlike other youtubers begging for likes and subs

[@favlam1408]

wow, all the switches tests at the end must take a lot of effort. Also, never heard of banana split switch before, it sounds so nice o_o

[@diminuendo7525]

omg you put in so much effort i feel so bad.. most youtubers would just mod it, change switches and lube them, lube stabs, and then swap keycaps and call it a day

[@mZeRain]

you has found my favourite keyboard

[@aboringuy]

Hey Tokaku, could you also test the rhythm gaming performance of your keyboards? I ask this to help beginners stay away from certain keyboards or look towards others. I myself was in this situation: I used to use an LTC Nimbleback for my rhythm gaming (specifically ADoFAI) but presumably because it is hotswap, I got hundreds of dropped inputs which in ADoFAI is, y'know, horrific. And when I recently switched from the Nimbleback to the SK61 Optical, all my dropped inputs went away. I use those keyboards only as examples but I believe this might be something people would want in the future, if you ever do another keyboard review.

[@bokunorainbow58]

Just for reference I recently got a keychron k2 solder v2. No dropped inputs, or excessively low polling rate, but it does seem to have variable delay. I can normally get sub 100 unstable on stream benchmarks with my other mechanical keyboards (durgod hades68, hyperx origin, vortex cypher). The K2 is usually from 160-250 however.

[@Pyoron]

I can't live without the numpad or the Ç, where's my pretty keyboards with the Ç, I need the Ç. Love the Ç, praise the Ç

[@DaggyBxtch]

basically GMMK PRO without the knob but also better

[@JayDOVA]

There's gonna be a knob soon

[@CephDigital]

People have already soldered and got working the knob :D

[@JayDOVA]

@@CephDigital ayoooo, im still more of a badge guy tho

[@CephDigital]

@@JayDOVA im gonna solder the knob on mine when it comes :)

[@DaggyBxtch]

FUCKKK i see,,,

[@gameboycolorfan3111]

What a fancy keyboard also so glad I'm early 😄😁

[@FuzzyTekShow]

Those Boba's with the PE foam!

[@mingez]

Not sure which I like better. The Bobas or the Banana Splits! So nice. Nice video...thanks!

[@impyrth]

i dont mind the pingy noises, i actually like them! :) overall, this keeb is great and i actually use it daily.

[@mingez]

I would still mod it, but I actually think the stock pingy sounds satisfying in it's own way. don't get me wrong, it's much nicer after modding. Especially after the forced break mod is done to prevent sound travel. I think the gray Q1 is one of the nicest boards around aesthetically. Not sure what it is because there are other similar boards.

[@drebigz3593]

Ngl I like the sweater you were wearing 😂

[@ray_cave]

i ordered the q1 9/5/21 waited until 11/10/21 until i canceled the order great keyboard 👍

[@WhiteCrowo]

3:24 i love that sound

[@onicado4150]

I have not had the ping issues that get mentioned a lot w/ my Q1, possibly bc i use it w/ siltent switches. However the stabilizers on my board are quite rattly, i plan to holee mod them but haven't gotten around to it yet. I cannot figure out how to get a firmware that runs at 1000Hz polling, which is where my lack of motivation to work on the board again comes from, since it running at 125Hz and feeling pretty sluggish overall also compared to other boards at 125Hz makes it basically unusable as a daily driver.

[@user-bx9sg1qr9x]

please watch the cut version of the video in the description for an idea of how I tuned the stabilisers to be perfect. There is NO need to replace them, some tuning and modifications would make them absolutely perfect. They're actually really good stabilisers compared to other pre-builts

[@ultimaq8730]

Gimmie more keyboard content tokaku!

[@AyeNash727]

I have a keychron C1, I love it.

[@ver.0lc]

the c1 was sold out so I bought the c2 :] it’s actually really nice to use though

[@blackout2780]

I need help what's the difference between a 2 pun and a 3 pin switch picture if possible

[@little_klee3893]

Can you try Beat jump it is on mobail when I started the game it was hard at first but when you unlock the 3d song I can't get past the song tho but I finaly did it

[@-CarPBon-]

This is unrelated to this video but Rhythm Doctor has a new chapter to play with

[@jackyli5352]

can you make a qmk 1000hz tutorial please?

[@nicholashadweh5710]

I would recommend against using sorbothane because that’s the main reason why every switch is sounding the same. It’s a little too good at sound dampening causing every switch to lose most if not all sound characteristics. Also the reason you probably weren’t feeling much flex was because the sorbothane was too thick not giving enough clearance for the pcb to flex. A better, cheaper, alternative would be to use poly fill instead. It’s extremely cheap and will achieve similar results to sorbothane but won’t completely deaden the sound. To fix the pinging of the board you could also just add 1mm of tape b/t the top and bottom housing as stated in keyboard’s vid.

[@tokaku]

In the uncut edition of this video, I theorised the sorbothane was doing that as well. So I swapped out the sorbothane for the regular foam and removed the plate foam as well. The switches still sound extremely similar. I could try poly fill, but at this point I don't want to conduct more tests, 3 hotswap sockets are dying on the board already. It seems that this keyboard in general has characteristics that kill switch sounds. As for flex, nah, I'm referring to the flex in general, even stock. With sorbothane it still was flexing well. Most people would be under the impression that gasket keyboards like these flex easily from the flexing videos, except you only ever get that flex from pressing really hard. So regular typing feels extremely similar, still way less stiff than brass for example. There is less reverb on the plate, but ultimately not something extremely noticeable at first

[@notthatbad8844]

swag Okeyboard

[@thedevilmaycare]

i like you tokaku and cool vid btw

[@raihanwan]

This review was good, but the following 3 phrases are funny (to me): 1.KBD75 looks like a waffle iron (1:51) 2.haha thocky meme buzzword (5:39) 3.don’t like and subscribe (11:14)

[@user-qk8rt9yf9v]

Tokaku pro tip, to clean stabilizers use pipe cleaners!

[@momomitev7117]

I need some help i have a mechanical keyboard and when I play osu! Mania or funky Friday some of the hits don't register and i dont know how to fix it. Is it a problem with my keyboard that can be fixed or do I need to just get a new keyboard?

[@gooserk6222]

swag okeyboard

[@kayparody]

When you slammed the enter key on the sound test, I legitimately cringed cause the ping rang my ear drum

[@ElijahChan]

Do you have the link for the 1000hz firmware?

[@tokaku]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHmYfK16mKyYftU a really good tutorial here!

[@letranger7972]

I like the ping

[@phylaxinator7040]

whoa im early to a tokaku video

[@brown8043]

Thanks a lot you I finally find a people can explain what is the flex problem on the q1 for real, thanks a lot

[@tokaku]

w-wait, what flex problem...?

[@brown8043]

@@tokaku Keyboard flex is caused either by not having proper stiffening on the back of the keyboard itself or by the mounting structure that it mounts into not being rigid enough.

[@brown8043]

@@tokaku That’s means the whole pcb will be pushed downwards to the bottom by pressure

[@brown8043]

@@tokaku Btw try tapping the top case with your fingers, you should hear a metal noise. You can try putting some silicone gasket tapes on it.

[@tzhaki2354]

how many layers of foam did you use

[@dajoey2198]

i don't understand any of the explanations but what i understand is blue switch is too noisy ( atleast that's what my mom told me of my current keyboard )

[@amirthecool5585]

Swag okeyboard

[@Xxblade17]

Oh cool

[@JinBuu_]

My friend has that exact keyboard

[@TheRagingBull420]

yo BMO lmao yes i watched the video

[@cooikemint]

tokaku: “my ears are broken” also tokaku: “you can hear the difference between each switch” (9:18)

[@oliverlyman7463]

what are those white keycaps?

[@verlatenn]

i need 100% keyboard cuz my vsrg keybinds are gh and numpad 56

[@user-rf5qu9uc7z]

Me: Just watched KBD75 V3.1, "Hmn that looks kinda cool" tokaku: "KBD75 looks bad" Me: "Yeah it looks bad"

[@slimshady5130]

You should play clone hero with a keyboard

[@randymarsh4748]

is it worth to get durock v2s for it?

[@tokaku]

yeah, but the stock stabs holee modded were perfect. if you have time and want to save money, just re-use the stock stabilisers

[@XxY.0]

buy the merch or else

[@ushiiox]

off topic but bro they added 2D mode to robeats

[@Gurshanong]

Is it just me but when she said they didn't pay her..I felt bad?

[@japjap6275]

free keyboard tho

[@KreatorKat]

yeah i felt bad too-

[@ai00436]

Nah, she can choose if she wants to review or not. But of course, depending on how you see it, it is kinda scummy to just send a product to someone without paying them in the hopes of them reviewing it for free. On the other hand, they (tokaku in this instance) can just hand pick products that interest them to review or not review anything and just keep the freebie.

[@spookvxz]

they sent a $170 keyboard though

[@amacheez3270]

Hextech Mayhem rythm game when?

[@glitched1772]

cool

[@nellox8178]

Yes but the polling rate ?

[@user-bx9sg1qr9x]

it operates via QMK, on default it flashes 125hz, but you can change it to 1000hz

[@nellox8178]

thanks for you'r answre, why nobody tell us ?There are no info about these.

[@user-bx9sg1qr9x]

@@nellox8178 because by now most people know that if a keyboard uses QMK (most custom keyboards do) it means that it's 1000hz

[@qhttw4654]

Epico 💪

[@crwhhx]

Really should have pointed out the shipping is $30 if you live in the US.

[@yuzuke4573]

it's this good for osu?

[@Enzonio]

For real in my country you can buy the keyboard for around 35 EURO'S and its the exact same xD and its then ofc the Navy Blue I have it at home tho

[@Enzonio]

@yaphet stephan natanael nah bro im not its for real

[@Enzonio]

@yaphet stephan natanael I do I have it at home. I'm not capping I bought that like 9 months ago bro

[@Enzonio]

@yaphet stephan natanael Netherlands but I don't remember what site cause it's legit almost a year ago

[@eclassic32]

Wait... Are you saying that i was hating mechanical keyboards just because my uncle didn't mod/mod in wrong way his keyboard? These mods sound a lot nicer than my uncles

[@SuperSohaizai]

There is no "wrong", mostly just preference and it might just be what your uncle likes. If you are interested, feel free to give it a try

[@NoobNoobGamingPlaysDeezNuts]

hi

[@D4rk304]

pog

[@Faath2]

no hewwo everybody?

[@amaljay8158]

I'm attracted to your accent😐

[@Blurry__]

My uncle has this keyboard

[@user-vo1rl9kc9t]

170$ is budget?

[@Xxblade17]

Yo

[@Ltwpe]

keyboard

[@enjoyerregret7039]

Ayyo what with the bot

[@berrydestraw9169]

Can you play Friday night Funkin hypno’s lullaby.pls

[@reerik3928]

i notice how you used ddlc music for the vid. idk it makes me uncomfortable because the game is so dark lol. who else has this feeling?

[@tokaku]

it's animal crossing...

[@reerik3928]

@@tokakuI just realised that it was a song in a mod of ddlc and that I'm stupid. it was probably sampled from animal crossing by the mod creator.

[@Rossbrian1]

Well they did pay you, with the product

[@ZayshonMonikuu]

Idk why I'm saying this in this video but, play vs camellia for Friday Night Funkin'

[@Y_v_Y]

Hello🍰

[@LilacKnows]

eyy am early ig xD noice

[@ryoukaip]

helo nice vids

[@toki__]

hey 43 minutes late

[@arisethee]

my ears ;_;

[@bomber001]

Keyboard without the F key row should be made illegal

[@MiguelRivera-sq7ov]

Nice review!! But you speak toooooo fast hahaha

[@yokoe5729]

a

[@eutnet]

E

[@hapicab-brawlstars7033]

Hewwo everybody owo

[@og_tbo]

Waffle iron LOL

[@aceymacey9092]

Can i have it jk lol

[@HyperSniperPlayz]

I'll give you 35 dollars for that keyboard if you don't want it lol

[@HyperSniperPlayz]

I've never had mechanical keyboard 35 dollars is all of my money

[@tokaku]

I really *hate* comments like these

[@HyperSniperPlayz]

@@tokaku why

[@HyperSniperPlayz]

@@tokaku well I hope ya don't hate me

[@tonjie.]

I am black pfp now eat spaghetti Jk

[@den1sk0v30]

no osu gameplay, not interesting

[@boredodoumo]

a knock-off GMMK Pro with no knob with cheap feeling keycaps Edit: Phantoms switches in my opinion is better than the MXs (except Ergo Clear)

[@frankduyang]

DO NOT BUY, got the K1 keyboard, and the keyboard stopped working via wire mode, keychron is not willing to hornor the warranty...... going back to logitech....

[@carltroung1790]

cool