Keychron K2 Pro Review - Budget QMK

[@ccpyops]

I actually just received mine today (my second one) and I have no complaints. It is THOCKY! Perfect right out of the box, no mods needed. Maybe the issue with yours is switch selection. I also purchased mine from Amazon. All white colorway, white backlight, aluminum hot-swap with the K Pro Banana switch and I am throughly impressed! I could not be happier. I also love jelly blacks. I do what I can to stay away from the standard 3 switches. And no matter what, even if it says factory lubed, Always, always hand lube anyway.

[@semiprotech]

Glad you're liking it! I bet you're right about the switches - something seems to be different with the K-Pro Bananas. I got those in my Q1 Pro and they were great! Within the last couple years I've started to see several examples where factory lubing is getting better and more consistent, and out of the box switch performance is generally better. My recent Gateron switches that are factory lubed have been great. I've done two keyboards with Baby Raccoons and they were terrific immediately. Just put together the Epomaker EK75 with Jade Blossom switches and they're fantastic, zero ping and nice and smooth. It just seems like it's increasingly possible for manufacturers to make switches that don't require any tinkering for a solid feel and sound, so I find it annoying when I come across a switch that feels like it was made to the standards of a few years ago when a lot more were so/so without some work. It's also possible I got a batch of Jelly Blacks that were off because that still happens sometimes too.

[@happypancakes]

kind of late to this but which switches from Amazon did you buy?

[@perfectperfecto]

I personally like the type-c connection on the side because it means I can keep my K2 Pro right up against my laptop for my longer term portable setups with a mouse. But that's just my quirk lol

[@celestialsamurai2042]

I just ordered the K2 Pro Aluminum frame variant to replace my Corsair K65 rgb mini. I have expectations it's going to be considerably better feeling.

[@ChristopherLoverich]

I bought this after using nuphy v1 and trying a few others and a few months later still love it. I’m surprised to hear it feels cheap to you, it felt much more premium than the nuphy (low profile) to me, specifically feels really solid and has a nice weight to it. But great review especially the mods!

[@timothytaylor8082]

Did you get the aluminum or plastic variant?

[@ChristopherLoverich]

@@timothytaylor8082 The base feels like aluminum to me, I thought they were all that way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@wkgates]

Great to hear your analysis and lessons learned! Taught me lots.

[@semiprotech]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ccpyops]

If you are considering this keeb, it is well worth the money and the perfect size. I just suggest staying away from the same 3 standard switches. I got the K Pro banana switch and got the aluminum case and oh my! What a difference!

[@rafael8423]

The quality of your videos are really good! Keep going with this great work!

[@semiprotech]

Thank you so much!

[@TiedAlpaca00624]

little constructive critisism here, maybe can you make an independent segment of the video dedicated to the typing sound that you can see when scrolling through the video? i love your videos

[@rockets4kids]

I just picked up one of these, my first modern mechanical. Far from my first mechanical, though, I spent most of the 80s and 90s using mechanical keyboards before I switched over to the laptop. I got the white, aluminum frame, banana version and I have to say, I really do like it. The aluminum rails do a nice job of covering up the crappy plastic (pretty sure the keyboard was never meant to be used without the rails) and I'm not hearing any pinging coming from them. Perhaps this is something they fixed in the Pro version? I don't have anything in the way of reference to other modern high-end keyboards, but I think anyone without any mech experience is going to be blown away by one of these.

[@semiprotech]

Hi! On Keychron's site, check out the "versions" for the K2 Pro. There is one option that says "aluminum frame" and the others do not. Only the "aluminum frame" version comes with the aluminum rails. www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k2-pro-qmk-via-wireless-mechanical-keyboard

[@rockets4kids]

@@semiprotech My understanding is that the keyboards are the same except for the aluminum rails. That is to say, if you get the one with the aluminum rails, and then remove the aluminum rails, you'll have the same thing as you get if you order the model without the aluminum rails. Am I mistaken here?

[@semiprotech]

@@rockets4kids Correct! If you do get one with the aluminum rails, it definitely makes the exterior more smooth and finished looking but the plastic underneath is the same. I agree that I would not take the rails off if I got one with them. But for anyone who doesn't get that version, the plastic has a kind of "unfinished" feel to me.

[@rockets4kids]

@@semiprotech Yeah, I got that. What I am saying is, I bet the person who came up with this design 5+ years ago now never intended it to be used without the aluminum rails. Furthermore, I bet someone in marketing came up with the idea to sell it without those rails after the fact. I understand that this design is very much long in the tooth any more. To be honest, I probably would have gone with the V1 Max if it were available through Amazon. The K2 Pro was my second choice, but it was available through Amazon, so that's what I went with.

[@rockets4kids]

@@semiprotech Yeah, what I am saying here is don't get the unfinished version! Older versions may have had problems with the rails pinging, so it may have made some sense to skip the rails on those, but the current version, or at least my particular one, doesn't seem to have this problem.

[@Bonehh]

Mr. Semi Pro, appreciate this one! You steered my choice to something else, speaking of will we be seeing a future vid/analysis on the Luminkey 75/80? Also, do you have any recommendations on any higher end compact 75% keyboards, like halo75/keychronk2, barebones or prebuilt? I can’t seem to find any…

[@ccpyops]

If you are considering this keeb, it is well worth the money and the perfect size. I just suggest staying away from the same 3 standard switches. I got the K Pro banana switch and got the aluminum case and oh my! What a difference! I own all 3 of the Nuphy Air Series as well as all 3 of the Halo Series and you really can not go wrong with any of them (especially the Halo if you are not into low-pro)

[@Bonehh]

@@ccpyops understood, I’ve got some k pro browns and yellows they work just fine for me and yeah I’ve got the halo75 which is really decent in terms of the feel and sound but just looking for a more premium/custom option.

[@grumpysquid]

What is your recommendation for a Mac only, typing only, 65 or 70% keyboard under $250?

[@wintersoldier3971]

I feel that the non see through key cups are gonna be a problem during no light conditions. Is it like that?

[@GarfieldZr]

Thank you for the review.

[@abel26]

Great video, will you do a review on the new V1 max?

[@semiprotech]

I just ordered one! Looks like it might be a better choice than the K2 Pro possibly, we'll see!

[@sunilgaba2083]

Hi, May I know the make of desk mat used, the black one, If I am right its the self healing mat. Thank you

[@jorgeo1492]

I personally think youre nitpicking a bit. But still great information. I understand you know a lot about keyboards. But to a mortal like me it feels great. Ill try to get nicer switches eventually and see if i can feel the difference

[@demon6937]

Is there an alternative to this keyboard with Bluetooth and wired but has QMK with Mac support?

[@semiprotech]

The newer Keychron V1 Max is a great option in the same price range!

[@demon6937]

@@semiprotech thank you so much sir, cheers

[@armantun5625]

Can you give us tutorial on how to download qmk firmware for keyboard i bought mine last week and I am still trying figure it out great video btw.

[@Bivs_setup]

Not on the horizon. Mine are all full size or 96 keyboards. Maybe an update on full sizes. Not covered by many

[@jackdanyal4329]

but NuPhy doesn't have screw-in stabs, so not very future-proof for the price.

[@zerteruz]

Can i change the keycaps on my Keychron K2 Pro to allow the backlighting to shine through as the k2 ?

[@semiprotech]

Yes! Regular MX keycaps are compatible and you can use pretty much any profile that you like on the K2 Pro.

[@zerteruz]

Do you know any specific ones ? I don’t find anyones 😢

[@Beqarnas]

What you can tell about comparing this one and M1W ?

[@semiprotech]

Hi! The M1W has a nicer quality build for sure, but the K2 Pro has two advantages that may or may not matter to you: one advantage the K2 Pro has is how easy it is to switch layouts between Mac and Windows, it's just a switch on the side. If you need to do that regularly, the M1W makes it pretty difficult because the switch is underneath a keycap. The other advantage for the K2 Pro is QMK/VIA rather than Monsgeek's software for remapping and doing macros. I didn't have a big problem with the Monsgeek software, but it's not the same level of control as QMK/VIA. If neither of those matter to you, the M1W may be a good option.

[@Megatog615]

kinda wish they sold a white barebone model.

[@mraljewari9381]

You know some people buy this for MacBook compatibility only not giving a F about anything else

[@deksakitoma4723]

i bought my k2 pro 75 bucks oh boy its good than rk 100 tooo much great, no need to upgrade this , with its gatheron red . this is better tried it with bluetooth its so responsive rather than rk100 2.4hz dongle so if the review bad for you guys then go for better one . but for me its already fast. i have rk61 pro allu i will definitely like this k2pro than that tho thats kinda thocky but this k2pro is so fast .

[@oraz.]

it seems a little high up

[@kerlrock]

Just bought today i bought it around 70 dollars😂 sale plus vouchers 0h yeahhh