Best Stock Mechanical Keyboard Under $200? Keychron Q3 Review

if you want to replace the case foam,, will it break the guarantee?

I’m pretty sure that’s now how Keychron is pronounced

I made the mistake of buying a Keychron K7. What I received was NOT wireless (no dongle included) and, when connected by USB cable, many keys did not work. Keychron ignored all my requests for an RMA and a refund.
Before buying anything from Keychron, think! Do you want to give your money to a company that treats its customers this way?

LK67 sounds thockiest from all with knob best keyboard i had

do u need to do any mods to the stabs or are they good stock

I thought the gaeteron g pro's are factory lubed?

Is there such a thing as keyboard porn?

Agree the shitty gaming esk board is officially dead with the likes of boards like this. Even if you dont want a true custom the likes of these entry boards or fully build are just amazing and wish they had this when i was first buying boards.

send me the link for the shine through keycaps that you have used in this video

Force break mod is essential

I use shine through because I use my computer in the dark. I see no point for backlit (RGB or otherwise) unless it it lights up the legends. The real question is why are there so few shine through keycaps? So many companies make nice RGB boards with opaque caps. Makes no sense at all.

Just bought the white one ! Glad I convinced Keychron to come out with a white version of the Q3 and they listened for once !

Great Vid! This is such an amazing board! I went Navy Barebones. Mine just came in the other day. Stabs are actually tuned right. Finally, no exploded arrow cluster. Can't wait to start modding. Rather than poly in the case, I made some combination foam and tape strips and it blew me away! Also for ping and potential hollowness, force break mod helps alot!

sounds pingy as.

I just got the K8 Pro. It seems like this is the same keyboard but without the nob. Either way, if this Q3 is better than the K8 Pro it must be incredible.

can this keyboard connect onto a ps5?

What's the point of light if you can't see the letters? 🙋‍♂️

"Kaychron" LOL

While you can spend a whole lot more for a keyboard, I wouldn't call this one a budget model.

I work in the dark a lot, I kinda need those shine thru caps lol.

йоу, спасибо:) thanks

First time getting into keyboard and I got the q1 v2. I couldn't be more happier. Modded it and it's been great. The only down to it is that it's quite slow to respond. Anyone knows how to fix the polling rate? TIA

Only friking reason to have light on a Keyboard is the shinetrought keycaps.......

You know, I like to work in the dark. So shine-through keycaps are something I'm interested in. It's a shame that because of one single keycap profile, an inferior LED placement has become the norm. And besides that, with an appropriate switch design (looking at the Kailh BOX v2), the north-facing LED Cherry profile interference issue is now all but resolved.

I bought a built white one because somehow, they don't offer DIY kits in that color.

Who still uses shine through keycaps? I'm typing this on my blackwidow 2013 ultimate thank you very much :|

All i need to see is you playing valorant to be enough to convince me to buy this keyboard

Gamers like shine through keycaps. I mean, RGB gives you better FPS! LOL Before doing my research on custom keyboards, I was a big fan. Now my mind is changing. It is easier to use in the dark, even if you are a touch typist as there are certain keys that aren't always in your 'touch' memory as they are just out of reach. So shine through is helpful in that manner. But, I am really looking forward to getting my Q3 in a month or so. Also, I've heard of using a good thicker quality foam before, but this is the first I have heard of using poly-fil. From the video is sounds like a huge difference. It is hard to believe it made that much difference with just poly-fil. Doesn't seem like that would dampen sound much. Interesting.

I noticed a lot of metallic ping when I got mine, especially on the backspace key. Applied 2x tape mod to the PCB, plus some tape "padding" between the top and bottom metal, and now it sounds amazing!

I love my Keychron K8 Pro 😄

we got 2x q3 full assembled , i like it very much but but , for gamming like cs go it got high latency and feel bad in game like u wearing skates :) probably i will get a logitech g pro for csgo :P

the sad thing is they have like no colors for ISO...

Under $200? Where? Its almost $500 here..

People use the shine trought keycaps because of dark enviroments, when there is low light the ink of the non shine trought keycap is not that visible

Thanks for this review, im gettin it for my bday

As someone who works in the dark, the main factor for me is letter illumination without a lot of light bleed out around the keys. Its hard to fine a good keyboard that meats that level of requirement. The Logitech G PRO X is currently the best option I've seen yet, but I'm trying hard to like these Keychron Q3/V3

$400 after taxes + shipping for here in canada

Do you pronounce house keys, "house kays", or car keys "car kays" too?

Does this offer a 2.4ghz wireless option? I want a wireless keyboard but I also need to be able to use my bios

To me, stock sounds better actually. Poly-fill, although less clacky, removed some pleasant top-end frequencies and made it a bit dull.

You called this a low-end aluminum keyboard. What are the higher-end TKL metal boards?

Q3 Pro about the same price. Gives you wireless, PC backplate, etc. But I hated the keycap shape, the Q3 is by far my favorite stock keyboard, just a bit of tape on the spacebar and ::chefs kiss:: however RGB a bit of a waist on the keycaps it comes with.

Knob placement maybe better on the Q3 Pro SE but the smaller knob feels much more stable on the Q3, the big one on the pro was wobbly and I felt like i'd break it. It's not like I use the knob very often.

As a programmer and musician, where I work a lot in a darker room & I rely on context switching between applications... Shame one me, but I love the iCUE software and its ability to context switch lights per application running in the foreground. Same for gaming.
When using Visual Studio, VSCode, AzData Studio, Excel, powerhsell, FL Studio, Adobe After Effects for example -> I all have different lights setup in iCUE.

Does my K95 & portable K65 sound nicer? No. But they do give me a ton of options to work in the dark, contextually as well and when I want different coloured keycaps (black/white); I can have those and use those to give extra contrast.

I love the keyboards I see on these channels, but I often feel they lack functionality I need. As well as good support for French ISO (as I use AZERTY). A company like Corsair can deliver that, and I can mod to a certain extent. Not a lot, but enough to make me feel comfortable in using it.

I tried looking into others, but I could never find that functionality (or for the same price).
Yes, I would love a detacheable cable, hot swap etc on my corsair and more options for keycaps (I mean, the do have a lot of colour options; but not as rich as others).
On the other hand - the shine through RGB is functional here, not a gimmick for me. It's why I bought it. I can't see any other keyboard out there that does this, although I like the looks and sound of those keyboards a lot better.

"who still uses shine through keycaps" With this statement you're either suggesting there is something better to replace it, or that people are a bunch of sheep that just follow trends. Personally I like shine through key caps for using in low light as I often have to look down to find keys when gaming. Also I'd say a good portion of the market still uses them based on their supply.

what's the point of LED light on a keyboard if the letters aren't illuminated?

Can it be wireless

why would I use non-shine through keycaps? The point of rgb is to light up the letters at night.

Boy the poly fill mod sounds lovely! Thanks, will try this out!

I bought the Keychron Q3 from Amazon and returned it. I didn't want to install Edge, Chrome, or Opera on my MacBook just to program the keys to what my Apple keyboard already does. Basically I saw no upside to the Keychron at all. The keys are very high and even with a wrist rest I couldn't type as fast as my Apple Keyboard. The backlighting is a silly gimmick offering no help to actually see the keys. I just use a small LED light that plugs into the side of my MacBook to light up my Keyboard at night and it also lights up my "Keyboard Shortcuts" mousepad. I'll stick with my old Apple Keyboard that I bought super cheap from the local Radio Shack when they were liquidating their stock. Two AA batteries that last for a very long time, no charging, quick-easy-simple. Sometimes I have to re-discover what I already know, Less is More!