Luankan Peripherals Chapter 71: Young people’s first 75% keyboard—Keychron V1 mechanical keyboard experience

After gradually improving and enriching the product layout of the Q series, the Internet celebrity keyboard brand Keychron has launched a new V series product line while the iron is hot, and recently brought the first product of the V series - Keychron V1. Different from the metal style of the Q series, and also different from the wireless connection of the K series, the V series, as a brand new series, focuses on affordable prices for the people, which can be seen in the price of the V1.

The V1 adopts the packaging style of the sky and the earth cover. In addition to the keyboard, it also provides accessories such as a key puller, shaft puller, data cable, additional keycaps, removal tools, and spare screws. Why is there a disassembly tool and spare screws given away? This is related to the product characteristics of V1, let’s make a secret first, and reveal it later.

The appearance of Keychron V1 directly reproduces the design language of the same door Q1: 75% column size, 82-key partition layout, four-sided equal-width border, metal knobs, ball cap matching, and even the position of the USB interface and the Win/Mac system switch The location is also the same. But the biggest difference from the Q1 is that the V1 uses a plastic body and cancels the Gasket structure, so that its cost has been further reduced, and the price is more friendly to the people. In a sense, Keychron V1 can be regarded as the youth version of Q1.

The overall layout of the V1 with the knob in my hand still has some trade-offs - the key gap around the entire F area is smaller than that of a conventional full-size or TKL keyboard, and the right side of the arrow keys is not greedy to set 4 functions. keys. This makes the key layout of this keyboard sparse and orderly, not too crowded visually, and has a more coordinated and well-proportioned look and feel; at the same time, it also ensures the independence of the direction keypad and reduces the probability of accidental touches.

The back of the keyboard is relatively ordinary, and there is nothing particularly eye-catching about Yimapingchuan’s graphic design. Black strip anti-skid pads are arranged on the four corners of the back to improve the anti-skid ability of the keyboard, and the two-stage foot support is used to adjust the input angle of the keyboard. From the exposed 8 golden screws on the back, it can be judged that the V1 adopts the classic structure design of the heaven and earth cover. It is quite simple and easy to operate when disassembling the upper and lower covers. .

Although the Keychron V1 is based on the subtraction of the Q1, it has not done any castration in the matching of keycaps. It still uses the ancestral set of OSA PBT two-color injection molding ball caps, following the classic black, gray and red color scheme. The height of this set of OSA PBT two-color injection molded ball caps is close to the common OEM height, and the rounded rectangle around the outline has been optimized to make it more round and lovely, with strong brand recognition.

The shaft mounted on the V1 is no longer the previous Jiadalong G PRO series shaft, but the independent shaft developed by Keychron: K-pro shaft, double side wall structure + factory lubrication, which has better stability and smoothness. For slippery feeling, there are currently three options of K-pro red switches, K-pro brown switches and K-pro green switches. The keyboard itself supports hot-swapping, and adopts a formal design with a lower light position, which is quite rare in mass-produced RGB keyboards.

The disassembly of the keyboard is quite simple: use the tool in the accessories to unscrew the 8 hexagonal screws on the bottom surface, and then the upper and lower covers can be separated; the PCB positioning plate is fixed on the bottom cover by screws, and can be separated with tools, and the keyboard is disassembled. . The hot-swappable shaft seat of the keyboard comes from Jiadalong. There is a layer of noise-reducing cotton between the PCB and the positioning board, and a complete silicone pad is also laid on the bottom cover to solve the noise and vibration problems when the shaft touches the bottom. , to improve the feel performance of the keyboard. Of course, if you have other ideas, you can also DIY yourself.

At the software level, V1 continues Keychron’s feature of supporting QMK and VIA open source, and uses the open source programming VIA software to program and remap the keys on the keyboard. To be honest, the operation of setting the key positions through VIA software is somewhat difficult to get started, and it is not as straightforward as the special driver software. If you are interested, you can follow the instructions on the official website to operate. Of course, for players who love tossing, there are higher playability.

In terms of user experience, the double-sided wall structure of the K-pro red shaft has relatively good stability, and the shaft core is less likely to shake during the pressing process. The ex-factory self-lubricating support brings a smooth and smooth pressing experience to the shaft body, and the overall stroke is evenly stressed without excessive rustling. As far as the experience is concerned, the K-pro red switch can be regarded as an independent switch body with comprehensive quality. The large key position of the V1 keyboard is designed with a satellite shaft. The screw fixing method is different from the common structural design. With sufficient grease adjustment, the large key position touches the bottom without any sticky feeling, and there is no unnecessary noise and wire sound. .

As the first product of the V series, the Keychron V1 retains the Q1's array size and appearance design, and further reduces the cost by replacing the plastic body, but its user experience is not much different from that of the Q series, and still has a higher Excellent playability and stable input experience. Keychron V1's affordable price and stable experience are enough to make it the first 75% keyboard for young people.