Keychron K2 HE [K4 HE, K8 HE, etc.] Keyboard Review

The Keychron K2 HE keyboard has a compact (75%) layout. It lacks a Numpad and several keys from the navigation cluster, but it takes up considerably less space on your desk than a conventional full-size keyboard. It also has a somewhat unusual function row layout, with a non-staggered arrangement and no cluster spacing from the top alphanumeric row compared to a standard 75% layout.

The broader Keychron K HE lineup includes multiple size variants, from the smaller 65% Keychron K6 HE to larger models like the TKL Keychron K8 HE, the compact 96% Keychron K4 HE, and the full-size Keychron K10 HE. For a full comparison, see the Differences Between Variants section.

If you're looking for other gaming keyboards with adjustable actuation, consider the Corsair K70 PRO TKL for a TenKeyLess (80%) option, or the Ducky One X if you prefer a full-size layout.

The Keychron K HE keyboards have great overall build quality. They have an ABS plastic bottom case and an aluminum top frame made of four aluminum plates secured by screws. Altogether, they feel quite sturdy and don't suffer from any deck flexing when fully assembled.

Note that the Special Edition case has wooden side panels. Keychron sells extra wooden side panels with optional laser engraving, but indicates these panels are only compatible with the Special Edition configuration. For more details, see the Differences Between Variants section.

The keycaps are made of PBT plastic with a pleasant textured finish. Both the switches and stabilizers are evenly pre-lubed from the factory, and the stabilizers include what Keychron calls reinforced sidewalls around their stems. While Keychron's advertising claims for these new stabilizer mounts may be a bit exaggerated, they feel quite consistent, and we didn't experience any stabilizer rattle on the unit we tested, which is noteworthy as that's usually an issue we encounter on Keychron models.

Unfortunately, the keys wobble a bit, although we should note that this is fairly typical for Hall effect switches and isn't very noticeable while typing normally.

Lastly, on the bottom of the keyboards, the rubber pads in the corners and the flip-out feet do a reasonably good job of keeping it in place without slipping.

If you're looking for a similar wireless keyboard with Hall effect switches but prefer a more premium aluminum case, gasket mount design, and significantly better stabilizers, check out the Lemokey P1 HE or the IQUNIX EZ60/EZ63.

These keyboards have a standard, high-profile design. There are flip-out feet on the bottom that offer two additional incline settings.

Using them with a supportive wrist rest provides the best ergonomic experience. Unfortunately, a wrist rest isn't included in the box, but Keychron sells them separately on its website.

The Keychron K HE keyboards offer a good degree of hardware customizability and include a set of tools for disassembly.

These keyboards have a hot-swappable PCB. However, Keychron indicates on their product page that this board is only compatible with other Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Switches available from Keychron's website, which is limiting compared to similar keyboards from other manufacturers.

The switches are installed north-facing out of the box. Due to this north-facing orientation, there is always a small possibility of interference with some aftermarket sets of Cherry MX profile keycaps.

We tested the switches in a south-facing orientation, and they functioned as expected overall. However, this orientation significantly reduces RGB visibility and may impact Rapid Trigger release accuracy. Additionally, orienting the switches south-facing may risk damaging the LEDs or PCB.

The Standard Version of this keyboard that we tested has Cherry profile keycaps, which don't have any interference issues, and we expect the likelihood of issues with other Cherry profile sets to be low. There should be no reason to install the switches in a south-facing orientation.

These keyboards have fully addressable RGB backlighting with individually backlit keys. You can customize backlighting brightness and effects directly on the keyboard or using the configuration software.

The backlighting is generally clear, and the legends are easy to read with relatively minor obstructions. Just note that the secondary legends on the function row are noticeably dimmer since they're on the bottom edge of the keycaps, further from the LED emitter. The backlighting also has a slightly blueish tint when set to white only.

Additionally, the domed design of the LED emitter on the switches seems to refract light and project additional colors that can leak from under keycaps and onto surrounding keys. This can result in a slightly inconsistent backlighting effect, especially when set to a white-only setting, visible in this photo.

The Keychron K HE keyboards come with a braided USB-A to USB-C cable that retains considerable kinks from its packaging.

It connects to the keyboard on the left side at a 90° angle. While this doesn't present any issues with normal usage, it can be more prone to accidental damage than a connection leading out the back.

The Keychron K HE keyboards all have a 4000 mAh battery, which Keychron indicates has a working time (backlighting off) of up to 110 hours.

Keychron doesn't explicitly state the connection type used to produce these estimates, but we expect it reflects the maximum battery life using a Bluetooth connection. The included 2.4GHz wireless receiver connection provides superior stability and performance at the cost of battery life.

These keyboards lack dedicated macro keys, and you can't record macros directly on the keyboard using hotkey combinations. However, you can program macros to any key using the configuration software.

These keyboards have two switches on the left side. One toggles between Windows and macOS compatibility modes, and the other toggles between connection types.

All keyboards in the lineup, including the larger Keychron K4 HE and Keychron K10 HE variants, lack media keys. The media controls are non-dedicated hotkeys on the function row. The Keychron K8 HE and Keychron K10 HE models also have LED indicator lights that the other variants lack.

The user manual lists hotkey commands for media controls, backlighting, Bluetooth pairing, and battery level indicators. You can reference an online version of the manual on Keychron's website.

• USB-C to USB-A cable
• USB-A wireless receiver
• USB-C to USB-A Extension adapter for receiver
• Alternate Windows keycaps (1.25u-sized Windows, Alt key and 1u-sized Insert, Alt key)
• Screwdriver
• Hex Key
• Keycap/switch puller
• User documentation

The Keychron K HE keyboards offer excellent typing quality. The switches and stabilizers are pre-lubed from the factory and feel very smooth and consistent.

These keyboards have a tray mount rather than a springier-feeling gasket-mount design found on the more premium Keychron Q HE models. Ultimately, it's a matter of preference, but generally speaking, its comparatively stiffer mounting should provide better accuracy for actuation settings.

Several layers of sound-absorbing material inside the case help to round out the sound profile and slightly dampen the impact of bottoming-out keystrokes.

Unfortunately, the switches wobble a bit in their housing. While this is fairly common for HE switches, it's somewhat noticeable while typing and may be irritating if you have a strong preference for stability.

The keycaps are made of PBT plastic with a pleasant, slightly textured finish. The Standard Version model we tested has Cherry profile keycaps, while the Special Edition configuration has OSA profile keycaps, which are significantly taller and have more rounded, spherical tops.

The Keychron K2 HE that we tested has standard spacing between keys, but the function row has an unusual layout. It has no cluster spacing or offset from the top alphanumeric row, which may take a bit of getting used to.

The Keychron K2 HE and other variants in the wider K HE series are very quiet and unlikely to bother those around you, even in noise-sensitive environments.

We expect all compatible Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic switches will produce similar typing noise. For more information on compatible switches, see the Switches section.

For this test, we measured using the following actuation settings:

• 0.2 mm actuation
• 0.1 mm Rapid Trigger enabled (press and release)

Using the configuration software, you can customize the actuation distance between 0.2 mm and 3.8 mm. The default actuation setting is 2.0 mm with Rapid Trigger disabled.

We conducted supplementary measurements at various actuation points and confirmed actuation is typically within 0.2 mm of the advertised range, indicating that the settings are reasonably accurate and consistent.

The Keychron K HE series keyboards deliver very good input granularity. They demonstrate a high degree of linearity and minimal deadzones for fast initial and follow-up inputs, which is ideal for gaming scenarios like tap-strafing in FPS titles.

These keyboards offer near full-travel control with good precision thanks to their high detection ratio and fairly low minimum step depth.

They also support true analog output, though its implementation is somewhat basic. The output curve appears stepped rather than smooth and doesn't match the physical position of each key as accurately as other flagship gaming keyboards with true analog output. In our testing, some keys produced reliably measurable analog signals, while others didn't. We were able to record expected results using Steam Input, with the keyboard recognized as a game controller. See this Reddit thread for a relevant discussion of other user experiences. If you have this keyboard and would like to share your experiences using analog output, let us know in the comments.

The Keychron K HE keyboards use Gateron Double-rail Magnetic Nebula switches, which are linear, medium-weight Hall effect switches that come pre-lubed from the factory.

At the time of writing, you can only purchase the fully assembled configuration of these keyboards with Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Nebula switches. However, Keychron sells two other compatible switch options on their website. These include Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Dawn switches, which are more lightweight, and Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Aurora switches, which have a slightly heavier feel.

The Keychron K HE keyboards maintain remarkably low single-key latency and deliver an extremely responsive-feeling experience for gaming in all genres at any competitive level.

We conducted this test with the following settings:

• 0.2 mm actuation
• 0.1 mm Rapid Trigger enabled (press and release)

The Keychron K HE keyboards have excellent multi-key latency performance. They're well-suited for games in which you need to press additional keystrokes while already pressing and maintaining multiple keys.

We conducted supplementary Multi-Key Latency using a wireless receiver connection: 

• Receiver Key Press 5 ms
• Receiver Key Release 7.2 ms

We conducted all tests with the following settings:

• 0.2 mm actuation
• 0.1 mm Rapid Trigger enabled (press and release)

These keyboards have a maximum polling rate of 1000Hz. There's no data transmission bottleneck caused by other latency components.

Using a Bluetooth connection limits the maximum polling rate to 125Hz, but this is normal and expected.

These keyboards have 6KRO enabled out of the box, but you can use the FN+N shortcut to enable full NKRO.

These keyboards deliver decent overall chord split performance. Its 8-chord split delay is impressive, but its 4-chord split is only okay. Altogether, they're a viable choice for playing rhythm games, but other wired Hall effect gaming keyboards like the NuPhy Field75 HE or Wooting 80HE perform better.

These keyboards are compatible with open-source QMK firmware and use a web-based configurator that you can access from Keychron's website using any Chromium-based browser. It's fairly intuitive and allows you to change a range of expected settings, including key assignments, custom profiles and macros, and RGB lighting effects.

You can only adjust HE settings when using a wired connection, but you can save the settings to the onboard memory, making them accessible at all times, even when using the keyboard wirelessly. These settings include actuation distance and custom rapid trigger (key reset) distances.

These keyboards support several additional features related to their adjustable switches, which are detailed below. Please note that many of these features are in active development, and their exact behavior may change with future updates.

• Rapid Trigger: This setting can dynamically adjust your switches' actuation and reset points based on distance rather than being fixed at a specific point along the keystroke. This allows for faster follow-up inputs, which can be especially beneficial in scenarios like counter-strafing in FPS games.
• One Key Multiple Commands: Allows you to map up to four different actions to a single key based on actuation distance.
• Snap Click: Actively monitors two keys, prioritizing whichever input you press further downwards.
• Gamepad Analog: This feature lets you take advantage of true analog output so keys can mimic joysticks, like those found on game controllers. You can map keys to specific gamepad inputs, and the switches can register gradual input, which can be useful for games like flight simulators or racing games to give you more precise control.

Note: Accessing the Keychron Launcher software works on Windows and macOS right out of the box, but if you're a Linux user, you may need to adjust udev rules first. A helpful member of the community has posted a guide for this process in a Reddit thread.

The web-based software is compatible with Windows and macOS out-of-the-box, while Linux users may have to adjust their system permissions first. For more details on Linux software compatibility, see the note in the Configuration Software section.

There's a switch along the keyboard's left edge to toggle between compatibility modes. Note that Linux users should use the Windows compatibility mode. There's also a set of alternative Windows keycaps included in the box.