Keychron V3 QMK Custom Mechanical Keyboard

my first mechanical keyboard very impressed with it and very much recommend it.

Everything is good. 94 dollars for keyboard isn't nothing, and i appreciate they avoided cut things that would make this a good product to try to upsell you to a 200 keyboard.

The keys are very nice. The switches, feel find to me. I got the browns because i find the feedback helps me not need to bottom out which keeps me a little quieter and it's easier on the joints, but honestly they are like gateron browns, i mean you can hardly tell. I might recommend just getting the reds or if your a brown person going for cherry. they feel like gateron browns to me.

What i really wanted was a keyboard with a volume knob, this was the main thing that made me decide to upgrade from the K8. I like the k8 quite a lot too TBH i like the shine though aspect better indeed, and it has more features. In the end though i never used the bluetooth. It works fine, but with keyboards and backlits more so i prefer to have a wire for power. My solution is a magnetic adapter. Think hard though because i think blutooth is always justifiable, and the main reason to get the costlier model

Volume control is something i used and imapcted my desire to use the k8. like if i'm on a teams call, and need to quickly get to it, and i've got multiple monitors so it becomes a little hassle to quickly adjust the vol all the time. I don't like having to hit a function key a bunch of times or even holding it down. I'm surprised volume knob isn't almost standard issues on keyboards these days it seems to me it shouldn't add much more to the cost than any other key.

what would make this better i'll tell you.
1. ) usb pass though
2.) shine though keycaps, that are pbt.
3.) as i said i think bluetooth is something everyone should think about these days. It just so happen si have got multiple desks and my configuration at least currently it's not an issue.

I don't know that i see this as much of a downgrade personally from the more expensive board. you get all the programmability, you don' t have the full gasket thing, but if you aren't bottoming out it's less important, and finally i had the older one with the metal. It it's not a big deal, if fact i'd say at last in the k8 model it 's kind of a weird lip. I don't personally see much reason to not just get the plastic one. When you get the metal one it's just like a frame around it. you still have a metal plate in this one, so maybe someone else can correct me here, but i'm not seeing it being worth the additional cost. Bluetooth and battery i can see adding 30 to the cost. I don't see it being worth almost 2x though. that seems a bit crazy.

do i like it better than the k8. Kind of similar. They are both good. Also, i'm not positive i'll program it, but I'm glad they left the software on there and kept it open source. If i were on the fence, and didn't need bluetooth, i think that would tip it. However, i think for many you should probably consider bluetooth. i mean being able to switch between 3 computers is really nice (on k8) for almost the same price.

I bought the transparent barebone version with knob (wich i use a lot, love it!). This is my first custom mech keyboard, and i love it. Works very well, the RBG is very nice, I love the VIA support, very good build quality, good price, etc.
I havent had any problem (bought it on release day). If you are looking for something like this keyboard, its a no brainer.

Second keychron, love this brand. First was a great (K8) and this was an incredible step up. Very impressed. Only thing I don't like is that the plate is opaque. I haven't tried yet to reassign the knob to other functions such as media scrubbing or scrolling but I'm sure VIA will be a breeze.

Only bad thing so far is that after making this purchase, my inbox is flooded with spam...

I ordered the V3 barebone (frosted translucent) a month after the K8 Pro, in order to have one keyboard at the office and the other one at home.
Figuring a quiet setup, I went for Keychron K Silent Pro switches (red), coupled with Double Shot PBT OSA Full Set Keycap Set (light and dark grey).

Putting the pieces together has been very funny.
After getting used to the switches, I added some silicone grease to the stabilizers (around the "+" connector base) to reduce the sound and slight rattle noises: now larger keys have a clean and bassy sound.
The finished keyboard looked very nice and comfortable to use, but the colors were kind of improvable: switching the blue keycaps of the K8 Pro with dark grey ones of the V3 made both keyboards look prettier (to me).

The last release of VIA/QMK doesn't see the keyboard even after loading the JSON file and configuring udev rule (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS), but I didn't had the time to investigate properly. Anyway, it ain't a problem at all, the keyboard is just perfect with default configuration.

It's really difficult to be dissatisfied by the V3, given its value and the price tag.