Marathon battery life makes Keychrons Ultra 8K keyboards its best yet

Keychron’s expansive keyboard catalog covers everything from basic full-size mechanical boards to niche layouts like southpaw Alice or a one-handed half-keyboard for gaming. Its Q and V series are among our go-to recommendations for off-the-shelf keyboards, and the latest iterations — the Q and V Ultra models — are a straightforward upgrade to the lineup, with benefits for regular users and deep-in-the-weeds keyboard nerds alike.

I’ve been testing two Ultra keyboards: the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K and Keychron Q1 Ultra 8K. The $119.99 V5 Ultra is a near-full-size 1800-layout board with a number pad in a plastic case, while the $229.99 Q1 Ultra is a 75-percent layout (my preferred size) with a much heavier milled-aluminum chassis and much more robust build and typing feel. Aside from case material and layout, they’re very similar keyboards that are both excellent.

The Ultra 8K lines are the highest-end versions of the V5 and Q1 keyboards to date, preceded by the Max versions (which added 1,000Hz 2.4GHz wireless) and Pro models (which first went wireless with just Bluetooth). The 2.4GHz wireless connections have been upgraded from 1,000Hz polling to 8,000Hz (hence the 8K suffix) for maintaining fast response times — especially when gaming. Most people won’t notice the difference, but that’s not the reason to get the Ultra anyway.

Unlike the older Q and V series boards, the Ultras run on ZMK, an open-source firmware often used by advanced keyboard enthusiasts (absolute sickos) for building their own custom boards. ZMK is powerful, but updating keymaps can be a pain, and ZMK’s remapping software is less polished than the options like Via or Vial that are available for QMK-based boards. (Keychron’s older keyboards run on QMK.) Fortunately, the Ultra boards use Keychron’s browser-based Launcher software to remap keys, dial in customized lighting patterns, or set macros, just like other Keychron models.

ZMK’s most obvious benefit for most people is its battery efficiency. It’s the reason Keychron claims you can get up to 660 hours of use on an Ultra 8K board — about four times longer than its claims for the Max models. If you use your keyboard for about eight hours a day with the backlight off, that’s 83 days before you’re bothered to plug in — or longer, if you’re using Bluetooth. It’s not the one to two years of battery some membrane keyboards offer, but this kind of battery life in a mechanical keyboard was unheard of not long ago. Even some of the best wireless mechanical keyboards from recent years usually require charging every other week or so (depending on your usage).

This marathon-level battery life goes a long way to making the V5 Ultra and Q1 Ultra my favorite Keychrons so far. And now that I’m spoiled by it, I hope other manufacturers follow suit with ZMK boards of their own. The V series and Q series were already very good keyboards available in tons of layouts, so not having to charge them as frequently is a nice plus. The 8,000Hz polling, on the other hand, is a “Sure, why not” kind of benefit. Maybe esports champs using the fastest monitors can tell the difference between 1,000Hz and 8,000Hz. Maybe.

As for the typing experience of the new Ultras, they’re each subtly improved over their predecessors. Both the V5 Ultra 8K and Q1 Ultra 8K have upgraded screw-in stabilizers for less wobble on larger keys (enter, space bar, backspace, etc.) and a better feel on their return movement. The Ultras also use new Silk POM (polyoxymethylene) switches offered in red (linear), brown (tactile), and banana (more tactile). Full POM switch housings are often used in switches to reduce scratchiness in key presses.

In the V5 Ultra with Silk POM brown switches, the new switches have a slightly deeper yet clackier typing sound compared to the V1 Max I tested last year. The last-gen Max’s Gateron Jupiter brown switches and their nylon housings sound more subdued. I think the new Ultras sound better while you’re hammering away — as long as you don’t mind a slightly louder board. The Ultra’s new switches and stabilizers also feel smoother. The only downside is that the tactile bump of the brown switches is now barely there. They feel closer to linears. If you want a tactile switch with actual tactility in this board, go banana (or swap in your favorite switches).

I’ve been testing those tactile banana switches on the Q1 Ultra 8K, and it sounds deeper than the last gen with Gateron bananas without losing tactility. And the Q1 Ultra is actually a touch quieter than the Q1 Max. It’s still far from silent, but it sounds and feels smoother. The revised stabilizers make a noticeable difference on the space bar and enter keys, which feel more tightly tuned and quieter on their return. Underneath the case is a backplate with an etched sci-fi / celestial design. It’s handsome-looking, even if you’ll rarely see it, but it doesn’t add any extra weight to the Q1 Ultra like you typically see on bottom weights from other boards — it’s a hefty 3.8 pounds / 1.72kg, exactly the same as the Q1 Max, and heavier than a 14-inch MacBook Pro. (The V1 Ultra 8K is 1.7 pounds / 770g, for reference.)

The Ultra generation is a clear upgrade from previous Keychron models. The Maxes are sticking around, because Keychron seems to rarely discontinue or fully replace anything, but for just $10 to $20 more it’s worth spending extra on the Ultras for the incredible battery life alone. The improved stabilizers are a nice bonus.

Keychron will likely trickle out the ZMK-based Ultra features to more of its lines and expand its Q and V Ultra offerings to include more layouts, as it always does. And it’s only a matter of time before other keyboard manufacturers catch on to using ZMK, hopefully giving more mechanicals a similar big battery boost. I love competition as much as I love great keyboards, with which we are truly flush these days.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge