Keychron K5 Max: What Real Users Say on Reddit

I recently bought a Keychron K1 Max to use at work, despite reading some harsh reviews I think it's a great keyboard after using it for the past few weeks. Haven't had any issues with double pressing keys or the finish rubbing off the key caps. The ergonomics of low profile and seamless wireless switching is great for my work flow and typing.

I can only speak for my Keychron Q3 Pro QMK/VIA Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard which I do very much enjoy. I was using the Corsair K95 RGB PLATINUM Mechanical Gaming Keyboard before that.

Keychron has been using faulty hot swap sockets for about six months now. They have also been doing a sub-standard job soldering parts. This is a problem which comes and goes.

I have a few Keychron keyboards I really like, but from what I've read I would never buy direct, only through Amazon (or similar). If it isn't available on Amazon, I wouldn't buy it — they become the responsible party, at least in the UK and are generally pretty helpful with return or replacement.

No problems with my K2 or K10 Pro after many years of daily use at home and work, respectively.

Recently got into low profile boards myself. Rockin' the K3 Max and red switches. After a little bit of tuning — I really like it!

The double clicking was there in my new V6 Max too with Jupiter Browns. Have swapped switches on the Space bar, Comma, Up arrow, E to less important keys. I think the problem is in the stock switches. Never had this problem in the K10.

Same story here, can confirm the double-click issue.

Sorry to hear that, but this hasn't been my experience at all with Keychron. I recently bought a C2 & Q6 Max and haven't had issues with either of them.

I have a K1 Max myself and have never experienced double-clicking. I've also swapped keycaps and switches a few times for experimentation. Started with Browns, then switched to Nuphy Purple, followed by Gateron KS-33 Low Profile 2.0 Chocolate. Now I'm using Gateron Reds.

Bought a K1 Max in late 2024 for the on-board macros to save a lot of repetitive stuff at work. I have the problem with keys occasionally not registering. After a bluetooth driver update on my laptop, all the macros got wiped.

I run the Keychron Q6 Max QMK/VIA Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard. Additionally, I added the Raptor switches. I run multiple businesses, flight sim, and game on it. For the exception of support, it has been a solid combo.

I have the Q1 Max and it's been great! Sorry for your experience though. It sucks.

Beware of K1 Max though. I have two units and both of them have a double clicking issue. One of them the Left shift has a 50% chance of working. Maybe I'm just unlucky.

Just got a K13 Max as a travel keyboard for work and got used to it seamlessly. Same gripe with the keycaps not being shine-through. Haven't had the double presses yet. The keyboard itself seems great, but I think it is just Keychron's support that sucks.

All of the odd numbered boards are low-profile, and all of the even numbered boards are full-height. The full-height boards are further broken down into two different case styles — some have four individual aluminum frame rails which mount to a plastic frame, others have a single piece top housing.

Having had the K1 Max and now the K1 v6, the K1 Max, besides the wireless connectivity and per key RGB customization, the K1 v6 is a much nicer built keyboard quality-wise and noise-wise. My K1 Max developed a keycap shine in less than 2 months of light usage, so it's a very cheap PBT.

Haven't had any issue with my Keychron after several years of heavy duty coding on it.

There are lots of reports about the K1 Max at least — this line has probably been impacted the most. Their support didn't suggest sending it back, and the keyboard came from China so it's not financially viable for them to ask me to send it back, fix it, and then return it to me. So far, they've only been sending me firmware updates that fix nothing.

Sometimes cellphones next to your keyboard can scatter your 2.4GHz signals. Worth ruling out if you're having wireless issues.

I also got this keyboard, and the 'W' key now double types while typing, and is intermittently unresponsive when gaming. Steer clear of this specific product, for sure.

My K1 Max just failed after a few months of use. The letter P doesn't work anymore. I tried different switches, blowing air and resetting to factory settings. Nothing works.

K3 Max here, I experience a lot of issues with it since the beginning. Double key presses, more rarely keys not registering. Sometimes it works fine for months after re-seating the switch. But overall, I will never go with Keychron again, it's just too annoying.

I have used multiple Keychrons in my life and have gotten one for my brother and for my friend. I have only used the Q and V series products so I don't have experience with the K1 but all of the ones I have used have been great. I actually used the V1 for my work computer for over 2 years before I upgraded just to change things up.

I experienced this with my K8 before and found out the problem was USB 3.0 interfering with the 2.4 GHz frequency. So I connected the dongle to a USB 2.0 extension cable and placed it away from other 3.0 ports and it worked flawlessly.

I was always a 100% full size keyboard guy but I got myself a K3 Max low profile and I love it. Came with the blue clicky switches and I hated them. Swapped them out for Gateron low profile banana switches and I LOVE them. Not to be confused with the Keychron low profile banana switches — completely different feel and I couldn't stand them.

I use tactile Gateron Bananas on my V1 Max and love them. But I got the cowberry switches on my NuPhy 96 Air for the sound profile — too many mistakes when coding though.

K3 v3 has shine-through keycaps but no 2.4GHz if that matters. Does have BT 5.3 though. Works well with the moss or banana switches. I preferred it to the max since I wanted shine-through over 2.4GHz.

I've bought K5 QMK Version 2 and so far there haven't been any problems whatsoever. Had it for a couple of months now with banana switches. I use it about 50/50 wired and bluetooth — BT with the Mac, wired for the PC. Haven't had any BT disconnects that weren't caused by sleep.

I bought the K3v3 with the Keychron brown switches. Out the box the browns felt good, sounded creamier than I was expecting and overall I would have been happy to keep them stock. A few keys had a louder spring ping than I'd like, so they would probably benefit from lube and maybe an o-ring.

I suggest to always get the max option since the price difference is minimal.

Yes, apart from the size and layout they're all the same across the K Max series.

I tried a K1 Max and a K1 v6, both with brown switches. The Max was like 20% louder which was a no-go with my shared office space.

If you have it set for Windows with the switch on the back, and it's doing Mac function keys, the Mac-Windows mode switch is probably busted. There are ways to work around that, but on a new keyboard you shouldn't have to. I would go back to Microcenter with it, they typically do a pretty good job of support.

Bought Q2 two years ago and K7 Pro last month. Had problems with the K7 at first but the BT firmware update fixed it. Replacement keycaps are not the same quality as OG keys on the keyboards — I bought an ISO K7 with a keycap set with the intention to swap but ended up keeping OG keys since they are better quality.

It's good to know that there haven't been any problems with BT connection. I do wish there was a 2.4 GHz dongle, but maybe I'm too stubborn on the fact that I don't want to lead a cable from my PC all the way to my desk.

My Q1 HE is amazing! The K lineup does suck though, sorry.

I believe a keyboard that costs 126 euros should work out of the box without any extra effort or additional expenses for new switches. That's absolutely reasonable.

I got the K1 Max and have been very happy with it so far.

I have a K1 Max and v6 to try but the lack of wifi and ABS caps is really putting me off the v6. The Max does have a dongle which makes it slightly easier to switch between PC and laptop at the same time as the mouse using a hub.