Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K is a premium mechanical keyboard with its fast polling and sleek looks. It’s a great choice for typists and gamers alike. This is an updated version of the existing Q3 range, now with 8K polling.
The 660 hours of battery life (without backlighting) make this board super reliable, and the lovely sound is a major bonus to typing. It’s also hot-swappable, so it’s ideal for customization, and with high polling and responsive switches, it’s great for gamers.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s one of the best mechanical keyboards for me personally, because the actual typing experience left me disappointed. The rake of the ultra-tall KSA profile keycaps doesn’t suit my writing style, but if you like this design, it could be the right choice for you. It’s also very expensive, which might be a little off-putting.
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A high-profile mechanical keyboard
- Who is it for? Typists and gamers who want a customizable high-profile keyboard
- How much does it cost? $229
- What do we like? The smooth switches are nice to type on and make a lovely sound. It has 660 hours of battery life and is great for gaming
- What don’t we like? The KSA profile is very tall, it’s expensive, and it’s not available in the U.K.
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review: Specs
|
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K |
Specs |
|
Price |
|
|
Switches |
Keychron Silk POM Red, Banana or Brown |
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Layout |
80% TKL |
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Number of keys |
87 |
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Mount type |
Double gasket |
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Keycap material |
Double-shot PBT |
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Keycap profile |
KSA |
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Backlight |
South-facing per-key RGB |
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Case material |
Aluminum |
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Supported operating systems |
macOS, Windows, Linux |
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Connectivity |
2.4GHz, Bluetooth 5.3 and wired |
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Max connected Bluetooth devices |
3 |
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Battery |
660 hours (RBG off), 200 hours (backlighting on low) |
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Polling rate |
8,000Hz (2.4GHz, wired) |
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Measurements |
14.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches |
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Weight |
3.9 pounds |
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review: The ups
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K has responsive switches, a great sound, and a modern aesthetic. The specs also make it a top candidate for gaming and offer heaps of customization.
Silky switches
The Keychron Silk POM switches on the Q3 Ultra 8K are lovely to use. I tested the Brown Silk POM (tactile) switches, but the board is also available for purchase with the Red (linear) or Banana (tactile) version of the switches installed. I also used these switches on the Keychron V3 Ultra 8K ($114), and liked typing with them as the POM stems give an incredibly smooth feeling.
The Brown switches have a pretty heavy actuation force of 55g, but the Red linear switches are lighter at 45g if you want something a little faster. The tactile Banana switches are the heaviest at 57g, but have the shortest actuation distance, so they still feel pretty snappy. My everyday keyboard is the Keychron C1 Pro 8K ($54), which uses 57g Banana Super switches — although there’s not a huge difference, I could feel less resistance with the Brown Silk POM switches on the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K board.
Lovely sound
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K has a very satisfying typing sound, even though it’s not as cathartic as the Wobkey Zen 65 ($165). Since its case is made of aluminum, the typing sound is a little higher-pitched than that of a plastic case board like the Keychron K8 Max ($128), but it isn’t too clacky.
The Q3 Ultra 8K has a double-gasket design, meaning there are silicone pads between the top and bottom cases to maintain flexibility and reduce any acoustic resonance. I much prefer a board with less acoustic resonance as they aren’t as annoying to listen to, unlike the Redragon Galatin Pro K719 ($79).
If you want more flexibility in the type feel, you can remove the pads on the bottom case of the board, although the sound dampening won’t be as effective.
Great gaming capabilities
As the name suggests, the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K can poll up to speeds of 8,000Hz, which is an improvement on the previous 1,000Hz max polling from the Keychron Q3 Max ($219). It can’t poll at this rate when using Bluetooth, but you can use the 2.4GHz dongle or a wired connection. Polling at this speed means you will get the lowest latency possible when processing inputs, making it a great option for ultra-competitive gaming.
With that said, 1,000Hz polling is perfectly respectable to process all inputs, and you likely won’t notice any difference between the two settings. Besides, if you’re a more competitive player, you’ll be better off with a Hall Effect board with adjustable actuation and lots of magnetic gaming features, like the Keychron Q3 HE ($239).
The board also features N-Key rollover, which means you’re able to input multiple commands at once. If playing games where you want to move, engage in combat, and switch weapons simultaneously, this is particularly useful as N-Key rollover will register all of those command inputs at the same time.
Aesthetic design
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K is available in two different colorways: black or white. The choice is nice if you want something a little stealthier than a white board, but I tested the white colorway. I think this looks sublime with grey and red keycaps. The black version of the board comes with blue and grey keycaps instead.
The color choices are great if you want to work in an environment where the gear in your setup all matches. Although you can’t see it when typing, the board also has a cool backplate with a cosmos design. While I think this is slick, I’m not really sure about the point of it, as you’re never able to see it — unless, of course, you’ve found a way to type on the keyboard while it’s upside down.
There are other lovely-looking keyboards available if that’s your main concern, like the Wobkey Rainy 75 Pro ($139), which is a lot more colorful. Or NuPhy keyboards, which are always a lot of fun — like the NuPhy Halo75 V2 ($129) or Kick75 ($89).
King of customization
The beauty of Keychron boards is often the high level of customization available, and the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K is no exception to that rule. The board is hot-swappable and can be used with compatible south-facing three or five-pin mechanical switches. It’s easy to unscrew the board to make alterations to the gasket setup as well, since the hex bolts are visible on the case.
The Q3 Ultra 8K doesn’t have adjustable feet, but that’s typical for aluminum-cased boards. For a height-adjustable board, you’ll want either the Lofree Flow 2 ($149) or a plastic-cased board like the Keychron V1 Ultra 8K ($114).
The Q3 Ultra 8K is compatible with Keychron Launcher, so you can make firmware changes to the board like setting up macros for gaming or to streamline productivity. The backlighting on the board is also customizable through the software with per-key RGB or mix RBG, depending on your style.
It’s worth noting, though, that I’m not a big fan of the KSA keycaps on this board, which I’ll talk about soon, so it’s helpful that I’m able to swap them out too.
Battery life
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K offers up to 660 hours of battery life. But this is with backlighting turned off, and if you’re anything like me, you’re going to want backlighting on at all times — it adds some fun to my work day.
Keychron states that with backlighting on the lowest setting, the keyboard gets 200 hours of battery life. This is obviously a significant reduction, but still enough that you won’t be caught out needing to charge your keyboard too often. And although it’s a reduction, it’s still longer than the total 180 hours you get with the Keychron Q3 Max.
After using the board for a week with backlighting on the highest setting, the battery dropped by 60%. This means that I can get just under two weeks from this board, depending on my workload, before I need to charge it up. That’s excellent.
Great connectivity options
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K has three connectivity options: the 2.4GHz dongle, wired, or Bluetooth 5.3. These can be easily toggled with a switch at the back of the board.
When using the board over Bluetooth, it can be connected to up to three devices at once. It’s very easy to toggle between the connected devices using the Fn key with 1, 2, or 3. This board is a better option when it comes to connectivity than the Keychron C1 Pro 8K, as this can only be used with a wired connection.
The keyboard can be used with Windows and macOS, which can be toggled via a switch on the back of the board. There are also keycaps for each operating system included with the board. It’s therefore geared for people who switch between two operating systems regularly.
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review: The downs
Unfortunately, typing on the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K can be pretty difficult if the KSA profile caps don’t suit you, and with a price tag this steep, I shouldn’t feel like I’m battling with the board in use. It’s also not currently available in the U.K.
Tall KSA profile
Obviously, the typing section of this review being in “the downs” section isn’t the best look, but I personally didn’t get on with it. This is more of a pre-purchase consideration. The Q3 Ultra 8K uses Keychron’s very tall KSA keycap profile, with a heavily raked shaping for extremely high outer rows.
Some people love this profile. When giving his first impressions on the 65% version of this board, the Keychron Q1 Ultra 8K, Security and Home Office Editor Anthony thought this was a great keyboard to type on. He said that he is used to typing on tall profile keys, much like the KSA ones that come with the Q3 Ultra 8K, so it’s not that much of a change for him. Our reviews editor Pete Wolinski is also a fan of the KSA profile, which he tested for his Keychron Q1 Pro ($219) review.
|
Keyboard |
Type |
WPM |
Accuracy |
|
Keychron C1 Pro 8K |
Mechanical |
64 |
95.21% |
|
Redragon Galatin Pro K719 |
Mechanical |
56 |
97.54% |
|
Wobkey Zen 65 |
Mechanical |
60 |
99.67% |
|
Keychron V3 Ultra 8K |
Mechanical |
66 |
97.06% |
|
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K |
Mechanical |
57 |
89.59% |
|
Ashley’s rolling average (all keyboards) |
– |
58.67 |
94.45% |
The rake of this board just isn’t for me. The lowest row of keys being so tall meant I was constantly mistyping, slowing me down a great deal and ruining my accuracy, as you can see in the table above.
If your hands stay in a fixed position in the middle of the keys, the rake of the board isn’t too bad; it’s the movement that causes the issues.
THAT price tag
While the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K is a decent keyboard if you like the shape of the keycaps and the rake of the board, the price tag is enough to put anyone off. It’s available at Amazon U.S. for $229.
This price isn’t exactly a shock since many Keychron and Lemokey boards, like the Lemokey L5 HE ($220) are similarly priced. But if you’re not fussed about having an aluminum keyboard, Keychron has other, more affordable offerings with plastic cases.
The Keychron V3 Ultra 8K, for example, has all the same features of the Q3 Ultra 8K for a fraction of the price, coming in at just $114. The V3 also has adjustable feet for increased comfort over long-term use.
But if you’re set on aluminium and want something cheaper, the Wobkey Rainy 75 Pro is a good option.
Not available in the U.K.
At the time of writing, the Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K isn’t available for purchase in the U.K. This is a bit of a let-down considering it’s a solid upgrade in Keychron’s Q series, but there are still other options out there. One of those alternatives would be the previous iteration of the keyboard, the Keychron Q3 Max ($214).
It has similar features, but features Gateron Jupiter switches instead of Silk POM switches, and runs 1000Hz polling instead of 8,000Hz. Neither of these differences is a dealbreaker (especially since you probably won’t notice the difference in polling), and it just comes down to a question of personal preference. But things like the inferior battery life and 1,000Hz max polling may have you looking in another direction.
Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K review: Verdict
The Keychron Q3 Ultra 8K is a mechanical keyboard suited to most people who have a customizable board with a lovely typing sound. But if you have small hands like me, you may want to pass on this one since the KSA profile keycaps are so tall that they make typing pretty difficult.
The $229 price tag is also enough to make you look in a different direction, but the board excels in other areas. It’s well-equipped for gaming with 8K polling capabilities and N-key rollover, and with up to 660 hours of battery life, the charge will last a while.
The double-gasket design is also adjustable to get the best sound for you. At the end of the day, it’s a great option if you love a higher-profile keyboard.
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