A big complaint I've had with Keychron’s keycaps in the past has been how bad the legends often look. Despite being double-shot PBT, they are frequently crooked and uncentered. However, it seems like Keychron went back to the drawing board and fixed their caps because they are much better now. But are they perfect? No. I noticed the “P” on the backspace key looks like it’s in bold print, for example — but overall, I'm impressed.
It’s kinda funny — I keep forgetting the Keychron K3 Ultra is primed to keep up with the big dogs in competitive gaming with its 8,000 Hz polling rate, because its design is very professional. In addition to being faster than lightning, the battery life is incredible. With 8,000 Hz enabled, you’re looking at upwards of three months or 550 hours of battery life, which is impressive — most 8,000 Hz polling rate peripherals get less than 20 hours' worth of battery life. Keychron's newest 8K keyboards are running on ZMK firmware, which accounts for their impressive battery life, and while the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K gets 690 hours of battery life, the K3 Ultra is a very slim, low-profile board.
It has been a long time since I have used a low-profile mechanical keyboard, so I was excited going into this review. After unboxing the Keychron K3 Ultra and setting it up, I started typing with it while working and didn’t want to stop. I genuinely love typing with this keyboard. It took me a bit to realize why, and the reason is that it reminds me of my 2013 MacBook Air’s keyboard — which got me through all of college, many reviews and ultimately over a decade of use. However, that’s just one of the reasons; the other is the banana switches.
I’m usually not a tactile switch person — almost all of my personal keyboards have linear switches, as it's just what I prefer. However, the K3 Ultra has me considering buying a low-profile switch tester kit so I can experiment with other low-profile, tactile switches — which is possible due to this board’s hot-swap PCB. So, yeah, this little low-profile plank changed my outlook on tactile switches.
The keycaps on the Keychron K3 Ultra are their own LSA profile and are double-shot PBT, ensuring durability for years and a more ergonomic shape. As mentioned above, Keychron’s history with keycaps isn’t great, but they’ve certainly improved them because the legends (minus one or two wonky ones) are solid. The LSA caps are comfy and never caused any typos and the off-white tone of them looks good with the rosewood sides.
The Keychron K3 Ultra arrived just in time for me to play Resident Evil 9: Requiem , which seemed like the perfect game to test this keyboard with. Resident Evil games aren’t the most fast-paced, but when playing as Leon, you do need to be quick — especially when parrying and swapping weapons. In addition, I didn’t need a full-size keyboard with a numberpad for the survival horror RPG, so why not use the Keychron? And, as expected, the K3 Ultra performed perfectly — I didn’t experience any switch chatter (double clicking) or latency issues.
Overall, I was very, very happy with the typing and gaming experience on the Keychron K3 Ultra, and it definitely feels like the keyboard for a combination of office use and gaming.
I can’t even complain about it anymore, because other companies are doing it, but I am still going to — I can’t stand when peripherals use web-based apps instead of downloadable software, which is the case for the Keychron K3 Ultra. The K3 Ultra is supported by Keychron’s “Keychron Launcher,” which is very similar to VIA, the open-source key mapping software we know and love.
With that aside, Keychron Launcher worked really well and offered loads of features such as macro recording, 24 pre-configured RGB settings, which can be changed on the fly if the keys are remapped and a laundry list of other features.
I should also mention that when you receive the Keychron K3 Ultra, you'll need to make sure you go into “Advanced Mode” in Keychron Launcher and set the polling rate to 8,000 Hz — because it’s set to 125 by default.
The Keychron K3 Ultra is, by far, one of my favorite mechanical keyboards in recent history. Keychron makes A LOT of keyboards, and I’m glad they were able to do something different here. While I am a bit disappointed in the rosewood sides, wood is wood and for $105, it really isn’t worth complaining about. The K3 Ultra is the ultimate office mechanical keyboard and is super portable thanks to its sleek frame, yet it still has the specs to compete with some of the best gaming mechanical keyboards. If you're looking for something a little more substantial, however, the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K is a little pricier but features a 96-percent layout and better battery life.
Myles Goldman is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews keyboards and cases. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-20/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Myles Goldman Social Links Navigation Freelancer Writer Myles Goldman is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews keyboards and cases.
helper800 Are they double shot ABS or double shot PBT keycaps? Its says the former in the spec sheet and the latter in the pros section… Reply
GreyOmega helper800 said: Are they double shot ABS or double shot PBT keycaps? Its says the former in the spec sheet and the latter in the pros section… The Kickstarter page advertised Double-Shot PBT Keycaps. Reply
helper800 GreyOmega said: The Kickstarter page advertised Double-Shot PBT Keycaps. I much prefer PBT caps. I have a talent for creating shine on ABS caps. Reply
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