Ceramic, glossy and a fingerprint magnet
The first thing I had to do when I walked up to the Keychron Q16 HE at the booth was wipe it down with my T-shirt before taking photos. The display unit was covered in greasy fingerprints from all the geeks who had been pawing at it (myself included). That’s what you get with glossy ceramic.
And the ceramic is exactly the point. The Q16 HE is made of ceramic, both the case and the keycaps, and I finally got to try it. What I was curious about was how the ceramic affects the typing feel and the sound. That is what I tested, not the gaming performance.
The lime green one with Nordic ISO layout. / Credit: Keychron
Disclaimer
I tried the keyboard at the booth during Moderskeppet, an event by Geeks AB and SweClockers with 1500 geeks on a boat in international waters. No units came home in my backpack, so this quick look is based on a short typing test at the booth. I took a few photos, the rest are press images. It comes with a full Nordic ISO layout.
Lime or royal blue? Glossy either way
The booth had both colours on display, lime green and royal blue. Both are incredibly beautiful… and incredibly glossy. The ceramic has a glossy finish on both the case and the keycaps, which are also made from ceramic. So the whole thing is very consistent.
The royal blue one from three angles. The keycaps are molded in the same ceramic as the case. / Credit: Keychron
The back edge with USB-C and the Mac/Windows switch. The finger grease is not in the press images, but it is in mine. / Credit: kaytomas.com
Good sound
After typing on it, this is a very nice keyboard. The sound is muted and lovely, not the sharp ring I expected from a hard material like ceramic. In total it weighs over 1 kg, and you notice that when you type on it.
Under the keycaps sit Keychron’s Lime magnetic switches with TMR sensors, with an adjustable actuation point and 8000 Hz polling. On paper, you’re not sacrificing gaming features either. With adjustable actuation points, TMR sensors and 8000 Hz polling, the Q16 HE has everything I’d expect from a modern gaming keyboard. How well it actually performs in games is something I’d need to test properly. The keyboard is wired only.
65%, my personal favorite
The Q16 HE is a 65% keyboard, and that is a really good size, at least for me. I get dedicated arrow keys and the most important extra keys. The main thing you lose is the dedicated function-key row, but those keys are easily accessed using Fn.
Worth knowing that you get proper Nordic keycaps on this one too, like on the other keyboards I tried at Moderskeppet.
Price, on sale right now
The regular price here in Norway is around 3000 NOK.
At the time of writing it sells for 1499 NOK at Proshop, on sale until October 19, and that has to be called a pretty good price for such an exclusive product.
Keychron and the materials
Keychron does a lot of cool stuff. They release keyboards in all sorts of exotic materials, everything from solid copper to wood, resin, concrete and ceramic, and they put marketing behind completely crazy products.
I love that Keychron keeps experimenting with all these different materials. I have tested the Q1 HE before, which is the same idea in aluminium.
This is a very exotic and exciting keyboard. And at the price it currently sells for at Proshop, I think it is a really good deal for anyone who wants to explore keyboards in different materials and who likes the 65% size.
Personally I already have more keyboards than I need, but I still find this one tempting, because of the exclusive choice of material and the sale price.
