Keychron Q2 Review - Your Next 65% Keyboard

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit makes me really excited to see products like this come out onto the market because it was only a couple of years ago i feel we're good quality mechanical keyboards with this weird kind of expensive section of the internet and uh you know now we have boards like this you know high quality pretty decent pricing and actually pretty decent accessibility as well so this is the kikron q2 it's a 65 mechanical keyboard with a volume knob gasket mounting aluminium case hot swappable switches and the fully assembled version comes in at just 160 now for people who are not really into mechanical keyboards that might sound expensive at first but you have to realize how insane that pricing actually is for what you're getting here for what is realistically only 30 to 40 dollars more expensive than some of the most popular gaming keyboards on the market you are getting an absurdly better product here all around now some of you might be familiar with my own keyboard build which i'm currently running which i've done a couple of videos on it's the sixty percent tofu from kbd fans it's using an aluminium case a brass plate quite a lot of dampening foam and lubed gabaron black ink switches now after i built this kbd fans actually reached out and they were kind enough to make this an actual product on their website and so this fully assembled with lube switches this one comes in at around 275. now i think both of these keyboards are great options if you're looking to make kind of your first serious mechanical keyboard purchase both the tofu and the kikron q2 but the question here at this point is like which one is better right should you get the q2 or build a tofu 60 or 65 from kvd fans depending on which form factor you prefer first of all i just want to go over the form factor of the q2 i think that this is really perfect for a lot of people nice and compact while still having the physical arrow keys and that volume knob feels nice and high quality as well it can also be remapped to other things in qmk or via software which is pretty cool this is the smallest keyboard that kikron are currently offering with this build quality and i think it hits that sweet spot between a nice small form factor board but not compromising on what most people feel is essential so just comparing the sizes here my tofu 60 that i have is slightly more compact than the q2 while still offering physical arrow keys and a delete key and that is something that i do have a slight bias and preference towards having said that it's not a big difference at all the q2 is just a bit thicker around the edges but i doubt that'll make a big impact for most people's setups now build quality wise both are pretty even here in my opinion both are a huge step up over your generic plastic gaming keyboard the tofu comes in at about 1.2 kilos whereas the q2 comes in at 1.6 exactly for a bit of reference that is about three times the weight of a ducky one two mini probably the biggest difference between these two boards though is the mounting mechanism of the pcb essentially how the pcb sits inside the case the tofu is like most other mechanical keyboards and is mounted directly to the standoffs of the case whereas the q2 is isolated between these foam dampers this mounting style is called gasket mounting and the main advantage of it is that all the vibrations from typing bottoming out switches bottoming out stabilizers those forces and sounds don't then travel and resonate throughout the entire keyboard if you press down pretty much anywhere on the q2 you can notice just how soft this mounting is the switches on the keys do sink down quite a bit at the same time the pcb feels very locked in doesn't feel wobbly or mushy or anything like that in fact unless you're like a really heavy typer this mounting style will probably feel pretty normal to you in my opinion the main difference is probably the acoustics depending on which switches you're using and how hard you're typing the q2 has a bit more of a bassy kind of rumble to it when typing whereas the tofu is definitely more of a clack solid type of sound as for which mounting style is better a lot of it does come down to personal preference and you know what you prefer in a keyboard but i do think most people will prefer the gasket mounting on the q2 it's just generally associated with a more premium product and typing experience having said that you know this is my first experience with a gasket mounted keyboard and i think this is one of the more exaggerated mounting gasket mounting designs that i've seen and it's nothing crazy to me you know unless you're like a really heavy typer this mounting style is not going to have a huge impact on your keyboard build in my opinion and that's you know coming from a brass plate tray mounted keyboard this is pretty much as rigid as a mechanical keyboard can get but i think if you have some decent noise isolation and foam dampening and you're not an incredibly heavy typo then the difference here is going to be pretty subtle to most people now where there is a noticeable difference between these two keyboards at least the way that i have them configured is in the stabilizers the tofu has modded and loop stabilizers whereas what you're getting on the kikron q2 it's not necessarily that bad but they definitely don't sound nearly as good which is to be expected compared to a custom board the stabilizers here are lubed but the spacebar and the left shift key on my sample at least they don't sound as dialed in and tuned as i would have hoped it's probably worth putting in a little bit of extra lube here i did try that and it did help a little bit but definitely out of the box it's something that you do want to tend to this leads me to my next point which is that the q2 is a hot swap mechanical keyboard and it is really great to see that becoming the new standard and if you don't like the gataron switch options that come with the q2 you can easily swap them out with whatever you prefer instead you could also just buy the bare bones kit that comes without switches and keycaps and then just go ahead and install your own and that is personally what i do see myself opting for and recommending to most people is that barebones kit there are just so many great switch options and keycap sets out there and you really are getting a solid base to work with here at the same time i will say that paying just an extra twenty dollars for a full set of switches and keycaps that is kind of unbeatable when it comes to value now what's really interesting is that if you do go with the bare bones kit for the q2 and then add in the same switches and keycaps that i currently have on the tofu 60 you do come in slightly under the price of this custom board but probably about even once you factor in the shipping from two different stores and overall i do think the kikron q2 is the better option for most people at the moment the biggest advantage over the tofu or most custom keyboards at the same price point would be the gasket mounting the overall better build quality and having the option for a volume knob as well the only downside in my opinion of the q2 are the stabilizers that do need addressing but if you were prepared to lube the stabilizers on a completely custom keyboard then the experience there is really not that different especially if you are starting out with the bare bones kit that does make that task a lot easier to do so again really happy that the q2 exists this is pretty much exactly what the mechanical keyboard market needs at the moment high quality keyboards that are actually available and at low price points i am going to install some new stabilizers and switches and keycaps on this q2 build here the base of the q2 is just too nice not to install and build something a bit more premium with so for those who are interested i will leave it linked down below as always a huge thanks for watching and i'll see you all in the next oneit makes me really excited to see products like this come out onto the market because it was only a couple of years ago i feel we're good quality mechanical keyboards with this weird kind of expensive section of the internet and uh you know now we have boards like this you know high quality pretty decent pricing and actually pretty decent accessibility as well so this is the kikron q2 it's a 65 mechanical keyboard with a volume knob gasket mounting aluminium case hot swappable switches and the fully assembled version comes in at just 160 now for people who are not really into mechanical keyboards that might sound expensive at first but you have to realize how insane that pricing actually is for what you're getting here for what is realistically only 30 to 40 dollars more expensive than some of the most popular gaming keyboards on the market you are getting an absurdly better product here all around now some of you might be familiar with my own keyboard build which i'm currently running which i've done a couple of videos on it's the sixty percent tofu from kbd fans it's using an aluminium case a brass plate quite a lot of dampening foam and lubed gabaron black ink switches now after i built this kbd fans actually reached out and they were kind enough to make this an actual product on their website and so this fully assembled with lube switches this one comes in at around 275. now i think both of these keyboards are great options if you're looking to make kind of your first serious mechanical keyboard purchase both the tofu and the kikron q2 but the question here at this point is like which one is better right should you get the q2 or build a tofu 60 or 65 from kvd fans depending on which form factor you prefer first of all i just want to go over the form factor of the q2 i think that this is really perfect for a lot of people nice and compact while still having the physical arrow keys and that volume knob feels nice and high quality as well it can also be remapped to other things in qmk or via software which is pretty cool this is the smallest keyboard that kikron are currently offering with this build quality and i think it hits that sweet spot between a nice small form factor board but not compromising on what most people feel is essential so just comparing the sizes here my tofu 60 that i have is slightly more compact than the q2 while still offering physical arrow keys and a delete key and that is something that i do have a slight bias and preference towards having said that it's not a big difference at all the q2 is just a bit thicker around the edges but i doubt that'll make a big impact for most people's setups now build quality wise both are pretty even here in my opinion both are a huge step up over your generic plastic gaming keyboard the tofu comes in at about 1.2 kilos whereas the q2 comes in at 1.6 exactly for a bit of reference that is about three times the weight of a ducky one two mini probably the biggest difference between these two boards though is the mounting mechanism of the pcb essentially how the pcb sits inside the case the tofu is like most other mechanical keyboards and is mounted directly to the standoffs of the case whereas the q2 is isolated between these foam dampers this mounting style is called gasket mounting and the main advantage of it is that all the vibrations from typing bottoming out switches bottoming out stabilizers those forces and sounds don't then travel and resonate throughout the entire keyboard if you press down pretty much anywhere on the q2 you can notice just how soft this mounting is the switches on the keys do sink down quite a bit at the same time the pcb feels very locked in doesn't feel wobbly or mushy or anything like that in fact unless you're like a really heavy typer this mounting style will probably feel pretty normal to you in my opinion the main difference is probably the acoustics depending on which switches you're using and how hard you're typing the q2 has a bit more of a bassy kind of rumble to it when typing whereas the tofu is definitely more of a clack solid type of sound as for which mounting style is better a lot of it does come down to personal preference and you know what you prefer in a keyboard but i do think most people will prefer the gasket mounting on the q2 it's just generally associated with a more premium product and typing experience having said that you know this is my first experience with a gasket mounted keyboard and i think this is one of the more exaggerated mounting gasket mounting designs that i've seen and it's nothing crazy to me you know unless you're like a really heavy typer this mounting style is not going to have a huge impact on your keyboard build in my opinion and that's you know coming from a brass plate tray mounted keyboard this is pretty much as rigid as a mechanical keyboard can get but i think if you have some decent noise isolation and foam dampening and you're not an incredibly heavy typo then the difference here is going to be pretty subtle to most people now where there is a noticeable difference between these two keyboards at least the way that i have them configured is in the stabilizers the tofu has modded and loop stabilizers whereas what you're getting on the kikron q2 it's not necessarily that bad but they definitely don't sound nearly as good which is to be expected compared to a custom board the stabilizers here are lubed but the spacebar and the left shift key on my sample at least they don't sound as dialed in and tuned as i would have hoped it's probably worth putting in a little bit of extra lube here i did try that and it did help a little bit but definitely out of the box it's something that you do want to tend to this leads me to my next point which is that the q2 is a hot swap mechanical keyboard and it is really great to see that becoming the new standard and if you don't like the gataron switch options that come with the q2 you can easily swap them out with whatever you prefer instead you could also just buy the bare bones kit that comes without switches and keycaps and then just go ahead and install your own and that is personally what i do see myself opting for and recommending to most people is that barebones kit there are just so many great switch options and keycap sets out there and you really are getting a solid base to work with here at the same time i will say that paying just an extra twenty dollars for a full set of switches and keycaps that is kind of unbeatable when it comes to value now what's really interesting is that if you do go with the bare bones kit for the q2 and then add in the same switches and keycaps that i currently have on the tofu 60 you do come in slightly under the price of this custom board but probably about even once you factor in the shipping from two different stores and overall i do think the kikron q2 is the better option for most people at the moment the biggest advantage over the tofu or most custom keyboards at the same price point would be the gasket mounting the overall better build quality and having the option for a volume knob as well the only downside in my opinion of the q2 are the stabilizers that do need addressing but if you were prepared to lube the stabilizers on a completely custom keyboard then the experience there is really not that different especially if you are starting out with the bare bones kit that does make that task a lot easier to do so again really happy that the q2 exists this is pretty much exactly what the mechanical keyboard market needs at the moment high quality keyboards that are actually available and at low price points i am going to install some new stabilizers and switches and keycaps on this q2 build here the base of the q2 is just too nice not to install and build something a bit more premium with so for those who are interested i will leave it linked down below as always a huge thanks for watching and i'll see you all in the next one\n"