Keychron Q5 HE review

The Keychron Q5 HE is a monster of a keyboard and is almost certainly suitable for exploit as a weapon against inconspicuous houseplants and household items that might look comical to you. Even by the brand’s excellent standards, this is one of the most solid boards I’ve had in my hands in a long time. This is confirmed by the weight of 2.18 kg, which means that the Q5 HE will certainly not move around on your desk.

It uses a machined aluminum housing that looks wonderfully immaculate in the white and green color scheme I received. Paired with this, the Q5 HE offers classic accents elsewhere, such as two-tone green keycaps that blend nicely with the white alphanumeric main keys. These caps are also made from dual PBT material, signaling Keychron’s commitment to making the Q5 HE an all-around quality product.

The OSA profile is our own creation here and provides a slightly taller keycap, similar to the SA profile. The flatter keys take some getting used to, but once you get used to it within a few minutes, it makes typing on the Q5 HE extremely comfortable.

The 96% layout offered here is a favorite, offering a classic keyboard layout that is almost thirty years elderly. Otherwise called the 1800 layout, the Q5 HE uses a layout that provides virtually everything you’d get on a standard full-size keyboard, but simplifies it a bit by moving some of the keys above the numeric keypad, moving the arrow keys closer to the body on the right side. It is a layout that is straightforward to get used to and offers many functionalities in a slightly smaller space.

Inside, the Q5 HE is equipped with Gateron’s dual Hall-effect switches, which I have previously experienced in the brand’s wonderful K2 HE. Two key benefits of these particular switches are the Hall effect and what Gateron calls “dual rail”. I’ll deal with the latter first.

Dual rail means these key switches have two slide rails, allowing for more stable actuation and less key shake than more conventional switches. This makes using them particularly pleasant.

When it comes to how Hall effect switches work, they are slightly different from standard mechanical switches. This essentially means that they work via a magnet, as opposed to more standard means. The magnet is sent down the switch stem to the sensor, where the input signal is then recorded – with magnets there is no specific actuation point. This means you can change the actuation point and reset point for each switch, so you can get quick entries into games, for example, to give yourself a little edge over the competition.

With this in mind, it means the Q5 HE has the hallowed quick trigger feature, allowing for near-instantaneous activation and reset, providing a competitive advantage in fast-paced shooters like Counter Strike 2, my time-honored test bed for gaming keyboards. The switches were incredibly speedy during my CS2 runs, where I set the WASD and weapon selection keys as high as the actuation point to ensure I moved and drew weapons as quickly as possible.

The Hall effect switches here are also pre-lubricated for exceptionally silky operation. For everyday productivity tasks where I type a lot of words, the Q5 HE also works great, even if I prefer more conventional, soft-touch switches for my regular work. The Q5 HE housing also provides significant sound attenuation, which combined with the fact that the switches are lubricated means that the acoustics are also top notch, with no rattling or popping of the housing.

Activities such as customizing quick release functions, programming macros, and configuring the Q5 HE’s RGB lighting are handled in Keychron’s deceptively lightweight Keychron Launcher software. This may look like a straightforward kit, but it’s especially powerful because it allows you to unlock the potential of the Q5 HE. Here you can set everything from activation and reset points to assigning up to four actions per keystroke. This allows you to set two when the switch moves down and two when the switch returns up. This may not seem particularly useful at first, but if you play MOBA games that require certain key combinations for spells etc., being able to perform challenging key combinations with a single keystroke is extremely useful.

In addition, you can also set the Q5 HE’s RGB lighting to a single color, for example, as opposed to the default color spectrum available. It is dazzling and provides excellent illumination for the solid PBT keycaps.

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In terms of connectivity, the Q5 HE offers two wireless options, with both Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz working great on both my main Windows gaming PC and my MacBook at work. This keyboard also works happily on macOS or Windows, with an OS switch on the back of the case. Bluetooth pairing wasn’t straightforward either, as you held down the Fn key with the corresponding number based on the Bluetooth channel. From there it should appear in the host device’s pairing options.

The Q5 HE’s battery life pales in comparison to the brand’s other keyboards, despite its larger 4,000mAh capacity. Keychron claims it will last up to 100 hours on a single charge, which while still a long time, is less than the estimated 300 hours for the Pro version of the same keyboard without the Hall effect. During my weeks of testing, I had no problems with it, although that’s worth pointing out.

In brief, the Keychron Q5 HE is an excellent all-rounder for those who want the comfort of a full-size keyboard with the power of Hall-effect switches. It may not be as speedy as the Wooting 80HE, but it’s still a great keyboard that works as a weapon both in and out of gaming.

One of my only gripes is that it is taller $229 price when choosing Wooting in a plastic form is cheaper and offers more advanced switches. The same goes for the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro TKL… Additionally, models like the Endgame Gear KB65HE offer the option of Hall effect and quick-trigger switches at a significant discount compared to the price of the Q5 HE. With that in mind, the Q5 HE remains a truly excellent keyboard if you want to be synonymous with build quality and some powerful switches.