Keychron K8 Pro local availability

[Sapphiron]

Hi All

Just thought I would share a positive hardware experience.

I saw that the Keychron K8 Pro with Gateron G Pro Brown was available at a local distributor

paid about R1550 incl VAT for it at dealer price.

It is far far better build quality than any mechanical keyboard I have seen available locally. Even those at R3000+

my 9 year old Coolermaster CM Storm is finally getting retired.

Some standout features for me

1. its so SMOOOTHHH, cant believe these are brown switches. excellent middle ground between blues and reds.
2. USB-C cabled and Bluetooth with up to 3 devices
3. nice noise dampening in the base for key bottom-out (wont drive your co-workers mad, unless you go very aggressive on it)
4. very solid base
5. Nice neutral but interesting colour scheme
6. the software is crazy
7. the key switches are hotswappable, so I can easily replace them if they fail or become worn in the future.

some things I think would make it better.

1. its a little thick at the bottom, so you will be well served by a wrist rest. or wait for the K3 Pro to arrive locally.
2. the keycaps are not shine-through. I don't think I will miss it, since my screens light it up enough, but some might.
3. space bar and backspace is a little louder that any of the other keys, so I might put some o-rings on them to reduce the bottom out sound. Still softer than most mechanical keyboards from Logitech, Corsair etc.

 

[_kabal_]

Nice. I really want the full size K1/C2, but there has been no stock forever

 

[airborne]

How customisable are the function keys, can you assign them to whatever you want, keypresses/macros/launching programs?

 

[zoozi]

Hi All

Just thought I would share a positive hardware experience.

I saw that the Keychron K8 Pro with Gateron G Pro Brown was available at a local distributor

paid about R1550 incl VAT for it at dealer price.

It is far far better build quality than any mechanical keyboard I have seen available locally. Even those at R3000+

my 9 year old Coolermaster CM Storm is finally getting retired.

Some standout features for me

1. its so SMOOOTHHH, cant believe these are brown switches. excellent middle ground between blues and reds.
2. USB-C cabled and Bluetooth with up to 3 devices
3. nice noise dampening in the base for key bottom-out (wont drive your co-workers mad, unless you go very aggressive on it)
4. very solid base
5. Nice neutral but interesting colour scheme
6. the software is crazy
7. the key switches are hotswappable, so I can easily replace them if they fail or become worn in the future.

some things I think would make it better.

1. its a little thick at the bottom, so you will be well served by a wrist rest. or wait for the K3 Pro to arrive locally.
2. the keycaps are not shine-through. I don't think I will miss it, since my screens light it up enough, but some might.
3. space bar and backspace is a little louder that any of the other keys, so I might put some o-rings on them to reduce the bottom out sound. Still softer than most mechanical keyboards from Logitech, Corsair etc.

Very nice, nearly bought one from Takealot a year ago, a few models on there, but went with a cheapo brand instead. Seems like similar quality to Ducky.

 

[Sapphiron]

How customisable are the function keys, can you assign them to whatever you want, keypresses/macros/launching programs?

as best I know, because its a QMK/VIA keyboard, you can remap any key and create any macro you want. with the VIA software

VIA | VIA

Your keyboard's best friend

www.caniusevia.com

 

[Sapphiron]

Very nice, nearly bought one from Takealot a year ago, a few models on there, but went with a cheapo brand instead. Seems like similar quality to Ducky.

The K8 Pro is a big upgrade on the standard K8 in terms of smoothness. Its much closer to their Q series for a much lower price.

 

[Sapphiron]

Nice. I really want the full size K1/C2, but there has been no stock forever

There might be some more stock coming soon if the distributor received the new model recently. These low volume items are usually received in large batches.

Personally, I like the improved ergonomics of the TLK. If I needed it, I would get a standalone keypad to place to the right of my mouse.

 

[airborne]

as best I know, because its a QMK/VIA keyboard, you can remap any key and create any macro you want. with the VIA software

VIA | VIA

Your keyboard's best friend

www.caniusevia.com

Oh nice!
What's the connection latency for bluetooth, say when you sit down after being away for say 30mins, what's the lag like from first key press to keys being typed again?

 

[airborne]

The K8 Pro is a big upgrade on the standard K8 in terms of smoothness. Its much closer to their Q series for a much lower price.

What's the difference between the K8 and K8 Pro?
Pity they don't have a number pad, I use that quite a lot when I need to do a few quick calculations.

 

[Sapphiron]

What's the difference between the K8 and K8 Pro?
Pity they don't have a number pad, I use that quite a lot when I need to do a few quick calculations.

Not a 100% list but the ones I know about

1. QMK/VIA compatible out of the box
2. higher quality Gateron Pro switches (smoother switches)
3. PBT keycaps instead of ABS (they do not polish)
4. silicone layer in base to dampen bottom-out sound, so its quieter
5. Bluetooth 5.1
6. Aluminum frame instead of plastic
7. and much nicer looking
K8

K8 Pro

I think a separate number pad is always an option if you need it.

 

[_kabal_]

K10 Pro, yes please

Who is the local distributor @Sapphiron

Edit: syntech I assume

 

[sand_man]

I recently got the K8 87 non-backlit off of Firstshop for R1280... decent board but I'm wondering now if I should have held out for the Pro version?

KeyChron K8 87 Key Keychron Aluminium Frame Mechanical Keyboard Non-Backlit Brown Switches K8L3

KeyChron K8 87 Key Keychron Aluminium Frame Mechanical Keyboard Non-Backlit Brown Switches K8L3 and other KeyChron products available at FirstShop South-Africa. Price, availability and reviews for KeyChron K8L3

www.firstshop.co.za

 

[Sapphiron]

K10 Pro, yes please

Who is the local distributor @Sapphiron

Edit: syntech I assume

Correct

Keychron K8 Pro ANSI 80% TKL Layout 87 Key - Full Assembled - Brown Switch RGB Hot-Swap Gateron G pro Mechanical Wireless Normal Profile QMK Keyboard - Syntech

The Keychron K8 87-Key Tenkeyless RGB Mechanical Wireless Keyboard is engineered to maximize your productivity with the most popular TKL layout. The

www.syntech.co.za

Note the picture on their product page is wrong.

They don't have the K3 pro or K10 pro yet though. Keychron released them quite a bit after the K8 pro, so maybe in a few months.

 

[_kabal_]

Correct

Keychron K8 Pro ANSI 80% TKL Layout 87 Key - Full Assembled - Brown Switch RGB Hot-Swap Gateron G pro Mechanical Wireless Normal Profile QMK Keyboard - Syntech

The Keychron K8 87-Key Tenkeyless RGB Mechanical Wireless Keyboard is engineered to maximize your productivity with the most popular TKL layout. The

www.syntech.co.za

Note the picture on their product page is wrong.

They don't have the K3 pro or K10 pro yet though. Keychron released them quite a bit after the K8 pro, so maybe in a few months.

Yeah. Spoke to them today. No ETA as of yet