Alrighty, we’ve done a few pricey boards
as of late, so back to the budget side, with probably one of the most popular retail mechanical
keyboards out there at the moment, the Keychron K6. And as always, I just want to remind everyone
how important budget mechs are, and that I’ll always have time to cover some of them, because
the reality is, mechanical keyboards can be super expensive, and budget mechs make the
mechanical experience accessible for more people, and they’re getting better. Although the one I have here isn’t super
cheap, as I have the aluminium hotswap version, which is $99, but the plastic versions start
at $69. Ok, so first impressions, feels pretty solid
in the hands. No major flex or anything. Just under 700g which is to be expected, so
not overly heavy, quite light. But straight away, this is pretty aesthetically
pleasing in my opinion. Definitely the best looking Keychron keyboard
I’ve played with so far. We of course have the aluminium version, which
just means this outer frame, is made of alu. And it straight up is just like a picture
frame, with 4 individual pieces going around the board. So not full alu, but it does have potential
for modding, which we’ll do later. But yeh, exactly the same design aesthetic
as the K2, K4, K8, K whatever else. But a major change that they have adopted
and updated with their other boards since, is that the plastic bottom is angled. With the previous boards maybe a year ago
and further back, their keyboards were completely flat without the flip up feet out. And that meant that the front of the board
was quite high, which wasn’t very ergonomic at all for the wrists, and back then I called
it out pretty harshly as being just a lazy design, but that’s all fixed now which is
sweet. So the front is lower, it’s more comfortable
to type on, and it just doesn’t look so weird anymore. Another thing that contributes to how it looks
are the caps. The colours are very sleek. I especially like the orange and blue sublegends
and symbols for the secondary functions. These caps are different to before though. So the legends are aligned to the top right,
which is a little unusual. And the top surface area of the caps is a
little larger than normal. Still the same height as the typical OEM profile
cap, but just more square. They are however the same cheap 1mm thin ABS
caps. And just laser etched legends. So these will shine overtime, and potentially
fade, that’s just how it is. But what it does allow them to do is to have
this very clean, thin typeface which I like for backlit caps. Right now, we have the Mac keycaps on here. And we do have that functionality etched on
the number row. However we do get the Windows keys in the
box as well. So yes, it is compatible with both Mac and
Windows. And Linux. The K6 is their 65% keyboard. So that’s kinda relative to a full size
100%. So we have our dedicated arrow keys, which
I personally love. And a few nav keys on the right hand side. If you require the dedicated function row,
there’s the K2. Numpad, you have the K4. And don’t forget, all these keys are still
accessible via the function keys and the secondary functions that are labelled on the keyboard. Furthermore, there is a mention of upcoming
software to further customise the board, however that is not available at this time. If we look to the left of the board, first
off, we have our USB C port. So yeh, still to the side, but most of the
time you’d be using it in wireless mode anyway. So we have our Windows/Android and Mac/iOS
switch. And next to that, our wireless switch. I love wireless keyboards. Honestly. I’ve said this a bunch of times to people,
but you know, everyone is different. Everyone has different environments and use
cases. And for me, I actually use this stock pre-built
iQunix F96, no mods. Just stock Cherry MX Reds. Because it has a numpad. I like the function row. And it’s wireless. It’s just what suits my needs, and I just
love the freedom. Performance was absolutely fine. I’m not a huge serious gamer, so I’m not
the best judge of this. But I found it fine for whatever game I played,
and in this reaction test the results were negligible, so that was all cool. It has a 4000mAh battery, which apparently
can last up to 240 hours without backlighting. I wasn’t able to drain the battery, because
no time for that. Now to the switches. There’s a few versions. So I have the mechanical hotswap version. There’s the classic soldered mechanical
version. And there’s an optical version, which would
be hotswap between themselves. So optical only. These come with Gateron switches. I have Gateron Reds, which are a linear. And let’s have a quick listen to it in its
stock form. Okay, so quite a thin feel and sound. And a bit pingy too. It is a tray mount board, non-modded switches,
but the thin keycaps definitely contribute to that. And while feel and sound is personal preference,
it doesn’t feel amazing. So what we can do is take out the switches
and mod them, because this is a hotswap keyboard. So we get our keycap puller to take the keycap
off. Sometimes the switch will come out too. But then we get our keyswitch puller. By the way. What is this?? What kind of cost cutting piece of metal is
this? Honestly I found this kinda funny. Like the usual cheap ones are like this, which
is way easier to hold. But most people into mechs use something like
this. But anyway, there’s a clip on the bottom
and top of the switch, and just press inwards and carefully pull up. At this point, you can put another switch
in. But I’ll mod these. So I lubed them with Krytox 205g0, because
that’s what I had. And put in switch films, which make it tighter,
and can affect the feel and sound too. I’ll include links for information on that
stuff, because I didn’t record any of that, and there’s so much choice and variation. What’s really really important with hotswap
boards is being careful when putting the switches back in.You need to have the pins straight,
otherwise you can damage the switch, damage the hotswap socket. And if you mess up the socket, then you’re
gonna need to do some soldering work. So yeh, just be gentle. No sound test yet. Let’s open it up first. Starting with the alu pieces. There’s just 4 HEX screws, and these just
slide right off. And we’re left with the plastic version
of the board. And honestly if you can afford the aluminium
version, get it. Because in its plastic form, it just looks
unfinished, unrefined, and weird honestly. The cool thing about having this sort of design
though is that these pieces are super easy to mod. And by modding, I mainly mean painting. And you don’t need to really take the keyboard
apart like usual. But we’re gonna take it apart even more
just to show the insides. Here’s the actual keyboard. It has a standard 1.5mm aluminium plate. And looking at the PCB, we have Gateron hotswap
sockets, which are pretty much the same as Kailh hotswap sockets. But it looks like each socket has glue or
something for more reinforcement. Because again, these sockets are very prone
to damage. And in the bottom case we have our 4000mAh
battery. It’s a tray mount design of course. And since the case is angled, there’s not
sooo much empty space in there. But there was some thin foam in the packaging,
so why not just chuck it in there, and see what happens. Uh, it might need a little more cutting, because
it is pretty tight, maybe too tight with a bit of warping. So maybe skip that, that’s up to you. Back to the alu pieces. To be honest, I think it looks perfectly good
as it is. But purely for the sake of this video, let’s
paint. And for that, we need to pick up some spray
paint. I don’t want to be spending too much, so
we’re gonna stick to the normal hardware store spray paint. In Australia, and Bunnings in particular,
there isn’t the biggest range. But if you want like more metallic paints,
you can go to an automotive sort of store. Most of these are like all purpose sort of
enamel paints, and a lot of them will say like paint + primer. So those should be fine. I won’t go in depth. But we’re gonna do the quick and lazy spray
painting. Usually for the best job possible, I would
sand, use etch primer for aluminium to get the best adhesion. And paint carefully. It’s also best to do it in let's say high
teens to 30+ degrees celsius. I know most of my viewers right now will be
in winter, which makes it a little more difficult. But yeh, we’re spraying straight on, no
prep. I chose a dark blue, to kinda match the blue
sublegends on the function row. Matte and satin will be easier than glossy. If you want a glossy finish, everything will
take longer, and it’s just more difficult. Especially if it’s cold. But the number one key with painting is patience. I’d advise with putting a thin first coat
just to get it to grab. Then go harder, and do like 3 or more coats
until you cover it. With painting, it just depends. All cans, paints, colours, and conditions
are different. You know what, let’s paint the escape and
enter key just because. Then slap on some clear coat. I’m using matte clear, nice and easy. And even if you do have a glossy paint, you
can change it to matte or satin just with the clear coat. And again, like 2, 3, or 4 coats should be
sweet. Let all that dry for a good amount of time
before you put it back together. But honestly I did this all super late at
night, but it is summer here. Super super easy with this board. I do have a dedicated video on spray painting,
although that is a little outdated now. But yeh, these pieces are so easy to clean
up if you make a mistake anyway. Just wet sand it back, and try again. And just don’t paint on the inside, so it
all fits well. I went with quite a safe and subdued look. And I got rid of the stripes at the front,
since it kinda accentuates that it is painted. But I like how it looks hey. I did go back and wet sanded it with like
3000 grit. I’m not sure actually, it was just a ripped
off piece. And the finish looks and feels pretty good. Honestly even with cheap spray paint, you
can really get beautiful finishes, it just depends on you, your paint, and the time you
have. This one was a rush job though, but I’ve
done this so many times, so it turned out fine. Makes it look a little plasticky I think with
this finish, so not great, but not bad. I also painted the escape and enter key. I chucked on the Red Velvet logo on the escape,
because I had leftovers from the Wendy macropad build. And I’m relatively happy. Now let’s see how this sounds after the
mods. As expected. Not as harsh and sharp anymore in both feel
and sound. It’s more dense, there’s a deeper sound. I did try this without the foam before, and
the ping disappears when you lube the switches and springs, so that’s cool now. Honestly it’s just the caps that kinda take
away from the typing experience a bit. But changing caps would be adding to the cost. So it do be like that sometimes. So definitely, if you can, lubing and filming
does change the experience quite a lot, and it’s not crazy expensive. Again, I’ll link that stuff, because there’s
different things you do with different sorts of switches. And that’s it. My somewhat spiced up Keychron K6. I think as an all rounder, it’s a pretty
solid choice for a beginner, a casual. It’s that nice 65% form factor, RGB backlighting
that people like. Wireless, which I personally love. And hotswap, so you can try out different
switches without desoldering or buying a new board, all in a pretty decent package. So not bad at all. If you wanna make it your own, I do recommend
the aluminium version, and it’s so easy to paint or whatever because you don’t need
to take the board apart, with the alu pieces just sliding off. If you do, tag me on Instagram or something! All links in the description.
