1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,160 What if Keychron made a gaming focused keyboard? 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:09,360 Well, that's kind of what they've done with the LimoKey. It's their, ah, it's their brand 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:13,240 that is a subdivision of Keychron. And we've got the L3 here, 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,800 which is a TKL wireless keyboard. You know, oh, they do say gaming, 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,640 gaming mechanical keyboard with endless possibilities. 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:26,320 The only real difference between this guy and other stuff from Keychron, as far as I can tell, 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,100 is they've got 2.4 gigahertz wireless now, which is actually really good 8 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:33,420 because it lets you hit 1,000 Hertz polling rate on wireless. 9 00:00:33,420 --> 00:00:38,240 I use them all wired anyway, so I like them and I'm fine, and they do 1,000 Hertz polling rate wired, 10 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:42,760 but they only have Bluetooth, typically. Does it come with a dongle? 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,500 Where is the dongle? Yes, we have our dongle. Ask anyone around here. 12 00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:53,040 I basically never use wireless anything, but if it uses a dongle, there's a good chance 13 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,800 it's gonna at least be okay. Bluetooth, I just don't trust it, I'm sorry. 14 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,440 Man, I just love saying the word dongle, too. It's such a weird name. 15 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:07,440 Such a weird word. I feel like a boss on me. Dongle, dang, I got the dongle in my back. 16 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:15,520 Oh yeah, they're gonna hate me. They're gonna hate me, they'll be like, that sounds like some garbage, they'll be like, garbage. 17 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,400 So we've got a screwdriver, an Allen key, 18 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,240 and a key cap and switch puller. Very handy. 19 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:29,360 I actually really like that they include a little screwdriver and two Allen keys, actually, 20 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,280 so that if you do wanna open this, you're not without the proper tools. 21 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:38,440 We've got some extra key caps here. That looks like it's for, you know, if you wanna convert this to an Apple or Mac layout, 22 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,680 so it's got command instead of control or Windows key. 23 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,440 Oh my God, I am such a fan that more and more companies 24 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,920 seem to be including extra hardware. I love that they've got extra, two extra case screws, 25 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,640 and then we've got four screws that go to the PCB, probably for your stabilizers. 26 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,680 Really teeny tiny guys. We've got some feet. 27 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,000 I don't know if these are extras, let's take a look. 28 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,440 Yep, feet are already pre-installed, so these are just extra feet, which is always nice. 29 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:11,960 And then we've got a bunch of extra, it would look like gaskets. It is gasket mounted, double gasket, apparently. 30 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:16,400 They've also got a handy dandy quick start guide. This is pretty typical for Keychron in general. 31 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:22,520 And they've, yeah, they've got the Type-C extension adapter in case you don't have a USB-A port to use, 32 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,600 which is actually becoming more and more common on laptops. It's not male. 33 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:31,560 Okay, I don't like the adapter as much as I thought I did because it's not just a pure adapter. 34 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,280 It's female-female on both ends. 35 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:42,480 So unfortunately, you can throw this in here, but then you're gonna need a USB-C to C cable. 36 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,880 Yeah, just a really minor thing. Like it's nice that they've included the adapter, 37 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:51,520 and it's nice that they've also included an adapter going the other way for the USB-C cable. 38 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,520 However, I really wish this was a female-to-male connection 39 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,120 so that you could just take the dongle and slot it into your laptop or computer. 40 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:03,960 Otherwise, we've got a nice long cable, which does come with a female-to-male connector. 41 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:08,560 The only problem is it's USB-C female side and then USB-A male side, 42 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,680 which might not be what you're looking for, especially not with this if you wanna use the dongle. 43 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,720 But you know, it's like a good, what, five or six foot cable, that's great. 44 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,720 You know what, we're not gonna use the cable today. 45 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,000 Boom, we're gonna try the dongle. 46 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,560 That's a great question, Bill. Does it have a dongle storage on the keyboard? 47 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,280 Because you know what, a lot of people do lose those things, especially when you wanna grab it and go, 48 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,360 and it does not look like there is a spot to put the dongle. 49 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,360 So that's a bit of a miss, kind of annoying when you can't just like, 50 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,000 slot it in somewhere, especially if there's a little cover there to keep it in place, keep it hidden, 51 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,840 keep it secret, keep it safe. You know how I know it's a key-cron company, 52 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,440 Limo Key, because I got this key-cron thing here. Make sure switch pins are straight 53 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,800 before inserting switch in, wow. If it wasn't clear already, this is hotswap. 54 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:58,400 I think just about everything from key-cron is hotswap these days, if not everything. 55 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,120 And they got this really nice guide here, if the quick start guide isn't enough for you. 56 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,280 Oh, I love how they've got a item list. So the fully assembled version, 57 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:13,720 you've got everything that it comes with, you've got everything for the bare bones version, just to make sure that you haven't actually lost anything. 58 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,080 There's nothing missing from your package. It defaults to Windows. 59 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:21,800 This is via QMK compatible, although I think the firmware isn't uploaded yet, 60 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,640 so you have to get it yourself and then map it or something. It's on their website. 61 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,760 Watch the building tutorial on our website. That's always nice as well. 62 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,760 Most kits that you buy will have some kind of build guide somewhere, 63 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:37,320 but it's not always readily apparent. So it's nice when they have it just on their website. 64 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:43,400 As for the actual design and construction of the keyboard, it is aluminum CNC 6063 aluminum, 65 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,320 and it's been anodized to whatever color you want it in. It comes in black, blue, or silver. 66 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:53,400 We've clearly got the black one here. I've never seen this before, but it has, aside from the actual case, 67 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:58,600 it's got these sort of face plates on the top. And I don't know if you can take those off. 68 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,160 It looks like you can use a really tiny Allen key. Let me check and make sure 69 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,860 that you can use the small one they include. Yep, I can confirm the tiny Allen key 70 00:05:06,860 --> 00:05:11,320 that comes with the device will fit into these guys here. 71 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:16,000 I don't know if you have to take the face plates off to fully disassemble it, but they're kind of neat. 72 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,800 Aside from that, it's just kind of a typical TKL. Almost. 73 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:24,000 We've also got these four, what I'm guessing are macro buttons right here. 74 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,640 Ooh, these are nice. And they're full key switches too, which is great. They're not like little extra. 75 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:32,720 Cause we've had a couple of keyboards recently that they had macro buttons, 76 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,800 but they were like buttons, like click buttons more than they were keys. 77 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:42,200 So this is nice. You can fix and replace these if you need to. We've got a nice knob here, which does click down. 78 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:46,040 I don't know what these three little strips are here. 79 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,800 I'm guessing that their LEDs with maybe like, 80 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,680 it tells you caps lock is on or something like that. We'll find out once we turn it on. 81 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,160 And then aside from that, you know, we've got our USB-C port on the left side, 82 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,620 which is good for people who want to, you know, some people like it on the middle. 83 00:06:01,620 --> 00:06:07,720 Some people like it on the right. Some people like it on the left. This one's on the left, just so you are aware. 84 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:12,560 And then on the bottom, it's actually got this neat like X cross design 85 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,240 on three little sections here, along with the feet. 86 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,740 I kind of like it. It's got south facing RGB. That's how, you know, it's really for gamers. 87 00:06:20,740 --> 00:06:25,540 Oh, it turned on. Oh, look at that. It's a lot more noticeable in person, 88 00:06:25,540 --> 00:06:29,080 like directly in front of me here. I can very easily see that. 89 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,160 That being said, you know, the one thing that you might want to consider is shine through key caps 90 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,760 cause these don't look like they are. No, it doesn't appear to be. 91 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:41,080 Ooh, and these things do light up. The only thing that I'm a little confused about 92 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:45,440 are these ports down here. There's like a grill with one, two, three, four, five, 93 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:50,080 six ports. And then there's a seventh one with something. 94 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,200 It kind of looks like a light, you know, like one of those factory lights or, 95 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,360 oh, what are those lights called that you like hang on things in workshops? 96 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,640 I'm not sure why that's there. We thought maybe it's for the dongle 97 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,840 to slot the dongle in somewhere, but they're not big enough for the dongle to slot in. 98 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:08,100 So that's definitely not the case. And I don't think there's a built in speaker 99 00:07:08,100 --> 00:07:11,460 on the, I guess back of the keyboard. We've also got limo key. 100 00:07:11,460 --> 00:07:15,060 They're a little badge up here, which is, you know, it's fine. It's nice and understated, 101 00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:19,000 not like when you're buying a red dragon keyboard and it's like red dragon, like right there. 102 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:25,340 As for the switches, let's check them out. We've got Jupiter red switches from Gateron. 103 00:07:25,340 --> 00:07:28,820 Man, I love hot swap. It's just so nice. You just, you take the switch out, 104 00:07:28,820 --> 00:07:31,880 you put the switch in, it just works. They're reds, all right. 105 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,780 They're linear, they feel and sound pre-loobed. 106 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:39,640 I'm not sure how I'll like them because I'm kind of leaning towards 107 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,760 a very heavy linear these days or a tactile. 108 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,880 The PCB looks all right. Can't tell too much without, you know, 109 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:52,800 actually opening it up and taking a look, but it's not some stock green PCB. 110 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:56,000 It's nice and black to match the rest of the keyboard 111 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,080 and all the inside components. In typical Q-Series fashion, 112 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:03,880 which is the more premium lineup from Keychron. Under the top case, you got gaskets, your plate, 113 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:07,480 sound absorbing foam, a nice PCB, some case foam, 114 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,120 silicone gaskets, of course a battery because, you know, it's wireless. 115 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,800 How does it sound and feel and type? You know, that's the real question. 116 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,440 Like it looks cool. It's definitely for certain people 117 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,840 and not for certain people. If you don't like this kind of weird industrial thing 118 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:27,240 they're going for, I don't think it's gonna be for you. I kind of dig it, but we're gonna do our typing test 119 00:08:27,240 --> 00:08:31,200 to truly evaluate it. Setting up device, we're setting up limo key link. 120 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:36,160 Whoa! Yo, that's cool. I love it when it just recognizes it like right away. 121 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,360 That's fantastic. It's working! 122 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,040 So I don't know what they're mapped to originally, but VIA isn't detecting them 123 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:48,040 as like one of the alternate keys that's already on your keyboard. So it's not set to like F13 or anything. 124 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,600 Actually, you know what? I'm gonna use something that's not VIA. Yeah, even keyboardtester.com 125 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,480 isn't pulling anything up for these. But you can set them to whatever you need. 126 00:08:55,480 --> 00:09:01,080 So it's always nice having extras. I actually don't really use macros for anything. 127 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:06,040 I hardly, I don't even use VIA. Like I just, I don't know. I'm not one of those people who likes to remap things. 128 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:10,680 Even in most games, if the control scheme sucks, I just kind of deal with it and learn it. 129 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:14,480 And then it's too late. All right, so let's try monkey type and away we go. 130 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:15,320 Oh. 131 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,440 116, 98%. That's not bad, but I've definitely done better. 132 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:34,280 What? I've been like damn, only 168%, this keyboard walks. 133 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,960 No, it's a good keyboard. One thing I noted though, while typing on it, 134 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,760 is one problem with the Q series that a lot of people experience, 135 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:50,080 and it's kind of like one of the only downsides, is the stabilizers aren't always perfectly done. 136 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,280 And so what you end up with is a very different sound 137 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:58,680 when you go to hit the spacebar compared to any other key. And that's just kind of always gonna happen 138 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:02,520 just because it's like a really long key instead of a small one. 139 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,320 But it's not massively different on a lot of keychrons that we have here at the office 140 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:12,120 that's everyone's complaint is like, oh yeah, you know, I can really hear the spacebar every time. 141 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,720 But this one is nice and muted. And it's not massively different 142 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:22,560 from the other sounds of the keys. So it actually sounds really good. 143 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:27,320 Especially if you like that kind of more high pitched sound a little bit, like it's got foams in there. 144 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:31,960 But it sounds almost elegant in a way. 145 00:10:32,680 --> 00:10:36,960 It sounds like what you expect a mechanical keyboard to sound like, but a little better. 146 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,520 I'm actually pretty against linears right now, unless they're super heavy, 147 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,520 but I really enjoy these red jukers from Gateron. 148 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:47,560 Maybe I just need to keep typing with linears again. 149 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:51,600 It's got a 4,000 milliamp hour battery if you're gonna go wireless. 150 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:56,880 I mean, 4,000 milliamp hours actually pretty average compared to other wireless keyboards out there. 151 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:00,120 Obviously, if you don't have the RGB either turned on 152 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,520 or have the brightness cranked, it's gonna last longer. Lights take a lot of battery life. 153 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,520 And I hit the caps lock. This does light up. Can you even see that, David? 154 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,880 Oh yeah, you can on the camera. Yeah, you can totally see that this one's blue now. 155 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,840 If I cycle it on and off, they definitely like come on. 156 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,040 So you can see it's RGB, it's red, green, blue. 157 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,280 It does that as soon as I set it to Bluetooth. So we found it in the manual. 158 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,280 Not in the quick start guide. If you're a little confused, go looking at the manual. 159 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,720 We've got our charging indicator on the left. The middle is supposed to be 2.4 gigahertz 160 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:35,200 or Bluetooth indicator. Okay, it doesn't when I connect it. It doesn't when you connect it, but then it turns off. 161 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,040 Which is kind of annoying. I actually really like the light staying on. And then the right one, I was correct. 162 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,920 It is the caps lock light. Cause that was pretty obvious. You hit the caps lock button, it turns on. 163 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,240 So I do like that they're red, green, blue. 164 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,920 It's a minor thing, but I mean, it's RGB. It's a gaming keyboard. 165 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:54,600 So I like it, I like it, I like it. Honestly, if you've been looking for something 166 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:59,780 that's wireless, but is still pretty decent and the best part is this is in stock, 167 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:06,080 maybe look no further. A thousand Hertz polling rate isn't anything special these days. 168 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:09,520 Just about everyone is doing that. Most companies are actually, I mean, 169 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,280 most of the bigger brands like Razer and Cort. I think Corsair has an 8,000 now as well. 170 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:18,720 They're going up to eight kilohertz now. But the reality is it's diminishing returns, right? 171 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,360 Like 250 Hertz. Yeah, the latency on that is not great. 172 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,600 But the problem before is that Bluetooth polling rate 173 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,640 sucks and people that want to use wireless, like it's fine for everyday tasks, 174 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:34,200 but when it comes to gaming, you do want to reduce that leg chain as much as possible. 175 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,720 And you can kind of do that now with a thousand Hertz. So that's a really nice feature. 176 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,760 And I've got to say, I'm pretty big on this thing. 177 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:48,040 Like most key crown keyboards, you can get this with a few options, whether it's bare bones, assembled or ISO layout. 178 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:52,040 So you get that weird vertical enter that I can't stand. 179 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,480 But it also comes with a number of switches. Gateron Jupiter red, like we have today. 180 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,480 Gateron Jupiter brown. Gateron Jupiter banana and bare bone, 181 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,920 which doesn't have a switch at all. You know, it's just bare bone. You just get the kit and that's it. 182 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:11,440 Now the current configuration, the one that we've got in front of us today is $216. 183 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:18,200 Now it starts at 189 bucks for the bare bone and it's currently only available through Kickstarter. 184 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,920 It's key crown, even though it's limo key. So you know that they're probably gonna end up delivering. 185 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:27,240 We've got a finished product in the box. It looks like they're all ready to go. 186 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,640 They just kinda wanna get a sense of whether people want this or not. 187 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,960 They don't wanna commit to fully pushing it out there, which is fine, it's a new product for them. 188 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:39,960 Assembled with switches, it's 209 bucks, which honestly doesn't seem too bad 189 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:44,800 for a keyboard of this level of quality. And from a company that I relatively trust, 190 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:50,320 I recommend key crown all the time because while this is in pre-order on Kickstarter right now, 191 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:54,180 chances are if it does well, they're just gonna add it and it's gonna be one of those things 192 00:13:54,180 --> 00:13:59,400 that is readily available on their website. Don't get me wrong, some of their products go out of stock, 193 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:04,000 but they're really good because they're just, if you want a certain layout, it's usually there. 194 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:09,860 The only problem that a lot of people might have is that while it is a TKL, it's a lot bigger 195 00:14:09,860 --> 00:14:13,480 than a regular TKL because it's got the knob and all these macro keys here. 196 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:18,400 So it's not actually that much smaller than if you bought a full-size keyboard, 197 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:22,220 but I don't know, I kinda dig it. I think it looks neat. 198 00:14:22,220 --> 00:14:26,960 I really like the color scheme on this one, on the gray and black and red keycaps. 199 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:31,180 I am digging the cherry profile, although, ah, you know what? 200 00:14:31,180 --> 00:14:36,540 You know, no, no, no, no, I took a quick look at this and I'm like, oh, I don't like that the macro keys 201 00:14:36,540 --> 00:14:41,060 are all straight, but now I do like it. I changed my mind, just that fast. 202 00:14:41,060 --> 00:14:44,180 I'm a fickle, fickle man. As for the keyboard itself, the only thing 203 00:14:44,180 --> 00:14:50,820 that would really amp it up a notch in my mind is if it had one or two stage adjustable feet, 204 00:14:50,820 --> 00:14:55,280 especially because, you know, typing angles, people are very sensitive to them 205 00:14:55,280 --> 00:15:00,840 and everyone likes something different. I just wanna see that more on higher end keyboards 206 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,020 in general. Anyway, that's the Limo Key L3. 207 00:15:04,020 --> 00:15:08,080 Check it out on Kickstarter if you want to. If you don't want to and maybe you want to later, 208 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,860 maybe it'll be on Limo Key's website. Let us know what you guys think in the comments down below, 209 00:15:11,860 --> 00:15:15,420 subscribe to ShortCircuit. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time. 210 00:15:16,380 --> 00:15:19,320 Bye. Cut the camera.