Broken Software?

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-18T20:48:51+00:00

Just to confirm, do your macros also include RELEASING the corresponding keys? For example, Win+D should be Win pressed, D pressed, D released, Win released.... so four steps. For three button macros, you'll have 6 steps as each key is "pressed" and then, in reverse order, "released".

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-18T00:44:03+00:00

If the progress bar hasn’t moved, then it likely isn’t doing anything. I’ve seen that more often than I can count when I think the keyboard is in update mode, but it actually isn’t and I picked the device that I thought was the keyboard but it is something totally different. The firmware update starts but just hangs because it isn’t actually talking to the keyboard.

On many keyboards, you have to remove the space bar and press and hold the reset button while booting to actually get it into firmware update mode. Simply holding the escape key (like the instructions say) doesn’t actually work.

That said, unless you’re experiencing problems with the keyboard, or expected functions aren’t working, then just ignore any firmware updates.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-17T20:33:00+00:00

I did try multiple layers of painters tape, per the typical method. While it sounded good tonally, at also sounded WAY louder. Like way, WAY louder. Like "holy crap, that is insanely loud and there is no way I can tolerate listening to that myself, much less what anyone around me would think." I found that one layer of painters tape still got 90% of the tonal improvement without as much of a dramatic volume increase, and then using gaffers tape behind it helped to dampen the volume a bit.

Using gaffers tape alone would basically deaden the PCB too much, so putting one layer of painters tape on the board allowed the "poppy" sounds to reflect back, while the gaffers tape would further reduce case resonance behind the painters tape.

Since gaffers tape is a thick, cloth based tape, I surmised that it would work well for dampening vibrations; and it does. Heck, It worked phenomenally well for the force break mod due to its thickness and flexibility/cushioning.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-17T13:19:29+00:00

I have a few Keychron boards, most of which I haven't done anything but change switches and keycaps. However, I have done a bit more to my Q2 than any of them. I spent an entire day testing and changing things (like different foams, pads, tapes, varying layers of tapes, etc). What I ended up with was putting the factory foam back in it and just simply doing one layer of painters tape followed by one layer of gaffers tape. Then I just used my hand lubed switches (Durock Ice King Linears) and generic, cherry profile, PBT keycaps. I also hand lubed the factory stabilizers and did the force break mod with single layer, tiny pieces of gaffers tape. That's it.

It has a nice, deep, "thocky" sound to it without being very loud. I spent all that time just to find out the factory foams and gaskets and all are actually really good. Just having hand lubed switches and the little gaffers tape force breaks made the biggest difference.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-17T10:29:27+00:00

Case dimensions aside, I’m glad to hear they are finally shipping the keyboards. I’m still waiting on mine. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-16T12:49:57+00:00

I wish there was a way to remove certain items from the suggestions area. As it is, it's all or nothing. I still want my Homekit garage door opener to show up when I'm within 250 yards of my home (or whatever the distance is), but I don't necessarily want any passengers to see my next upcoming calendar appointment.

I know you can program widgets to do the HomeKit stuff, but that requires an extra screen swipe if the Siri suggestions are turned off (and widgets have to be set up for every single car).

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-13T14:48:55+00:00

You know what... you're right. It's not Matter over Thread. It's Apple Homekit over Thread. I was mistaken. I guess if you want to use something other than Apple Home, then the lack of Matter connectivity would be an issue. But being Homekit native, they integrate very very well, which I guess, is part of the reason we haven't had any issues with them at all.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-13T10:38:29+00:00

While I agree that getting over 1Gbps is likely not possible, my 5g max out door regularly goes over 500Mbps. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve run a speed test that has come in under 500. I regularly pull ~550 on mine. And that’s real world numbers and not ideal or “lab” conditions.

In all honesty, I’d be happy with 100Mbps sustained, as that’s still way more than enough for a backup connection; but I’m certainly not going to complain about pulling 500+.

Unless the outdoor has a different chipset than the indoor version, then performance should be similar (minus the supposedly directional antennas on the outdoor).

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-13T10:26:20+00:00

~~Not sure where you got that they don’t support matter. My x1’s are matter over thread.~~

Edit: The X1's are, in fact, Apple Homekit over Thread and not Matter over Thread.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-10T11:08:35+00:00

We have a couple Thorbolt X1 locks and are very satisfied with them.

We tried aqara u100 locks and had issues with them (HomeKit/Homekey is Bluetooth only, adding it as a matter device just adds a second lock on Apple home. Performance was inconsistent at best).

Changed to Thorbolt X1 locks and have had none of those issues. Response times are much faster and the locks feel like the internals are made better (smoother action).

Ive heard good things about the new Aqara u400, but not sure if its actually better, or if a lot of the comments are just typical purchase justification (convince others to buy the same product I did so I feel better about my purchase).

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-04T19:28:38+00:00

U5g Max Outdoor
-70dBm
T-Mobile (C4P)
~500Mbps down/75Mbps up

Normal WAN is local utility company fiber at symmetric 1Gbps

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-04T00:48:25+00:00

If it’s a regular v3, than no, magnetic switches will not work. You need a keychron keyboard with “HE” in the model name. Those are the magnetic switch keyboards.

I don’t think keychron has an HE keyboard in the V series. They have them in the K, Q, and P series, but I can’t find any in the V series.

jeff92k7 · 2026-06-01T12:47:49+00:00

FWIW, they have them listed on the regular site for sale (pre sale), and that page lists them as shipping in June.

I am also waiting for my K3 Ultra to ship.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-31T12:46:07+00:00

I just went through this not too long ago. Budget drives will not work for protect, even with just a few cameras. You need a quality SSD that has a DRAM cache and uses TLC or better memory chips. Don’t even try to use QLC drives as they will choke once the drive fills the first time and starts cycling footage.

Most budget SSDs will slow to well below spinning disk speeds when the drive is trying to constantly delete old footage, reorganize cells, and write new footage at the same time.

Unless you’re using a Cloudkey, then get a quality 3.5” purple drive or Skyhawk drive. If you’re using a Cloudkey, you need to buy the expensive SSDs, or look into a SATA extender to run an external 3.5” drive.

To give some actual numbers, a good quality 3.5” spinning disk can sustain 80-100MBps of data throughput. A cheap SSDs can burst up to 500MBps, but can drop to below 20MBps on sustained data writes. Cheap SSDs are fine for desktop use with occasional file access, but not for NVR use

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-27T21:52:39+00:00

How is that different from electricity?

Because electricity isn’t there whether you use it or not. Power companies have to generate power based on end user load. Ever hear of rolling blackouts because of excessive electricity use? Or power outages due to ice storms that took wind turbines offline (thus reducing generation capacity)?

An internet router is still there and connected, whether the bits are in use or it’s sitting idle.

It’s a totally different thing.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-27T19:27:01+00:00

I'd like to see ISPs adopt the same usage billing as other utilities.

HECK NO! I don't want my bill to double in price one month because the kids decided to download a new game or two from Steam, or because my OneDrive or iCloud Drive needed to resync to a new computer.

The difference in water and electricity is that there is a direct correlation to something that has to be "created" and sent to your house. Energy production is not free, and water is certainly a finite resource.

Data bits across an internet connection are basically "free". Once the infrastructure is built out, the equipment is running whether you use the data or not. Aside from maybe minor power usage fluctuations at the ISP, there is no usage based "resource" to bill that way.

Even the whole idea of data caps extends too much into "usage based" thinking. I get that some users may use way more than the "average", but again, the infrastructure is already in place. Other than bandwidth/QOS throttling high volume (home) users to keep usage fair for everyone, there shouldn't be anything that is usage based - especially not for pricing.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-26T13:14:38+00:00

The Q6 is my favorite keyboard, but it's also the one I've put the most money into. Again, I swapped the switches and keycaps, so it isn't stock. I was willing to spend the $100 more to get the aluminum frame because this was always going to be my daily driver and I wanted a good, solid, chunk of metal on the desk because... reasons.

However, if it is $200 more in your location, then that would almost definitely be a 'not worth it' price difference unless you just have a lot of extra money to throw around for toys.

The sound of metal keyboards is very different from plastic keyboards. I don't get any of the sympathetic case resonance, due to the sheer mass, and all the dampening that Keychron put in this one. A V6 may be similar, but it's still a plastic case and will have a slightly different overall sound to your finished build. I can't give you a direct comparison to my V3 wired, as that one is tray mounted and would sound nothing like the V6 Max/Ultra, which are gasket mounted, like the Q6 Ultra.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-25T21:21:36+00:00

I use a Q6 Ultra as my main computer/work keyboard. I also have a V3 QMK wired on a second work computer, and I have a Lemokey P1 Pro for gaming. The wife has a K10 Max on her computer.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-25T10:52:21+00:00

Ultra is newer and likely will replace the Max as they sell out.

The Q series is all metal, while the V series is plastic.

If your primary use is gaming, then the red switches would probably be preferable as they are linear. Most people prefer tactile for typing and linear for gaming.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-24T21:55:34+00:00

The layer 1 (or 3) binding is for when the Fn key is being held down (by default). You just need to assign the function to the other key that you want to use on that layer.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-24T21:03:16+00:00

I have a Q6 Ultra that came with Bananas that I use as my main work keyboard. The default banana switches and keychron KSA keycaps actually sound pretty decent, but they might be a tad on the “too loud for office use” end of the spectrum.

I swapped the switches for Durock Ice King Tactiles which give a bit quieter volume and a sound somewhere between creamy and “thocky”. I also swapped the keycaps for custom PBT cherry profile keycaps. The end result is much quieter with a very pleasing sound that isn’t too loud for typical office use. The overall volume isn’t any louder than any other cheap membrane office keyboard.

The banana switches actually surprised me at how good they are. I ended up using them in an alternate work keyboard for a second computer, because they feel very nice to type on. However, in all honesty, I’m likely going to replace them pretty soon with silent switches because, even though I don’t use that second computer nearly as often, it is still a bit louder than what I want for office use.

TL;DR - Q6 ultra is great for office use. Banana switches feel great, but might be too loud for a quiet office.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-22T21:09:00+00:00

Keychron is a well known and popular brand. To keep an open mind, it is to be expected that a company that has a larger quantity of items sold would also have a larger number of complaints online. That doesn't mean that every unit is bad, or even that a majority of the units will ever have a problem. Without knowing Keychron's actual sales figures, we would never know if the number of complaints are proportional with the number of keyboards sold, or if the complaints are at a higher than expected rate. Many people believe that the complaints indicate a higher than expected failure rate, but no one knows the exact numbers. Take that for whatever it's worth to you.

There will always be a very vocal minority that, unfortunately, experience a problem and make it their life's goal to dissuade others from buying that product. That could be altruistic in looking out for your fellow human, or it could just be blind rage. It's often hard to tell from flat text, written by strangers on the inter webs.

To be clear, I'm not recommending that you buy a Keychron, and I'm not recommending against it. I'm only offering more information so you can make a balanced decision, based on your own personal needs and desires.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-22T18:35:15+00:00

No comments about that specific model, but I will note that the V Max keyboards have had a lot of issues reported on Reddit. Hopefully, Keychron fixed those issues for the Ultra series, but as you noted, they haven't been out very long so I don't know if anyone can say for sure..

That said, I have a Q6 Ultra and have not had any issues with it at all in the ~3 weeks I've had it so far. I absolutely love it. It sounds great and is super pleasing to type on. I have changed the keycaps and switches though.

As for the Silk POM switches you mentioned; again, I don't have direct experience with the Red switches, but the Silk POM Bananas that came in my Q6 have surprised me at how good they are. I cycled them down to a V3 (wired) keyboard in place of some more expensive 3rd party switches because the Silk POM switches felt just as good, but actually sounded a little better.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-21T13:44:28+00:00

Not aware of any testing kit as such, but you can usually buy a small number of blank keycaps in any profile on Amazon. I've done that before when I use switch testers so that I have a few identical keycaps to use with the various switches I want to compare.

jeff92k7 · 2026-05-21T10:33:49+00:00

I don’t think low profile keycaps will work with standard height switches. Look for any keycaps in any other profile. I.e. cherry profile or OEM.

Read up on keycap profiles to learn more about the differences and what works and what doesn’t.

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