At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Fantastic value for a mech board
• Decent switches, inner foam, gasket mounting
• VIA and QMK programming

Cons

• Only pink lighting
• USB-C cable is a little bit stiff to plug in

Our Verdict

After conquering the excessive finish of the mechanical keyboard market, Keychron didn’t come to the finances section to lose. With a mixture of strong {hardware} and hard-to-find programming choices, the C3 Pro is a unbelievable alternative for these quick on money or hesitant to spend huge on a keyboard.

Price When Reviewed

$34.99

Best Prices Today: Keychron C3 Pro keyboard

$36.99

Mechanical keyboards are my favourite little bit of PC accent tech, however I wouldn’t blame anybody for balking at a few of their costs. A “gaming” board from a significant model begins at about $100, and extra premium examples can stretch towards $300 or beyond. The sky’s the restrict for customized or boutique builds, however your choices for finances designs from dependable distributors are fairly restricted. Keychron is able to buck that development with the brand new C sequence.

The C3 Pro collects a smattering of Keychron’s greatest options with a teeny-tiny value, simply $35. For that you just get single-color backlighting, inner foam and a gasket mount, a alternative of linear or tactile switches, and maybe most crucially, programming choices with QMK and VIA. It’s a really totally different beast from the keyboards that Keychron has been making for the final couple of years, notably with a full plastic physique and ABS keycaps. But the mixture of options and high quality makes it the brand new finances board to beat.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best mechanical keyboards to study competing merchandise.

A examine in compromise

The C3 Pro is a TKL board, that means “tenkeyless,” whereby the quantity part on the correct of a full-sized design is chopped off. While eschewing the complete aluminum case and rainbow lighting of Keychron’s dearer designs, this board nonetheless affords a contact of aptitude with pink Space, Enter, and Escape keys, matching the pink backlighting. (Black alternates come within the field in order for you a extra button-down look.)

Michael Crider/Foundry

Though this isn’t a gaming keyboard particularly, you possibly can be forgiven for considering it’s, particularly with the pink LED flare lights on each side. The pink theme will be enhanced with the backlighting, which shines via the ABS keycaps. These are a bit smoother and cheaper than the PBT keycaps provided on many keyboards (even some less expensive ones). But they’re fairly respectable doubleshot plastic, that means the legends won’t ever put on down regardless of what number of TPS experiences you full.

Look intently at these legends, and you may see a little bit of Keychron’s legacy as a Mac-first keyboard maker. Some white printing on the Function row on the Win and Alt keys exhibits their Mac keyboard equivalents — urgent Fn + Caps will change to a Mac structure. Fortunately for us PC die-hards, the legends additionally double for the perform layer for many of those keys, together with media and quantity controls.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Lighting is available in any colour you need, as long as you need pink. Again, that is an appropriate trade-off for the value, although I think about some customers would have most well-liked white. Fn + Q will cycle via 14 pre-programmed results, that are fairly respectable as these items go, particularly with the added aptitude of the aspect lights. Fn + Tab turns them off.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The remainder of the board is pretty typical. Underneath is a set of two-stage ft, very helpful for adjusting the typing angle, and a few much-appreciated routing for the removable USB-C cable. (This is a function that Keychron doesn’t have on its hefty Q sequence boards, by the way in which — presumably placing these grooves into aluminum can be way more costly.) The cable isn’t braided, and it’s weirdly arduous to plug in with its flanged head, however upon getting it arrange you don’t want to consider it once more.

Typing and programming

The typing expertise on the C3 Pro is fairly good, and punching means above its weight class when it comes to value. I’m guessing that the “Keychron branded” linear switches on my evaluation unit are most likely re-badged finances switches from Kailh or Gateron, they usually’re positively not as easy as those on the pricier fashions. But because of high-quality stabilizers and a little generous give from the gasket mount, which suspends the primary deck in two layers of froth, typing is downright nice occasion for prolonged intervals. It’s a little bit quieter than common, too, because of some additional inner foam.

Michael Crider/Foundry

The keyboard’s structure is customary TKL, which implies you should use the included keycap instrument to take away the caps and provide your personal, assured that they’ll all match appropriately. Sadly, the switches are soldered in place, so that you received’t be changing them any time quickly. Again that is pretty typical of boards at this value (or perhaps a a lot increased one), however at the very least one instance has confirmed that it’s doable. The plastic case additionally has no uncovered screws, so this isn’t a design meant for heavy customization, both outdoors or in.

But there’s a fairly big benefit that the C3 Pro has over a few of its finances competitors, and it’s why this design will get “Pro” within the title. Like among the firm’s dearer fashions, it may be programmed with the favored QMK or VIA open-source instruments. While that is much less instantly mandatory than it might be for, say, a 60% board, it’s nonetheless a premium function that you just hardly ever see at this value stage (even with proprietary “gaming” software). It’s a lot appreciated.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Actually getting the extra user-friendly VIA up and working for the keyboard is a little bit unintuitive, requiring you to load up the net interface, authorize the board, and then upload a format file. Once in place, you get a typical and performance layer for each Windows and Mac configurations, which needs to be greater than sufficient for everybody.

Is the Keychron C3 Pro an excellent deal?

The C3 Pro is, objectively, a unbelievable deal. Its mixture of options and {hardware} at this value can be unbeatable…if it weren’t for one different keyboard I’ve examined this 12 months. The G.Skill KM250, at simply $5 extra, is unquestionably going for a similar finances crown.

The G.Skill keyboard contains RGB lighting, PBT “pudding” keycaps, a rotary quantity dial, and hot-swap change sockets that allow you to customise the texture of the board to a a lot higher diploma. On the opposite hand, it’s missing the VIA programming featured on Keychron’s keyboard, and with its extra compact dimension, it may actually use it. It additionally doesn’t have a gasket-mounted deck, making it a little bit stiffer, although it does have a few of that very same sound-damping inner foam.

Michael Crider/Foundry

Honestly, the most important distinction between these two boards is the obvious one: the scale. Keychron affords a typical TKL structure that’s simpler to get accustomed to, whereas G.Skill’s 65% is comparatively tiny, however requires a little bit of person adjustment. If you’re selecting between the 2 and it’s a toss-up, go together with the one which appeals primarily based on the structure.

Conclusion

Michael Crider/Foundry

Keychron has confirmed that it could possibly compete within the high-end, triple-digit section of the keyboard market, with tons of various designs and codecs. The C3 Pro demonstrates that the corporate can nonetheless make an ideal board on a finances. While it’s missing the premium switches, PBT keycaps, and suppleness of fancier keyboards, it’s almost unattainable to beat dollar-for-dollar. Unless you completely want hot-swap switches (during which case, go for the G.Skill KM250), it’s a unbelievable alternative.