Keychron Q13 Max (Alice Layout) QMK Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard

This is by far the best keyboard I've ever had, and I had 15+ mechanical keyboards, half of them Keychron and Lemokey. It's built to last, keycaps are amazing, materials and quality is just not present on the market at this price point. I bought one for home and one for work, and I don't plan to switch in the next 5 years.

The keyboard itself is a work of art. The only downside is that the RGB is almost pointless as there are NO keycaps available that can be backlit. I work in low light most of the time and you can't see any of the key caps without the ability to backlight them. What is the point of all the RGB if they don't even offer a keycap set that can pass light through and backlight the keys?

Otherwise, and in every possible way, this is by far the nicest keyboard I've ever typed on. Just a beautifully made work of art.

This, in combination with the Gateron Jupiter Banana switches, is the absolutely incredible to type on.

The layout is great, the build quality is unmatched, the keycaps are durable and feel great, and everything just works as you would expect.

My only possible gripe is that the factory lube on the Gateron Jupiter Banana switches could described as "pretty good".

Out of the box, this outperforms most $800+ custom keyboard I've seen. After replacing the factory lube, this keyboard is 95%+ as good as any endgame keyboard out there for a fraction of the cost, hassle, and wait time.

I bought this for work and it was so good I bought another one for home. You will not regret this purchase.

I'm the guy who loves to try out many high-quality keyboards to try to optimize my experience. I spend over 8h/day developing software, writing, and communicating online, and another couple hours at the keyboard, so my keyboards get quite a workout.

Prior to trying this keyboard, I gravitated toward split keyboards and enjoyed ortholinear setups. I would do that to keep my shoulders and wrists in proper alignment due to carpal tunnel. That said, I've dingdonged around with the Alice layout recently, and have found it to be even better. The orientation of the keys allows you to keep yourshoulders at a comfortable position with your arms angled inwards and your wrists straight. After many hours at the keyboard, it seems to be more gentle on my carpal tunnel than even the split, ortholinear setup.

This layout, combined with the heftiness, substance, and acoustics of the keyboard and (Gateron Jupiter Banana) switch combination, makes this the most pleasant keyboard I've ever used. I thought I'd have to make modifications but now that I've received the keyboard, all I have to do is make sure all the layers are appropriately programmed.

I would say that adding a bit of anhedral, a la "Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite" might slightly improve the feel, and I'd be excited to see this in a newer version of the same board. That said, the pure quality of the materials used and the feel associated therewith puts this into a league with very few other members, far exceeding even Kinesis and Ergodox.