Keychron K7 Pro QMK/VIA Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard ISO Layout Collection

Keychron K7 Pro QMK/VIA Wireless Custom Mechanical Keyboard ISO Layout Collection

Lovely keyboard. Bit confused about the docmentation repeatedly directing me to the Via software for control, when this didn't work and https://launcher.keychron.com/#/keymap (which I had to find out about for myself!) worked brilliantly. Caused me a lot of extra work and angst setting it up!
Also would prioritise a proper End button, even if on a layer with Home, which is how I've now programmed it.

The keyboard - Keychron K7 Pro QMK/VIA Wireless UK ISO Layout

The Why - I wanted a keyboard for trips away that felt good to type on but wouldn't take up too much room or leave me in fear of breaking/losing an expensive keyboard in transit.

The Good - The things I am happy with or like personally
1. The K7 Pro is very compact for a keyboard with full size keys. There is no wasted space around the outside unlike the Lofree Edge.

2. The build quality of the case is good, it's fairly stiff but you can flex/twist it if you deliberately pick it up off the desk and try to.

3. It feels great to type on, better for me than my SteelSeries Apex 9 TKL (too big too travel).

4. The "Keychron launcher" https://launcher.keychron.com/#/keymap (stay safe, get the link off a product page on the Keychron site). This has allowed me to "fix" my dislike No.3 below. It's not as slick/polished as Oyrx for my Moonlander keyboard but it's better than some others I've seen/used.

The Room for Improvement - I have a couple of issues that Keychron should look at.
1. Switch quality. 3 of my keys did not work or only worked if pressed hard at a particular angle i.e. not when preseed centrally. All 3 were fixed by pulling the switch, pushing the 2 halves of the switch case together to make sure it was properly assembled and then refitting the switch. I have a few keyboards and have changed switches before so this wasn't too scary, had this been my first mech keyboard I would simply have returned it for a refund and shopped elsewhere.

2. The key caps are "ok", the only texture is due to the double shot production, there is no surface texture which for me would make a noticeable improvement to the typing feel. Also what's the point of a multitude of RGB lighting effects when the keycaps are not shine through? At the time of writing (Aug 2024) shine through keycaps are not an option with the K7 Pro or available as an after sales option.

3. There's some keys missing! I know, I know. It's a 65% keyboard, some keys have to be removed to get down to this size. However the "number" keys (1 through 0 plus - and =) have 4 functions each (e.g 1, !, backlight dimmer & F1). The del, home, page up, page down and arrow keys only have one function each. I really miss the "end" key which could so easily have been the 2nd function on the home key. Purely a personal preference, I would have found the volume up/down far more intuitive as the 2nd function on the arrow keys (or page up/down) rather than mute on the zero key, volume down on the minus/dash key and volume up on the equals key. It took a bit of playing but I've now added using the "Keychron launcher".