Keychron K2 HE Review: Hall Effect That Also Works on a Desk

What hall effect buys you here

A normal mechanical switch closes a circuit at a fixed depth. A hall effect switch puts a magnet on the stem and a sensor underneath, so the board knows continuously how far down the key is. Nothing touches, so there is nothing to wear out or feel scratchy, and the actuation depth becomes a software setting.

PCWorld reports the adjustable range as 0.2mm to 3.8mm in 0.1mm increments, which is effectively the entire travel. At the shallow end a key fires almost as soon as you move it. At the deep end you can rest your fingers on the home row without triggering anything.

Most keyboards that do this look like gaming hardware. This one is a 75 percent board in an aluminium case with PBT caps and optional wood side panels, which is the actual argument for it.

The Bluetooth number

Wired and the 2.4GHz dongle both run at 1000Hz. Bluetooth does not.

SemiPro measured it at 90Hz. PCWorld puts it around 125Hz. Nobody disputes the direction, and either figure is roughly a tenth of the other two connections. PCWorld also found a wake-up delay after standby.

So the three connections are not interchangeable, whatever the marketing implies. Keep Bluetooth for a laptop you type on occasionally and use the dongle for anything where input timing matters. SemiPro also hit intermittent 2.4GHz instability, which is worth knowing before you rely on it exclusively.

How it sounds

This is where the reviews get warm. TechWeLike describes buttery smooth typing with a deep acoustic character, crediting EVA foam and silicone damping inside the case, and rates it above previous Keychron boards on that alone.

The switches ship pre-lubed, which normally is the first thing an enthusiast does by hand. Between the lube, the foam and the double-shot PBT caps, the board arrives in the state most people would otherwise spend an evening getting it to.

The lock-in

The board is hot-swappable, but only for Gateron Double-Rail magnetic switches. Standard MX switches do not work, and PCWorld and TechWeLike both flag it.

That is inherent to the technology rather than a Keychron decision, but the practical effect is the same. The usual mechanical keyboard escape hatch, where you dislike the switches and change them, is mostly closed here. You get the adjustable actuation instead, which covers some of the same ground, but not the feel.

What is missing

No media keys and no volume wheel, per PCWorld, which on a 75 percent board with room for one is a real omission.

The case is tall enough at the front that PCWorld recommends a separate palm rest. And SemiPro found the side-mounted USB-C port awkward, which matters more than it sounds when the cable has to route around whatever else is on the desk.