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Keychron Q2 Review — Tom's Hardware Editor's Choice With Genuinely Terrible Stock Keycaps

Keychron Q2
Keychron Q2

Reviewed Product

Keychron Q2

$79.99 – $199 USD

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TL;DR

Tom's Hardware named the Keychron Q2 an Editor's Choice for its gasket-mount build, screw-in stabilizers, rotary knob, and QMK/VIA support — then spent a paragraph trashing the OEM keycaps. Reddit echoes both halves: 'the board to end my keyboard addiction' (and 261 upvotes calling that prediction wrong), with the universal owner mod being a tape mod and stab tuning. Wired-only, $179, and the gateway drug to the custom keyboard hobby.

Verdict: Buy

Pros

  • +Gasket-mount design with poron gaskets produces noticeable plate flex out of the box
  • +Screw-in stabilizers are 'even better than before' (Tom's Hardware) — less rattle than the Q1's
  • +Rotary knob is well-implemented and configurable via VIA
  • +QMK/VIA support out of the box — no proprietary software
  • +All-aluminum CNC build at 3.6 lbs — solid, doesn't slide

Cons

  • −Stock OEM keycaps are bad enough that Tom's Hardware called them 'terrible' — RGB shines through the escape key like it's transparent
  • −Wired-only — no Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz wireless
  • −$179 (sometimes $169 on sale) is steep for a 65% — competitors hit similar with wireless at the same price
  • −Stabilizers still need lube + clip for best results — universal owner recommendation
  • −No coiled cable in the box; ships with a firm USB-C cable instead
E

Ethan Park

Published May 3, 2026

The Keychron Q2 is the small one — same gasket-mount, same all-aluminum body, same QMK/VIA story as the Q1, but in a 65% layout that's smaller and (per Tom's Hardware) "doesn't sound hollow at all." Tom's Hardware gave it Editor's Choice. r/MechanicalKeyboards owners turned it into a meme: "the board to end my keyboard addiction" (it didn't end anyone's addiction). And the stock keycaps are, by every measure, the worst part of the otherwise-excellent package.

I read Tom's Hardware in full, pulled six substantive Reddit threads, and catalogued seven YouTube reviews (transcripts unavailable — see sources note at the end). The picture is consistent: a great chassis, a flawed cap set, the gateway to spending more money on this hobby.

What you're actually getting

A 65% gasket-mount with poron gaskets and visible flex. This is the upgrade story over the Q1. Tom's Hardware reviewer Myles Goldman: "Right out of the box, I noticed that the Q2 had much more flex than the Q1 did, which I believe is caused by the poron gaskets." (review) He continues on the sound: "When I reviewed the Q1, I complained that it sounded relatively hollow, especially for a gasket mount board. Fortunately, Keychron listened and the Q2 doesn't sound hollow at all."

Stabilizers that don't need an evening of work to be tolerable. Same review: "The stabilizers on the Q2 are even better than before; the wires click right into place and by default had less rattle than the Q1's stabilizers did." That said, every owner mod thread still recommends lube + clip — see the FAQ.

QMK/VIA out of the box, plus a programmable rotary knob. Tom's Hardware verdict line: "The Keychron Q2 comes with quiet sound, screw-in stabilizers, a well-constructed gasket mount design and a highly configurable rotary knob." If you've used VIA before, the Q2 just works. If you haven't, this is a friendly board to learn on.

How it actually performs in owners' hands

The most-upvoted r/MechanicalKeyboards thread for the Q2 is the 261-upvote post titled "The board to end my keyboard addiction: Keychron Q2" — which the comments unanimously call out as wishful thinking. u/queefy_bong_water (116 upvotes): "Lol this isn't your last." u/shyrix (46 upvotes): "i wish i stopped at my q2. my wallet would thank me." u/CorrodedRose (40 upvotes): "Keychron Q series boards are the beginning of the rabbit hole." u/cromagnongod (31 upvotes): "This was the keeb that started my keyboard addiction."

Owner-arrival threads are uniformly enthusiastic. Q2 has arrived! (61 upvotes), u/D1ssonant (5 upvotes): "I have had the Q2 for like two weeks now. I'm not home much, but man, when I am I love typing on this thing. I tape modded it and so far really loving it." u/foxfire (2 upvotes): "It's my current daily drive! I switched up the keycaps, did a tape mod, switched to different switches although the Gateron G Pro Browns are pretty satisfying."

The connectivity picture is mostly clean, with one outlier worth noting. u/Argg0 (2 upvotes, same thread): "Yeah I got the Q2 as well. Love it honestly I like everything about it, including the side profile etc. Only issue I had was static, it would make it disconnected and reconnect but besides that it's awesome. I kinda figured s fix but still happens just not as often." Single owner, isolated wired-static issue — not a pattern, but worth flagging.

Where it falls short

The keycaps. Tom's Hardware's section on the OSA caps is the harshest paragraph in an otherwise positive review: "But to my fingers at least, the Q2's keycaps are terrible. They are plenty thick, but calling these double shot PBT should embarrass Keychron, because they're that bad." And on RGB bleed: "When I enable RGB on the Q2, I can clearly see the light shining through the escape key, which is actually making me laugh as I write this, because these aren't supposed to be transparent keycaps." To Goldman's credit, he leaves room for taste: "I talked about how much I loathed the Q2's keycaps earlier, but their OEM spherical angled (OSA) shape felt pretty nice to type on." Translation: shape is fine, build quality of the caps themselves is not. Plan a custom set.

Wired-only is a real limitation in 2026. No Bluetooth, no 2.4 GHz dongle. If wireless matters at all, the Q2 Pro is the obvious choice and is what most current shoppers should be looking at.

The price-to-features gap has tightened. Tom's Hardware: "It's also a touch more expensive than its predecessor, priced at $179 instead of $169." Three years on, you can buy a Q2 Pro for similar money or move to the V2 Max for less. The Q2's stay-power is its build quality and customization headroom, not its raw spec sheet.

No coiled cable. The coiled-cable thread (144 upvotes) sums it up — Keychron quietly stopped including them. u/manzanapocha (15 upvotes): "OEM coiled cables are super crap anyway, you didn't miss anything." u/st1cks_UPSB (11 upvotes): "They stopped sending them with the q1 to save on costs so it's not like you're missing out." Mild gripe, real fact.

KSA caps (on the Pro variant) take adjustment. From the Q2 Pro vs Q2 thread, u/Jolteon93 (3 upvotes): "I've been using the KSA profile keycaps for over a month now and I just can't get used to them. I make so many typos and my WPM on monkeytype is consistently ~20 WPM lower than with Cherry profile." Relevant if you're considering jumping to the Pro for KSA — note the wired Q2 ships OSA, not KSA.

Should you buy it?

Buy if you specifically want a wired aluminum 65% with QMK/VIA and don't care about wireless, you understand you'll probably swap the keycaps, and the price gap to the Q2 Pro isn't compelling for your use. Tom's Hardware's verdict line: "The Keychron Q2 comes with quiet sound, screw-in stabilizers, a well-constructed gasket mount design and a highly configurable rotary knob." Editor's Choice landed for a reason — the chassis is great even when one accessory isn't.

Skip if you want wireless (go Q2 Pro or Q2 Max), if you want to keep total cost under $150 (look at the V2 Max), or if 65% layout is too compact for your workflow (the Q1 / Q1 Pro 75% sibling adds the function row and arrow cluster).

Wait if you can find the Q2 Pro on sale near Q2 prices — most current shoppers will be better served by the Pro variant for not much more money.

Sources consulted

YouTube (7 videos, metadata only — see note)

YouTube transcript pulls were blocked at the network level during this review's research, so I'm citing these videos as reviewer signal (channel + title + view count) but not pulling individual quotes from them. All seven verified resolving as full-length watch?v= URLs:

Reddit (6 threads cited with verbatim owner quotes)

Tech media (1 review fully parsed)

Products covered in this review

Keychron Q2

Keychron

Keychron Q2

$79.99–$199

Frequently Asked Questions

Q2 vs Q2 Pro — which one am I actually buying?

The Q2 is wired-only. The Q2 Pro adds Bluetooth wireless and is what most current shoppers should look at unless wired-only is a hard preference. The Q2 Max adds 2.4 GHz on top. This review covers the original wired Q2 — same chassis, same gasket-mount, same QMK/VIA story, no wireless.

Are the stock keycaps really that bad?

Yes, by Tom's Hardware's account. Reviewer Myles Goldman: 'But to my fingers at least, the Q2's keycaps are terrible. They are plenty thick, but calling these double shot PBT should embarrass Keychron, because they're that bad.' He also notes the legend isn't transparent but RGB still shines through. Plan to either buy a custom set on day one or pick a board that ships with KSA or MT3.

Will I need to mod it?

Tape mod and stab lube are the universal owner recommendations on r/Keychron giveaway threads — u/articlue: 'Tape mod and stabilizers tuning'; u/nosocool: 'Clipping and lubing stabs is a must.' The Q2 sounds good stock and great after 30 minutes of work. The hot-swap PCB and screw-in stabs are explicitly designed to make this easy.

How does it compare to the Q1 / Q1 Pro?

Smaller (65% vs 75%), quieter (Tom's Hardware: 'the Q2 doesn't sound hollow at all' vs the Q1's hollow tendency), with better stabilizers and more flex. If you want wireless, jump to the Q2 Pro. If you specifically prefer the 75% layout with arrow + function row, the Q1 Pro is the obvious sibling.