Gaming looks without the cringe doesn't come cheap: Keychron Lemokey L1 HE wireless gaming keyboard review

The Lemokey L1 HE is available directly from Keychron or Lemokey for $239.99 in three different colours — black, white, and silver. It is not yet available on Amazon, however. 

The Lemokey L1 HE is a wireless Hall effect gaming keyboard from Keychron's gaming brand. It features an exploded 75% layout with a knob and a left-mounted macro column. It is fully customisable and remappable in Keychron Launcher or Lemokey Launcher, and it features double-shot PBT keycaps, with the black variant offering shine-through keycaps. 

The most noticeable aspect of the Lemokey L1 HE is its weight, coming in at nearly 2 kg, which is heavy, even for an enthusiast-tier, all-aluminium keyboard. That heavy aluminium case makes the keyboard feel premium, but it also means that it will inevitably be more durable than even a good plastic keyboard — even the well-built Keychron C1 Pro 8K we recently reviewed is noticeably less stiff. There is absolutely no flex in the L1 HE's construction, and there are no sharp edges you're likely to find uncomfortable. 

Similarly, the keycaps and the accessory package are also high quality. The lettering on the keycaps is evenly illuminated by the RGB backlighting, and the texture on the main keycaps feels nice to the touch. The transparent PC keycaps have a glossy surface, which might be uncomfortable to some, but were easy enough to get used to during our review period. 

Despite the somewhat garish transparent keycaps, the L1 HE's design stands out as being a bit gamery but not too edgy that it would completely ruin a more minimalist desk setup — a difficult balance to strike. 

In terms of typing and productivity, the Lemokey L1 HE has a lot going for it. The 75% layout makes it a comfortable keyboard to use for both work and gaming, with the F row and left-side macro column coming in particularly handy when it comes to games that call for plenty of inputs. That macro column is also helpful for custom shortcuts in productivity workflows, especially in combination with features like DKS and ModTap — all of which are easily configurable in Keychron Launcher or Lemokey Launcher. The location of the knob and the power/connectivity switch are great for ergonomics, since that extra space doesn't eat into mousing room. The knob features a grippy knurled texture, and it is easy to rotate, with the notched rotation providing satisfying tactile feedback without making it difficult to turn. While the 23 mm front height isn't terrible, it would be nice to see that reduce to under 20 mm for comfort reasons. 

Battery life on the L1 HE is solid, if not class-leading. In tests with the backlight set to full brightness and the keyboard connected via 2.4 GHz (basically a worst-case scenario), the L1 HE managed around 75 hours of use; enough for just under two weeks between charges. This would be significantly longer with the backlighting disabled or running at a lower brightness. You can also theoretically extend the battery life by reducing the backlight and key scan timeout settings so that the keyboard conserves battery during periods of inactivity. 

Customisation via Keychron or Lemokey Launcher — the two web drivers are identical in functionality and layout — is excellent, with true per-key RGB customisation, macro customisation, and all of the fancy Hall effect features we've come to expect from Keychron's gaming keyboards — actuation distance, snap tap, DKS, rapid trigger, and even analogue mode for controller emulation. As usual, Keychron is one of the few brands that offers the latter aside from Wooting. Curiously, our review unit had a glitch that resulted in keys in the Launcher display not reflecting RGB backlighting settings that were correctly displayed on the keyboard. This is likely an issue with our unit or a firmware bug that will be addressed. Either way, it was easy enough to work around by just looking at the keyboard when you apply settings. 

The L1 HE has a gasket mount, but the keyboard still feels quite stiff to type on, likely owing to the aluminium switch plate. Still, that gasket mount does help isolate the PCB and plate from the case, which helps keep the bottom-out sound to a dull thud rather than the typical Hall effect clack. For the most part, the Lemokey L1 HE also has great stabilisers, but the space bar stabiliser could use a little more lubrication in order to sound its best.

The switches exhibit minimal wobble, although there is still some of that clattery sound when releasing the keys quickly, which is typical of Hall effect switches. It is less noticeable on the Lemokey L1 HE than the Keychron K4 HE we reviewed recently. This is likely a result of the gasket mount and the noise-damping materials in the L1 HE's case. As was the case with the K4 HE, the Gateron Double-Rail Magnetic Nebula switches have a 40–60 gf actuation force, which feels heavy towards the bottom of the stroke if you're used to regular linear switches. 

The Lemokey L1 HE does a lot right when it comes to keyboard design, delivering a satisfying typing experience, great build quality, and an excellent layout and customisability with aesthetic touches that give it a different look without going overboard. The only major criticisms here are the UV printed transparent keycaps and the $239.99 pricing.