Bluetooth - High end customs VS low end.

[D-One]

Hi guys, I lurk here a lot but never really posted so be gentle.
I recently bought a GK68SX to get a feel of what custom keyboards could be like without investing too much money, it was a bit of a disappointment for me.

One of my main issues is the battery life, so I am wondering if the experience is that much different for the higher end custom keebs.
The battery is 1900mAh and only lasts for around a day, with zero RGB on, it takes hours to charge so I end up with it wired so much that it defeats the purpose. From what I see Bluetooth is rare in custom keebs, people love coiled cables with huge aviator connectors but I would love to hear some opinions on the few that might Bluetooth keebs.
- Wich keyboard / PCB do you have?
- How long does your battery last?
- How long does it take to fully charge it?
- How many mAh?

On a more technical side, does anyone know exactly what makes Apple Keyboards so battery efficient? The battery lasts for more than a month for me.

[diazel]

Yeah, very little bluetooth action happening at the top end but then again you're often dealing with all metal chassis for the high end customs and radio signals don't love going through solid metal typically.

I have 6 bluetooth keyboards (3) Anne Pro 2, (1) GK64, and some rando Logitech convenient travel minis. I love using them on the go when I only have my laptop but if I'm sitting in front of my desktop, I can't be bothered to worry about the battery life. Keebs only get unplugged when they travel.

What's your use case that you're so dissatisfied by it?

Apple vs GK68 battery life... to start off, Apple Magic keyboard appears to have a 2,980mAh battery cocmpared to 1900mAh you're reporting for the GK68. No LEDs. Probably a more efficient processor/BT controller because Apple >>>> Epomaker. Could be something in their firmware that makes it better at conserving energy as well via power management or standby features. People way smarter than me have also commented that the GK is low latency bluetooth 5.0 with anti-ghosting and mechanical switches and multiple diodes per switch to manage all those features. Again, not an expert here and I would expect the experts to correct me if I'm wrong but I would reckon the Apple keyboard is giving up performance/flash for battery life. As Apple is the far more mobile/wireless platform, they have to be good at it.

[the_marsbar]

It depends how much energy was put into designing the electronics. The solution to battery-efficient hardware design is rarely a "one size fits all" in my opinion.

However, I must say that I really like the latest HHKB (HYBRID). The Bluetooth implementation is stellar in my opinion. I get several months of use with two rechargeable AA batteries, and switching between five devices is super easy, and very convenient. To me this is what a wireless keyboard should be like.
Being able to use the keyboard with a USB-C cable as well is just super nice as it makes the keyboard compatible with devices that doesn't have Bluetooth as well, and makes for a nice backup if batteries drain without extras on hand.

[Findecanor]

Looking at pictures of the PCB of the GK68SX, it has a separate MCU, Bluetooth module and then some controllers for RGB beside the main microcontroller.
A better way for conserving energy might be to have chosen a single MCU with both built-in Bluetooth and USB. The LED controllers should be turned off completely when not used. Then a lot depends on the firmware: that the MCU would close down unnecessary units and spend most of its time asleep in-between reports instead of constantly scanning the keyboard matrix (like some firmwares do).

[Leslieann]

I would never expect a small company or enthusiast made keyboard to match something Apple or Logitech could do wirelessly, at least not any time soon, they don't have the software, labs, manufacturing or the ability to get specialized hardware made.

[dopzy]

I would never expect a small company or enthusiast made keyboard to match something Apple or Logitech could do wirelessly

I largely agree, although I think there's enough low power Bluetooth controllers/modules on the market for small companies and enthusiasts to make something solid. That said, supporting Bluetooth is going to require additional skillsets on top of what is required to produce a wired keyboard circuit.

Large engineering teams come with their own issues, check this Twitter thread for some hilarious teardown of the Logitech Harmony 900 remote and its technical decisions .

[D-One]

I must say that I really like the latest HHKB (HYBRID). The Bluetooth implementation is stellar in my opinion. I get several months of use with two rechargeable AA batteries

Thanks for sharing your experience, thats great news, so it's possible to have a mech keyboard and months of battery time.
I couldn't live with the HHKB layout for the lack of the 3 left modifiers, but at least theres some hope now.

I would never expect a small company or enthusiast made keyboard to match something Apple or Logitech could do wirelessly, at least not any time soon, they don't have the software, labs, manufacturing or the ability to get specialized hardware made.

Me neither, that's perfecly reasonable, however a difference of a few months to 1 single day is baffling, to me, it feels broken.

What's your use case that you're so dissatisfied by it?

Use case: Home use mostly, however since I am a musician (home studio) so I have a ton of wired music gadjcts on my desk already, when working i move the keyboard around a lot and often place it on top of music gear or bring it further away from the computer where other music gear is, so i like my computer periferals to be wireless. (Got an Mx Master mouse too, months of battery life)

Why i am dissatisfied: I didn't want my first post to be a rant :S
Mainly battery life, 1 day is absolutely really ridiculous to me.
The keyboard is advertised as mac compatible yet has no mac version of the software, fortunately, a indie dev ported the windows version and its emulated on a web browser (virtualized might be a better discription), this is far from ideal as it has quirks. The software overall is pretty unintuitive. No way to map some of the OS system shortcuts (this would be fine if it wasn't marketed towards macs)
Keycaps were advertised as XDA but they in the DSA realm of profile, I love the XDA blocky look and was one of the main reasons I bought it.

Apple vs GK68 battery life... to start off, Apple Magic keyboard appears to have a 2,980mAh battery cocmpared to 1900mAh you're reporting for the GK68. No LEDs. Probably a more efficient processor/BT controller because Apple >>>> Epomaker. Could be something in their firmware that makes it better at conserving energy as well via power management or standby features. People way smarter than me have also commented that the GK is low latency bluetooth 5.0 with anti-ghosting and mechanical switches and multiple diodes per switch to manage all those features. Again, not an expert here and I would expect the experts to correct me if I'm wrong but I would reckon the Apple keyboard is giving up performance/flash for battery life. As Apple is the far more mobile/wireless platform, they have to be good at it.

I understand a billion-dollar company is gonna be better in this battery topic especially with their mobile history, I just didn't expect a difference from 1 day to 2-3 months.

1900mAh vs 2,980mah... assuming mAh and power use scales linearly, upgrading the battery to double the capacity would still only last me 2 days (VS months..), this is my main reason for posting, as I am considering upgrading the battery but if all I get is 2 days instead of 1 I'll probably settle for using it wired or start looking at other keyboards again.