Review of C2 Pro V2 and how to change its keys

Recently I bought a C2 Pro V2 mechanical keyboard I would like to explain certain moments. I bought the version with a white backlit and not an RGB version. I would buy a version without any backlight but they don’t sell one. I bought the variant with red switches.

Now let’s talk about the good things about this keyboard. It is a full-size keyboard which I like because I use all keys including the numeric keypad area. I like the color scheme and the font used for key text. One of my previous keyboards was Logitech K845 and its font was weird. I don’t care much about it but this keyboard is clearly better.

In general, I like to type on it. Keys are soft and it is easy to press. I’m a software developer and I type a lot and it is a bit easier on my fingers. It is relatively quiet because of the red switches. The keyboard has a very solid build and it has a detachable USB cable. Lastly, it can work for Mac and Linux.

In general, I’m happy with the keyboard but I would like to outline certain bad decisions I made that could make this purchase much worse.

The 2 keys above Insert, Home, and Page Up are not standard. Only one of them is standard – Print Screen. Rest are completely custom. One activates Cortana which was removed on Windows and the second one changes the different light modes on my keyboard which I immediately disabled.

The Cortana key is located in the place of the Scroll lock key which I use very rarely. But the key that controls the keyboard light key is located in the place of the Break key and that key I use a lot.

I’m fine without Scroll lock but as a software developer, Ctrl+Break is the combination that I use a lot. The most typical usage is stop compilation in Visual Studio but the are many more usages. To be honest, this is the first time I have seen this on a more or less standard-looking keyboard and it is probably why I missed it. This was close to a deal breaker for me.

The second thing that is a bit bad on this keyboard is missing of key for the context menu. Typically when you start looking to the left from the right Control key you will find the context menu key. Typically this key has a picture of the context menu on it. But this keyboard has a Fn key there. I knew about that before I buy but as it turns out I’m using this key a lot to paste into Microsoft Word as plain text. It is not a big deal but still a bit annoying because of my muscle memory.

Another minor thing is that the keys are a bit too sensitive. For example, when I’m pressing the right arrow key sometimes I press the zero key that is close to it. It is happening quite rarely but for example, I used Corsair K68 before which also has red switches and I never had this issue. I know that Corsair’s keyboard 3 times more expensive but still. Probably I should take a keyboard with brown switches. Yet another minor thing, I would prefer to have a smaller of pictures of media functions but it is really minor.

Anyway, I know that this keyboard is “QMK/VIA Programmable” so I decided to return the Break key and make other adjustments. To my surprise, all websites led to https://usevia.app but nothing happened after I clicked on “Start now” and then on “Authorize Device” and then authorized and connected keyboard.

I found the VIA standalone application but nothing happened as well. I tried different browsers with the same result. Then I found some strange videos explaining how to mess with some config files, firmware, etc. I’m quite a technical person but that would be my last resort. Then on the Keychron website, I found a video that displayed a keyboard and showed an easy way of changing key actions.

When nothing helps – it is time to read the documentation. I found a piece of paper in the keyboard box that led me to https://www.launcher.keychron.com. That page starts a bit slowly but eventually, it starts. Then you need to click on the “Connect+” button on the top left side and connect your keyboard. I don’t know why they didn’t place a link to this page on the page with video.

After some waiting it will display a picture of your keyboard and you can remap any key to anything. But there is a catch. If you are a Windows user you need to switch to layer 2 on top of that page. I don’t know why they default to the Mac version. It is clear that there are way more Windows users than Mac users. Maybe they decided that a typical Windows user is smarter.

Anyway, I changed the Fn key to be an RApp key and changed the Win key to the left from the Fn key to be MO(3) which was the original function of the Fn key.  I never used the right Win key. I can keep it as the Win key as well but I thought I may need to use media functionality. Maybe later I will change it.

Then I assigned the key that is on the Scroll lock place to be the Next media key. I used it a lot when working. Then I returned the Break key by assigning the Pause function (not media pause).

After that, I have everything I need and finally, I can enjoy my new keyboard to the fullest. And after around 3 days of usage, I decided to write this review.

I hope it helps someone.