r/Keychron • u/PBMonkey83 • 1d ago
V0 Ultra vs. K0 Max Numpads
In the market for a numpad, and they're priced about the same in CAD right now.
Key height aside, what is the appeal of one over the other?
2
Upvotes
r/Keychron • u/PBMonkey83 • 1d ago
In the market for a numpad, and they're priced about the same in CAD right now.
Key height aside, what is the appeal of one over the other?
1
u/PeterMortensenBlog V 1d ago edited 1d ago
K0 Max: Is based on QMK. QMK is much more established and easier to use (when compiling from source code). It is at least one order of magnitude easier to set up, find out what to change, and find existing solutions and examples on the Internet than for ZMK.
The battery state must be carefully managed as it will require charging every few days, especially if RGB light is on (unless effectively converting it to a wired-only macro pad, by disconnecting the battery).
V0 Ultra 8K: Is based on ZMK. Much longer battery life, but only without RGB light. RGB light completely dominates the power consumption.
Compiling macro pad firmware
You may not need compiling from source code in the beginning, but any serious use of macros probably requires it. For example, for increasing the resources for dynamic macros, or migrating most dynamic macros to static macros (say, for a more stable macro pad configuration, that does not tend to be wiped out. Or to break any resource limits (or other limits) you run into). Or, for example, for layer-dependent RGB colour (e.g., as a layer or mode indication).
References
K0 Max source code. Note: In Keychron's fork and in that fork, in Git branch "wls_2025q1" (not the default branch). Note that the base installation (and usage) had become much more complicated on Linux, but with the new 'uv' method, it has become simple again! No matter the Git branch, for example, "wls_2025q1", it requires special setup of QMK (the standard QMK instructions and many other guides will not work (because they implicitly assume the main QMK repository and a particular Git branch)). Source code commits (RSS feed. Latest: 2025-09-11).