Driver

With all functionality hardware based, there is no software driver support for the Aukey KM-G6 keyboard. As such, I have chosen to combine the Driver and Performance pages into one.

Performance

There is full N-key rollover USB here out of the box, as Aqua's test confirms. Similarly, no key chatter was detected on any of the keys using Switch Hitter.


When first connected, the keyboard lights up in a static multi-color mode with a total of six colors as one color per row. These are the six colors available for use, and they are indeed specific to their respective row, so you can only do so much as far as backlighting on the KM-G6 keyboard goes. Despite this limitation, Aukey has added onboard control for lighting, among other things. Use Fn + Up/Down arrow keys to control the brightness of the keyboard in five steps, and Fn + Left/Right arrow keys to change the speed of these lighting effects. Lighting effects can be toggled through with Fn + Ins, and there are nine such effects to choose from.

Here is a look at some of the available lighting effects, which include dynamic and reactive effects. Fn + 1-8 switches between pre-configured static lighting for different game genres, to light up specific keys only. But if you wanted more customization, there are two custom effects, and Aukey allows recording of these effects to specific keys. So you could have a wave effect on specific keys only, for example. Given the nature of the LEDs on the KM-G6, there will be light bleed with some mixed lights on common sides, especially because of the floating keycap design.


As we saw before, Aukey uses the Outemu Blue (from Gaote Corporation) mechanical switches with the KM-G8. The force-travel diagram above shows that these are as close to a Cherry MX Clone as any other. Both are medium-actuation force tactile and clicky switches and, as tested by Input Club, have similar designs throughout. The Outemu Blue is rated at a 50 +/-5 gf actuation point with a peak force of 60 gf and a standard 2.0/4.0 mm for tactile feedback and total travel distance. Actuation here ends up closer to 2.5 mm, and actuation force is harder to quantify given the tactile event occurs before it. For what it is worth, the average actuation force was 49.45 gf across twenty random switches I tested, and bottoming out felt just fine as well since nothing in particular stood out. If anything, I would say these feel smoother than most Cherry MX Blue switches.


As always, the sound of a keyboard is based on more than just the switch type. So when comparing sound clips, consider the keyboard as a whole. In this case, I have provided above an example sound clip of me typing on the Aukey KM=G6 sample at ~95 WPM as it comes out of the box. For context, you can find sound clips from other keyboards here, including those with tactile and clicky switches. I did bottom out, which is not hard to do given the relatively light spring, but touch typing is definitely possible because of the tactile feedback in these switches.

The rest of the keyboard performed as any other would since there is not much else here over a basic keyboard as far as functionality goes. The Fn key row has program shortcuts, media control, and volume control functionality via secondary functions, which can be accessed by using the Fn + respective function key as described on the keycaps and in the manual.