Lemokey, a gaming-focused sub-brand of Keychron, has announced the L5 HE 8K, a wired gaming keyboard featuring Hall Effect magnetic switches. Designed for competitive gamers, the keyboard boasts 8,000Hz polling and scan rates, which is said to reduce latency to just 0.125 milliseconds. Its Ultra-Fast Lime Magnetic Switches offer adjustable actuation points ranging from 0.01mm to 3.35mm, with a sensitivity increment of 0.01mm.
The keyboard comes with a 75% layout and is built with a CNC-machined aluminum body, with Cherry Profile double-shot PBT keycaps, and north-facing RGB backlighting with 22 lighting modes. The L5 HE 8K also comes with both top and gasket mount styles for customizable typing experiences and includes a built-in analog joystick mode for smoother control that tries to mimic modern game controllers by detecting how far you press a key. It is also QMK compatible, allowing for extensive key mapping and macro customizations via the Lemokey Launcher web configurator.
We’ve seen multiple keyboards recently featuring Hall Effect switches including the Wooting 80HE, Glorious GMMK 3, and Asus ROG Falchion Ace HFX. Unlike traditional mechanical switches, these use magnets and sensors instead of physical metal contacts to register keystrokes. This allows for adjustable actuation points, near-instant response times, and improved durability since there are no metal contacts to wear out. These switches are particularly favored in gaming keyboards due to their precise control and longevity.
Most Hall Effect switch-based gaming keyboards not only give you control over the actuation distance of each key, but also offer a feature called rapid trigger. As explained in this review, this allows the switch to have a dynamic actuation and reset point. Instead of requiring a key to be pressed and released at fixed points, it will actuate and reset based on its movement direction.
The L5 HE 8K will offer a similar feature where you can activate and deactivate keys based on travel distance which gives gamers an advantage especially in competitive shooters, as you can strafe much faster. Having said that, this feature is being frowned upon and has been banned in Counter-Strike 2 in both official Valve servers and in ESL events.
Available in three colorways—Cyber (Black and Green), Dark Master (Black and Red), and Dawn Master (White and Brown)—the Lemokey L5 HE 8K is available for pre-order on Kickstarter at an introductory price of $199, with an expected shipping date in May 2025.
