Keychron M5 Vertical Mouse as a Mac user

I keep searching for a perfect workspace mouse to use with my Mac. One that will make me finally forget about the Logitech MX Vertical which is the gold standard of ergonomics, in my eyes.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Logitech will be releasing a work mouse with polling rate over 125Hz anytime soon based on the brand new MX Master 4 that came out this month.

Razer Pro Click V2 Vertical was awful and I returned it.

Then a few months later reviews for the Keychron M5 Vertical showed up on the internet, so naturally I had to order it to try it out for myself. Pricing is $70 in the US and around $95 in Europe.

I decided to pick up the white version because it might hide the wear and tear a bit better down the line.

Polling Rate

This mouse can go up to 8000Hz polling rate using the 2.4GHz dongle. Honestly, that is way overkill for your standard work setup and will drain the battery faster for zero perceivable benefit.

But we love to see it. Finally someone taking the polling rate seriously. It's buttery smooth.

I'm keeping mine at 2000Hz at 2800 DPI which I think is a sweet spot for battery life and responsiveness.

Battery Life

With the settings above, the mouse lasted a full month on a single charge with pretty much daily 6-12 hours of use. No complaints here. That's good enough for me.

Software

Keychron has their own app for configuring the mouse and it's a web app! Which means no bloated software to install, no updates to worry about, and you can configure it from any device.

You can remap buttons to key combos like ⌘W natively, which is great.

Your configuration is saved to the onboard memory so you can easily switch between devices without having to think about software or configuration.

However there is no option to change the sensitivity of both scroll wheels. The default sensitivity of the horizontal wheel is too low. While the vertical wheel's scroll speed is a tad too fast for me.

That can be easily solved with SteerMouse but I decided to keep it simple and use default settings while I'm still getting used to this mouse.

Comfort

I was hoping this would be almost a clone of the MX Vertical in shape and angle but it's not. The mouse sits lower and offers less support on the palm and for your thumb. I end up dragging my pinky on the desk while using it. There is also a chance of pinching it between the mouse and the desk.

Maybe I should 3D print a custom pinky shelf to prevent this from happening?

Here are a few other gripes:

• Not enough weight. Feels a bit too light. I would prefer just a tiny bit more substance to get rid of that cheap plastic feel.
• Not enough grip. The plastic is too slippery and my thumb ends up sliding too much. You cannot easily pick the mouse up while grabbing it. I need to add some grip tape. Maybe the finish will wear out over time and become less slippery?
• Horizontal scroll wheel is too close to the side buttons. Sometimes I end up ghost clicking the side buttons when scrolling the wheel down. And when one of them is mapped to close the current tab or window, that's not exactly fun.

Conclusion

Keychron M5 Vertical is a great contender in the vertical mouse market. Excellent polling rate, decent build quality, and a non-invasive software experience.

However, it is not perfect.

The comfort could be better by lifting the wrist a bit higher off the table. The grip is a bit too slippery and the angle is not as comfortable as the MX Vertical.

So far I spent around 3 weeks of regular use with the Keychron. Going to use it as my daily driver for the forseeable future.

I really wish these companies started including a USB-C wireless dongle by default with an extra USB-C to USB-A adapter.

Why is this backwards?

You have to add extra bulk to the dongle to plug it into a MacBook with another adapter for no reason. I'm sure most PCs and laptops have a USB-C port these days.