Lemokey G1 review

First, the provenance. Lemokey is Keychron's gaming brand, offering keyboards and mice aimed squarely at the players of games rather than Keychon's theoretically more 'enthusiast' fare. Let's be honest, the differences between gaming and enthusiast keebs are pretty slight—and only really of interest because our Jacobs love to fight about it—but when it comes to gaming mice there should be more of a clear distinction.

Though Keychron does actually sell obviously 'gamer' mice on its own site (as well as this Lemokey rodent), which does make such clear delineation a little tougher to parse. Whatever the semantic differences between the brands, however, the Lemokey G1 is still absolutely classic Keychron, in that it's offering a high-end feature set for a genuinely affordable price.

The most obvious of those is the offered 8,000 Hz polling rate, a feature that is usually the preserve of high-end gaming mice from the likes of Logitech or Razer at often twice the price of the G1. So, that makes the Lemokey an excellent entry-level pro-level mouse for the super competitive competitive gamers, then?

Whenever a writer posits a question like that in a review you already know the answer is going to be a straight 'no'. So, it was an almost redundant ploy on my behalf. I'm truly sorry for treating you with such little respect. Still, it is worth noting that despite Lemokey's claims to having a full 8,000 Hz polling rate for its wee mouse, that is absolutely not to be taken as a killer feature for the G1.

I've checked out the performance of the Pixart 3950 sensor in the Lemokey mouse and, while in general use at 1,000 Hz, the mouse performs admirably, as soon as you spike it up to 8,000 Hz the data points start to look really weird. That's because it's not actually polling at the stated rate; I measured the inputs and, where it ought to be polling eight times each millisecond, I was seeing anything from three to five counts. But never the full eight count.

But, while that failing is important to note for any of the ultra-competitive few out there who might notice and base a purchase on an 8K polling rate, spending any more time looking at that miss is to do the Lemokey G1 a disservice, because it really is a great little gaming mouse.

And I do mean little. The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro has been my go-to gaming mouse since its launch, but having used the G1 for a good few weeks, I've found going back to the DeathAdder it feels massive. Relatively speaking, of course, but still noticeably chonkier. As a dyed-in-the-wool claw-gripper, the Lemokey's diminutive stature actually works for me.

It's superlight, too. In fact it's superlighter than the latest Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Dex, with the same general heft as the Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed we love so well. And with none of that horrible cut out shell design which makes a host of other dedicated lightweight gaming mice a trypophobe's nightmare.

It does remind me a lot of Logitech's pared back designs of late; hiding profile switches, eschewing RGB, and generally making it mercifully free of distractions. It feels great in the hand, and shifts around the desktop with grace and poise. But it doesn't quite have the finish of the Logitech mice. There is a definite sharper edge to the finish on the plastic chassis, where the seams meet, that suggests a lesser build quality. It's only noticeable when you're looking for it, when you're running a thumb over the edges, but it is there.

But while this simple, pared back design does make it look and feel like a very basic mouse, the Lemokey G1 does absolutely everything you could want from a wireless gaming mouse and at a very reasonable price. The 2.4 GHz connection is solid—with only a little pause when I'm first booting up my PC and everything is loading in—and is otherwise latency free in-game. Its tracking is right up there, too, with 750 IPS and 50 G pace and acceleration. Basically, it's going to follow everyone of your rampant flicks and spasms in whatever tense gaming situation you find yourself in.

So what if it's not that stylish? That means there's no RGB illumination to steal away any of its extensive battery life, with just a token light around the underslung DPI/profile switch to show which setting you're on. Even were you to run it exclusively with the draining 8,000 Hz mode turned on, you'd still be looking at a 40 hour battery life. I would expect double that at 1,000 Hz, and Lemokey promises 140 hours if you don't care about latency and are happy to put up with the Bluetooth 5.1 connection.

Maybe that's fine for Keychron, but over here in Lemokey land, we like our 2.4 GHz connection, thank you very much.

I will say I'm on the fence about the web-based configuration app. And I find it slightly odd that I can seemingly only access the settings when I'm wired in via the USB Type-C cable

When I first pulled the G1 out of its box and started messing around with it and its slightly novelty, slightly wonky 8K polling rate, I figured it was just going to be a cheaper wireless mouse that's just fine. But I've come away feeling far more positive towards this little guy. I'm a sucker for a cheaper option, but even so, I have the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro sat in a box next to me and I am finding no reason to swap back from the Lemokey, especially after how big the Razer rodent feels in my hand now.

And that's always a key thing for me when I review anything: How gutted am I going to be when I have to give this thing back? With the Lemokey I'm not necessarily going to be gutted when I have to slide it back into its packaging, but I will miss it, and until that point comes I see no reason to swap.