Akko 3068 & Keychron K6 rose as 2 brightest candidates in the 65% mechanical keyboards segment. Despise the same form factor, those two keyboards have so much different. Let’s see where Akko 3068 & Keychron shine!
| Akko 3068 | Keychron K6 | |
| Form factor | 65% | 65% |
| Connection | USB Type C, Bluetooth (on some versions) | USB Type C, Bluetooth |
| Switch | Cherry, Akko (Blue, Brown, Red) | Cherry, Gateron (Blue, Brown, Red) |
| Keycaps | Doubleshot PBT, OEM | ABS, OEM |
| Battery | 1800mAh | 4000mAh |
| Backlighting | No* | Single Color, RGB |
| Accessories | Type C Cable Extra keycaps: Enter, Esc, Space Bar and Nav Cluster | Type C Cable Extra keycaps: (Windows keys, Mac keycaps, accent Lighting & ESC keycaps |
| Read Review | Read Review | |
| Check Price | Check Price |
* Note: Akko 3068 has the ability to take on single-color LED backlighting by soldering LED into the PCB.
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Cases & exterior
Akko 3068’s case is made from plastic. We’re talking about very thick, high quality plastic. Under our bend & twist tests, Akko 3068’s case didn’t seem to budge.
Keychron K6 comes in 2 versions: Plastic case & Aluminum case. The plastic version is inferior to the Akko 3068’s case. In our opinion, you will want to get the aluminum version, which is superior to the plastic case of both K6 itself & Akko 3068.
The Akko 3068 does not have legs of any kind to raise height, meanwhile K6 comes with 2 legs in different heights.
The rubber feet on both keyboards do a pretty good job from keeping keyboards from moving. But we’d say the K6 aluminum version will have a certain heavy weight feeling to it because its weight.
TLDR:
Akko 3068 offers:
- Sturdy & high quality plastic
- Lighter than K6
- No legs to raise height
Keychron K6 offers:
- Aluminum case & plastic case, but don’t get the plastic case version
- High quality heavy alumnum
- 2 legs at different heights
Keycaps & backlighting
Akko 3068’s keycaps are made from doubleshot PBT, meanwhile Keychron K6’s keycaps are made from ABS with laser engraved shine-through. Akko 3068’s PBT keycaps are solid, sturdy, but does not allow light to shine-through, so that means if you plan to solder on LED to the Akko 3068, you should probably get a new set of keycaps. On the other hand, Keychron K6’s ABS keycaps will probably get shiny over time, but we must say K6’s keycaps are well made & well designed.
The font face on both products’ keypad are pretty standard.
Printed Characters on Akko 3068’s keycaps are easier for your eyes, mostly because of the contrast between the character and the keycap’s color. Also on Akko 3068, you will be able to choose between 4 different keycap themes: Standard, World Tour Tokyo, Ocean Star, Retro. There are also different Akko 3068 themes on Asian market, such as Hello Kitty, Horizon, Tokyo Sakura, etc. unfortunately, they aren’t available on other markets.
On the other hand, because of the character’s color & the keycap’s color, it will a bit harder to see the characters on Keychron K6 in low light condition. But because of the shine-through capability & built-in backlighting, you will be able to see the characters on keycaps with backlighting enabled.
TLDR:
Get Akko 3068 if:
- You don’t plan to swap out keycaps
- You don’t care about backlighting
- You prefer PBT keycaps
Get Keychron K6 if:
- You prefer backlighting
- ABS keycaps don’t bother you or you plan to swap new keycaps set
Connectivity & battery
USB Type C comes as standard connection for both keyboards. Both Akko 3068 & Keychron K6 both include a USB Type C to USB Type A cable. Both complimentary cables are pretty much in the same quality & length.
On the Akko 3068, you will have a switch on the bottom to change between wired & bluetooth mode, while on the Keychron K6, you will find the same switch on the left side of the keyboard, next to a On/Off switch and the USB Type C port.
Akko 3068 features Bluetooth version 3, Keychron K6 features Bluetooth version 4. On paper, this seems to be a win for the K6, but we hardly find any differences in term of bluetooth connectivity between the two keyboards. There’s no delay while typing on bluetooth on both keyboards. Keychron K6’s seems to last longer on bluetooth with backlighting disabled (about 1 month), thanks to the 4000mAh battery, while Akko 3068 will last about 3 weeks with bluetooth. Turning on backlighting will drain Keychron K6’s battery in just few days (3 to 7 days, depend on usage).
Both keyboards has a power saving ability (sleep) when not using for a period of time. Waking both keyboards from sleep will take a fragment of a second. That means the first keystroke after a while will trigger keyboards to wake up, but that first keypress won’t be recognized. That’s the same on all bluetooth keyboards with the very same power saving functionality.
Both the Akko 3068 & the Keychron K6 support to pair with 3 different devices over Bluetooth. Switching between devices on both the K6 & the 3068 feel the same: it will take about 1-2 seconds (depend on type of devices).
TLDR: it’s a tied between Akko 3068 & Keychron K6
Switches
On the high end versions of both Keychron K6 & Akko 3068 both offer the infamous Cherry MX switches in 3 different types: Blue (tactile + clicky), Brown (tactile + non-clicky), Red (Linear).
Keychron K6’s lower-end versions offer Gateron switches. Meanwhile, Akko 3068’s lower-end versions offer in-house Akko switches. Both keyboards has Blue, Brown & Red (Akko Pink is equivalent of Red switches) switches for the lower-end versions. In our opinion, we found that the Akko Blue switches provide a better typing experience, while Gateron Red switches excel in linear. Both Gateron Brown & Akko Brown offer little to no differences in typing experience.
On the high-end version of the Keychron K6, you will be able to swap-out switches with the included switch puller. That hotswap ability is rarely seen on mechanical keyboards. Pros are you will be able to swap out dead switches, or you can maintain your switches at will. Cons are the hotswap socket will wear out; and you may bend the switch’s legs upon plugging in. Nevertheless, the ability to lube your switches is tempting us.
TLDR:
Both offer Cherry MX switches on higher-end versions.
Akko 3068 offers better Blue switch on lower-end version. Keychron K6 offers better Red switch on lower-end version with Gateron Red.
Keychron K6’s hotswap feature are good for those who wish to change out switches.
Verdict
In this article, we went into different aspects of the Akko 3068 & Keychron K6. Both keyboards have different feature to cater different needs. Depend on your requirements, you should choose a keyboard that checks all your boxes. Both keyboards offer Cherry MX switches. Akko 3068 offers high quality original PBT keycaps, lighter & high quality plastic case, and more eye-catching keycaps theme. Keychron K6 offers backlighting, aluminum case & raiser legs.
