The new Glorious GMMK 3 Series keyboard has been described to me as the “Ship of Theseus” of keyboards, or as I prefer to call it, “Trigger’s Broom.” This mechanical keyboard is designed to grow with you, with everything from the switches and keycaps to the acoustic foam and chassis materials being infinitely interchangeable.
Customizable mechanical keyboards are by no means new, but the GMMK 3 takes the concept far beyond what you’d expect from brands like Logitech, Razer, or Corsair—although the price of the top-end GMMK 3 models is pretty high, too. Thankfully, there are some interesting options here that make that premium worth it.
The most basic GMMK 3 is a $120-$140 mechanical keyboard that competes with the Razer BlackWidow V4 and Corsair K70 RGB Pro while offering more enthusiast-grade features. It has replaceable faceplates, gasket mounting options, spare shells, five-pin hot-swappable switches, and two-shot PBT keycaps; at this price point, this keyboard offers a lot of value.
A little further up you’ll find the GMMK 3 HE (Hall Effect) variant, which adds support for 8000Hz wired polling rates, hot-swappable three-pin and Five-pin MX switches, including fast trigger and analog input. Of course, it also has the same degree of customization as the standard GMMK 3. The price is between $180 and $200, which is in the same price range as high-end gaming keyboards from mainstream manufacturers.
Then there’s the GMMK 3 Pro model, which is priced at $240 to $300 and competes with the Asus ROG Azoth keyboard I loved. I reviewed the Azoth last year, and it bridged the gap between custom mechanical keyboards and mainstream gaming keyboards in the same way – but the Glorious has a lot more stuffed inside. That includes a full aluminum frame, optional wireless connectivity, and the same fine-grained customization.
At the high end of the GMMK 3 series is the GMMK 3 Pro HE, which costs $300 to $360. If you want all the features possible, this keyboard is the one for you, as it combines the Hall effect switches, fast triggering, and adjustable actuation point with the design and features of the GMMK 3 Pro.
All of these boards are available in barebones or pre-built form, so you can buy the board and accessories that work for you, or go for a simpler pre-built option. There’s also a clever Boardsmith feature on the Glorious website, where you can pick out the GMMK 3 accessories you want and commission Glorious’ expert staff to build the keyboard for you.
That’s the plan I chose, so I ended up with all the bells and whistles: a bright pink aluminum case, GMMK Atomic Purple two-shot PBT keycaps, the brand’s soft-touch Panda Silent HE switches, wireless connectivity, and an equally bright pink spiral cable.
The Panda Silent HE switches in my sample are probably the most interesting element, as they combine a soft, tactile feel with the speed and versatility of a Hall-effect magnetic switch. It’s hard to balance a nice, tactile key press with a Hall-effect switch, but these switches combine speed and crispness in a way I’ve never experienced before.
The Pro HE also features dual hot-swappable switch sockets, meaning you can choose magnetic or traditional mechanical switches depending on your preference, without being locked into one camp. This required some clever design work to mount an offset Hall effect sensor on the PCB. I tried swapping in some standard Drop Holy Panda switches I’d had lying around for a while, and sure enough, they worked fine without issue – really clever design.
Having the flexibility of tactile HE switches means the GMMK 3 Pro HE is equally suited to productivity and gaming workloads. During gaming, you simply enable the Rapid Trigger feature in the keyboard’s software and increase the polling rate from 1000 to 8000Hz – if you’re using the keyboard via a cable and your screen refresh rate is high enough to use it.
You’ll most feel the benefits of faster input in competitive MOBA or FPS games like Counter-Strike 2, which is where I primarily tested the GMMK 3 Pro HE’s gaming performance. You can assign modifier keys as separate options in the Core software, which is handy for crouching and moving at the same time (if you want to be particularly stealthy), and the clever 4:1 Dynamic Key function enables four different functions for a single key at different points in the switch’s travel. Additionally, the Mod Tap function lets you select different functions depending on whether the key is pressed or held, while setting a toggle key allows you to trigger a key to the “on” state, enabling different functions. Pressing it again turns it off.
My sample came in a vibrant combination of pale pink and purple, and you can choose from a variety of colors for custom boards, or go with black and white for pre-built boards. The aluminum frame is very sturdy, the two-shot PBT keycaps are beautiful, and there’s plenty of RGB lighting everywhere: under the keys, under the Glorious logo next to the rotary encoder, and on both sides of the keyboard, like a magical RGB sandwich. If you like RGB lighting, you’ll love the GMMK 3.
The interface on the back is also nice, with a switch to choose between three connection modes, a switch to select Windows or macOS, and a USB-C port for charging or wired connection. There is one downside here, the input selector switch doesn’t indicate which position corresponds to which connection method – and Bluetooth pairing isn’t as clear as on most other keyboards. There’s also not much of a manual in the box to help, which seems like a missed opportunity.
Of course, the level of customisation is key to the GMMK 3, and the fact that you can take it apart fairly easily and replace items like switches or plates in a matter of moments is great. The number of internal screws has been reduced from eight on the GMMK 2 to four on the GMMK 3, which helps make any replacements a little quicker.
There are different colored top and bottom shells to choose from, so you can pick a matching set or a two-tone look like the white/pink model in the center of the photo above. There are also different switch plate materials and keycap options to change the look of the keyboard and how it feels when you type. That’s the whole point of the GMMK 3 ecosystem, to be able to easily change the look of the entire board. From the switches to the shell.
When paired with a device, the LED on the top right corner will flash blue or green, and when the battery is low it will turn red. However, this is the only warning you about the low battery. Once it flashes red for an undetermined amount of time, the GMMK 3 is dead and you will have to plug it back in. There is a battery indicator in the keyboard’s GMMK Core software, although it always seems to show 100% – this is a bug that will hopefully be addressed in the full version. For some reason, pressing the Caps Lock key also causes the LED on the side of the keyboard to flash. I’m not sure if this is intentional, but it could act as some kind of lock light so you know you pressed it by accident.
In terms of battery life, Glorious rates the GMMK 3 Pro HE model for 24 hours of battery life, and I got about 20 hours of use before needing to recharge, which is pretty solid overall. That’s with the RGB lighting always on at a single color; turning the lighting off significantly improves battery life.
Where does all of this leave us? Software-related bugs aside, the GMMK 3 is an impressive product that’s reasonably priced considering the level of features on offer and what mainstream manufacturers offer in other products, if that’s what made Glorious consider this particular product. The ability to cut and change parts of the motherboard at will is very clever, as is the combination of gaming and productivity features with internal switches. It’s also very well built, with bright RGB lighting and decent connectivity, aside from the issues with the manual and instructions.
To answer the question posed at the beginning of the article. Is the GMMK 3 the last keyboard you buy? For some, it may well be, given the customization and convenience it offers. For others, it may not be, but that’s only because mechanical keyboard fanatics will soon move on to other products.
Glorious provides flights and accommodation to Copenhagen.