Lemokey managed to win me over with its P1 HE keyboard, which offers a level of features and customization that’s unparalleled at $170. Its Hall-effect switches, excellent acoustics, and aluminum chassis aren’t common to find in a keyboard under $200. These features made the P1 HE my daily driver, and I was excited to try out one of Lemokey’s upcoming Hall-effect keyboard, the $210 L5 HE 8K. Lemokey ran a successful Kickstarter campaign and expects to ship the keyboard to backers in May. Backers can secure a unit for $199, though its retail price will be $210.

Based on looks alone, it’s easy to mistake the L5 HE for the P1 HE I’ve been using. The L5 HE offers a similar 75% layout, and is equipped with Hall-effect switches and a detachable USB-C connection — just like the P1 HE. However, the biggest difference in the L5 HE (and the main reason why its price is higher) is its 8,000 Hz polling rate, which dwarfs the 1,000 Hz polling rate found on the P1 HE and many other keyboards.

In theory, a higher polling rate allows your inputs to be registered faster and cuts down on response time — good things! But when I compared the performance between the L5 and the P1, I couldn’t notice a clear difference. Additionally, the L5 HE and its 8K polling rate can only be used in wired mode, making it the less ideal choice if you want to rely on the wireless capabilities of the P1 HE.