Author Topic: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)  (Read 19454 times)

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Offline phoenix1234

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Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« on: Thu, 23 January 2014, 18:57:25 »
Yesterday, I purchased a new Ducky Shine 3 TKL via a local distributor in Vietnam.
I already posted a post to introduce about it.
After a few hours typing, I decided to write a mini review about it.

- Type of switch: Cherry MX Red
- Build quality : rock, solid, plate-mounted, Made in Taiwan
- Stabilizers : very smooth, not as smooth as Costa but the quality is incredibly good
- Keycap quality : mediocre, ABS, center font, led supported
- Bundles : an additional spacebar without the snake, WASD cluster, keycap puller, mini usb cable
- Led modes : a lot of fancy led modes, RGB spacebar (Since I don't like led, I prefer to turn them off)
- Firmware : upgradable
- Typing experience : as stock Cherry MX Red, the keyboard has very good quality, stock Cherry MX Red indicates it is one of the best stock switches delivered by Cherry. After I replaced keycap set with imsto PBT, the typing experience is smooth, minor of scratches, less ping, the force to bottom out is similar to my 55g MX Brown (due to the tactile of Brown I suppose) Although, the level of smooth is quite good, it is not as smooth as Krytox lubed.

Perhaps, I may try to use :
- Thick formula from Originative : http://www.originativeco.com/collections/accessories/products/lube-kit
or even very thick formula (not yet released) which has been introduced by mkawa recently
 ;)

Verdict :
Pros
- Rock solid build quality, additional functionality, anti-ghosting, fancy led modes, RGB spacebar
Cons
- Slippery, thin, center font and shiny keycaps. However, I don't think this is a big issue because we may replace the stock keycap immediately

Total: 8/10
Value of money: 8/10

Pictures (or it did not happen)







Updated: 04/02/2014
After more than 1 week of testing, today, I would like to share my comparison between Filco Majestouch 2 - Cherry MX red and Ducky Shine 3 TKL.

Filco Majestouch 2 - Cherry MX Red


Ducky Shine 3 TKL - Cherry MX Red


Build: both keyboards have very good build quality



Stabilizers: Filco has Costa stabilizers - Ducky has Cherry stabilizers. The key feeling is different between the two. Personally, I prefer Costa stabilizers.

Filco with Costa stabilizers


Ducky with Cherry stabilizers


Cover finish: The sanding quality on the surface of Filco cover is slightly better than on Ducky. The surface of Ducky cover is kind of shiny and easy to get dust. Therefore, I prefer Filco in this particular case.

Surface of Filco cover


Surface of Ducky cover


Led - Ducky fully supported led with a RGB space bar. So in term of led, Ducky is the winner in this case.


Verdicts: If you don't care about the led, take the Filco with Imsto PBT keycap set, you won't regret about that. If you really care about led, take the Ducky Shine 3 TKL, and indeed you still need to replace the keycap set.
« Last Edit: Tue, 04 February 2014, 01:04:21 by phoenix1234 »
I like linear switches

Offline rowdy

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 23 January 2014, 19:26:42 »
Thanks for the review :)

The centred font is to work better with the backlighting.  I guess if you are not gong to use the backlighting then you could get a non-backlit keyboard, or just swap keycaps, as you have done.  Therefore that is not really an issue.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline phoenix1234

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 26 January 2014, 06:30:40 »
Thanks for the review :)

The centred font is to work better with the backlighting.  I guess if you are not gong to use the backlighting then you could get a non-backlit keyboard, or just swap keycaps, as you have done.  Therefore that is not really an issue.

Sure, the font is not really a big issue for me.  ;)
However, it took me a while to get used to the feature "USB acceleration"
At first, likely there is an issue related to it, it is very hard to set it back to 1x (default acceleration)
Secondly, we need to press Fn+F10 many times in order to disable the led.

Fortunately, Ducky released a new firmware to fix these issues :
http://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/firmware_updater.html
http://duckychannel.net/download/shine-3-firmware/Shine_3_DK9087_us_v103.exe
Release notes:
01. Increased LED backlight PWM frequency.
02. New: Adjustable reactive mode delay time (Fn + R_Alt + ↑↓).( Video )
03. New: CM1 and CM2 mode are now independent. They can be activated in any backlight mode, with 3 brightness levels and breathing mode
(Fn + F11/F12).( Video )
04. New: Hold Fn + F10 to turn off all backlight functions.

After I upgraded the firmware 1.03, everything works as my expectation. :thumb:
I like linear switches

Offline phoenix1234

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 04 February 2014, 00:58:35 »
Updated: 04/02/2014
After more than 1 week of testing, today, I would like to share my comparison between Filco Majestouch 2 - Cherry MX red and Ducky Shine 3 TKL.

Filco Majestouch 2 - Cherry MX Red


Ducky Shine 3 TKL - Cherry MX Red


Build: both keyboards have very good build quality



Stabilizers: Filco has Costa stabilizers - Ducky has Cherry stabilizers. The key feeling is different between the two. Personally, I prefer Costa stabilizers.

Filco with Costa stabilizers


Ducky with Cherry stabilizers


Cover finish: The sanding quality on the surface of Filco cover is slightly better than on Ducky. The surface of Ducky cover is kind of shiny and easy to get dust. Therefore, I prefer Filco in this particular situation.

Surface of Filco cover


Surface of Ducky cover


Led - Ducky fully supported led with a RGB space bar. So in term of led, Ducky is the winner in this case.


Verdicts: If you don't care about the led, take the Filco with Imsto PBT keycap set, you won't regret about that. If you really care about led, take the Ducky Shine 3 TKL, and indeed you still need to replace the keycap set.
« Last Edit: Tue, 04 February 2014, 01:06:45 by phoenix1234 »
I like linear switches

Offline Jumpjet

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 04 February 2014, 05:38:14 »
Interesting review.

Despite having the same switches, they're very different machines with a very different end-user in mind. Ducky's design is consistent with it's end users needs throughout. In a sense it's already a very heavily modded board (and successfully so if that's your bag), so I'm not sure there's value in modding away from its cheerfully Korean eSprots vibe. It's either an exercise in gilding an already very gaudy lily or a design downgrade.

Backlit keycaps are uniformly appalling. The Ducky's aren't too bad though, and they do their job a lot better than most.  Anyone who has had the misfortune to touch the nightmare that is a Corsair K90 keycap can testify to that.

The Blackwidow is much derided, but one thing it gets right is limiting the lighting effect of the cap to the characters that can successfully evenly lit.  You can see on the Ducky that cap lighting is uneven. It's an effect that's currently unavoidable unless the Razer route is followed. All that's going to change later this year of course.

Offline phoenix1234

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 30 March 2014, 12:08:08 »
Interesting review.

Despite having the same switches, they're very different machines with a very different end-user in mind. Ducky's design is consistent with it's end users needs throughout. In a sense it's already a very heavily modded board (and successfully so if that's your bag), so I'm not sure there's value in modding away from its cheerfully Korean eSprots vibe. It's either an exercise in gilding an already very gaudy lily or a design downgrade.

Backlit keycaps are uniformly appalling. The Ducky's aren't too bad though, and they do their job a lot better than most.  Anyone who has had the misfortune to touch the nightmare that is a Corsair K90 keycap can testify to that.

The Blackwidow is much derided, but one thing it gets right is limiting the lighting effect of the cap to the characters that can successfully evenly lit.  You can see on the Ducky that cap lighting is uneven. It's an effect that's currently unavoidable unless the Razer route is followed. All that's going to change later this year of course.
I admit that Ducky is one of the fastest keyboard manufacturers who can catch up with the enthusiast needs, especially led modes. However, Ducky should have more mod-friendly supports like open-able-plate + removable leds because sooner or later, we still need to lube the key switches due to the scratchiness issue that I have reported on another topic
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=55837.msg1258930#msg1258930
I like linear switches

Offline Pacifist

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 30 March 2014, 12:09:23 »
Have removeable parts as small as LEDs and you're going to have a problem with people losing parts

Offline phoenix1234

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 30 March 2014, 12:25:43 »
Have removeable parts as small as LEDs and you're going to have a problem with people losing parts
You're right but as a manufacturer, they should find a way to overcome it.
Actually, leds are very cheap. As far as I know, for a large order, each led may only cost ~0.015$
The manufacturer can just add to each keyboard a small bag of 50 spare leds (0.75$ in total).
Indeed, this may lead to other problems because usually end-users don't want to deal with this.

To be honest, the scratchiness level of my Ducky Shine 3 TKL Cherry MX Red is quite high. I will use it a while until break-in and lube it.

I don't know the reason but I need to admit different brand-new Cherry MX batch has different scratchiness level.
« Last Edit: Tue, 01 April 2014, 19:09:43 by phoenix1234 »
I like linear switches

Offline GenKaan

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 18 June 2014, 04:51:46 »
Currently thinking about a Shine 3 TKL (Mx Red) or a Filco TKL (Mx Brown/Black) as my new main keyboard. Would try to replace the caps with white PBT side printed caps.

One day :)
|| @Home:: Shine 3 TKL (Mx Red / Deep Space)  || @Work:: G2Pro (Mx Clear / Dye Sub PBT) ||
@Reserve:: HHKB (Topre 45g / Mixed PBT) // Das v3 (Mx Brown / Blank PBT)

Offline Phamjosi

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 05:16:22 »
Hi!

Hate to revive such an old post but I recently got myself a Ducky Shine 3 also and so far I love it. I'm looking into getting myself some PBT keycaps and I ran across your post. I really like what keycaps you used on both these keyboards but I can't figure out if you they're white or not. It might be because of the light that they were shot in but the keycaps seem almost cream colored in the photos. Could you tell me what keycaps you used? Thanks.

Offline phoenix1234

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #10 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 19:08:35 »
Hi!

Hate to revive such an old post but I recently got myself a Ducky Shine 3 also and so far I love it. I'm looking into getting myself some PBT keycaps and I ran across your post. I really like what keycaps you used on both these keyboards but I can't figure out if you they're white or not. It might be because of the light that they were shot in but the keycaps seem almost cream colored in the photos. Could you tell me what keycaps you used? Thanks.

It is not as white as snow but it is white/beige set  :))
The white has a bit of cream tone due to PBT material perhaps but it should be no problem.
The sets that I'm using are coming from Imsto :
http://aikb.taobao.com
http://imsto.cn
He is also a GH member:
https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=115.0
You can contact him and ask the set:
Imsto PBT Red on white/beige keys (cherry profile)
I like linear switches

Offline Phamjosi

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #11 on: Fri, 05 June 2015, 20:24:39 »
Thanks! I actually really like the cream colored look over a pure white.

Offline EscapeVelocity

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Re: Ducky Shine 3 TKL mini review (Pictures)
« Reply #12 on: Wed, 10 June 2015, 22:02:42 »
I really like my Ducky Shine 3 TKL w/ Cherry MX Blues & Green LED illumination. Great keyboard!