Ducky 9008 vs Filco Majestouch


Top a G15 Logitech, bottom a Ducky 9008 for a comparison in size




I just noticed that besides using a different controller, for the Ducky compared to the Costar keyboards, it also uses a different stabilizer which is the same as the one from Cherry.

Any idea which is better ?

This is a screenshot of the Ducky 9008's stabilizer used.






Here is a screenshot of the Filco's costar stabilizers







Seems that the spacebar, shift and caps keys are same like Filcos (except for the stabilizer part of course)







The ducky space bar uses a black switch instead of blue or brown. I'm not really sure what to think about that. Was hoping others can comment on it.







Here is a shot of the Ducky keys with the lights integrated into them.







A close up shot of the key caps







Regarding the incline, the Filco seems to be higher and slants more hm...







Here is a pic of the mini usb interface




here is a utube comparison for Filco and Ducky feet height adjuster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILabRIp-kOY&




For backplate, Ducky uses aluminium, and Filco uses some metal one. So the Filco is more sturdier (heavier) than the Ducky.


The key prints for Ducky is probably silk screen same as the Filco. However the new MO3 for Ducky has an option for PBT keys with laser etched letterings. So basically there is an option that may trump the Filco :X However i'm afraid the one i ordered in MO2 is unfortunately the abs silk screened version. Well i ordered Double shot replacements so i am not too bothered about this.


I saw some utube videos of the removal and installation of the keycaps on the Dk-9008, and i must say it seems to be a much easier process than on a Filco. For the Dk-9008 you gently lift straight up with a keypuller with gradually increasing force, and maybe wiggle it left and right as you pull it out upwards. The shift, caps, enter and space bar keys don't have any thin wire connected to the key so you don't have to worry about it breaking your keyboard when pulling it out. The Filco on the otherhand, has metal wires that hook onto the key, which you need to take care when removing and installing. However it should be noted that owners of Filco and Ducky 9008 feel the Filco feels better when depressing the stabilizer keys, whereas the Ducky feels more dampened probably due to the rubber stabilizers. So it's a matter of choosing between what feels nice, or a matter of convenience. For me i prefer the Ducky's Cherry stabilizers because it's more durable, and easier to replace key caps which i'm going to be doing to add my double shot key caps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ey5tPZuoQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=mA0FhY5Zq9E



Walrus already made a review

Ducky Blue vs Filco Blue vs Unicomp Customizer 104 Comparison SmallWalrus Today, 07:57 AM    Report | #654 (permalink)
I actually bought a Filco Blue yesterday just so I may have a frame of reference to compare with, so… now is 6:30am, the whole family is still asleep. This is the reason why I was lusting for a Cherry Blue over my Unicomp to start with: because it is supposedly quieter!

Noise level
The first paragraph of this post was typed on a Ducky and I am typing on the Filco right now. It is definitely much louder. Since it is so quiet now, a rough estimate would be that the Filco is easily 50% louder than the Ducky.

The Unicomp, on the other hand, is much louder both the Filco and Ducky Blues. I really ought to get a sound meter or something at some point, but another guestimate would be that the Unicomp (again) sounds 50% louder over the Filco even.

The sound quality is also different. I would describe the Filco to be more "crisp", and sounds more like "tick tick tick". The Unicomp sounds much deeper with a "tock tock tock". The Ducky sounds are also of the "tick tick tick" quality, but they are much less "crisp" and somewhat more… subdued.

In earlier posts I have also bagged on the Filco for possibly having a faulty spacebar (that occasionally registers two spaces for every one time I hit on it). Taking the time to be more conscious of just what my hands are doing now, I realised what it is that I was unconsciously doing; apparently the high pitch and crisp "tick" sound from the Filco (well, as an excuse for myself, it is very distinctly different and irritating compared to what I was used to from the Unicomp) makes me cringe so much that my thumb tend to hover around the activation point when coming up from typing a space in an attempt to stifle the sound. The times when I hang there a tad too long are also the times when I get double space characters registering. When I started to more consciously force myself to release my thumb from the spacebar confidently and fully after each space character, the double space issue did not recur.

Since as stated earlier it was 6:30 and I'm trying to work quietly, I also found that I can work significantly more confidently on the Ducky than with the Filco. Typing on a high WPM just results in a loud rapid rattle on the Filco, but on the Ducky it is actually very tolerable. There isn't the huge din when I bottom out on the spacebar on the Ducky as it does with the Filco either (due to the Cherry MX black switches that Ducky uses on their keyboards). When using a Filco Blue during the wee hours, one would definitely have to be more conscious of their typing, lest run the risk of waking up other family members; hence this nice touch from Ducky comes as a plus. As a downside though, the Cherry MX black switches on the Ducky do not provide any form of tactile feedback, so it can possibly be something that might bother you as you receive tactile feedback from your other fingers, but none on your spacebar thumb.

In my opinion, the black switches feel a bit "rough" compared to the smooth and clicky action of the blues. Nothing to do with the way Filco or Ducky did it though, it was the same thing on the Filcos Blacks.

Verdict: Personally, for my work patterns (early hours), I can work much more comfortably with a Ducky Blue by miles. The difference in sound level and quality is very distinct. I can definitely see myself bringing a Ducky Blue to work. I cannot say the same for the Filco Blue confidently though. And lest you are wondering, there is obviously not a snowball's chance in hell that I can bring a Unicomp to work; it will end up being the weapon with which I will be killed.

Typing feel
Disclaimer: I am a big buckling spring fan. The way the Unicomp provides progressively stronger resistance as you approach the activation point, then collapses to nothing, is simply unparalleled.

That said, between the Ducky and the Filco; if the main reason why you choose to buy a blue switched mechanical keyboard was for its luxuriant click and typing feel, then you might be better off with the Filco instead.

As mentioned in the noise section where the sound from a Filco is described to be more "crisp", typing feel on a Filco feels more crisp as well. It might very well be a placebo effect — I don't know, but there is something quite distinctly different about how a Filco feels like and how the Ducky feels like. I would say the Filco "feels" lighter while the Ducky "feels" more sombre. Key travel on the Ducky feels somewhat more damped as well — again, this might be a placebo effect. But it seems like the differing design paradigms of Filco and Ducky has resulted in two very distinct products.

My personal hunch is that Ducky is trying to make a quieter product that is much more acceptable in shared environments (ie: from the Cherry MX black switched spacebars, quieter key action, etc), whereas Filco is just… Filco.

The "lip" of each keyboard that's towards you are also of different heights as well. With the Unicomp having a nice gentle slope upwards, the Filco having a steep drop (due to its more angular and modern design), and the Ducky having the steepest drop from its increased thickness.

I have also received a Ducky wrist rest as a sample which I used initially with my Unicomp, but found to be not only redundant, but came to become something that constantly got in my way. This wrist rest however came in really handy when I started typing on my Filco, and now that I get to pair it up with a Ducky, I realised that it is just the perfect height for it. It really does goes very nicely with both the Filco and the Ducky.

Verdict: If I am after the supreme Cherry MX Blue typing feel and don't mind being an ass. The Filco wins. And if I were to be after the supreme typing feel and don't mind being a bigger ass, the Unicomp wins hands down. I really do think Ducky should look into changing the key switches they use underneath their spacebars from Cherry MX blacks to browns. The lack of tactile feedback from that one key is something that becomes very apparent in a side-by-side review like this, but this move from Ducky did result in a significantly quieter product if you are one of those who bottoms out on the spacebar a lot. In terms of ergonomics, I am of the opinion that the Unicomp wins as well, although this is something that can be remedied with the addition of an appropriate wrist rest for both the Filco and the Ducky.

Looks and aesthetics
Verdict: I don't need to elaborate here too much. I think almost everyone agrees the Ducky wins on this front! Save for the rather uncorporate logo (that isn't, thank goodness, imprinted on the faceplate of the DK-9008 model), I do really like the way the Ducky looks by miles. However, beauty is in the beholder; you might well be smitten by the regal and classical charms of a Filco

Build quality
Picking up the keyboards and in turn applying various amounts of pressure on each of the boards, the Filco's chassis exhibited a minimal amount of flex. The Ducky however seems to be somewhat behind Filco in this regard, and gave a little creak when pressure is applied on its sides as well as right in the middle of the bottom panel. The Unicomp… sigh… perhaps some MBA can book a flight to Lexington, KY to educate them on the meaning of "Fit and Finish".

The chassis fit-and-finish in no way affects day-to-day operation though, and as you recall I did mentioned that the Unicomp is my absolute favourite day-to-day driver, and still is.

The Filco also has little touches that just exhibits that little bit of refinement, like snap-lock height adjusters (on the Ducky and Unicomp they use friction lock height adjusters).

Verdict: On a scale of 10, I will give the Filco 9/10 (since nothing ever gets 10), the Ducky 8.5/10, and the Unicomp… unfortunately maybe a 5.5/10.

Final verdict: It really depends on what you are looking for. The Unicomp is still my favourite thanks to its absolutely f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s typing feel, but its loud noise makes it impossible to use as my main workhorse keyboard. The Filco Blue is a very very very nice Cherry Blue keyboard to type on; I would describe it as chirpy and cheery, but if being chirpy and cheery starts getting in the way of my work as I have to worry about bothering the people who are around me, that kind of defeats the point. The Ducky does offers a good compromise of still being a very good keyboard to type on, and includes practical and handy additions like media keys as well as other touches that us Mac-heads will appreciate.

Will I buy a Ducky Blue? I think the better question ought to be "Will I buy a Cherry MX Blue keyboard?" instead. I haven't had the opportunity to do a side by side comparison of the Cherry MX brown switched keyboards yet, but personally… I do think the Ducky is the more practical and functional keyboard

I'll do my own assessment once i get mine :X


Pics by Zetc and other sources online






Anyway here are some links to some HQ pics of the Ducky 9008

http://diy.yesky.com/input/327/11299827.shtml

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andytn/sets/72157623746243676/detail/

http://translate.google.com.my/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://bbs.kbc-china.com/thread-817-1-1.html&ei=6yu8TIzEHsyrcYDmhOMM&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCIQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dkbc%2Bducky%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1344%26bih%3D686%26prmd%3Dfd

May I ask what the cost of the Ducky was? And how much for shipping to the states?

May I ask what the cost of the Ducky was? And how much for shipping to the states?

Well it's a bulk for Singaporeans. Total price is 165 Singaporean dollars (shipping price for Singapore already included).

For me, i had to pay 22.2 sgd extra for shipping to Malaysia from Singapore. And an additional 6.8 SGD for paypal transaction fees.

If you want to know shipping cost to US, you can ask Walrus.

To get a better price, you can organize a bulk to the US. The minimum required is 10 people from what Ducky Channel told me. They are interested in people making bulk orders to foreign countries.

But i've already paid for the keyboard. And it's shipment has been delayed to the 19th November i believe ... *sigh

:/ so can i please be listed into the mechanical keyboard club yet ?

those guys that have weird "shift" feeling stabilizers have to PUSH the key into the keyboard and wiggle it left and right for the stabilizer to make full contact with the key. I was wondering why mine felt "soft" after first assembling my keyboard then figured the keys weren't making full contact with the stabilizers, after i did the force push, wiggle left/right, the keys felt nice and crisp.

even with the subtle differences mentioned so far Zefrer, the Ducky has a few things over the Filco.

1. replaceable mini usb wire
2. pbt laser etched keys (the one i am getting isn't since i ordered too soon :/ )
3. Ducky uses their own controller (not the same as costar). Could be a plus or minus depending on who you are :X
4. Ducky uses Cherry Stabilizers which are more sturdier and from the looks of it easier to remove, compared to Costar stabilizers that can easily break if keys are removed incorrectly.
5. roughly same price as the Filco, but if you consider points 1, 2 and 4, to me seems as if the Ducky is a good deal.


One minus i must say, yes the aesthetics for the led lights on the Ducky i prefer compared to the Filco, however since i am ordering double shot replacements, it may not be so good for the Ducky since some of the keys have lights incorporated onto the key. A Filco may have been better in that case for a cleaner look (assuming you wouldn't mind the lack of the mini usb feature :/ )


Anyway these are the doubleshots i am getting





http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=11998&page=31

I agree, it does seem like a good deal.

Damn i got to watermark all my pics next time

Pics courtesy of squarebox. Happy ? Pics seem to be hosted on photobucket :/ so didn't think you would mind.

even with the subtle differences mentioned so far Zefrer, the Ducky has a few things over the Filco.

1. replaceable mini usb wire
2. pbt laser etched keys (the one i am getting isn't since i ordered too soon :/ )
3. Ducky uses their own controller (not the same as costar). Could be a plus or minus depending on who you are :X
4. Ducky uses Cherry Stabilizers which are more sturdier and from the looks of it easier to remove, compared to Costar stabilizers that can easily break if keys are removed incorrectly.
5. roughly same price as the Filco, but if you consider points 1, 2 and 4, to me seems as if the Ducky is a good deal.


One minus i must say, yes the aesthetics for the led lights on the Ducky i prefer compared to the Filco, however since i am ordering double shot replacements, it may not be so good for the Ducky since some of the keys have lights incorporated onto the key. A Filco may have been better in that case for a cleaner look (assuming you wouldn't mind the lack of the mini usb feature :/ )

One more thing to add though, for the same price you get one more set of keycaps too. Although… that promotion does seems to be running quite long, so I can't exactly use the "While stocks last!" line anymore

Try it!

Although the delay due to "quality issues" is a bit disconcerting.

I was rather surprised by their frankness too, but alas it was only for their Tenkeyless model, and to give them a leetle bit of leeway… it was their first production run for that model, so I guess some snags do occur then…

Heck, even Apple does it from time to time

From what i can tell from the comments. the Filco build isn't any worse than the Ducky. They both have their good and bad points (minor ones to be frank); however the Ducky does have replacable usb cable + pbt keys (however elitekeyboards claim they will be selling full set of  doubleshot key cap replacements for roughly 40-60 USD in the future).

Will the doubleshots from Elite be Filco issued keys or some third party keys?

Since Ducky and Filco keys are directly interchangeable I am rather keen on getting some of these doubleshots if they are the real deal sold under Filco.

Will the doubleshots from Elite be Filco issued keys or some third party keys?

Since Ducky and Filco keys are directly interchangeable I am rather keen on getting some of these doubleshots if they are the real deal sold under Filco.

Last Brian mentioned anything on it he was working with Signature Plastics and had sent them a set for reference of the key profile, but base keys shape changes were costly and he would get back to us if it were to expensive. He never did (on GH at least) so I assume that wasn't the case.

A few people said they emailed Brian about it and he confirmed that there were going to be EK doubleshots. No other details.

I don't work for any of them o_O; ? lulz. I told you to ask Brian yourself if you didn't believe, but you were too lazy. So instead you just dismiss what i said without verifying yourself which was easy to do :/

Well i'm not forcing you to believe me, but i did ask you to verify yourself which you didn't bother to do :/

He's trying to troll Brian into making an official reply since updates on Elitekeyboards & posts here from him have been sparse.

Keyboardlover just said that Brian hopes to have news regarding new inventory by the end of November.

May i know what you meant by EK ? is that another company that makes key caps ??

EliteKeyboards.