Ducky sent us a Mini to test/use/sample and I must say, I LOVE it.
First and foremost, I am no expert in keyboards nor journalism. I'm just your average mechanical keyboard lover and these are my opinions and observations.
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I saw the production model online. I prefer the simpler look of the Mini v.1, Poker/Pure, etc.
However, those feelings have been thrown out the window! In person this board is a thing of beauty and the aluminum surrounding looks great. They are what I'll call 4 layers for this situation:
Layer 1 (bottom) has the base of the board, feet, etc, and it's plastic. Level 2 and level 4 (top) are 3mm slabs of aluminum with a 9mm plastic (layer 3) piece sandwiched in between.
The overall dimensions : 12" W x 5" D x 1.25" H (305mm W x 127mm D x 31.75mm H)
Weight : 1lb, 10oz (730g)
The keys feel very sturdy and relatively quiet. There's no odd thud or audible spring noises. Hopefully they'll also release a "mini wrist rest", as the TKL wrist rest is 15" long.
The function layer is set up quite nicely. No matter what mode you're in (even LEDs completely off), when you press the Fn button, the function layer is illuminated. There's a secondary function layer with Fn+Alt that deals with the lighting.
Although I'm not the biggest fan of LED boards, this one's quite wonderful.
Mode 0 : LEDs off
Mode 1 : All LEDs on. You can adjust the color. This is a dual LED (blue/red split LED for each key) so you can have blue, red, or any combo of both.
Mode 2 : Wave left to right. Blend of blue, red, pink, purple, etc.
Mode 3 : Wave top to bottom. Blend of blue, red, pink, purple, etc.
Mode 4 : Breathing. Blue -> Red -> Pink -> Blue
Mode 5 : "Random"? A new LED mode that lights up keys at random with different colors.
Mode 6 : "Random V.2"? All LEDs are lit, but change color every second or so.
Mode 7 : Reactive. LED activated when key is pressed.
Mode 8 : Seems same as Mode 7?
Videos :
Mode 5 :
Mode 7/8 :
Mode 23 (0-11 sec / 12-21 sec) :
Please note... the LEDs are MUCH more vivid in person than on those vids.
There is some customization, however this may or not be the final production model, so I won't go into that quite yet.
Pricing will be very competitive with other 60% boards. We're currently expecting blue and red MX at the end of June with black/brown MX a little later.
And no, this sample won't be available for purchase.
If you have any comments, concern, or questions, just reply here! You can also email/PM me!
