Background / Intro
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Hi folks! As I lack time, I'll just give a short introduction about myself right here instead of the introforum. I hope thats OK.
I also think that it is always helpful to know a litte bit about a reviewer, to put things in perspective.
I'm ~30 y.o., german, and work as an admin in a small company.
I don't type blind or with all 10 fingers. Over the years I developed my own anarchistic half-blind, 6,5-finger system, which works quite well for my needs.
Also, I don't type that much, actually. I want a mechanical keyboard just because it feels and sounds better, it lasts for decades, its more reliable, and because of nostalgia/retro desires.
When I was a kid in the early 90s, everyone seemed to have a mechanical keyboard. Mostly either a IBM model M, or an oldskool Cherry.
At least thats what I remember. At that time I didn't know or care about it. It was just normal to me.
Then PCs became a real mass-product, and rubberdomes became the norm. I didn't notice that at first. But some day I had problems with my cheap keyboard, and thought to myself "Hmmm, is it just me, or did keyboards suck much less in the past? New keyboards feel somehow different than the old ones." But because I have never been a heavy typer or eSports hardcore gamer, I still didn't care enough, and bought a new cheap ruberdome again.
I did that a few times. The absolutely worst one was some Cherry eVolution(?) Stream XT(?) with very flat keys. It often didn't recognise keystrokes, and the keys often got stuck and didn't come up completely again. Horrible!
So 2-3 years ago I thought "OK, it's time to finally get a proper keyboard! And while I'm at it, I might get one of those oldskool keyboards that click, and have this precise micro-switch feeling. I always liked those." At that time I stil didn't know about "rubberdomes" and "mechanicals". But during my research I at least found out that I'm probably looking for MX-Blue switches (and USB, and a black case). The prices shocked me! I was used to 10-15€ standard keyboards, and so I expected "good" keyboards to be in the 25-50€ range. The by far cheapest (~60€) mx-blue kb was the Cherry G80-3000LSCDE-2, which I still have.
The Cherry was a lot better than anything I've used in the last 10 years or so. But it still didn't come close to the old keyboards of my childhood. It is very filmsy and light. It's basicly MX-blues wrapped in a 5€-keyboard. I'm not saying it's junk! I'd buy that over most (non-highend) rubberdomes anytime. But it's not what you expect from a typical mechanical keyboard. The switches are there, the buildquality and robustness is not. But I got over my initial disappointment, and told me that its the cheapest option, and that I can't expect more for that (imho high) price.
First Impressions
Over the last year I got more and more fed up with my G80-3000. There wasn't any problem. I just remembered more and more that it is not what I originally wanted.
The dissapointment came back and creeped up on me. The typing never felt "right" and the noise was starting to annoy me a bit. It also just felt cheap overall.
In the meantime I did learn about mechanical keyboards etc. And so I did research for a dozen hours or so, and became interested in the Ducky Shine 3 TKL.
This time I was willing to spend a lot more. I wanted to get something proper, and then not care about keyboard related stuff for at least a decade.
I wanted a simple, clicky, tactile, compact, black, solid, USB, standard-layout keyboard, without extra keys - for some typing (prio1) and some gaming (prio2), and with german keys.
The DS3 TKL offered all this, plus the backlighting. Since i rarely use the numblock, I happily sacrificed it to get my desired compactness. When I stumbled upon an eBay offer for an already opened unit for just 117€ shipped, I couldn't resist. It was the version with white LEDs.
So here are my thoughts so far:
Pros
- much better than a Cherry G80-3000LSCDE-2
- overall enjoyable, fun and satisfying to type on
- very good buildquality, high weight, no flex (when using non-extreme force), everything you heard is true ;-)
- keycasps look and feel relatively high quality imho, better than the Cherry's
- I like the mx-blues even better now: feel is more solid and precise, bottom-out sound is deeper, softer and more quiet
, overall less "rattle" and less "hollow echo". The Cherry sounds "empty", which it probably is - I can type a little faster on the Ducky
- the dustcover reminded me, that it might be a good idea to get a nicer one and actually use it every day
- the custom LED mode, where you can light up just the keys you want, is a cool alternative to coloured keycaps, imho -> highlighted WASD only when you need it
- detachable standard USB cable with left/middle/right channel - all devices should have non-proprietary detachable cables, including headphones btw!
Cons
- if I use those extra "flip-out feet" to give it more height, the rubber foot on the left front doesn't touch the table anymore.
So when I push the keyboard forward with one finger at the middle of the kb, it "turns to the right".
No big deal, because when you type, you push it down enough to touch the table.
Tested on 2 different tables. Doesn't happen when the extra feet aren't used. - those extra feet don't have rubber at the bottom - doesn't seem to be an issue (when both 2 rubber feet under the front touch the table), but it would still feel more stable with rubber
- the replacement spacebar doesn't feature a snake, but it still has a ducky logo and 2 stripes - I wish they would ship a normal, total black one
- most LED modes are rather distracting when you look at the keyboard. And when you don't look: what's the point of those modes then?
- in all modes the capslock and ScrLck (? "rollen" in german) keys are only lit up when you pressed them - that makes sense, but I still think it should be configurable because it looks strange with 2 "dead" keys
- when the backlight is off, the keys look rather dimm and greyish. Almost okay, but not really satisfying -> I want shiny snow white double shots!
- only 2 custom LED profiles are not enough - no one uses just 1 programm, or plays just 1 game, and most use different keys, so...
neutral/special/other
- [only partly duckys fault] the backlight doesn't cover the whole key, only the upper part -> looks uneven and "defunct". Cherry's fault (imho), but the WASD Code does it better
- [too subjective] in reactive mode, the delay is very short: the key goes back off/on too fast imho, should be longer or configurable -> firmwareupdate fixed this
- [too subjective] highest brightness is way too high, even in daylight -> 1 is bright enough at night, 3 at day
- [too subjective] brightness 1 is bright enough at night but then it looks uneven and too grayish -> higher is whiter and more even but too bright
- [too subjective] I type slower in a dim room with backlight on, than in a room with proper light and backlight off (as I said in the intro: I type only half-blind)
- [too subjective] I think it does "ping" slightly - but only if I bottom-out hard AND try to focus on it AND the room is silent. If I didn't try to listen for it right now, I guess I would have never heard it. But now that it is in my mind, I can hear it more often while I type this (I almost always bottom-out)! But it is relatively silent, imho. But yeah: once you heard it, you'll always hear it
- [faulty unit?] F2 F3 F4 F6 F7 F8 NEVER light up in any mode -> my bad, fixed, read below
- [faulty unit?] F1 F5 ALWAYS light up in all modes, even when the backlight is OFF -> my bad, fixed, read below
That's it so far. There are other, already known pros and cons, but those just weren't part of my personal first impression, so I won't repeat them in this mini-review.
I think I'll return it to the shop on thuesday because of the backlight issue. BTW: I bought it as "opened/returned" at a discount. Maybe the first buyer returned it because of this.
You can ask me questions or ask me to test stuff until I return it.
Conclusion / Lessons learned
- I now feel more confident to stick with the mx-blues. Thought about browns or clears, and even lurked at Topres and Alps -> not anymore! Will instead look into lube, trampoline silicone balls, damper pads, thick PBT double shots, and o-rings as I want to try how it sounds and feels to get rid of a harsh bottom-out while keeping the microswitch-click-feel and the click-sound
- ducky makes very nice sturdy keyboards that feel and imho sound great -> give me a non-faulty unit with a black spacebar, rubberdized extra feet and double shots without backlight, and I'm happy!
- I don't need/want backlighting as it looks uneven, greyish at low brightness and especially while off, and slows down my typing in a dim lit room or total darkness (daytime is fine)
- This Duky is not perfect for me personally, but it is close! I'll return it anyways, go back to my G80, and re-evaluate what keyboard to get instead. The hardest part will probably be to find german thick PBT white-on-black double shots with ISO layout. If there is no other way, maybe I'll set up a group buy, or a kickstater fundraising or so. They should sell like hotcakes, right?
Overall rating: 9/10