Ducky Shine Zero Zone and Deck Hassium 108 key comparison

[rdaswav]

Hi Guys, I wanted to post a few shots of these 2 boards I recently purchased. Mainly because I found relatively little information on the net about the Deck. Hopefully this helps anyone trying to pick between the two brands who are doing their own research

Models : Ducky Shine Zero Zone DK2108SZ with Cherry Blues and Deck Hassium (non pro) with Cherry Browns

Here you can see the height/profile is virtually identical. I would almost say they were the same OEM, however the Deck is MUCH heavier and solid :


Close up of keys and backlighting. You can see how much brighter the Ducky is compared to the Deck. I feel the Deck's PBT's keys do not allow as much light through as the Ducky's engraved ABS


Another shot to show you how much brighter the Ducky is :


Lights off :



I have found the Deck to be vastly superior in build quality. The finish, PBT keys, braided cable all add to that impression. Their is almost zero 'wiggle' when pressing the keys compared to the Ducky. I'm not sure if this is due to the thicker PBT construction. Its especially noticeable with the Spacebar for example. Strangely, I also like the font. But I'm definitely in the minority it seems

Probably the best thing going for the Ducky is the much higher brightness of the back lighting. But thats a personal preference.

Considering the prices are virtually identical (here is Australia) I would rate the Deck much higher.

Hopefully this little comparo helps someone out there! Let me know any questions.

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

An interesting comparison.

PBT keycaps do make quite a (positive) difference to a keyboard.  OTOH I have three Ducky Shines, and although only one still has all its standard ABS keycaps, they feel fine to me.

Maybe I'm just too easily pleased )

There is an Asia Pacific version of the Deck with a more conventional font, but I think someone said they were not PBT keycaps.

[rdaswav]

Yes that's correct. Mechkb.com sell that version of the hassium pro. They put their own third party abs keys on them.

However on this non-pro version they didn't and left the PBT on. Which means you are paying less for a version with PBT - go figure.

The only other difference I can see between the two hassium models is the backlighting modes.  The non-pro doesn't have all the crazy flashing and swooshing modes. Only on/off and brightness level.

[0100010]

That font 

[Hyde]

^ lol yupe I was gonna say the OP forgot to compare fonts. 

That and WASD CODE is probably the best backlit keyboard in my opinion.  Well maybe except the keycaps but it's ok soon we'll be able to buy keycaps separately.

But good comparison / review none the less.