Final quetions, ordering today

[noideawhatimdoing]

Decided on brown switches (just whatever. Haven't been able to get a tester, everyone is sold out online).

Now it's down to:

Deck
Ducky

Between these two we have a myriad of options and thoughts:

I need backlit, both provide that. I need macros (not for gaming so much as comlicated excel macros and other on the fly things that made my life way easier).
I don't know whether to get a full board or a 60% (is that what the Deck and Ducky TKL models are?)?
I know that the Deck ones have doubleshot keys which give a "dry" feeling rather than the ABS ducky "wet" feeling. Some people say they can't care either way. I know I care because on my boards, I hate when the keys wear out. Then again, I can just replace ducky keys which do this.

What I can't find out through all my research is which board is better suited to group buys - I hear the ducky? It has more "standard" keys on it? I realize that the backlighting isn't going to work with some keycaps, but I have enough ambient light to see special caps since the boards are lit.

I have heard that the Deck boards are more programmable with a full macro layer and the ducky's aren't - I try to google and come up with nothing (I guess that happens when you don't know exactly what to look for).

My last question - what the heck is the difference between the Francium and the Hassium boards? I have found oodles of info on the difference between ducky shine 2 and 3 and zero, but the Hassium and Francium boards, I don't really know the difference. Someone put me out of my misery ><

[frosty]

I'd go for ducky for it's build quality. I haven't heard much reviews about Deck so I'll stuck with Ducky if I were you.

[pichu23]

Get the ducky. It's an awesome starting board. Standard keys as well. (aka the bottom row being 1.25 x 1.25 instead of 1.5 x 1 with a 6.25 spacebar)
e.g. non standard layout :

More

standard layout :

More

[noideawhatimdoing]

Thanks for the info! I see you have a Poker II in your sig. That was the other that came up as having a fully programmable macro layer. How do you like it? Sounds like you enjoy the Ducky more?

[pichu23]

Thanks for the info! I see you have a Poker II in your sig. That was the other that came up as having a fully programmable macro layer. How do you like it? Sounds like you enjoy the Ducky more?

Ducky was my first board, Poker was my second.
I'm currently using a FaceW board with 62g lubed clears. It's my current daily board.
My Poker 2 was awesome, it had blue switches but I gave that to my girlf.
The ducky well, I still use it occasionally, but it's currently at my home country. Couldn't carry too many boards on the plane

[johndavis33]

I'd say Deck, if you can put up with the awful font. The backlighting won't be as nice, but the keycaps are the big difference.

It's not that one is double shot and the other isn't. In fact, I'm pretty sure they're both doubleshot. It's that the deck has PBT caps and the ducky has ABS caps. ABS plastic is cheaper, and overtime collects all the oils on your fingers and gets "shiny" and sticky feeling. I'm sure you can feel this some old keyboard to know what I'm talking about. It won't take more than a few months for this to happen with any ABS keycaps. However, PBT keycaps will always keep their low friction, grainy and dry texture forever. Deck is also the only company other than vortex to make PBT backlighting compatible keycaps, so if you do end up getting a ducky shine later down the road you'll still have a much better set of keycaps for it.

[noideawhatimdoing]

This Q is coming out of nowhere- I'm realizing I'm going to be ending up with stacks of keyboards at this point and enter the selling/trading world, so a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as far as "am I making the right decision." Also you all are the most friendly forum members I've run across who didn't immediately scream "RTFM" on things that are subjective and opinion based. My hat's off (or rather my headphones) to you all.

With the full size Deck Hassium Pro, am I right that it's non-standard in keycaps (the full size Pro) because of the spacebar? I'm thinking I'm going to grab one of those for at night, and a Ducky Mini for during the day to start. The Hassium Pro is already ordered, and thinking about ordering that $33 dollar set of keycaps I see floating around (for a while I thought that was a hoax).

Thanks to you all

[noideawhatimdoing]

I'm first ordering a Hassium full size, just deciding between red and brown. I had my heart set on brown, but I have trouble on my G510 pressing some keys, so I wonder if red is the way to go? Sometimes I have trouble and do a lot of typos because I can't get the switches to push down all the way. Brown or red...coming from G510 I read most people get browns, but as I have issues with typos already I guess I'll go with reds.  Does anyone think I should already just order the $33 dollar keycap replacement set by Vortex right now?