1   22 August, 2020
 2
 3The Ducky One 2 SF
 4
 5I fell for the mechanical keyboard meme
 6
 7   Thanks to the pandemic yada yada I've been working from home (and
 8   attending college from home), and I figured my WFH setup could use an
 9   upgrade. Unfortunately, the choices for mechanical keyboards in India
10   are fairly limited. All imports from China don't get through, and
11   imports from elsewhere have a fat duty slapped on it -- sometimes up to
12   300%^[1]1. It's obscene!
13
14   The only reliable source I've found (and folks on [2]r/mkindia will
15   concur), is [3]Meckeys. They aren't particularly abundant in variety,
16   but there's some decent prebuilts that you can pick up on there -- and
17   I copped the Ducky One 2 SF.
18
19   Ducky One 2 SF side view
20
21   It's a 65% board, so unlike standard 60% boards, this comes with arrow
22   keys and the Del, PgUp and PgDn keys. I don't really need the arrow
23   keys, but they do come handy on the occasion -- like scrolling, for
24   example. Since this board lacks the function row, the Esc and the ~
25   keys are merged. I have to hit Shift + Esc for tilde (same action as
26   usual), and Fn + Esc for the backtick. Takes a bit of relearning, but
27   it's manageable.
28
29   Ducky One 2 SF top-down view
30
31   The key switches I went with were the Cherry MX Speed Silvers -- like
32   Reds but actuate a bit faster. As it's my first ever mechanical
33   keyboard, I don't really have anything to compare it against. It feels
34   great, but it was pretty jarring initially because even the slightest
35   touch (with the palm for instance), would cause a key to actuate,
36   leading to typos. Again, just a matter of getting accustomed to it; all
37   smooth sailing after. Why did I pick the Speed Silvers? The other
38   switch options were out of stock.
39
40   That said, I think I really quite like linear switches. They're not too
41   noisy, and they feel just right. I haven't noticed any great
42   improvement in my typing speeds though -- I still maintain an average
43   of 90-100 WPM.
44
45   The One 2 SF is fully RGB, i.e. each key is individually lit. Not that
46   I make big use it. I have it set to plain white, and only light up
47   under the key I'm currently pressing. Yes, this also makes it
48   incredibly easy for people to shoulder-peek your passwords. I certainly
49   won't be using it outside home.
50
51   The keyboard itself cost 9599 INR, which is about 128 USD. Meckeys took
52   exactly 10 days to ship it (3rd Aug - 13th Aug). Overall, it's a lovely
53   keyboard, and I cannot type on my laptop's low-travel chiclet-style
54   keyboard, again. There's just no going back.
55     __________________________________________________________________
56
57    1. [4]Reddit link
58
59References
60
61   1. https://icyphox.sh/home/icy/leet/site/build/blog/ducky-one-2/temp.html#fn:1
62   2. https://reddit.com/r/mkindia
63   3. https://meckeys.com/
64   4. https://www.reddit.com/r/mkindia/comments/hzyoof/i_see_many_spreading_misinformation_about_import/