22 August, 2020

The Ducky One 2 SF

I fell for the mechanical keyboard meme

   Thanks to the pandemic yada yada I've been working from home (and
   attending college from home), and I figured my WFH setup could use an
   upgrade. Unfortunately, the choices for mechanical keyboards in India
   are fairly limited. All imports from China don't get through, and
   imports from elsewhere have a fat duty slapped on it -- sometimes up to
   300%^[1]1. It's obscene!

   The only reliable source I've found (and folks on [2]r/mkindia will
   concur), is [3]Meckeys. They aren't particularly abundant in variety,
   but there's some decent prebuilts that you can pick up on there -- and
   I copped the Ducky One 2 SF.

   Ducky One 2 SF side view

   It's a 65% board, so unlike standard 60% boards, this comes with arrow
   keys and the Del, PgUp and PgDn keys. I don't really need the arrow
   keys, but they do come handy on the occasion -- like scrolling, for
   example. Since this board lacks the function row, the Esc and the ~
   keys are merged. I have to hit Shift + Esc for tilde (same action as
   usual), and Fn + Esc for the backtick. Takes a bit of relearning, but
   it's manageable.

   Ducky One 2 SF top-down view

   The key switches I went with were the Cherry MX Speed Silvers -- like
   Reds but actuate a bit faster. As it's my first ever mechanical
   keyboard, I don't really have anything to compare it against. It feels
   great, but it was pretty jarring initially because even the slightest
   touch (with the palm for instance), would cause a key to actuate,
   leading to typos. Again, just a matter of getting accustomed to it; all
   smooth sailing after. Why did I pick the Speed Silvers? The other
   switch options were out of stock.

   That said, I think I really quite like linear switches. They're not too
   noisy, and they feel just right. I haven't noticed any great
   improvement in my typing speeds though -- I still maintain an average
   of 90-100 WPM.

   The One 2 SF is fully RGB, i.e. each key is individually lit. Not that
   I make big use it. I have it set to plain white, and only light up
   under the key I'm currently pressing. Yes, this also makes it
   incredibly easy for people to shoulder-peek your passwords. I certainly
   won't be using it outside home.

   The keyboard itself cost 9599 INR, which is about 128 USD. Meckeys took
   exactly 10 days to ship it (3rd Aug - 13th Aug). Overall, it's a lovely
   keyboard, and I cannot type on my laptop's low-travel chiclet-style
   keyboard, again. There's just no going back.
     __________________________________________________________________

    1. [4]Reddit link

References

   1. https://icyphox.sh/home/icy/leet/site/build/blog/ducky-one-2/temp.html#fn:1
   2. https://reddit.com/r/mkindia
   3. https://meckeys.com/
   4. https://www.reddit.com/r/mkindia/comments/hzyoof/i_see_many_spreading_misinformation_about_import/