Ducky One 3, DE

Not all keyboards are created equally, but that’s no surprise to all of you, I’m sure. You can get a premium quality keyboard for a pretty reasonable price these days, by which I mean somewhere between £50-100, and it’ll be fantastic. However, the flagship models from the likes of ASUS, Corsair, Razer, Logitech, and more cost between £150-250 these days. The latest one from Ducky is no exception to that rule, coming in at £172.99 for the model I’m reviewing, albeit Ducky isn’t like most brands. The model I’m reviewing is exactly the Ducky One 3 Classic Fullsize USB RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Cherry Brown – Pure White UK Layout, and well… there are a f****** lot of variants to pick from. Full size, TKL, 65%, 60% sizes, in Classic, Fuji, Matcha, Yellow, Black, White, and Day Break themes, and even then, you have pretty much all Cherry switches to pick from; Clear, Silver, Black, Brown, Blue, Red. And even then, that is literally just the level of choice for the Ducky One 3 keyboard. All those changes, all those variants, but all basically the same keyboard I’m reviewing today… yikes.

The latest rehash of the Ducky ONE comes with a whole flood of new features that are almost unnoticeable at first glance. Many improvements took place under the hood and make the new full-size keyboard a true jack-of-all-trades. What is also immediately noticeable in this concrete model: it polarizes! Bright yellow, Cherry MX-Brown switches and PBT keycaps without translucent digits despite RGB illumination. Sounds like a crazy combination? Read how crazy it is in the test.

Beim neusten Aufguss der Ducky ONE gibt es eine ganze Flut an neuen Features, die man auf den ersten Blick fast gar nicht erkennt. Viele Verbesserungen fanden unter der Haube statt und machen die neue Fullsize-Tastatur zu einem wahren Tausendsassa. Was bei diesem konkreten Modell auch sofort auffällt: Sie polarisiert! Knallgelb, Cherry MX-Brown Switches und PBT Keycaps ohne transluzente Ziffern trotz RGB Beleuchtung. Klingt nach einer verrückten Kombination? Wie verrückt sie ist, lest ihr im Test.

Our thoughts about the Ducky One 3 Matcha are split in to two parts. Such is the variety of options they provide the aesthetics are specific to this model, but the build quality and typing experience apply to all the One 3 range. By now you probably have a firm opinion in your mind about the One 3 Matcha looks. Such is the uniform nature of modern hardware that nearly everything we own is black with RGB lighting. Motherboards, graphics cards, memory, cases, even monitors are usually to be found sporting that particular colour combination. Should you be convinced that all black with lighting is the only way to go, then perhaps you find the soothing aesthetic somewhat wince inducing. If so, then the One 3 is also available in the more regular black with RGB lighting. As well as white, Matcha, All yellow - the Yellow Duck we mentioned in our introduction, Navy Blue and lastly a Fuji design which is similar to this one but with soft pink instead of the beige colour and navy blue keycaps and accents where this is the Matcha tea colour. So just because you might not necessarily like this one, there is a colour scheme to fit your needs. There are even various sizes from mini through TKL to full size, if space is an issue. For us, we intially thought it would be jarring in the Matcha colourway, but it's pastel hues quickly won us over. The contrast is very carefully balanced so it doesn't look like a mish-mash of different design elements. The Matcha Green keycaps perfectly match the side bezels and underneath, whilst the colour on the beige keycaps that identify each key are also in that exact shade of green. It would've been easy for Ducky to make a minimal effort beyond having different colour keycaps, but instead they've gone above and beyond. Even the cable isn't white or black but instead it's the same colour as the main body and keycap colouring. We like it. That then brings us to the question, should you seek out one of those colours? Is the Ducky One 3 good enough to go up against the heavy hitters in the keyboard sector? Firstly I have to say that I can touch type and almost never look at my keyboard, so the fact the keys aren't backlight is of no matter. The contrast is good enough that even if you have to look you shouldn't have any difficulty, but those who don't know how to touch type but also play in a darkened room might have an issue. It's one you should seek to overcome though as, and I don't say this lightly, this is the quietest keyboard I've ever typed on. It's not the first one to use Cherry MX Silent switches, nor the first to attempt to dampen any of the noise you get from the key rebounding, but even without an o-ring kit it's as silent as any keyboard we can think of, even the scissor switch laptop style ones. For a mechanical keyboard it's breathtaking. No latency, no bounce, no chassis movement, it's like dipping your fingers in honey and stroking some silk. Glorious. The NKEY rollover works perfectly, the build quality is impeccable and the hot-swapping key switches is as simple as one could hope for. Are there any negatives? There is no software. On this keyboard that's less of a problem as there is also no lighting to control, but even on their models that have lighting it, like the macro recording, is all dealt with by key combinations. Plus you might not necessarily like this exact colour combination in which case there are others available. Lastly you don't get a wrist rest supplied with it, although serious typists will have their own but it's something to be aware of. You don't want to type without one. Ask my wrists. Should you want a keyboard that's built like a tank, has all the NKEY and smooth typing benefits you get from a mechanical keyboard, with easy customisation options - including those incredible supplied additional keycaps we've barely mentioned - and most of all is the quiestest typing experience this side of not typing at all, then the Ducky One 3 is an absolute superstar. Seriously. Ducky deserve enormous credit for going their own way and it has paid off handsomely. It might not have the flashy elements like volume wheels, display screens or dedicated profile buttons, but as a keyboard it's phenomenal and wins our OC3D Enthusiast Award. The typing experience is so glorious.